The World Cup: A Spectacle of Sport

As I write this post, the World Cup continues in the US, Mexico, and Canada with the quarterfinals. Who knows, I might add an addendum to this after the champion is crowned. France will win, BTW…I'm just saying.

Soccer or football, as it is known just about everywhere else, has been a part of my life in one way or another forever. I grew up playing the game, although I was never very good at it (I'm still passingly good at juggling, though!).

There wasn't much soccer on TV while I was growing up or when I moved into my first apartment. Eventually, I did find reruns of Premier League games on Wednesday mornings, probably on a FOX station but who knows. Most of the games were of Manchester United, which quickly became my favorite team. You can forgive me because the Manchester United I saw featured legends of the game: Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, and many more led by the indomitable Sir Alex Ferguson. I watched Thierry Henry in his Arsenal days (yes, the World Cup announcer) slice through defenses with lightning pace, incredible skill, and pure elegance. Yes, Henry is legendary.

Later, I watched Cristiano Ronaldo before he became CR7. In those early days at Manchester United, he was the most frustrating player to watch. He had all the moves, incredible speed, and seemingly superhuman strength to overcome any defense, but the end product was terrible—crosses either not made or blasted into the stands and shots that were everything but on goal. But he steadily improved, showing sparks of what was to come. Then 2008 rolled around, the year he won his first Ballon d'Or. Cristiano Ronaldo played the best football I have ever seen that season. He was electric.

But I digress. Both my sons play the game now. The older one is unusually good—good enough that he's played internationally on US Soccer's dime. He recently participated in the ENCL Playoffs, which he described as his World Cup. His team, Seattle United, made it to the round of 16 before being eliminated by an opponent they should've beaten, at least on paper.

Still, he seemed to enjoy himself, scoring the winning goal in a tough game against LA FC SoCal and performing well in each game. He's convinced he has a future as a professional player. Maybe. Maybe not. The game has certainly provided him direction and an outlet. It has taught the lesson that hard work and discipline can pay off. Now, if he'd apply that lesson to academics…

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The World Cup: A Spectacle of Sport

The Games

I've enjoyed most of the games I've watched. The whole family has, although the younger lad is only mildly interested. The US has done better than I expected and lost to a soccer powerhouse, which I knew would happen. I was also impressed by Mexico and wouldn't want to have to play against them at the Azteca. England looks like they might have a shot, but they always look competitive until they don't. Messi keeps turning back the clock and bagging goals. My money, though, if I were the betting type, which I am not, would be on France. Mbappé and company are too potent a strike force to beat and are firing on all cylinders.

The Commentators

Personally, I like Zlatan. He was an illustrious player who can still back up his braggadocio. Was he better than Messi or Ronaldo? No, but he was an extraordinary talent who scored some of the most fantastic goals you'll ever see and is the epitome of a sportsman with a bulletproof mindset. I also like Thierry Henry. His analysis is thoughtful and spot on, a great foil to Zlatan.

As for Alexis Lalas…well, I've never appreciated his commentary. I listened to him before this World Cup and never thought much of him. Too bombastic, too shallow, and just annoying. You might be thinking, wait, that sounds like Zlatan. Okay, you have a point, but Zlatan can back up his bombast, and that makes all the difference.

Will the US Ever Win the World Cup

Maybe one day, but not one day soon. It takes hard work and discipline to reach the top of any sport. That's without question. Many people say we'd win the World Cup if all our best athletes didn't go into football, basketball, baseball, etc. They make a good point. However, there is another issue with soccer. 

For a sport that basically only requires a ball, a field, and four markers to create two goals, it's incredibly expensive. The opportunities for youths who don't come from well-off families willing to pay through the nose for their son or daughter to play are few and far between, from what I have observed. From my anecdotal experience, expenses only go up as competition increases. The kids, the really good ones, who come from families who can't afford the cost in money and time to support competitive play, likely burn out at the rec or select level. 

And that's part of the issue. The kids who make it in the US to the pinnacle of the sport at the youth, college, and pro levels come from backgrounds of relative privilege, for the most part. Cristiano Ronaldo famously had to beg for leftover hamburgers from McDonald's after training. He was hungry, literally and figuratively. I would argue that's part of what has made him a success. He possesses true grit. Lamine Yamal has spoken about how his parents experienced real pressure to provide for the family when he was young, and that playing football is easy by comparison. I suspect that many of the players on the US national team do not come from such underprivileged backgrounds. The reason is the expense of youth sports, especially football/soccer. In Europe, families aren't paying through the nose for their children to play. Professional teams, businesses, or the community subsidize youth teams.

That's not to say the US players haven't sacrificed, nor that their families haven't, to get them to where they are now. They have, but the road hasn't been as harrowing, so it's easy for them to give up when the going gets tough, as it did against Belgium. Christian Pulisic, our best player presumably, had himself subbed out while the team was down in a must-win game on the biggest stage. I don't think the best players on other national teams would've done the same. Our players might have grit, but they don't have nearly as much as players from other parts of the world. It starts at the youth level. Youth soccer is so expensive and time-consuming that only the well-off can afford to play. The Cristiano Ronaldos and Lamine Yamals in the US burn out due to a lack of competition at the rec or select level due to their family's not having enough disposable income to finance top-level competition, long before reaching the world stage.

Now, the US women have had great success on the world stage, and if this World Cup proves anything, it shows they deserve equal pay to the men on the national team. In fact, based on the results, they deserve to be paid more. Orders of magnitude more. Do the women possess more grit than their male counterparts? YES. Absolutely, they do. They do by the mere fact that they are women in a society that still treats them unequally.

Addendum

Okay. Okay. France didn't win the World Cup, but hey, Mbappé will only be 30 or 31 in 2030…

In the end, I think the right team won. Spain looked dominant, and as they always seem to do while at their best, scored just enough goals to bring home the trophy. I was not as impressed with Argentina, especially in the final. They played physically against England, but I think against Spain, their play went from physical to dirty, and they had a player red-carded to prove it. On top of that, after being outclassed despite their dirty tactics, they had the temerity to be poor sports, to say the least. Not a good look.

And what about the third place game between France and England? WOW! That game and the match between Morocco and the Netherlands were my favorites of the tournament.