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Photo: Graham Green
Don’t make the same error in the sporting arena as you did in the political one.
by Richard Fleming, Colorado Rapids announces and veteran BBC Football Journalist
The clamor for Jurgen Klinsmann’s head in the wake of back-to-back World Cup qualifying losses was to be expected, particularly among those long-since baying for his blood.
Losing 4-0 in Costa Rica was an embarrassment, and one which you occasionally suffer in sport. The 2-1 home defeat by Mexico was ‘one of those things’. It happens.
We’re told that there is no ‘i’ in team. That is unless you are the coach or the manager, and until things go horribly wrong. It’s then that the players often get a pass, while the coach or manager is relieved of their duties.
I’ve witnessed it again and again with the England team. Fall short. Sack the manager. (Repeat over and over). It’s a tactic which temporarily appeases the fans, and gives the media a sense that they got their way, but the reality is often that issues run a great deal deeper than the actions of one person. After all, England remain pretty average.
“The belief that there is a ‘ton of talent’ for any would-be Klinsmann successor, as insisted by colleagues, seems a stretch.”
Entitlement and arrogance can often go hand in hand. English football has been guilty of this for generations; assuming they have the divine right to succeed, assuming smaller nations are inferior, and assuming teams with low-profile players on less money and at lesser clubs have no right to be their equal. The fact remains that international football is – the odd exception aside – a much more even playing field these days.
Many reasons have been mooted for the heavy loss in Costa Rica:
- Players lacked fight.
- They quit on the coach.
- Wrong players were selected.
- Players were played out of position.
Not once did I see somebody suggest that maybe, just maybe, the players were not good enough, that the players simply lacked ability, or that they were undone by a more superior opponent. Costa Rica were World Cup quarter-finalists after all.
It’s often tough to accept that you’re second best, particularly when (insert incredulous tone) ‘the opposition was only Costa Rica!’ But that’s the first, all-important, step toward accepting your shortcomings and working toward making improvements based on the harsh reality, as opposed to being blinded by an over-inflated, deluded view of a position that doesn’t exist.
Again, I speak from experience, and one who has since seen the light …
Having a healthy league is no guarantee of having a fighting-fit national side, with the Premier League and my mother country a perfect example. And gone are the days when the needs of a domestic league proved advantageous to the national associations. The cosmopolitan nature of many leagues around the world is part of its attraction, but it is an approach which has been accused of stifling the opportunities of home-based players. Plus, let’s not forget, the Costa Rica squad included Kendall Waston, Johan Venegas, Christian Bolaños, Rodney Wallace and Ronald Matarrita, all of whom play or have played in MLS. They’ve been educated in the ways of the USA.
Moving on, and maybe I’m missing something, but the belief that there is a ‘ton of talent’ for any would-be Klinsmann successor, as insisted by colleagues, seems a stretch. And what is meant by ‘talent’? CONCACAF-level talent, or world-class talent? Because the two are very, very different.
For the USA to satisfy the masses they need to be producing the latter, but that remains a slow process in a country where youth soccer is big business and access to such a simple sport is hampered by the ability to pay staggeringly vast sums. I’ve said it before, but a sport which began as an outlet for the working classes of Europe and South America is very much a middle-class sport in the USA.
Regionally, the United States is a big fish in a small, CONCACAF pond, and one which is pretty much assured of a place at each and every FIFA World Cup, and the occasional Confederation Cup as well. All very safe, and all very secure.
“The cry of ‘we should be beating these sides’ is a phrase dripping with arrogance and lacking in respect”
So, what do you want, USA? The odd Gold Cup success here or there? Qualifying for the World Cup and pushing for the Round of 16? Because that’s what you have already, and it’s a lot more than most among FIFA members. Don’t be greedy. Do you crave more? Do you see the ‘minnows’ of the region as being beneath you? Are you above being brought down to size every so often? Does this fall into the entitlement category, or the one marked ‘burning ambition’?
Sporting humiliation is character building. Crikey, England lost to a bunch of amateurs at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil! And, while the cry of ‘we should be beating these sides’ is one I’ve spoken in the past, it is a phrase dripping with arrogance and lacking in respect. It is an attitude which fails to acknowledge that smaller nations have it within them to compete, and it’s wrong.
As things stand, the USA – along with Mexico – dominates the region and hosts almost every Gold Cup. But I sense the USA feels it has become stuck in neutral under Klinsmann, while neighboring nations have got their act together and closed the gap. If there is talent-a-plenty, and I’m prepared to be wrong on this, then the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Individually ok, but collectively a touch shambolic.
Bruce Arena – step forward. Or back?
If I’m honest, I don’t see a magic wand being waved any time soon. Sure, I suspect the USA will qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, despite losing the first two of 10 games, but the underlying frustration – and I do think this stems from a misguided feeling of being superior – will surface again under Klinsmann’s successor.
Now, with some self-proclaimed experts suggesting Klinsmann be shown the door, attention swiftly switched to a possible successor. The name of Bruce Arena popped up more than once, the man whose contract was not renewed by US Soccer after the disappointment of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. I’ll say this, ‘it’s never healthy to go back’. Time can make misty-eyed fools out of us all.
Don’t make the same error in the sporting arena as you did in the political one.
Choose your candidates wisely. If Klinsmann is indeed on borrowed time, then recognize that you have the entire global talent pool to consider. Bruce Almighty may be the answer. He knows international football, and will be familiar with the workings of US Soccer. But, let’s not forget, he ultimately ran out of steam a decade ago. The game moves on, and so should the USA.
