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Confederations Cup Debate: US Still Earning Respect One Game At A Time
The United States is still struggling for respect from the traditional powers. Maybe an historic win over Spain will earn the Americans the respect they deserve.
25-Jun-2009 2:25:43 PM
By Greg Lalas
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa—The moment the final whistle blew to cement the United States’ remarkable 2-0 upset victory over Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinal here, Spanish captain Carlos Puyol stalked off down the tunnel. He didn’t shake anyone’s hand, didn’t acknowledge the crowd, didn’t even glance back at the field. Just stomped off like a child who didn’t get his way.
Puyol, a fiercely proud competitor, was obviously angry about Spain’s loss and performance, but normally you’d expect the captain of a big side to show enough respect for his opponent to shake their hands. But that wasn’t the case. He turned his back on the US.
As he walked off, you could practically hear the Spaniards’ excuses already being prepared: The Confederations Cup doesn’t mean anything. The Spanish players were fatigued from a long season in Europe. It was cold in Bloemfontein and the field was slick and the teams have to play so many games in such a short period of time.
Spare me. These arguments are some of the same ones the Egyptians used when they collapsed last Sunday. The same ones the Italians used when they bowed out after a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Brazil. And now the same ones the Spaniards will use.
After the game, a journalist from the Canary Islands whom I’d met earlier in the day caught up with me at a Cuban nightspot not far from the stadium. Fueled by a few ego-soothing mojitos, he berated me about how “Spain had played football and the US had played rugby.” He brushed off the US with a flick of his cigarette-stained hand. I laughed. It was so predictable.
Where does this lack of respect, this attitude that the US is somehow not worthy, come from?
Well, for one, it comes from the United States itself. Americans possess an unapologetic self-confidence in everything we do, sometimes to our detriment, often to our credit. This is especially true in football, Even in the face of the nation’s poor record in international football, we believe that we can compete and overcome the odds. Plus, we’re not afraid to speak about that belief. I myself have been accused of this many times and, you know what, it’s true. I plead guilty. I am American, and it’s in the American’s nature to expect the US to be compete with the best, no excuses.
For another, however, is a nervousness I sense in the world’s traditional football power bases when it comes to the US. Fans from counties like Italy, Germany, Argentina, etc., love to slam American players for being naïve and unsophisticated. They love to laugh at MLS. They love to put down the national team by denigrating CONCACAF as a region of banana republics and Mexico, which is a fading star anyway.
In truth, methinks they doth protest too much. Because in the back of their minds, they know that, like with most things, when the United States puts its mind to something, particularly in sport, they tend to succeed. The recognition that the US has come a long way in the last two decades, is still on the upward slope of development, and is beginning to attract some of the country’s top tier athletes is a daunting prospect.
“Our success is a product of many things,” US coach Bob Bradley said after the Spain game. “MLS is important in terms of growth. We’ve had players who chose to go overseas, and that’s important. As we continue to have success as a national team playing top teams, this is how things grow. There’s no way to skip steps. We understand that, we’re proud that we’re moving forward. We look forward to touching new steps in the future.”
The future. I think we saw a hint of that future against Spain.
Because the truth of the matter is the US not only beat Spain—European champions, winners of a record 15 matches in a row, poster boys for beautiful free-flowing football—but outplayed them. They didn’t bunker in hoping to withstand the onslaught, the way Iraq did. They didn’t run around wildly hoping to hound Spain into mistakes, the way South Africa did. No, the US played Spain “straight up,” as one of my fellow US journalists put it.
They attacked intelligently, defended in concert, and showed the kind of heart necessary to pull off an upset of this magnitude. Yes, they had a little luck—like when the referee didn’t whistle Landon Donovan for a penalty on Xavi—but tactically, physically, and mentally, the US were the better side on the night. No objective observer can say they didn’t fully deserve the result.
Too bad Puyol was unwilling to show the proper respect for that. Then again maybe his storming off should be taken as the ultimate sign of respect.
Greg Lalas is the editor of Goal.com Magazine.
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