Out For Kicks

The World Cup is the rest of world’s Super Bowl every four years. The passion and excitement generated by soccer in the rest of the world, where it’s more accurately called football, is part of people’s national identity. We have our own football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, which I think we stole from Canada. So we can spread our commitments around. Many other countries only have soccer. But the World Cup does bring out millions of American fans. Thousand have travelled to Qatar which may be one of the worst places on earth to hold such an event or any event. More on that latter. Faced painted and flag wearing fans here at home are jamming into sports bars in the middle of a weekday. I guess they’re working from home. Team USA has made it into the round of 16, the knock out bracket, lose and go home, for the first time in years. They play The Netherlands on Saturday at 10am. Sports bars will be opening early.

It’s my contention that soccer never caught on here because of two fundamental problems, too much running and not enough scoring. It’s great athletes racing up and down “the pitch”, that’s what they call the field, making great passes, hitting the ball with their head, trying to score. And that doesn’t happen a lot. Soccer scores are like pitching duels. 1-0 (they call 0 nil) 2-1, or the dreaded nil-nil draw. The USA got into the knock out bracket by beating Iran 1-nil when star midfielder Christian Pulisic scored and collided with the Iranian goalkeeper. Fans went crazy. Pulisic was writhing on the ground with what called a “pelvic contusion”. He had to be helped off the field. It looked like he was hit in the place no man wants to be hit. He was taken to the hospital and sent out a smiling picture promising he’ll be ready for Saturday’s game. He did clear up what everyone was wondering. He said he, “didn’t get hit in the balls.” Captain America is in tact.

Then there’s Qatar and FIFA, the governing body of world soccer. Most experts in the world of soccer say Qatar was not equipped to handle the World Cup. They spent ten years and hundreds of millions of dollars creating what amounts to a small city with about a half a dozen stadiums built by migrant workers under abusive conditions. To say nothing about their treatment of women and the gay and lesbian community. Despite this, Qatar was awarded the cup. FIFA has a reputation for corruption and taking bribes from countries desperate for the cup. The New York Times reports today that the United States Justice Department has announced indictments in a years long corruption investigation charging five members of FIFA’s board with taking bribes to award Russia and Qatar with the event. Russia hosted four years ago. Players were not involved in any of this, but it does taint what’s suppose to be an sporting event that brings the world together to celebrate competition and sportsmanship.

My exposure to soccer is watching “Ted Lasso” and “Welcome to Wrexham” the entertaining documentary series about actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhennery buying a low level soccer club in Wales. Both shows bring us the passion of players and fans to achieve a goal and show pride in their community. This is what most fans want. They want to wave their flags, cheer, and hug. They will pack that stadium in Qatar and those sports bars across the world and watch those Americans sprint up and down the pitch. History shows when you’re out for kicks you only need one.