Okay… I may have mislead you a bit with the headline. I’m talking ‘soccer football’ and not ‘American football’. Even without everyone gearing up for the college and NFL seasons, it is a bit tough to get non-fans to pay attention.
But, bear with me for two short minutes…
The U.S. National Men’s Team is getting good. Like really, really good. And, it is a team that you are — inherently — already a fan of (apologies to our international readers). With the World Cup coming in under a calendar year, it is time to get on the bandwagon.
How good is the US Men’s team?
Here are some recent accomplishments (and some bad ‘other’ sports equivalents):
- Beaten Italy for the first time ever… which would be like Boise State taking down Oklahoma.
- Beaten Mexico in Mexico for the first time ever… which would be like the Jaguars beating the Seahawks in Seattle but with the Seahawks being perfect, not virtually perfect.
- Beaten Jamaica in Jamaica in tournament play for the first time ever… which is like beating LSU at night in Death Valley.
- Won 11 games in a row for a new team record and had a .750 winning percentage in 2012 … which is like the Pittsburgh Pirates being in first in August.
- Won the Gold Cup … which is like the A’s winning the AL West.
- Outscored their opponents 25-6 in the past seven games… which would be like the Patriots winning every game by Thanksgiving 60-10.
- Scoring and scoring a lot with a 3.4 goals per match average … which would be like the Yankees scoring 10 runs a game.
Then there is the World Cup run where the US team is sitting pretty on top of the qualifying bracket in their region. With only four games to go, the team is an almost lock at this point to get to the World Cup. The biggest challenge the team faced during the last World Cup was giving up early goals and playing from behind. Lately, the US has fixed that problem. In the past 10 games they have trailed for all of ten minutes.
So, you already know the name — Landon Donovan. You may remember Michael Bradley and DeMarcus Beasley (heads up, he’s a defender now). Start to remember to Jozy Altidore (cool name, right?) who has scored four times straight and will continue to be a major force over the next year. There is also Chris Wondowlowski (Wondo for short) who has been en fuego both for his MLS team and the national team. He even got himself a hat-trick in one half.
If you are going to bandwagon, you’ll need to know the weakness too. The defense has been just as shaky as it has been for four years. Somehow, Jurgen Klinsmen (yeah, we have the ex-German demi-God as our coach) has managed to use magical Duct tape to keep the defense functioning. If some stability in ranks can occur, then the Americans will have a fighting chance in Brazil in 2014.
In other words, go buy your red & white striped shirt now, learn the names and be prepared for the upcoming matches. This is your team and it can’t be called bandwagoning if you can say you saw our boys in the pre-tournaments.
Brian Reddoch is a CraveOnline reporter and rabid fan of all teams Seattle. You can follow him on Twitter @ReddReddoch and at www.facebookcom/craveonlinesports.com.
Photo Credit: Getty
