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World Cup no soccer blueprint

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Posted: Thursday July 08, 1999 06:26 PM

Let me say from the start that the Women's World Cup has been a giant success. The combination of some great goals and great crowds, averaging some 35,000 a match, has created a tournament that should live long in the memory -- especially if Saturday's final between the U.S. and China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena lives up to expectations.

As tremendous a spectacle as the women's competition has been, however, I'd like to suggest that if the American public thinks that they've witnessed the real McCoy, they're doomed to disappointment. Not only that, but the future of soccer in the one country seemingly determined to resist its lure is also in doubt.

Let me explain. Since the resources in the U.S. have mainly been used to finance men's soccer, then it's the men's game that sets the benchmark for the sport's success. Never mind that thousands of little girls will be inspired to take up soccer by the performance of the national team. That's a bonus in terms of economics. The harsh reality is, rightly or wrongly, soccer will only catch on in the United States if it attracts a male following on and off the pitch.

However, men's football as played in MLS and by the U.S national team pales in comparison to what we've seen at the Women's World Cup, where goals have rained down like confetti. To their credit, the women have shown amazing attacking flair. But they've also displayed extreme naivete in defense and, on occasion, a lack of composure on the ball, all of which has facilitated a glut of goals.

To those who grew up with the game in Europe and South America, such high scoring affairs are harmless. They've provided great entertainment, and, without wishing to sound patronizing, experience also makes us aware that great action does not necessarily equate with great soccer.

To a less-experienced audience, like many of those watching in the USA, routine scorelines of 5, 6, and 7-nil set a dangerous precedent. I've heard several Americans who don't normally follow the sport say they've enjoyed the women's game more than any men's matches they've seen because of all the scoring. That's a natural reaction, given the country's love of games like basketball where the scoring is almost constant, but it doesn't augur well for MLS, which operates in a more frugal world in terms of goals.

In short, top-class soccer rarely involves hatfuls of goals. Indeed many great matches may not involve any. The best players in the world, with which the American men and women hope to compete, do not leave key strikers free to score at will. Barring the odd mishap, great players do not set up gilt-edged chances with miskicks and miscommunications. Instead, that kind of charity is the exception rather than the rule it's been at the Women's World Cup.

So my feeling is that while the Women's World Cup has rightly been enjoyed as a wonderful spectacle, those who've followed it over the last few weeks should take the tournament for just that -- a lively competition between teams and players still learning the game. It's in no way a blueprint for the way soccer should be played at the highest level. And only with that proviso can the Women's World Cup be a positive force for soccer's future as a whole in the U.S.

 

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