What other sporting competition occurs every four years, involves 194 nations, requires over two years of qualification, involves 847 matches contested over six continents, and includes qualification stages that are viewed by nearly 19 million spectators? The Beautiful Game! The World Cup!
The World Cup is truly a world-wide competition. A sporting event that gives even the smallest of countries an opportunity to compete on the world stage. Soccer or futbol has no regard for size of country or size of body. As a result, the little “minnows” have a chance to excel and to make the world stage their playground.
On the other side of the ball are the “sharks.” The soccer powerhouses. The footballing nations that take on the roll of the school-yard bully. The bully is always in your face, always at the front of the line, always walking through you instead of around you. The shark is the bully who just seems to get bigger and bigger, better and better each and every year.
So will the 2006 World Cup in Germany be a championship in which the minnows have a chance to out-swim the sharks or will it be the sharks who swallow up the minnows? This tournament is comprised of many minnows – the underdogs, the teams from small countries or from nations that don’t have the futbol recognition of the sharks. Unflashy but passionate soccer countries like Australia, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Japan, Ghana and Tunisia.
Or will it be a World Cup of the sharks, the soccer dictators, the teams that have historically swallowed up the minnows without chewing? Sharks like five-time champion Brazil, Argentina, Italy, England, France, Germany and Portugal. Countries where soccer is money and money is soccer. Nations where daily newspapers write about nothing other than the failures of the national team and nations who are on a virtual search for their controversial version of Barry Bonds. Countries where players must escape for vacations because they can’t relax at home without paparazzi or supporters shoving cameras in their face.
Over the next four weeks, many of us will set our alarm clocks to the referee’s first whistle of the day. We will be sleep deprived, but the adrenaline will kick in as soon as that first television-shaking tackle is executed or the first “goooaaaaaaaal” beats the diving goalkeeper and stretches the back of the net.
Soccer or futbol is about national pride. And the World Cup is about national bragging rights over the next four years. Over my 14 years of refereeing on the international stage, I have witnessed the passion and pride first hand. I have witnessed stadiums filled to excess capacity three hours prior to kickoff with a sea of team colors engulfing the stands. It is an amazing sight to see spectators sitting or should I say holding onto the rim of the stadium. What about the hundreds of spectators sitting atop the scoreboard with their dangling legs covering the lights or fans perched on trees surrounding the stadium with the hope of getting to see their team colors perform? On what other stage can one see the color and spirit of national pride on exhibit like it is during the World Cup?
In 2002, many sharks were out-maneuvered and out-played by the hungry minnows. The Korea/Japan Cup was a championship of the minnows. It was a tournament where the heart, passion and commitment of the little countries awoke the sleeping-giant sharks and led to history-making results.
Take the USA, Turkey, Korea, Japan and Senegal. Countries which don’t conjure up thoughts of soccer. These were the minnows who, at the time, were viewed as soccer “wannabes.” However, those minnows rose to the occasion and showed the sharks and the world that soccer was part of their sporting culture.
Over the next four weeks, which minnow will out-swim the sharks? Which team will be the surprise fixture of Germany? Will it be the USA? Will it be Mexico? Will it be Ecuador? Will it be Australia? Time will tell. Goals will count. Tackles will echo. Will your team be there? Stay tuned. We will all know for certain on July 9.
Reality Czech for the USA
Game One did not go as planned for the U.S. Looking for their first victory in a World Cup played in Europe, the Americans struggled against the Czech Republic. The U.S. could not generate offense and seemed in awe of the Czechs, the second-ranked team in the world. The speed and tenacity that are trademarks of the U.S. team were not evident.
The Americans needed a strong defensive effort to withstand the big, strong and physical attack of their opponent. The Czechs’ main forward, Jan Koller, a 6-7 colossus who is tied for the tallest player participating in the Cup, was an extremely difficult mark for the U.S. The Americans’ best hope for closing the striker down was 24-year-old defender Oguchi Onyewu, who stands only 6-3. The match-up featured Koller’s 68 national-team appearances against Onyewu’s 14. It was Koller’s extra four inches, however, that made the difference. Koller skied over the U.S. defense with a brilliantly-placed header in the fifth minute to give the Czechs a flood of early momentum.
Just before Koller’s goal, Onyewu received a yellow card. This was critical because the U.S. needed Onyewu’s physical play and stature to shut down Koller and other strikers. With the yellow-card caution, Onyewu had to change his tactics, and the complexion of the game also changed. He was forced to modify his game and give Koller and the other Czech attackers more space and, thus, more time to execute.
The game was void of any U.S. player stepping-up and making a difference. The team was flat. Phenomenal, world-class players like Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley were almost non-existent. As someone who gets to personally witness Donovan’s ability on a regular basis, it was evident he did not have his “usual” game. He did not get the ball and, consequently, his skill with the ball and his defining runs were missing. The result – few attacking opportunities for the U.S.
The red, white and blue now face a gigantic challenge – Italy. The Americans must find a way to regroup while finding the intensity and speed of play that were their trademark on the road to Germany. With Italy’s 2-0 defeat of Ghana on Monday, the U.S. must find a way to get back on track and it must hope for some help from one of the minnows, Ghana, as the fourth Group E team faces the Czech Republic in the next match-up.
