Monday, July 19, 2010

World Cup - A Look Back and a Look Forward

--A final entry from men's soccer player Peter Sanger

First and foremost, I just want to make it clear that I picked Spain from the beginning and was more than ecstatic to see them take the Cup final through an exquisite finish by Andres Iniesta. Coach Vicente Del Bosque couldn’t have hit the nail on the head any better than declaring, “the reward today was for beautiful soccer.” Despite very well organized, negative tactical planning on the behalf of the Dutch, skill and technical ability won out. It’s by no means a coincidence that seven of the 11 starters in the Spanish squad come from club team Barcelona where day-in and day-out they play the most cohesive and fluent soccer in the world. Add in Real Madrid stars such as Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Iker Casillas and you’ll most likely be in the driver’s seat at any tournament.

The game itself might not have been open and thrilling, but World Cup Finals rarely are. It’s one game with the pressure of your entire country depending on you, with the entire world watching. Thus, more cautious and tentative approaches are adopted. The Netherlands boasted a team with great attacking talents; however, going into the game they knew that they could not beat Spain with that sort of style. They played with extreme discipline and for large parts of the game kept Spain from retaining possession in the attacking half like they’re used to.

But to the viewers who complained of a dull game, I couldn’t disagree more. I was in New York City for the final at a local bar called Denton’s and it was packed to the brim with everybody on the edge of their seat with every attempted through ball, shot or breakaway opportunity. Ramos came close with a couple of opportunities early on and Arjen Robben missed a couple of glorious chances to grab the glory himself when found with the ball at his feet and only Casillas to beat in front of him.

Yet Spain was not to be denied and I take great pleasure in the fact that a player from my favorite club, Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal, was one to really make the difference for them. His addition provided Spain with that little bit of creativity and spark that they needed to crack open the Dutch. Arsenal plays a similar brand of soccer to Barcelona with the only difference being they bring a bit more of a direct approach to their short passing. Time and time again they’ve scored brilliant goals via beautiful through balls from Fabregas and Iniesta’s goal was no different.

Fabregas picked out the wide-open Iniesta with great vision and a player of Iniesta’s class does not miss chances like that. What a moment for such an introverted player like Iniesta. In the build-up to the World Cup all the attention was on the attention-starved divas like Cristiano Ronaldo, Robinho and Wayne Rooney. Actions speak louder than words however, and Iniesta wrote his name into World Cup history with that finish, not to mention his touching tribute to fallen Spaniard Dani Jarque who died not long ago from a heart attack before a club game. Having won both Euro 2008 and now the World Cup 2010, Spain will still be a force to reckon with in the near future. Although the greats like Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol are aging, there seems to be enough talent within the ranks of the youth to make up for their potential exclusions from future national team squads in the future in the likes of Fabregas, David Silva and Gerard Pique. In my opinion, as long as you see Barcelona continue to dominate club soccer with a large contingent of homegrown players, you will continue to see Spanish soccer at the top.

This leads me into my last point to make following the World Cup… What’s next for U.S. soccer? Will we finally realize that you can’t just win tournaments by being the most fit and physically dominant team around? Will we realize that there’s a reason why the nations that focus more on building up technical skill and creativity rather than results at youth levels end up prevailing at the World Cup? There’s a reason why it continues to happen time and time again. Every team comes into the tournament extremely well conditioned, thus all that’s left to make a difference is tactical and technical ability. Does Bob Bradley possess the tactical awareness to take the United States to the top? Unfortunately I can’t believe that he does. Having only coached in the United States, how can he claim to be on the same level as other National Team coaches? The only club teams he’s ever coached have been members of the MLS, a league nowhere near the level of experience we need our leader to have. It’s no surprise that our best players are those who play or have played overseas, it’s the same idea with finding the best coach.

Furthermore, these changes need to start at the youth levels. The introduction to the academy league is a huge first step. They claim to put development first and results second which is exactly the type of environment these players need to catch up to the youth of other countries. Then those who play in high school and college need better coaching and the style of game needs to change. Although I’m extremely proud and honored to be able to be a NCAA Division I athlete, often times I can’t believe the type of soccer I’ve seen played. Coaches search for the best athletes and just try to be faster and stronger, rather than smarter and more creative. The same thing is found in the MLS, because the players that are drafted are the same players that succeeded in college with the same type of soccer. Extremely fast paced, a bit wild and crunching tackles might be exciting at times, but nothing is more exciting to watch then soccer played the right way. The culture of soccer in the United States needs to change if we’re to catch up with everybody else. For once we can’t just do it our way; we need to look at what makes all these other countries successful and use that to improve ourselves.

Lastly, foreign ESPN analyst, Jurgen Klinsmann, brought up an extremely telling point following the U.S. exit from the World Cup. Where are the inner-city and less fortunate kids playing soccer? There is a reason why the NBA is the greatest basketball league in the world; kids who grow up poor in the United States look at that game as their only ticket out of that life. When I was a little kid, I went on a trip to Colombia with my family in the build-up to the ’94 World Cup. At that time, Colombian soccer was at the height of its game and was considered a favorite going into the World Cup. What were all of the poor kids doing there in their spare time? Playing soccer, with anything for a ball, using anywhere for a field. Here soccer is too much of a suburban sport, thus you find less young kids develop the same passion for the game. Soccer needs to be introduced into the inner cities, most likely in the form of futsal. Futsal is similar to soccer, but is played with a smaller and heavier ball and played on a hard court with fewer players on the field. Soccer superstars like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho all started with futsal. It’s an affordable version of soccer that requires less land, less equipment and less players.

As a country, we need to build upon the buzz generated from this World Cup and take the necessary steps to continue progressing forward in the game. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read my thoughts on this World Cup and I’m looking forward to being back in touch with you all once this fall season starts.

Until then, Joga Bonito…