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designated players
letter from glasgow
The new Glasgow Science Centre and Glasgow Tower viewed from the top of the Gilbert Scott Building, Glasgow University.
I’ve mentioned repeatedly how I’ve worked to include European viewpoints on American soccer, and more specifically how I’ve not been totally successful in that cause. I’ve long thought these outside-looking-in viewpoints could help give some perspective and context to the internal battle that I feel at times rages more often than not like some religious face-off, where opinions seldom if ever even stand a chance to change. All of which is why I’m happy to share with you an e-mail I received today from a stranger in Scotland. Peter’s thoughts on the state of our game are after the jump…
Hi,
I’ve just spent a bit of time on the website, and I’m really impressed with what your doing with regards to giving people an accurate view of American Soccer. I’m a student in Glasgow (Scotland) and as you can imagine (Beckham) the MLS has been in the news here over the last couple of weeks. This got me thinking about U.S. soccer, and if it will finally become cool to be a soccer fan in the U.S.
I have a bit of an interest in U.S. soccer for two reasons. One, Claudio Reyna became my favorite player as a kid when he signed for my team, Glasgow Rangers. He had a superb attitude, great stamina, and most of all, he seemed to let himself get caught up in the Old Firm rivalry - Rangers Vs Celtic. This went a long way to endearing him to the Rangers fans!
Reason #2 is the US MNT. I work weekends in a Gym and Pool which is joined on to a hotel in Glasgow. Towards the end of last year the US MNT stayed in the hotel for a week leading up to their friendly with Scotland. I chatted briefly to some of the guys in the squad and was really surprised by their friendliness; the coaches were also really friendly and humble about what they were doing. Bearing in mind that Scotland hasn’t qualified for a major tournament since France ‘98 (although we did beat France 1-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier last year) the U.S. guys seemed almost subservient to the Scots, and the way your guys were talking about it was as though there were almost apologetic about being over here to play football.
This really surprised me, and I found it oddly endearing that a country that did so well at WC 2002 still regarded themselves as football novices. In the last year or two I have seen various high profile football teams such as Inter Milan and Benfica, and many Rangers and Celtic players stay in adjoining rooms. These guys are usually notable for there stand-offishness and arrogance, so the U.S. guys were really refreshing. The whole experience of seeing them at work led me to buy a shirt and support them at W.C 2006!
One thing, which I have noticed from speaking to your coaches and players and browsing your blog, is the undercurrent of negativity. You guys seem to be downbeat about soccer in your country and I suppose I just want to tell you that it’s not all doom and gloom. Over here in Europe the MLS is not actually regarded as a Mickey Mouse league. MLS games are broadcast on channel 5 albeit in the middle of the night, and you might be surprised about how much we know about your game. Mo Johnstone is a high profile guy here – he was the first player since the fifties to play for both Rangers and Celtic) - and the national papers sometimes print pieces on how he is faring in America. Reyna was obviously a big name in Glasgow, and he regularly talked about U.S. football, as do the likes of McBride, Demerit, and Bocanegra. You guys are there at every major tournament, and your certainly not taken lightly. Most Europeans see you as being athletic, disciplined, and likely to cause an upset.
All this being said, I can see how you might become disheartened when the majority of journalists, etc, in America treat football as a joke. Your article about the Colorado columnist’s opinions regarding Beckham’s arrival showed the disrespect.
We don’t understand how anyone can really enjoy basketball (being exceedingly tall is half the game, no?), but me aside, we don’t ridicule it! And American football speaks for itself (the games are on for 37 hours despite the ball only being in play for 60 minutes! Why???)
There really are a lot of people in Europe who would love to see football catch on in the U.S. It really is the final frontier football-wise. With help from the entire football industry, U.S football can become ‘cool’. Expectations just need to be tempered and patient. Call it the Adu effect. He was pushed forward as the U.S. Rooney when in reality he looks very ordinary. I doubt that he would make any premiership reserve team, but he is still very young.
Perhaps the U.S.’s insular nature is what prevents you from embracing football. I know most people in the U.S. don’t travel abroad, and maybe a ‘foreign’ game sits ill at ease with traditional American sports fans, but I can only point to Australia for proof that things can change. Football players in Australia were derided as girls by the media and seen as unmanly by the man on the street. W.C 2006 changed everything. Thousands took to the streets to watch the matches and the players became national heroes. One can only hope…
Anyway I just thought that I’d email you to say how much I enjoy the blog and to let you know you have a lot to be positive about! Think about us… Scotland invented the game (not England); most clubs in our country are well over 100 years old; we have 8 daily papers, each devoting their whole sports section to football; every boy in the country plays football at school and supports a team; The Rangers and Celtic have 50 and 60,000-seat stadiums sold out for every home game, and we have still never been beyond the first round of a world cup!!!
Feel free to post this on the blog if you like.
Good luck for the future!
Best wishes,
Peter
wilablog
on Jan 24th, 2007 - 4:06pm
Wow. That is an awesome letter. I found it really fascinating, and at times inspiring. Thanks for sharing and thanks to Peter for such a well thought out and well written letter.
Madkow
on Jan 24th, 2007 - 4:08pm
Very nice!! It is very refreshing to hear the thoughts of someone abroad concerning US soccer, and positive at that. The US is still not there when it comes to being regarded as one of the Elite, but we are making strides.
Always enjoy your writing Spangler!
alex whyte
on Jan 24th, 2007 - 11:00pm
“Insuler”?
We’re the same people everybody bitches about invading Europe all summer in places like Picadilly Circus in London, the Left Bank, High Street in Edinburgh, Tuscany…
We’ve got a lot of sports here and many leagues (Scotland have so many leagues?) and lots of competition for attention and soccer has been beaten in the race for fans for decades by crap leagues.
…But it is coming on strong now.
Don Ricardo
on Jan 25th, 2007 - 8:33am
Thanks, Peter. Association “SOCCER” Football in the USA has been totally disrespected. There have been anecdotes of football being played here since the 1860’s— LONG BEFORE our “American” sports!! The Colleges and Media wanted Soccer dead because it competed with their “new, manly, American” re-creations. We’ll get there. Millions of US soccer players and fans can’t be wrong!
The TRUE ‘World’s Game’!
Matt
on Jan 25th, 2007 - 6:01pm
I read your Bio for the first time today and started reading your blogs. I’m an American that loves the sport of soccer. I get on Xbox live just so I can chat with guys from Europe about the sport. I play pretty much year round (indoor here leaves something to be desired).
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to pass to other others my passion for the game. But I get a lot of “I don’t really get soccer” or “soccer is boring…” So when I got the follow email forward it pretty much summed it up. Most soccer fans that read this really agree and find the humor in it. So I thought I might pass it along to you (I’m sure you already get a million emails a day) so you can get a laugh out of the truth too.
In the early 90’s, I used to partially own and run an indoor soccer facility in Northern Virginia.
Why that would give me much of an insight into why soccer has not made any great strides in North America, I’m not quite sure.
But that ain’t gonna prevent me from trying!
So here are the reasons why I think soccer is not a very popular sport in America:
* Americans don’t like uninterrupted play.
Let me start with this anecdote: a few years ago, I was in France with an American friend of mine who loved the Tour de France. After hearing that it was going to go not too far from where we were, he asked me to take him and see it. But there were two problems: 1. it was still a 3-hour car ride away (6 hours round trip) and 2. it was a flat stage, meaning that we would only see the racers for something like a half minute.
No matter, he wanted to go. So there we go, driving for 3 hours, then waiting 2 hours for the Tour to arrive. Then the peloton came. 30 seconds later, it was all over. To say the least, I was a bit frustrated. But you know what? My friend couldn’t have enjoyed himself more.
That’s when I understood American sports: a very short, very intense moment, then a long break. Take football, for example: each action lasts an average of 6 seconds. Then there is a long break, followed by another short burst of action. Total actual play in a 3-hour football game: about 12 minutes!
* It’s a team game: Americans prefer individualistic games.
Of course, you’ll tell me that football or baseball are team games. But come on! in football, the team is only there to serve just 4 players: the quarterback, the running back, and the receivers. And each play only features 2 of theses players, at most. Linebackers almost never touch the ball. Sure, they have a role, but it’s a supporting role. In soccer, on the other hand, it’s hard to imagine a situation where several players would not touch the ball for an entire game.
* Americans like game stats: soccer doesn’t have any.
Look at baseball: that’s pretty much all it’s about. Numbers. Americans have to be able to read a box score to make sense of a game. They have to be able to compare games, players, eras. In soccer, most stats are meaningless. Although that won’t prevent Americans from trying: after the World Cup games on Direct TV, they give you the total number of passes per team, and the accuracy percentage! (For the record , during France-Portugal, Portugal made 79% of 549 passes versus 77% of 395 for France!)
* Soccer is for average-size people
Americans don’t resent the physically advantaged for succeeding, regardless of skills. If a 7-footer scores a basket on a 6′2 player, Americans have no problem cheering them on. Same thing when a 350-pound lineman obliterates a 200-pound quarterback. As size or bulk doesn’t give much of an advantage to a soccer player, we seem to have a tendency to prefer that egalitarian approach.
* Americans love order and precision
Soccer games are not always very precise. Time keeping, for example, is approximate. And free kicks are not always taken from the exact point of a foul. In a basketball game on the other hand, time is kept to the 10th of a second. In football, inches matter.
* Fair-play
When a basketball player fouls another one hard, he just walks away, and won’t help the other guy get back on his feet. In football, if a quarterback has a hand injury, that’s often where the linebackers will try to knock him down. No such thing in soccer, where players help each other off their feet. When a soccer player is injured, the player with the ball will deliberately put the ball out of bounds. When play resumes, the opposing team will simply give back the ball to the team that had to lose it. Say what you want, but in my opinion, that’s unthinkable in American sports. They would think it’s for sissies!
Anyway, that’s my opinion of why soccer is not about to take the U.S. by storm.
Manny
on Jan 25th, 2007 - 9:00pm
Matt, I think some of your points have merit. However, regarding fairplay you are off. If you watched enough American football or basketball most players will help players that they fouled/tackled up. I’m saying all of them do, but neither do all soccer players. (Billy Thatcher anyone?)
The 2 biggest complaints I hear from most soccer haters are as follows:
1) Everyone playing for/in America sucks.
Simply put, Americans demand the best of the best to be playing in our leagues. If La Liga was transported to the US the attendance at games would go up. I’d bet the house on it.
2) They all fake injuries and dive around like wimps.
This sadly, is a gross misread. While there are some who do dive. (Cristiano Ronaldo anyone?) Most Americans don’t realize that it is in fact against the rules of the game. FIFA and leagues around the world need to be more stringent in enforcing this rule.
Part 2 of that is harder to translate. Most people don’t see to understand that if you are running full speed and someone slides in front of you and you lose your feet and hit the ground, you are gonna get at least a little winded. That is the #1 thing I bring up to people who “hate” on “wimp” soccer players. I invite them to run as fast as they can and let me tackle them and tell me how quick they wanna bounce back up. Most leave with at least a little more appreciation for the physicality of the sport. Hell, most people here reacted best to McBride getting his nose broken in WC ‘06, they were able to relate to the toughness better.
Rodrigo
on Jan 26th, 2007 - 8:12am
Good show. A wonderfully respectful and honest letter that shows not only the growing international respect for American soccer (growing faster than domestically), but it shows a lot about your character. You are a great representative of the fans of this wonderful game.
seeds
on Jan 26th, 2007 - 8:37am
interesting, honest letter. It’s always interesting to see oneself from another point of view. I visited your country once, absolutely stunning, beautiful, and the most hospitable fun-loving, self-critical, people I’d met.
peter
on Jan 26th, 2007 - 5:21pm
the comment sbout the u.s being insular was not an insult! it’s just a well known fact that most americans don’t travel overseas.scotland does not in fact have other leagues which is the point i was trying to make- with all the competition for attention u.s soccer faces you have already acheived more in the W.C than scotland!
i’m really glad a couple of you seemed to take something out of the letter.
MLS original fan
on Jan 27th, 2007 - 6:23pm
Peter,
wow! what an excellent article. thank you for the pat on the back. being catholic you know where i stand with your rivalry across the pond.
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