by Keith Peters
So here it is. The World Cup, a sport so popular in America that a Harris Poll in early February, 4 1/2 months prior to the opening World Cup match, showed that: 1) Only 25 percent of the U.S. public knew that the World Cup is a soccer competition. 2) Only 20 percent knew it is to be played in the United States. 3) Only 18 percent knew it's to be played this year. That means, despite the fact the sport carries more significance to the rest of the world than the Olympics, America still is a soccer Siberia. We have the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, and World Series. The rest of the world has the World Cup, which creates more interest worldwide than football, basketball and baseball combined.
"It has a lot to do with nationalism," says Vincent Mauro, the lone U.S. referee at the World Cup in Italy four years ago. "You lose a soccer game, and it's like you lose a war. Soccer is an outlet for frustration. In a poor country, if your national team wins you celebrate for a week, and all your problems go away."
And if you don't even qualify for the big show, like the U.S. has failed to do in 10 of the previous 14 World Cups, pro wrestling has a better chance of drawing fans in this country.
That's probably why ABC moved the kickoff of Team USA's opening match Saturday against Switzerland (to 8:30 a.m. PDT) in order to televise the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament that afternoon. Can't have golf interrupted by a silly old soccer match, can we?
The apparent shortage of soccer success in this country can be attributed to many things, lack of development being one of them. While soccer has been played in the United States for more than 100 years, the philosophies and styles of the "modern game" have been present for less than two decades.
And then there is the lack of opportunity for American players.
"Up to the age of 16, our players can stay with anybody," said Stanford men's soccer coach Colin Lindores, an assistant coach on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team that competed in Barcelona. "But, once they get beyond that age, our players are not exposed to the game enough.
"When kids get around 16, 17 years of age, there's always a dropoff in participation, whether they're recognizing the fact that they're not as good a soccer player or baseball player--there's more to their life."
Then there's the fact the sport of soccer doesn't give the U.S. players the opportunity to really improve.
"You need better competition," Lindores said. "Foreign teams, they have players who go in and are trained on a regular basis by professionals. And their purpose is to become a professional soccer player. We don't have that attitude with enough players."
Lindores pointed out that, at the college level, that high school players coming in are used to playing 50-60 games a year minimum. "And we offer in nine months an opportunity for our college players to play 25 games. That's assuming the competition is good in all 25 games. In this game, the way it's set up, you must play 50-60 games a year if you're going to improve. And we don't give them that opportunity."
While offering more games is out of his hands, Lindores has a job during World Cup matches at Stanford Stadium that could help the U.S. national soccer program in future World Cups.
Lindores is one of 18 "scouts"--two will be at each World Cup venue--who will be gathering information for a substantial report to be produced by FIFA, the world governing body of the sport.
"It's to look at the trends," said Lindores, "and whether we can pick up some ideas from the World Cup, as to how they (the teams at Stanford) went about training for their teams, selection of their teams, where the coaches are from, how much experience they have with individual players--anything we can gleen from these teams, maybe to make us a better nation for soccer. That's what we're looking for."
Lindores and partner Jimmy Conway, who played professionally in England and Ireland, will be in the press box at Stanford Stadium for Monday's opening game between Brazil and Russia at 1 p.m. (and the next five matches there), charting the game while primarily looking at offensive and defensive tendencies of both teams.
On defense, for example, Lindores said he might look where a team picks up an opponent (high or low), do they run a lot? Chase down high balls? Force the opposition into making mistakes? Do they drop back, allow the other team to bring the ball up and then trap them in a position where the defensive team can win the ball?
And on offense?
"We'll look at what they do in the attack," Lindores said. "When they have the ball and the goal-scoring opportunities. How they got to the goal, and what do they do with it. And restarts, like corner kicks."
All the matches will be videotaped so Lindores and Conway can go back and chart the areas that couldn't be done during the game.
"We're not the only country (performing this task)," Lindores said. "Every country is looking for that little edge. Naturally, you look to teams like Brazil and Germany--the ones on the top of the heap. How did they get there? And how can we do it?"
Lindores also will be responsible for interviewing the coach of each team playing at Stanford, asking them about their style and how their style of play has been developed. The reason is simple: The U.S. has no style of play.
"No, they do not," Lindores confirmed. "We sort of play a game that, at the moment, I'd say is changing. In the last 15 years, our game has gone from an emphasis on fitness and excessive running to a game where fitness is still vital to our success, but we're working more toward exercising technique and tactics."
Still, that may not be the road to success for U.S. teams in the future.
"A lot of coaches fail to realize their position in the overall scheme of things," Lindores said. "A classic example: Brazil won the World Cup in 1958. They come out with a system of 4-2-4. Because they were successful, everyone copied them. But the reason there were successful was the players they had that fit this system. And they had two midfielders who could cover great distances.
"Now you ask youth players to play the same system and cover the same distances--it's not practical. So they failed to understand that it's not the system, it's the players. You look at the players, what you have--the pluses and minuses--then you make a system based on that. Those strengths and weaknesses. You don't say, 'here's a round hole, now let's put a square peg in it--it's going to fit somehow or the other.' "
While it appears Lindores prefers to start with a strong foundation and build up, he'll perform his task at Stanford's World Cup venue to the best of his ability--hoping perhaps that his information gathering will help improve soccer in this country.
After all, that's been his goal all along.
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