The Sports Truth

In a game that will go largely unnoticed by the American public, the United States beat its rival Mexico, 2-0, last Wednesday in front of a sellout, largely pro-Mexican crowd in Glendale, Ariz.

With the win, the United States extended its record at home against the “Tricolores” to 7-0-1, having not allowed the Mexicans to score a single goal in those eight games.

Including games in Mexico and neutral sites, the United States improved to 8-2-1 vs. Mexico since 2000, including the dramatic 2-0 win in the 2002 World Cup.

Last week’s game may have been played in the United States, but placing the game in the very Hispanic southwest was no coincidence. Were the game played in, say New Jersey, the chances of it selling out, unfortunately, would be slim.

The United States may remain undefeated at home, but besides the win-loss record, everything about this rivalry is tailored to the Mexican fans. Of course, this is in an effort to sell more tickets and improve ratings for the broadcast within the U.S., but the clear lack of interest and support for the national team is unfortunate.

Look, I’m not a huge soccer fan, I’ve never watched club soccer in Europe and despite having a thriving franchise in my backyard (the New England Revolution) I can’t get into Major League Soccer. But, there’s something intriguing about the U.S. national team that had me taping the game last night and watching it until 1:00 a.m. (the Duke/UNC game came first, of course).

After watching a very positive response to the U.S. during the 2006 World Cup this past summer, one hoped it would rope more people into following our national team. I haven’t seen the numbers yet, but I’m guessing the ratings for last week’s game were not even close to World Cup numbers.

Part of the problem is an obvious difference in approach to the game. When I told Sports Truth founder Levi Matthews that I wanted to go to Glendale to cover the match for the website, he looked at me with the cocked-head confusion of a dog and asked “isn’t it just a “friendly?” referring to the result-doesn’t-really-matter nature of the match.

Empirically, Levi was correct. But sadly, he missed the point of the match.

It’s no secret that Mexico was out to win the game, calling back almost every player from Europe it could in an effort to bring an “A” team to the United States for a shot at breaking their losing streak. U.S. Coach Bob Bradley was only a shade less aggressive, allowing stars such as Oguchi Onyewu and DeMarcus Beasley to stay in Europe.

Maybe the time I spent in Australia has a lot to do with this. In the summer and fall of 2000 (winter and spring for the Aussies), I got to spend five months in Sydney and immersed myself into their sporting culture. While I enjoyed their club rugby matches, what really got my attention was the energy the entire country invested into its national teams, specifically cricket and rugby.

I know neither of those sports are going to take off in the United States (nor would I really want cricket to) and by the same token, soccer is fighting an uphill battle in the upper 48. But going into a restaurant at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday and having the whole bar cheer in unison during an Australia vs. South Korea five-day cricket match was something I hoped the U.S. would embrace one day.

I feel as if the United States soccer team is something the general public can rally around. Maybe the boys won’t get the same support their European counterparts do during “friendly” matches, but it takes wins in matches like these to make the team more important internationally - that means more competitive, and thus, every subsequent match more exciting.

Here’s hoping.

Posted in Soccer