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| photo by David Wilson |
- by Cole O'Brien, writing from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
It seems in the US we encounter the same problem again and again with our sport. Every time a World Cup rolls around, hoards of excitement centered towards the US national team arises. We hear everything from soccer blogs stationed across the web saying this is the year soccer will finally make an impact on the US; This is the year we will finally see soccer become what it is in other countries throughout the world. Now, how many times has that happened? If you pay attention to the annual World Cup viewers you'd think that soccer in the US takes a dramatic upturn every year.
The problem is one that isn't so complicated. America consists of an athletic minded population. They are individuals for which domination in every sport is simply granted to them. The ones that aren't a dominant force are simply never heard of and they resign to a life of solitude under the radar of major sports news. Soccer is the sole contradiction. It simply won't go down with a fight. While the average American sports fan has cast soccer aside as a minor sport that is mastered by the end of the second grade.
Nonetheless you must know history to understand where we are now. What many a soccer revolutionist doesn't know is that soccer wasn't always ignored by the general public. In 1972 when Pele joined the New York Cosmos a small change began. If you ask anyone that happened to be in high school around this time and asked them about soccer Pele would probably be the extent of their knowledge of the sport, but in a time where most towns didn't even sanction a single soccer field their knowledge of the world's greatest player is quite remarkable. This was only made possible by the fact that schools seemed to start finding it important to teach youth about the sport that the rest of the world was already in love with. This was in part due to the fact that the US's bid to host the 1994 World Cup promised reforms in American soccer. Now it seems you find David Beckham being the player that the youth is currently obsessed with. He followed a similar path as Pele, retiring from real competitive soccer and finding sanction with a nice life in the US where no one would notice him as a famous soccer star.
The problem is that the growth in popularity of soccer is taking all the wrong turns. Many soccer analysts predict the annual World Cup or famous player making the trip across the Atlantic will help boost soccer. However, if you simply cast aside that veil and really pay attention you noticed these events are simply a curse. All these events lead to is more exposure and more media attention for soccer. The problem we find is after the initial obsession the media has they start to discover that the soccer scene is America isn't quite so glamorous and the fans the US hopes to gain simply see soccer as something we will never prevail in and that are national team is nowhere near the likes of our friends across the pond.
The solution is one easily found, but not quite as easily fixed. U.S. Soccer has to focus on making our national team better and not focus as much on media attention. They just need to "fly under the radar." It is not a solution that will come easy or in the next decade for that matter. Turning your national team into a world power just simply won't come so easily. Soccer is a game from which all kinds of twist and turns occur. Jurgen Klinsman could bring the US to beating France in the upcoming November friendly or just as easily we could see them losing 6-0 come ninety minutes.
France will be the milestone for U.S. While Klisman and co. have performed under par in their initial friendlies it seems the team is finally coming together for the better. Could we see a big upset against the team who just last month qualified for Euro 2012, arguably the biggest international tournament besides the World Cup? Don't think wrong, while the U.S. hasn't played France since the turn of the century it's a big game as the French are excited to prove they've become an international power once again.
