Originally posted by Roadbike Mankie:
From that comment I can assume you haven't seen the Italians play much then!!!! Doesn't it make you laugh that they're rolling in sheer agony like they've just had their foot completely crushed, then within a minute of being stretchered off they're sprinting up the sidelines.
I didn't see the USA v Italy game myself, but from hearing the comments from the tv pundits over here, it seems the US blew a great chance of achieving one of the greatest upsets in the competition…..you go a player up early on then go all George Bush by turning the pitch into Baghdad, and get two of your own sent off!
GREATEST US GAME EVER?
I would have to think so. I purposely waited a few days before posting about the Italy game because I felt I was too emotionally involved in the game to write a fair piece about it. Three days later, I feel the same way - this was the greatest US Soccer game in Men's National Team history.
There is a great chapter by Tim Parks in Matt Weilandâ??s Collection "The Thinking Fans Guide to the World Cup" about Italian Soccer, what it stands for and why they play the way they do. And no matter how many times I try to explain to people about the lack of class and sportsmanship they display on the field, I can never do a good enough job as to just watch them play a tough team. The wheels came off the bus for them, and their response? To panic. They have ten times the talent of the US team, but the US team displayed the kind of heart that got the 6 of us over here to watch them in the World Cup. The Italian team will never play with that kind of heart, which makes them a difficult team to root for. Add the constant diving, player and referee scandals, and the politics interwoven throughout Italian soccer, and it's a recipe for disaster. Nothing beautiful about their game. There's a lot of beauty in their individual talent, but not as a team.
There's a little history required to fully explain this. When soccer first took over the continent in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Italians were a strong team, but were falling quickly behind England and France. Then the continent was introduced to the South American game - then dominated by Uruguay and Argentina. The French, so impressed by the Uruguayans, began to model their game after them. The Italians on the other hand, so impressed with the Argentineans, bought the Argentinean players and brought them back to Italy to play in their pro leagues, eventually trying to make them Italian citizens to play for Italy. Italy won two World Cups back then. The ruling bodies quickly put a stop to that, so after the war and well into the late 60's the Italian team went into a period of isolationism - only Italians could play in Italian professional leagues, and if you wanted to play for Italy, you had better play in Italy professionally. The results were disastrous - 4 consecutive first round knockouts and one failure to qualify. By the late 70's, the game reopened to other countries in Italy, but by then the game had changed. The players were talented, but played dirty and the dive had become an art form. You can see it today in the players that succeed in the Italian professional league, Serie A, regardless of what country - if there is contact, you fall "for your team."
So here comes the US MNT in 2006. We're often asked what chance we thought the US team to win the world cup and the answer is the same - "Not much, but you will be surprised with how fit and how hard they will play for the full 90 minutes. If they can rattle a European team or two early, they can give themselves a chance to win late and just maybe…."
There's usually a chuckle by the person that asked the question, 9 times out of 10 an Englishman or a German on this trip.
Much to our surprise, the US team was both out talented and out hustled against the Czech's. The fans knew we didn't have the talent to beat the Czech's, but surely we could out hustle them? Then a crowd of US fans gathered to watch the Czech-Ghana game, and so the results of Ghana's hustle. "Damn it, that should have been us" was the thought for the moment. 1-0. Then, on the way to the US match, 2-0. You know what, maybe the boys saw this result too. Maybe they believe they can beat Italy too.
And sure enough, up entering the overwhelmingly pro US crowd at Kaiserslautern Stadium (formerly known as Adolph Hitler Stadium, oh the irony), the atmosphere as electric. It was the loudest national anthem I had ever heard. The chants and the cheers were ringing throughout the rafters. There was a feeling that this was our time.
As soon as the match started, you could see the US players agreed. Pablo Mastroeni opened with a huge tackle on the best Italian scorer, Totti, and our presence was announced with authority. What an amazing performance, but the shots couldn't find the net (oddly, the back or the front). The Italians were playing their typical ball control, fall over at any chance you get to get whistle and a set play. Then they scored and there was a collective groan - here it is the Czech game all over again. I'll admit it, I sunk my head between my knees and thought it was over. But the players didn't, and one in particular - Claudio Reyna. He never let up, and this time he wouldn't let anybody else let up either. They kept attacking the net and finally, with a little help from the Italian defender, the US had their first goal in the 2006 World Cup. Our crowd went nuts, and the wheels began to fall off for the Italians.
Faced with adversity, the Italian answer was to throw a brutal elbow to Brian McBride, earning a red card. Why they can't rely on their talent, only they will ever know, but this is exactly what we had hoped for. With Totti removed, it was going to be an Italian defensive stand like none other. While many calls didn't go our way, the attitude was unbroken - we can win. Then the unthinkable - 70 yards away from our goal, Pablo Mastroeni tackles the Italian defender and earns a red card. Now, I have yet to watch the replay of the game, but I can tell you this, and it's just like hockey - when you have the advantage, do NOT, under any circumstances give the official any opportunity to even the playing field, especially 70 yards away from our net! His aggressiveness that set the tone early had now severely damaged the US hopes of winning. Shame.
But here's the odd part - the crowd got louder, and the players played harder. This was not the team that was embarrassed by the Czech's - this was the team the fans had traveled thousands and thousands of miles to see. A gritty, gutsy team that might lack talent, but certainly does not lack heart. And never tires.
After Eddie Pope's second yellow earning him a red card (again, I haven't seen the replay, but the officiating was consistently poor so why take chances) , the crowd started chanting "bullshit" and I saw something I had never seen before. Kasey Keller, the American keeper, turned to the crowd and egged us on. Wait a minute, you could hear us? And better yet, all sportsmanship aside, you agreed? The crowd went nuts. And just to further the matter, when Keller got the ball, he kicked right at the faking Italian on the sidelines some 60 yards away (for the record he missed by about 5 feet and struck a poor innocent medic on the sidelines, causing no harm). The crowd went ballistic and didn't stop cheering for the entire match.
Did we have an impact? I think so:
"The fan support today really motivated us and really lifted us up," said defender Oguchi Onyewu. "It didn't feel like we were a man down, and I think if you watched the game, it didn't look like we were a man down."
We wouldn't let them be a man down. They played too hard for us for us to let that happen. Sports fans say "we" all the time when referring to their team, but for once in my life, I feel we is appropriate. Granted, towards the end when some fans were chanting "Eddie Johnson" for coach Bruce Arena to make an attacking substitution somehow forgetting we were a man down, they were a little misguided, but we helped them put up a 47 minute defense to the Italians that would have made Patton proud.
After the match, the Italians were relatively quiet in the streets, but the US fans were getting congratulated by folks of all nations. I am proud to be a fan and supporter of US Soccer. Never more so then after watching the greatest US game in the history of the menâ??s national team.
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