U.S. Soccer – The Metric System Of Sports

The World Cup starts Thursday, but I’m still waiting for the renaissance this country’s been pitching me for the better part of 2 decades.

I didn’t play soccer growing up.  I know, it almost seems a rite of passage for every kid this side of…well…everywhere to spend at least one youthful Fall running aimlessly amongst his/her peers, chasing a soccer ball amidst a chorus of overzealous parental guidance.  But not me.  Not this kid.  I chose football in the fall, basketball in the winter months, and “America’s Pastime” on the dusty diamonds during the dog-days of this country’s summer.  Sure, I played soccer at school and during after-school activities that quenched my competitive thirst, but I found it marginally entertaining and never saw the draw to the sport most of the world is and has been consumed by.

Yet, since I’ve been old enough to ingest what the sports world continuously feeds me, sentiment has suggested that Soccer was on the rise, and America would one day rule it.

I’m still waiting.

While “we” have made strides – albeit small ones – since my adolescence, and for the most part regularly qualify for the world’s premiere soccer event, the United States is still an afterthought in the conversation of the world’s elite, and hopes of competing with the perennial powers of international futbol are lost amidst the mediocrity U.S. Soccer’s been drowning in for the entirety of my life.

Last week the United States Soccer Coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, ruffled some red, white, and blue feathers with comments detrimental to his team.  In a December interview with The New York Times, Klinsmann said America “…cannot win this World Cup.  Realistically, it is not possible.”  He later backed his argument and defended his decision to cut icon Landon Donovan, citing the United States’ backwards way of doing things, in addition to the means by which he hopes to change things long term.

And that’s what this country’s soccer culture needs.

In years past, I’ve watched and listened to our soccer community preach of what was to come, regarding the game and our role in it.  It was always, “we’re getting better, the sport’s growing, it’s only a matter of time.”  It reminded me of my elementary school days, when teachers taught the Metric System and lectured us on the inevitability of the worldwide standard becoming our standard as well.  Three decades later, ounces, pounds and gallons continue to thrive, and U.S. Soccer continues to look-on from a distance at the legitimate competition necessary to contend.

Jurgen Klinsmann offers what I’ve pined for since I sat on the periphery of such conversations for years:  A European presence.  After all, if you want to beat the best, your best course of action is to learn from them.  Klinsmann is running from the individualistic approach our sports culture’s become, and is attempting to reprogram our players via a team-first culture.  It’s no longer about what you’ve done in the past, but more so about what you’re capable of in the future.  And I love it!  We may not have the individual talent to compete with the Brazil and Germany’s of the world, but with the right attitude and system we might be able to at least scare them a time or two and eventually pull the type of upset which to this day puts the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team on its own pedestal.

If we ever hope to genuinely compete with the best soccer has to offer, we need our best athletes playing the game.  And I’m not sure how that happens.

Does the ongoing concussion conversation scare kids from football?  Does the MLS take a more prominent role amongst our country’s major professional sports?  And do the riches afforded those playing soccer at the European level trickle-down to those on American soil?  All legitimate questions regarding the growth of the game in the U.S., and all necessary scenarios if ever we’re to make that next step.

I may not have played much soccer, but I recognize its appeal.  I may not watch it much, but I’m aware of its popularity.  And I may not like our chances in this year’s World Cup, but it doesn’t mean I won’t be rooting for the success most have already ruled out.  I want us to be good, but in spite of what I have and continue to be told, we aren’t and we don’t seem to be making noticeable strides towards it.

The World Cup starts tomorrow, but for Americans…it’s actually still a long ways off.

Regardless, good luck.  We need it.