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U.S. men won't outshine women
ADELAIDE, Australia -- Even if the U.S. men's Olympic team reaches the medal round and comes home with a bronze medal, it still will be hard-pressed to steal some of the thunder of the women's team. There is no doubt that it would be a more intriguing story, but the women's players are still American's darlings. The American public was introduced not only to the talented team but to a number of engaging personalities during the pretournament hype, the 1999 Women's World Cup and the aftermath. The American women boast a decade of incredible accomplishments. The men are essentially coming out of "nowhere" in the public consciousness. Many non-soccer fans know who Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy are. Bet many of those sports fans don't even realize the U.S. has a men's team competing.
First of all, the game is not on American soil, and the team loses out on any momentum and notoriety that can be gained while playing in front of a home crowd. The women are more of a permanent fixture, even though several veteran players are expected to call it an international career and get on with their lives after the Olympics. They are leaving a legacy that will be difficult to duplicate. The men, who qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time ever, will go their separate ways and to their club teams (and college team, in one case) after the summer Games. They will never play together again and not every player will be called up to the full national team. In fact, it appears the men are fighting a battle similar to the one the women faced in '96. According to sources, NBC has been wavering on whether it will televise the match. If the U.S. does win and NBC winds up not televising it, the network will end up with egg on its face again (why would NBC allow history to keep repeating itself?). By the way, when NBC was ignoring soccer and the U.S. women's march to the gold at the Atlanta Olympics four years ago, current color announcer Alexi Lalas, a member of the men's team, uttered those immortal words, "NBC sucks." Lalas elaborated in '96: "Obviously, you can tell their executives are ignorant. You can see this in the programming they schedule. That's why we have so many crappy shows on television." A first time for everythingNever in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever question the tactics of two U.S. national team coaches within 24 hours. In one story, I questioned the strategy of American coach Clive Charles, who refused to make a substitution in the 1-1 tie with Cameroon on Sept. 16 even though every player seemingly placed a dangerous shot on goal, but couldn't put one behind the keeper. I suggested that the U.S. didn't necessarily need new legs, but a fresh mind (Landon Donovan) that wasn't snakebitten or frustrated from all the close encounters in front of the Cameroon net. While the team was playing well and creating chances, it did not score. And in this competition, that's all that matters. In another story, I questioned the decision of U.S. women's coach April Heinrichs, who, with her team enjoying a 1-0 lead against archrival China on Sept. 17, replaced a defender (Brandi Chastain) with a forward (Cindy Parlow) in the 63rd minute. Four minutes later, the Chinese equalized on Sun Wen's marvelous free kick goal. While Parlow did have two decent chances, the U.S. didn't score, and in this competition, that's all that matters. Incidentally, I haven't seen a story about it, but Heinrich's successor, Tony DiCicco, who knows a thing or two about winning a gold medal and world championship, criticized April. He cited something called Coaching 101 in strategy. Dream on with this crewAfter about a zillion hours of non-stop Olympic coverage on Channel Seven here every day, the network offers up a great off-the-wall program in the late- night hours in front of a live audience: The Dream, an irreverent, sarcastic, no-one-is-sacred look at the day's events and highlights (and lowlights) by Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson, who have a similar weekly show that satirizes Australian sport. Whether they are making fun of gymnastics with sexual innuendo or a bad or funny play by a soccer or basketball player or some other sport, they are bound to get some sort of reaction, whether it be a laugh, chuckle, wince or groan. The show isn't for everybody; it seems you either love it or hate it, especially if you are an American. (I do get it). Slaven and Nelson are an acquired taste. And with all the Australian sporting lingo and colloquialisms, it sometimes is a reach to understand the duo. With American Olympic ratings going down the tube, perhaps NBC should try something like this next time around. The good and bad of the U.S. womenThis much has been learned about the American women as they prepare for their semifinal showdown against Brazil in Canberra on Sunday:
Midfielder Kristine Lilly realized the team must improve its performance. "We've had moments of really good possession and real good movement with the ball," she said. "But not enough. We need more. We need 90 minutes of production. We need to hold the ball and go up and create chances. We've done some good things. We have to remember those things and build on that." Lothar's cornerHe's one of the major reasons why the MetroStars allowed only two goals in as many matches against the Dallas Burn in their MLS quarterfinal series sweep. Instead of moving up field, German defender Lothar Matthäus, I am told, stayed at home to stabilize the backline. Sacking(s) of the weekThanks to the Moroccan Royal Soccer Federation, we have two for the price of one this week. On Thursday, they bounced both the national team and Olympic coach. Said El Kheider, whose team finished the Olympics at 0-3 and with the worst goal differential (one for, seven against), was dismissed on Friday, a day after Henry Kasperczak was given his walking papers as national coach. Kasperczak's teams have underachieved recently, including dropping a 2-0 decision to Gabon in an African Nations Cup qualifier. Olympic chip shots
It's the quality of shots, not the quantity, and at the risk of upsetting my brethren, many American soccer writers are still learning about this. Heck, it took me many years to truly understand this beautiful game. Case in point: I remember attending the England-Italy World Cup qualifier in February 1997. The Italians stole three points on one of their rare chances. England peppered the Italian goal with many shots. But most were from overlapping defenders from less-than-effective angles. In other words, the English played into Italy's hands. The wrong players shot from the wrong angle. Yet, the stats show the English took many shots.
MLS chip shots
Shame on the Burn, especially Jason Kreis and Ariel Graziani, who combined for all of one assist while not being able to take advantage of the disadvantaged MetroStars. Graziani was the leading 1999 playoff scorer (six goals, five assists).
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book, Soccer For Dummies, was published this spring.
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