Andrew Koper > Soccer > The Very Quixotic State of American Soccer

The United States is currently playing in the Confederation’s Cup. The Confederation’s Cup is a soccer tournament held every four years, and is composed of FIFA’s six world region champions, the country that won the last World Cup, the upcoming World Cup host country, and is played in the upcoming World Cup host country. FIFA is Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and is world soccer’s governing body. Because soccer is the most popular sport in the world, every country has a national soccer team, and because there are about 200 countries in the world, there are about 200 national soccer teams. The World Cup is the soccer tournament held every four years to determine the best team in the world, and since a tournament with 200 teams would be unmanageable, FIFA divides the world into regions (Europe, Africa, South America, etc.).  The, say, 30 countries in those regions play each other in regional tournaments and in World Cup qualifying in the two years leading up the World Cup to determine the 4 - 5 best who will advance and play in that tournament.

The Confederation’s Cup seems to me to be primarily be to give the upcoming World Cup host country practice hosting a major soccer tournament, but it is also an important tournament because it has many of the best teams in the world.

South Africa is hosting the World Cup in the summer of 2010. The US got to play in the Confederation’s Cup this year because it won the Gold Cup, which is the bi-annual tournament for FIFA’s CONCACAF region, which is the region composed of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The Confederation’s Cup has been highly anticipated because it gives the United States a chance to play teams like Italy, Brazil, and Egypt on neutral ground. The US normally plays countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, and has come to dominate this region of the world, but has often fallen short on the international stage against other European and South American teams, and this is a great measuring stick for the US National Team.

There were two groups, each composed of four countries, and each country in each group would play each other once. Each country was assured of three games, a win was worth 3 points, a tie was worth one point, and a loss was worth zero points, and the two countries from each group with the most points would advance to the semi-finals.

The US’s three games were versus Italy, Brazil, and Egypt. Italy and Brazil are two traditional soccer powerhouses, and Egypt is the African champion, but you have to be able to beat these kinds of teams if you want to win the World Cup.

The US’s first game was June 15 versus Italy. Anytime you play a traditional soccer power, it is exciting. Luca Toni, Mauro Camoranesi, Gennaro Gattuso, Daniele De Rossi, and company are familiar names to people who watch the best European soccer leagues and remember them winning the last World Cup. The US played Italy fairly evenly for the beginning of the game. I was not as disgusted by this as when it happened when the US played Italy in the 2006 World Cup, but, in the 33rd minute, the referee gave a red card to US player Ricardo Clark for a rough tackle, and he was ejected. I am not too happy with how soccer is officiated, and, because there are so few goals, certain calls or “no calls” can have a big impact on the game, and I think FIFA and leagues around the world should add a second referee, quick instant replay, or something. This was not clearly a red card, and it was strange that the US always seems to have to play 10 versus 11 when it plays Italy (and some vague thoughts of a conspiracy crept into the back of my head).

The US continued to get some offensive chances, however, and, in the 41st minute, the US kicked a long ball up to young striker Jozy Altidore. Altidore was alone against the last defender (a bad situation for the defense). The two ran up the field with the ball into the penalty box, Altidore cut the ball back, his defender kicked him as he tried to cut behind him, Altidore went down, and US was awarded a penalty kick. Landon Donovan, America’s quick, gifted midfielder and leading all time goal scorer, took the penalty kick, beat goalie Buffon, scored, and the US led 1 – 0. A lead going into half time was good.

Italy took over in the second half. Thirteen minutes into the second half, New Jersey-born Giuseppe Rossi stripped Michael Bradley of the ball on the American side of midfield, had a lot of space downfield, dribbled about 15 or 20 yards, and then ripped a great, hard shot into the left side of the goal before the US defense could reorganize and stop him. In the 72 minute, Daniele De Rossi blasted a long shot that beat Howard. The US – especially since it was down a man - was in a defensive shell by then. The game was mostly in the US’s side of the field, Italy just kept collecting the ball and trying to get another one in, and you got a sense that the US had no chance to win. The end of the game was boring and I was just waiting for it to end. Rossi scored another goal in injury time, and the final score was 3 – 1.

The US had a chance to redeem itself in its second game on June 18 versus Brazil. Well, a victory against perhaps the most storied soccer country in the world would be one of the biggest US victories ever, so perhaps a tie would be considered a win for the US. Brazil boasts some of the most highly paid, famous soccer players in the world – Kaka, Daniel Alves, Gilberto Silva, Fabiano, etc. - and the short, quick Robinho plays the “dance with the ball” style that everyone loves (for a quick taste, Google “dance past defenders with Robinho” to see a clip on Nike Soccer’s Web site. The first time I saw his move on the end line, I gasped out loud).

The US started the game with a little different line up, including the quick DaMarcus Beasley at left back. Beasley didn’t normally play on defense, hadn’t been playing much recently, and I really questioned coach Bob Bradley’s decision on who he was playing and in what formation. In the seventh minute, Beasley lost his player near the US 18 yard box, this led to a Brazil attack and Felipe Melo scoring a goal. The US is basically a good enough team that they can withstand an early goal, still play their game, come back, and win. When Robinho scored in the 20th minute however, you started to get a bad feeling. Macion scored for Brazil in the 62nd minute, creating a basically-insurmountable three-goal lead. The final 15 – 20 minutes of this game, like the Italy game, saw the US back on its heels, in its half of the field, defending, while Brazil just tried get another one. It was a boring, sad finish.

At this point, the US was basically eliminated from Confederation’s Cup. Two losses and zero points in two games in a bracket with Brazil and Italy means you don’t advance. There was a lot of soul searching in the US soccer community. Clint Dempsey, the brash Texan who scored a lot of goals for Fulham in England’s Premier League last season, wasn’t scoring. DaMarcus Beasley, the quick veteran, was turning the ball over in the defensive end which was leading to opponent’s goals. Jozy Altidore, the muscular, nineteen-year old, African-American striker that everyone had been salivating over, wasn’t scoring. Landon Donovan, the quick attacking midfielder, was contributing some but not taking over games or scoring. Carlos Bocanegra, the intelligent central defender and team captain, wasn’t playing due to a hamstring injury.

A soccer columnist wrote about a month ago that the US National Team has not gotten any better in the last four years. It was the same caliber team that tied one game, lost two games, and didn’t make it out of group play in the 2006 World Cup. The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), American soccer's governing body, has been investing a lot in soccer in America. The US plays in more international tournaments now, has more players playing in the best European leagues, and there are several soccer training academies in places like Bradenton, Florida where talented American youth go to practice and play full time. Major League Soccer (MLS), America’s professional soccer league, continues in its 14th season. Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, and Vancouver have added or are getting teams. Cities like Salt Lake City, New York, Kansas City, and Philadelphia are building soccer specific stadiums for their teams (in addition to the seven already built). ESPN is showing more and more soccer games. But the US seemed to be stagnating at the top – the international – level. America still seems to be the 20th or 30th best country in the world. How come the US – the world’s only military, economic, and cultural super power – cannot make itself into a soccer super power? How come the US keeps not being able to beat the Germany’s and Italy’s of the world, and occasionally loses to countries like Costa Rica?

It was with this backdrop that US went into its final, third game versus Egypt. With nothing to lose, coach Bradley made several player substitutions, like using little-used forward Charlie Davies and replaced starting goalie Tim Howard with backup Tim Guzan. The US wasn’t mathematically, completely eliminated, but several fluky things needed to happen – the stars needed to be in alignment – for the US not to go home.

Right off the bat, the US played more aggressively. You got the feeling that everyone got yelled at between games. The US didn’t play its normal, more conservative, play-our-game-over-the-course-of-90-minutes strategy. Charlie Davis is especially fast, and US tried to take advantage of his speed by kicking long balls from unusual/unexpected positions through/behind the Egyptian back line for him to sprint on to in space and score. After a several missed connections, Davies scored in the 21st minute. Landon Donovan was noticeably more aggressive. He is usually the quickest player on the field, and when he plays aggressively, he creates all kinds of problems - taking on and beating two and three defenders – but he doesn’t always play to his full, world-class potential. He made many long, aggressive runs up the field and into and through the defense with the ball. Michael Bradley, who has consistently been a great defender in the midfield and is the coach’s son, scored in the 63rd minute for the US.

Meanwhile, in the other game that was being played simultaneously, Brazil was beating Italy 3 – 0. The way the group was working out, three countries could have the same losing record. If the US not only won, but won by three or more goals, and Italy not only lost, but lost by three or more goals, the US would advance due to the second tie breaker – goal differential. In the 71st minute, Dempsey headed in his first goal of the tournament. The US kept Egypt from scoring for the remainder of the game, Brazil kept Italy from scoring for the remainder of its game, and, against very long odds, the US flukily squeaked into one of the semifinal games.

Eking into the Confederation’s Cup semifinal gave the US a date with Spain. Spain was currently ranked as the number one country in the world. It was the defending European champion, and hadn’t lost a game in a remarkable two years. It boasts a lineup of international soccer stars like Fábregas, Fernando Torres, and David Villa. The US had never beaten the best soccer team in the world before, and a win against Spain would be historic.

The US began the game well. Its lineup was a mix of its normal “A squad” with Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, and Michael Bradley, but with the quick and effective Charlie Davies as one of the forwards. The moment American soccer fans hoped for came in the 27th minute. Dempsey fed a pass to Altidore towards the top of the 18 yard box. Altidore’s Spanish defender was a little out of position, and he tried to stick his leg out and deflect the ball as it arrived to Altidore. Jozy had beaten him to the spot, though, and the defender could not reach the ball with his foot or knock the barrel-chested Altidore off of it with the body-to-body contact. Altidore shielded the ball with his body, let it come past him, turned, ran on to it, and blasted a powerful shot by the Spanish goalie. A raucous American celebration ensued.

For the next forty minutes, Spain bombed the US. Spain just bombed the US. The quick and technically and tactically strong Spanish team took control of the game and attacked the US goal over and over starting from the near the top of the 18 yard box. A Spanish player would slip a ball through to another Spanish player who had beaten his defender, but another American defender would dive and clear the ball away. A Spanish player would beat his defender and shoot from 10 yards away, but Tim Howard would block it. A Spanish player would play the ball in behind the American defense to another Spanish player seven yards away from the goal, but an American defender would make a desperate, diving slide-tackle and clear the ball out. A Spanish player would take a shot, and Howard would block the shot, but the rebound would bounce around lose in front of the goal for a second or two before an American player could clear it out. The Spanish left winger usually got the ball on the side of the field with no American player within 10 – 15 yards of him and plenty of time to set up his cross or shot, because the US defense was so packed in the middle of the 18 yard box.

Soccer is a low scoring game. You don’t score on every opportunity, but on the 5th, 6th, or 7th opportunity, a team usually puts one in. It was very exciting to watch the Spanish players shoot and slip balls to teammates eight, ten, and fifteen yards away from the American goal over and over, but not be able to score. Tim Howard played outstandingly – making great save after great save after great save. It was like the US’s one, 1 - 0 victory over Brazil ten years ago, where Brazil kept shooting point-blank shots at the US goal, Casey Keller kept blocking them, and afterward, Romario, the short, quick, superstar Brazilian striker, said it was the best performance by a goalie he had ever seen. It was strange: Spain was clearly the better team – the US could not stop them from getting the ball, bring it into the 18 yard box, and getting a good scoring opportunity. But the US was winning the game, 1 – 0, and, as all sports fans know, ultimately, the only thing that matters is who has the most points at the end of the game.

In the 74th minute, Spain didn’t clear out a cross in front of its own goal well, and a hustling Clint Dempsey slid, twisted, and kicked it in, giving the US a 2 – 0 lead. This ended up being the final score, and there was another joyous US celebration on the field. This was one of the biggest – if not the biggest - US soccer victory ever. The US beat the best team in the world in a tremendously exciting, gutsy game, and the next day the New York Times gave it front page coverage and called it “the miracle on grass.”

So, at this point, it is hard to describe the US’s soccer team and the state of US soccer. Are they OK (still the 30th best team in the world)? Are they really good (a top 10 team, as good as England and France)? They’ve played poorly and they’ve played great in the same seven day period.