As the token “soccer guy” amongst many of my friends, I’ve been asked several times today about my thoughts on the USA v England game this past weekend. I’ll spare you the super boring details and analysis, and give you my quick synopsis, which is this. From a how-does-it-position-the-US-team-in-terms-of-advancing standpoint, the 1-1 draw was a fine result. We’ll take it. Overall a definite positive. As the New York Post said, “USA WINS 1-1!“.
However, from a how-does-this-result-bode-for-advancing-soccer-culturally-in-the-US, this was NOT a good result. A tie sort of plays into the ol’ “soccer is stupid” or “soccer is boring” argument nice and neatly. The tie (as ties do), sort of feels like a non-result. And after six months of waiting and hype, is a bit of a letdown to those that were hoping a US win over England might ignite some excitement for those on-the-fence types.
Anyhow, onto play Slovenia on Friday morning in what should be a fun game to watch, and a pretty necessary win for the US side.
And while we are here, how about some good soccer links from the past few days?