If this were a British tabloid and England had lost 3-0 to the Czechs in its opening World Cup game, there wouldn’t be enough hours in a day to read all the analysis. In reality, we need only a few minutes to dissect this match.
After watching hundreds upon hundreds of high school soccer games the last 10 years, the failure of Team Uncle Sam is that it looks like Team Nephew Sam.
We believe the U.S. players are faster than the Europeans. They’re not.
We believe the U.S. is more athletic. It’s not.
We believe the U.S. is big enough. It’s not (I know the U.S. has 6-foot 4-inch Oguchi Onyewu. That’s not enough.)
Face it. The cream of U.S. athletes is siphoned off by football and basketball. Soccer–at least on the men’s side–seems to be left to those who may not be big enough, tall enough or fast enough.
