The Herald Bulletin

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July 1, 2009

Rick Teverbaugh: Soccer: Prove me wrong

It was certainly more predictable than the United States’ improbable run to the Confederations Cup final Sunday against Brazil.

After the U.S. team knocked off top-ranked Spain to get to the finals, it followed that with a 2-0 halftime lead against powerful Brazil, a team that hadn’t even been behind in the tournament until Sunday.

Despite the fact that the Americans gave up a goal in nearly less than a heartbeat of the second half on their way to a 3-2 loss, there are those who again are saying that this showing on a worldwide stage will go a long way toward turning more U.S. hearts and minds toward this sport.

That talk is something that would make the boy who cried wolf proud.

For most of my professional lifetime soccer fans and the media have been searching for that sign to turn a general lackadaisical attitude toward the sport in this country into something much more. It hasn’t happened yet.

Certainly soccer has its supporters, though I honestly believe that even many of those fans prefer playing or watching family and friends play rather than watching the sport on television or following it in print.

In 2002 the U.S. beat Mexico 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Nothing much changed. Before that, in the 1998 Gold Cup, the U.S. handed Brazil the only international defeat it owns over that country. It was still a status quo.

Even before that, in the 1994 World Cup, the U.S. topped Columbia 2-1 to reach the final 16. Same old, same old.

I was enthralled with the Confederations Cup match Sunday. The second half was some of the most excruciating sports minutes I’ve ever spent in front of a television. It was like that train wreck you just know is coming but you can’t tear yourself away.

It would be fantastic if that runner-up finish would bring this country to a soccer frenzy that would culminate next year with the 2010 World Cup. All other things being equal, I would pick soccer over several televised sports to watch. I can recite from memory the station number of the Fox Soccer Channel on my local cable lineup. That’s not the case with every sports station being offered.

This would be a time that it would please me to be wrong.

The U.S. will have a team capable of playing admirably in the World Cup. The team will be deserving of all of our support.

Yet it seems to me that baseball, tennis, the NBA draft and other summer sport pursuits will likely enthrall this nation once again. History repeats more often than most anyone likes to admit. I fear this will be another example.

Contact Rick Teverbaugh: 640-4886 or rick.teverbaugh @heraldbulletin.com.

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