He said, She said - thoughts on U.S. Soccer

I know I’m jaded, but that's beside the point. My point, to be more precise. I just finished watching the United States play Czech Republic in the 2006 FIFA World Cup (soccer, for those of you who are completely clueless), and can honestly think of no other way to describe the U.S.'s horrendous display of "effort" than utterly lackluster and disappointing - but here's the real bitch of it: why the hell weren't our guys ready to walk onto that field and wreak havoc upon anybody who might possibly stand in their way?

After decades of listening to international critics of the sport call the United States young, outmatched, under prepared, and just straight not as good as the rest of the world, we come out blazing in the 2002 World Cup. We left the world stunned and almost ready to eat their words with our Quarter Final finish and lights-out exceptional performance in the Elite Eight versus Germany. Even after our display of athleticism and accomplishment from the '02 World Cup, the United States has to listen to four more years of criticism about our international squad and our success and hard work is gradually turned into nothing more than a fluke by the time qualifiers come around for this 2006 world venue. And this time the US team talked themselves up. Landon Donovan has been all over TV interviews saying how the US is ready to prove that the world's top 10 teams is where we belong and that we need to be looked at as a threat on the world stage for international soccer. Bruce Arena was even quoted as saying that he's tired of preparation already, that he just wants to go show the world what the United States can do on soccer's world stage. We go into the WC'06 with a #5 world ranking, right behind our first opponent, Czech Republic, who just happen to be #4. And we play like we want nothing more than to be home playing XBOX. SOOO frustrating!

The thing that gets me about it is that, as a women's soccer fan and former player, I find myself getting really heated at the men's team when they show such poor effort on the international level. It’s really hard for me to jump on board with the men's fans who hide behind excuses like, "well the US is behind the rest of the world in men's soccer because it wasn't big here a long time ago like it was everywhere else in the world." How long do you need to catch up, guys? At what point will we be willing/able to admit that maybe our nation's soccer talent just lies in our women more so than our men.

My defensiveness surrounding women's soccer and our success at the international level kicks in almost instantly because I just hold the US Women's National Team at a higher level than I do our men. Naturally, I think, as I’m a woman. But it goes deeper than that. I’m tired of being compared to men's soccer - on every level. When our men do well, I’m tired of the arguments that men's soccer is more interesting than women and I'm tired of the chauvinistic musings of all those testosterone ridden men who staunchly maintain that the US Men could beat the US women in a match. Ya think?! Men and women are a different breed, and men's and women's soccer is a different game entirely. I think the men would win as well, but not without being exhausted and given a good run for their money - men are built bigger, faster, and stronger than women biologically. Men should beat women when pitted against each other in sport just based on physical attributes, but I’d be willing to bet the women had more finesse on the ball, team thinking, and strategic forethought than the men did. When our men do poorly, I’m tired of the women's team being brought into the argument out of no where saying that really, women's soccer only just started on the world stage in 1980, and that the US women have a huge advantage. What advantage? Its two separate games.

Someone very dear to me, who also happens to be a huge US men's soccer fan and also a player himself, just described today's loss perfectly: it is insulting to him as a fan of US men's soccer and a long time soccer player himself to see the US men come out so flat against the Czech Republic and play like they don't care. They should at least want to come out and shut everybody up and play like they have something to prove.

So, male soccer fans of the United States, don't worry about the women's team right now - they aren't the ones who just caught you flat and beat you 3-0 in your opening game of the World Cup. Why don't you pick something worth while to be concerned about - like the US men's team strategy or training procedures. In the meantime, maybe if you look through your chauvinism you could learn a thing or two from the women - like consistency.