‘American Fiasco’ is a great listening experience
From Roger Bennett’s enthusiasm to the meticulous storytelling, this podcast is well worth anyone’s time
From the outside, American Fiasco looks like a hard sell. Take a sport (soccer) that ranks well below the big three in popularity (baseball, football, basketball) in the United States, and tell the story of an American failure that took place 20 years ago. To magnify the difficulty of the obstacles ahead of it, the U.S. finds itself on the outside looking in during the 2018 World Cup. Sure, Fox is hurt the most by this, but losing a little bit of relevancy can’t help attract casual listeners to a World Cup podcast. And yet, despite all of these things, American Fiasco succeeds because it’s a fantastic listening experience.
The premise of this podcast is simple — Roger Bennett, the co-host of another soccer podcast titled Men in Blazers, tells the story of the 1998 US Men’s National Team at the World Cup. Starting from this team’s humble beginnings and following the coach and players all the way to the end of their run, Bennet covers the long, sometimes ignoble story of this ill-fated soccer team. Bennett isn’t the first to argue that 1998 was a pivotal year for American soccer, but he makes his case here better than most.
Right from the beginning, it’s evident that Bennett is a master storyteller. I wrote recently about Malcom Gladwell’s infectious enthusiasm, and I think I may have finally found his equal in Bennett. Just being engaging isn’t everything though, and it’s clear that he also understands why sports can be so captivating to an audience. To that end, the personal stories Bennett weaves into the first episode (stories I won’t spoilt here because they’re worth a listen on their own) are captivating and enthralling. I treated that first episode “The Dream (on) Team” as a sort of trial run for the show as a whole, and it was easily enough to capture my attention. If I’m being honest, though, I’d probably listen to any podcast Bennett is on at this point.
The timing of this release is also well thought out, despite the elephant in the room that is the USMNT’s recent failures. In some ways, since this podcast is also about a team that performed poorly, it may even be the perfect podcast for an American audience right now. I don’t think anyone is questioning whether or not the sport will continue to thrive in the United States (it clearly will), but there’s no doubt that not seeing an American team in Russia right now is a huge disappointment. Just as we bemoan the underperformance of our best players now, many Americans did the same in 1998.
Bennett also smartly chooses to frame the 1998 World Cup for America as a disappointment for many. By getting this expectation out of the way at the beginning, he is able to deeply explore each part of this team, even as their ultimate defeat hangs over the entire story. Near the end of the first episode, he claims that Americans are obsessed with winning, no matter what the context or stakes. “I, however,” he says, “have always loved the opposite. I’m fascinated by failure, especially when it happens on a grand scale.” Bennett then goes on to frame the overarching narrative of the entire podcast: a skilled, well-coached American team that built on years of development and success to ultimately fall far short of all reasonable goals in the 1998 World Cup.
A good storyteller understands every important part of what he or she is really trying to convey, and Bennett’s choice of dividing episodes by subject and time is a smart method. The next few episodes focus on the team’s coach, some memorable moments during friendlies and qualifying rounds, and deep explorations of some of the individual players. Bennett’s interviews are smart and well-thought-out, and the responses add depth to his own style and delivery. There are several points of conflict between different people in this story he’s telling, and he always does an excellent job of making sure everyone’s perspective is heard.
I’m finding myself more and more enamored with soccer as a sport. I’ve watched a few World Cup matches, and I’m fully in support of Atlanta’s record-breaking MLS team. I’m still not all the way to being a full soccer fan yet, but Bennett’s podcast is pushing me in the right direction. I’d recommend American Fiasco to anyone like me who wants to learn more about the history of the world’s most popular sport. I’ll go even further than that, though: for anyone who enjoys history, good storytelling, or podcasts in general, the set of episodes that make up American Fiasco are well worth your time.
