The men’s soccer team advancing to the World Cup final 16, despite a 1-0 loss to Germany, means at least one more round of chanting “USA,USA”. Yes, we love donning the colors and painting our faces when America plays almost any kind of international sport, even soccer.
Don’t get me wrong, I tried to watch some of the game against both Ghana and Germany and rooted for the red, white and blue, but soccer is an acquired taste. To me, the excitement level in watching a 1-0 loss to Germany was 4 on a scale of 10.
I can identify however with American soccer fans because they remind me of amateur wrestling fans. Both sports have rules that need to be explained to the main-stream public and both can be considered boring to the uneducated. So I love amateur and free-style wrestling and can appreciate what the loyal soccer fans are going through.
My oldest son is a big fan of the World Cup despite the fact he never played the game of soccer. My boys were football players and wrestlers, but Rob became a soccer fan through playing the FIFA video game. During the Ghana game he and my middle son had a lively debate on the pros and cons of soccer. Let’s just say my middle son was not converted.
Regarding the performance of team USA in the 2014 World Cup, they do look like they belong despite being very young. I had Nick Mendola on my weekly All Sports WNY program on WBBZ-TV and he told me the USA soccer program has it’s sights on the 2018 the World Cup with these young guys returning with much needed experience.
So that gives me another four years to brush up on my soccer IQ. At least I don’t have to learn the words to the song Olé, Olé, Olé.
Filed under: Koshinski's Korner
Tagged with: soccer, USA, World Cup
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