World Cup: The soccerization of football in the USA is complete

In the minds of anyone who has followed world football for a while, the USA team has always been a bit odd. For starters, while the world plays football, the USA prefers to call it soccer. Next up, a world championship in US terms – be it baseball, basketball or american football - has always meant a tournament played with just it’s own city teams. Football, by stark comparison, is truly a global game – one understood and played by billions.

However, regardless of what name it goes by, if the outpouring on support in the USA is any indication perhaps the game has finally arrived in the land of the brave. In Chicago, some 20,000 people turned up to watch the USA vs Portugal game and chanted “I believe that we will win” – there were similar scenes all the states - in New York, in St Louis, in Los Angeles - and not just in the soccer pockets.

USA’s opening game against Ghana was also a rating hit. It drew over 11 million viewers and “averaged a 6.3 US HH rating, making it the highest-rated and most-viewed men’s soccer match – including 265 from the FIFA World Cup – on ESPN or ESPN2 on record,” According to Forbes.com.

USA is taking to soccer as it never has before and a lot of it is down to the way the team plays – they never give up and in Juergen Klinsmann, they have a coach who has taught them to believe in their abilities regardless of the opponent. Last night, with just about the final throw of the dice, Portugal earned themselves a slim chance of going into the last 16. Their goal in the 95th minute earned them a 2-2 draw against USA and also prevented Klinsmann’s team from advancing. But for most of the game, it was the Americans who were in command. Portugal took the early lead through Nani but then the stars and stripes brigade dominated the match. Jermaine Jones stunning shot equalized in the 64th minute and then Clint Dempsey’s stomach gave them the lead in 81st minute. By this time, Portugal looked beaten. Ronaldo, clearly struggling due to his troubled knee, had almost stopped chasing the ball – saving up energy for a final burst. In the dying moments of the game, he found the space and the will to burst down the right flanks and curl in the perfect cross for Varela to finish. The USA team seemed a little shocked by the turn of events nevertheless, they know that if they can turn in another solid performance, they will knock Portugal and Ghana out of the World Cup. After the game, Klinsmann said: “My job is to get everything done to get us into the round of 16, and that is what I’m going to do. There is no time now to have friendship calls. That time is done. Both teams go into this game and they want to win the group. So we go into this game and try to beat Germany. To put ourselves in the driver seat for the last-16, that is our goal.” USA beating Germany sounds like a bit of a joke in real world terms but this is a team that has been tutored to play a very specific brand of football. Unlike many team, they don’t go to pieces. They will play their game based on sharp passing, pace and Clint Dempsey’s finishing skills. When the squad for the World Cup was announced, one of the crowd favourites Landon Donovan was missing and it surprised many but it had only been an extension of the message that Klinsmann had been sending all along. As an Associated Press piece noted, “when Klinsmann took over, he jettisoned players’ regular uniform numbers, going to the old system where starters were assigned Nos. 1-11 based on position. The message: No starting job was permanent.” According to the German coach, who now even calls the sport soccer, American players lack “a higher demand of accountability,” that daily pressure to perform from fans and media. But given just how well USA have been performaing, then that might change very quickly. Especially, if they can beat Germany. It has happened thrice before (twice in 1999 and once in 2013); thrice in nine matches and that isn’t a bad record but it has never happened in a major competition like the World Cup. “You have quality now available that is ready to compete on the next stage,” Klinsmann had said before the tournament. “We are ready to go eye to eye with the bigger ones. And that’s what the fascinating side is.” Looks like he wasn’t just talk.