Tme for the real U.S. team to stand up
By Luke Cyphers and Doug McIntyre
ESPN Insider
For all the hand-wringing about the national team's lackluster showing in the first round of the Gold Cup, including ours, Sunday's quarterfinal tilt against Jamaica is more opportunity than minefield.
First, the 2011 Yanks can start to figure out who they are. Which team will show up at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.? The side that slogged through the group stage, finishing second after a shocking loss to Panama? Or the team that has, time and time again under coach Bob Bradley, fought and clawed and scratched until it managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat when all had looked lost?
Beyond that, the knockout stage is a chance to affirm, in broader terms, what kind of program the U.S. has. The U.S. has produced more players with more important roles in bigger leagues than it ever has. They play long, pressure-packed seasons and must come together as a national team on short notice. There's no longer room for extended domestic national team camps, a la the 2002 squad, because too many good players are now overseas. In better soccer countries, these pros don't always have their A-game in every national team contest. But they respond when a competition is on the line. For these countries, starting a long tournament poorly means nothing if you end up making a deep run. Don't believe us? Just ask Italy.
Soccer aficionados know that the Azzurri have often looked terrible, even disinterested, at the beginning of major tournaments. They've also won four World Cups. Only Brazil, with five, has more.
<OFFER>The U.S. ain't Italy, of course, but then the Gold Cup isn't the World Cup. Can you really blame someone like Clint Dempsey, the leading scorer and MVP of his Premier League team, for not being as sharp against Guadeloupe after a grueling nine-month club season as he might be versus Manchester United?
Meanwhile, don't dismiss the motivation factor -- or lack of it. As Tim Howard told us at the start of the Yanks' training camp three long weeks ago, the prize for the Americans' veteran-heavy team is a potential June 25 finale against archrival Mexico in front of a hostile crowd of 90,000 at the Rose Bowl.
What else is there to look forward to? The 2013 Confederations Cup? That's two years away, which is an eternity in soccer, far too abstract to inspire these players right now.
This Gold Cup might have been hard to get up for given how the U.S. played in sexier competitions the past three summers: early stages of World Cup qualifying in 2008, the hexagonal round of qualification and that memorable Confederations Cup in 2009, and finally a turn on the biggest stage of all last June in South Africa.
But now is when the stakes begin to matter for the 2011 national team's players. The U.S. is facing a must-win against the Reggae Boyz, who are playing well but remain wholly beatable for a home team with a more talented, more experienced roster. If they lose, Bradley's job is in jeopardy. The players have to know that, and their response will be telling in many ways Sunday. Will they take care of business when they have to? Can they overcome the inevitable difficulties that crop up as they integrate new blood into the roster? (It certainly doesn't help that Stuart Holden and Jay DeMerit, two of the fiercest competitors on the field and probably the loosest guys off it, aren't part of the squad due to injury.)
"You come into a tournament and obviously the first goal is to get out of the group," midfielder Michael Bradley told us after the round-robin finale.
Now that they have, you can bet the Americans would love to quiet their critics with a victory and earn a rematch with Panama, which plays El Salvador in this side of the bracket's other quarterfinal, in the semis. There would be no motivation problems there.
And there would be no lack of incentive against a growing-in-hype Mexican team that steamrolled though its first three games. Truth is, for the U.S., the tourney has just begun. Opportunity knocks.
Notes
• If the Americans falter Sunday, some will surely point to Dempsey and Landon Donovan skipping three days of training to attend their respective sisters' weddings tomorrow in Texas and California. It's not the first time wedding season has affected the Yanks' plans. Backup keeper Brad Guzan skipped the tourney for his own nups, also Saturday. Michael Bradley's scheduling is better: He gets married early next month.
• Defender Jonathan Spector won't return to West Ham next season after turning down a new contract with the club, which was relegated from the English Premier League last season. "Every player wants to play in the Premier League," Spector told us last month. Spector's mother is German, and he's been linked to the Bundesliga before. Could a move away from England be an option? "I'm certainly open to it," he said. "If there is a better opportunity for me in Germany than in England, it's certainly something I'll take up."
• From TheDenimKit.com, an insightful interview with the man who helped create (what else?) the faux denim jersey the Americans wore at the 1994 World Cup.
• Finally, the stories behind German-born Jermaine Jones' many tattoos (including one inspired by Tupac Shakur) and his path to the U.S. national team.
By Luke Cyphers and Doug McIntyre
ESPN Insider
For all the hand-wringing about the national team's lackluster showing in the first round of the Gold Cup, including ours, Sunday's quarterfinal tilt against Jamaica is more opportunity than minefield.
First, the 2011 Yanks can start to figure out who they are. Which team will show up at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.? The side that slogged through the group stage, finishing second after a shocking loss to Panama? Or the team that has, time and time again under coach Bob Bradley, fought and clawed and scratched until it managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat when all had looked lost?
Beyond that, the knockout stage is a chance to affirm, in broader terms, what kind of program the U.S. has. The U.S. has produced more players with more important roles in bigger leagues than it ever has. They play long, pressure-packed seasons and must come together as a national team on short notice. There's no longer room for extended domestic national team camps, a la the 2002 squad, because too many good players are now overseas. In better soccer countries, these pros don't always have their A-game in every national team contest. But they respond when a competition is on the line. For these countries, starting a long tournament poorly means nothing if you end up making a deep run. Don't believe us? Just ask Italy.
Soccer aficionados know that the Azzurri have often looked terrible, even disinterested, at the beginning of major tournaments. They've also won four World Cups. Only Brazil, with five, has more.
<OFFER>The U.S. ain't Italy, of course, but then the Gold Cup isn't the World Cup. Can you really blame someone like Clint Dempsey, the leading scorer and MVP of his Premier League team, for not being as sharp against Guadeloupe after a grueling nine-month club season as he might be versus Manchester United?
Meanwhile, don't dismiss the motivation factor -- or lack of it. As Tim Howard told us at the start of the Yanks' training camp three long weeks ago, the prize for the Americans' veteran-heavy team is a potential June 25 finale against archrival Mexico in front of a hostile crowd of 90,000 at the Rose Bowl.
What else is there to look forward to? The 2013 Confederations Cup? That's two years away, which is an eternity in soccer, far too abstract to inspire these players right now.
This Gold Cup might have been hard to get up for given how the U.S. played in sexier competitions the past three summers: early stages of World Cup qualifying in 2008, the hexagonal round of qualification and that memorable Confederations Cup in 2009, and finally a turn on the biggest stage of all last June in South Africa.
But now is when the stakes begin to matter for the 2011 national team's players. The U.S. is facing a must-win against the Reggae Boyz, who are playing well but remain wholly beatable for a home team with a more talented, more experienced roster. If they lose, Bradley's job is in jeopardy. The players have to know that, and their response will be telling in many ways Sunday. Will they take care of business when they have to? Can they overcome the inevitable difficulties that crop up as they integrate new blood into the roster? (It certainly doesn't help that Stuart Holden and Jay DeMerit, two of the fiercest competitors on the field and probably the loosest guys off it, aren't part of the squad due to injury.)
"You come into a tournament and obviously the first goal is to get out of the group," midfielder Michael Bradley told us after the round-robin finale.
Now that they have, you can bet the Americans would love to quiet their critics with a victory and earn a rematch with Panama, which plays El Salvador in this side of the bracket's other quarterfinal, in the semis. There would be no motivation problems there.
And there would be no lack of incentive against a growing-in-hype Mexican team that steamrolled though its first three games. Truth is, for the U.S., the tourney has just begun. Opportunity knocks.
Notes
• If the Americans falter Sunday, some will surely point to Dempsey and Landon Donovan skipping three days of training to attend their respective sisters' weddings tomorrow in Texas and California. It's not the first time wedding season has affected the Yanks' plans. Backup keeper Brad Guzan skipped the tourney for his own nups, also Saturday. Michael Bradley's scheduling is better: He gets married early next month.
• Defender Jonathan Spector won't return to West Ham next season after turning down a new contract with the club, which was relegated from the English Premier League last season. "Every player wants to play in the Premier League," Spector told us last month. Spector's mother is German, and he's been linked to the Bundesliga before. Could a move away from England be an option? "I'm certainly open to it," he said. "If there is a better opportunity for me in Germany than in England, it's certainly something I'll take up."
• From TheDenimKit.com, an insightful interview with the man who helped create (what else?) the faux denim jersey the Americans wore at the 1994 World Cup.
• Finally, the stories behind German-born Jermaine Jones' many tattoos (including one inspired by Tupac Shakur) and his path to the U.S. national team.
