Waggy’s World-Cup Watchdog #1 – If only they took it seriously
I’m not a football man, never have been. I dislike the professional footballer in almost every way, and the type of person who worships it too. However there’s something about the world cup that piques the curiosity of even the most indifferent among us. And we all know what curiosity will bring you… a world cup party in your flat! So there I am sharing gasps and desperation with several others, exchanging comment on such footballing matters as; how dynamic our defenders were, or how Rooney wasn’t tracking back enough..etc.. when we tie 1-1 with United States’ soccer team. Not a result that took many by surprise, if our prediction league is anything to go by, and yet serious debate ensued.
The debate itself revolved around a central theme of talent. Pundits and fans alike seem to believe that Brazil ought to not only win every game they play, but to do so with a certain style. Now consider our 1-1 draw against USA – a country that has at some point dominated such a vast array of sports including the following; golf, swimming, snowboarding, gymnastics, athletics, boxing, basketball, ice hockey, baseball, and cycling.
My question is this. Is it that Brazilians are inherently better at football because they are biologically more suited to the sport? Or is it a simple case of being the most passionate about it. Surely if it’s the latter then it’s only a matter of time before USA become dominant in football too. My supposition is if USA realise how much money can be generated from being good at football, they’ll have all the “passion” they need. It’s then only a matter of time before resources catch up – and by this I mean; man power, facilities, sport science, youth development, investment and infrastructure.
With time, it won’t only be Brazil that lives with these expectations. Soon enough USA will have to contend with the same thing.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:55 am
They’d have to get the footballing lingo right first!
June 18th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Don’t worry – think we are safe on that front… Hosting the WC didn’t make a difference in terms of interest from them and I’d be surprised if they get it again for a generation…
June 18th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Not possible, we cannot commercialize it enough to make it interesting for the big people to put money behind it. And too many people who make a mockery of the sport with all these dives and people like Van Persie. Fans accept it as part of the game but in the States we are a lot harsher on people like that who play like that.
June 21st, 2010 at 9:39 am
Think this sums it up nicely!
http://maniacworld.com/John-Cleese%20Rants-Soccer-vs-Football.html
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Yo,
USA produces incredible athletes, the best of these play American football, the rest will play basketball/baseball athletics ect. I.E sports that the USA already dominate. All the money is in these sports, why would you choose to play “soccer” if you lived over there?
As popular as “soccer” becomes it will never top any of these. It seems like the USA have a huge population to pick footballers from but in actual fact the pool of talent they are left with is not as big as it appears. It’s the same reason we suck at tennis, football, rugby, athletics………
June 24th, 2010 at 9:32 am
The USA’s development in football is indeed an interesting debate. I can’t see ‘Soccer’ overtaking the rubbish sports they already play. And I’m not sure the commercial aspect of it is that appealling to them. Football is mainly played by and watched by Hispanics. These arn’t the AB1 consumers Budweier wants to target. Americans like to be the best and the most brash. This is why they play sports that hardly no other nation participates in. Remember when they lost the Baseball world finals( a pretty cool achievemnet for a sport played by only a handful of nations a fingernail of the size of the US). This was a bigger insult that not being able to find Bin Laden.
It’s much better being British and the highs and appauling lows we have to go through.It stretches emotions and pulls you into areas of disbelief no other nation can contemplate.
I think the headline in the New York Post sums it up ‘ USA beats England 1-1′
Brilliant!
July 7th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I find the irony in what Duncan has said about Americans being the best and brash coming from the most imperialistic nation in the past 300 years. I do not see how you can call all American sports rubbish when Football is called a sport when people are rewarded for diving and then it is accepted as being “part of the game.” In U.S. sports when someone is found to act in that way they are ridiculed and often fined for taking the piss of calling themselves an athlete. Now i know the Spanish and Portuguese teams have perfected this very well but the English are right behind that.
I think any nations has highs and lows and cannot say one is better than the other. Look at Ghana and how they must feel cheated from the world cup. I do applaud your national pride.
Any sport that is big in the U.S. tends to have a large base in the university level which is something the rest of the world has not been able to do. The high level of collegiate sporting in the U.S. is very apparent as worldwide people wear clothing supporting teams as well. Merchandising is great revenue for a school so it can grow. Look at Henley Royal regatta where the U.S. colleges come over and almost always dominate the rest of the field showing a different class.
Why football/soccer is not big in the U.S. come down to several key factors:
-High number of other already successful sports
-Lack of commercialisation of the sport
-Current nonsense in the sport
-level of excitement does not compare to that of American football, hockey, or even basketball