The Rookies

After two matches in the 2009 Confederations Cup, the US Men’s Team seemed finished. They needed a miracle to get out of group play yesterday.

And they got it.

It was a stunning, wholly unexpected result, and just like that, the sting of two poorly played matches was erased and the US can now look forward to the Confed semifinals.

But one thing bugs me about all this, and that’s the way the mainstream media covered the entire tournament. Many, many media outlets questioned the play of the US squad following their anemic performances against Brazil and Italy, and even more commented on the increasingly grim spectre of the 2010 World Cup staring the American squad in the face.

Admittedly, the team DID look awful. But, and this is important, they looked awful against Italy and Brazil, ranked fourth and fifth in the world, respectively. Most teams would look awful against that caliber of opponent, yet the media acted as if the losses proved Bob Bradley and his squad couldn’y beat a local elementary school team, much less World Cup opponents. In fact, one of the best takes on the exceptionally tough draw the US competed against, courtesy of Match Fit USA, doesn’t expect the US to advance at all. Heck, they didn’t even think America would win one match. They were predicting two points, a pair of draws, and they would have been thrilled with that.

If only major news outlets had the same sense of realism. One of the many reporters and columnists doing a complete 180 on the team’s Confed appearance is Ives Galarcep, of Soccer By Ives and ESPN Soccernet. He wrote this article on June 19, and under the headline “Plenty of question marks for U.S. in Confederations Cup,” he takes shots at U.S. manager Bob Bradley, questioning his personnel decisions and blaming him for the lackluster attitude of the team. He also called out Clint Dempsey, calling him “burned out” and calling for him to be taken out of the lineup on Sunday.

Cut to his post-miracle column from yesterday evening. In it he praises Bob Bradley for the faith he had in his team, summed up nicely in this paragraph:

In the end, it wasn’t about Bradley’s moves and decisions, but about the faith he showed in his players and his team, faith that was rewarded on Sunday. Faith that produced an unforgettable result that will only make the team stronger as it moves toward next year’s World Cup.

Are we to believe that Ives would be lauding the coach’s “faith” if the same moves had netted a different result? If the US had lost or drawn, that faith would most surely be labeled as misplaced. But since the unthinkable happened, the managerial style that was roundly criticized just 48 hours earlier suddenly becomes the faith needed to strengthen a team that was “headed for another early World Cup exit”.

Earlier in his post U.S.-Egypt piece, he praised the decision to keep Clint Dempsey in the game, the same Dempsey who he demanded be sat for the match. I suppose that’s what scoring the third, final, and most important goal of the game will do to someone.

Now, I don’t really know what my point is. I guess it’s basic disgust at the flimsy nature of soccer coverage in America. There was an amazing overreaction to two losses that honestly were not that unexpected. This overreaction led to doom and gloom predictions for a tournament a full year from now.

But then a miracle occurs, one game goes completely, utterly right, and all those old fears and concerns are out the window? I can understand being pleased with the result: I was personally ecstatic, and it’s an incredible result to be able to write and pontificate on.

All I ask is this: Please, at least be consistent. Don’t put all your eggs in the catastrophe basket for 2010 then suddenly drop it completely following one amazing performance. There are still questions and doubts that the 3-0 final didn’t erase completely. Rightly, what it should have done, it did, in some cases, lightening the unfair media scrutiny a bit.

The U.S. team now has the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup to look forward to, and reigning European champions Spain to contend with. No matter the outcome, all the hubbub will be about how it translates to the World Cup.

A quick reminder, though: That’s the 2010 World Cup, taking place one full year from now.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.