“US vs. Yugoslavia”: True confession: Despite the disrespect for televised soccer I offered in this space last week, I admit that I’ve watched fragments of some of the World Cup matches and found myself strangely entranced. I do not, however, attribute this to the plodding game itself but rather to the novelty of it, not to mention that the games tend to be on during the workday. I am also a big fan of acting, good and bad, and soccer provides as much of that as the average sitcom: My enduring image of TV soccer will be of players writhing in apparently epic pain then, after the fouls they were angling for did or did not get called, popping up and rejoining play, healthy as a salad. I also confess that, though I was rooting for a tie at the end, I found it bizarrely satisfying to watch the U.S. lose to Iran on Sunday, not because of any identification with a religious movement but because ABC’s announcers were such bald-faced apologists for poor U.S. play. That loss assured the team’s elimination from the world tournament; so today’s last-gasp game (2 p.m., WLS-Ch. 7) means next to nothing to the team, except, perhaps, as a mood elevator for the plane ride home. It is also one last chance for ABC-ESPN to recoup its investment in the broadcasting rights, the value of which will plummet here after the Yanks go marching home, confident that they would have won if only the game were American football.
