It’s all your fault, U.S. soccer, now get better
You could see Tuesday night just how much of a problem I have.
On my tablet: the U.S.-Trinidad & Tobago World Cup qualifier.
On my laptop: the Panama-Costa Rica World Cup qualifier.
On my phone: the Argentina-Ecuador World Cup qualifier.
How did I get here? I blame the 2014 U.S. World Cup team.
Christian Pulisic was still a high school kid from Hershey, Pennsylvania watching on as Jurgen Klinsmann’s Americans were placed in a group with two of the world’s top-four ranked teams (Germany and Portugal) plus the thorn-in-side Ghana group.
It was the “Group of Death,” but as Jack Bau…er, Kiefer Sutherland, said in ESPN’s U.S.-Ghana promo, “It’s called the ‘Group of Death.’ It makes sense because we’re in it.”
With a spot in the knockout stage on the line, I went to a watch party with the U.S. supporter group, the American Outlaws. In this bar thousands of miles away from the action, it was pandemonium, and while the U.S. didn’t win that day, they did a clinch a spot in the next round.
I was hooked.
The U.S. bid ended in heartbreak at the next stage versus Belgium in extra time, but the feeling out of that competition was of unquenchable optimism. Soccer was reaching a new era in the States.
With that feeling, I decided to up my game on ‘The Beautiful Game.’
With the games all available on NBC somehow, I decided to pick a Premier League team (and because I’m a somewhat self-loathing sports fan, I wasn’t going to pick one of the top-five clubs and went with plucky Everton. That idea’s going great IMO).
Then I started following the MLS closer, going first with my old hometown team of the San Jose Earthquakes and also picking up my new hometown team of Atlanta United along the way. Back overseas, this guy named Messi had me following FC Barcelona, and more recently, Pulisic with Dortmund.
I’ve discovered soccer is a pretty great DVR sport, where the best of the Premier, Bundesliga, Champions, Europa, MLS and international action is hogging space for the on-demand futbol fix.
I even joined a local chapter of the American Outlaws (AO Electric City, stand up!) to cheer on and all-too-often commiserate over the Red, White and Blue.
That’s a tl;dr to say the U.S. performance in 2018 World Cup qualifying was disappointing to say the least. I both love and hate this team at the moment — valuing the deeper appreciation I have for the game as a whole, but numbly staring down the abyss of the#USMNT’s next meaningful competition coming in 2019.
This sucks.
There’s hope, oh, there’s hope, and while the Americans are missing their first World Cup in my lifetime, I doubt a next generation led by Pulisic will flirt with the same in competitions ahead.
I don’t know what the solution is for U.S. soccer. There are soccer pundits aplenty weighing in with way-more-expert opinions than mine. I just want it fixed, however that needs to happen. I just want my team competing on the world’s stage and have that same ’14 feeling.
Until then, I’ll just have to settle for moments of brilliance from America’s best playing around the world — and figure out an international bandwagon to ride come next June and July.
