U.S. men entering soccer gauntlet
World Cup qualifiers make for packed slate
A frustrating American sports saga is about to begin another chapter this week. Redemption is the theme for the U.S. men’s soccer team.
Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup begins with a game in El Salvador on Thursday. The Americans, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, also will play in Nashville against Canada on Sunday and finish with a trip to Honduras next week.
Since its embarrassment in late 2017, when it failed to qualify and went on a lengthy soulsearching and restructuring journey, the team has shown improvement. This summer, the United States won two tournaments, the Gold Cup and the inaugural CONCACAF Nations Cup, beating Mexico in both finals. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s roster is full of young players, most of whom are playing in Europe.
Last week, while Berhalter was discussing his roster, the Champions League bracket was announced simultaneously. In past years, the world’s greatest club competition wouldn’t have much relevance in American soccer; this year, 10 U.S. national team members will be involved in the Champions League.
One of those, Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, is the centerpiece of the U.S. team. Unfortunately, his availability for the upcoming qualifiers is in ques
tion as he tested positive for coronavirus while in England and had to quarantine. Though he has joined the team, his game readiness is uncertain.
Pulisic is one of only six players on the roster who has experienced qualifying. For most, this will be an eye-opening experience. Playing in Central America is typically tough, with fans who employ tactics like throwing projectiles, rocking the team bus and blaring music outside the team hotel all night.
The young Americans will have to get tough and get through it. Their success over the summer should be a source of confidence, but that’s all.
“Everything we’ve done until now is a foundation, and gives us the ability to feel confident,” Berhalter said. “It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t qualify for the World Cup. It would be a failure if we don’t qualify. All our work will be undone.”
Dept. of Bad Ideas
Javy Baez, who has spent less than a month with the Mets, has decided to go to war with New York sports fans. I don’t know how long you need to have played professional sports to know this is a bad idea, but my guess is about a nanosecond.
Baez, who has hit .207 since being traded from the Cubs while his team has plummeted in the standings with a 9-20 run, turned his thumbs down to the crowd after getting a hit Sunday. He made sure everyone understood the message in postgame comments, saying he wanted to let fans who have booed them “know that when we’re successful, we’re going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels.”
Mets President Sandy Alderson and team owner Steve Cohen both had to do some apologizing and explaining afterward. Baez, who is making more than $11 million this year, is an unrestricted free agent and will, apparently, be looking for a team where the paying customers are not allowed to express their opinions.
Dept. of Sane Ideas
Who would have expected them to come from Jerry Jones? But the Cowboys’ owner gave a compelling defense of the NFL’s vaccine policy, which has drawn a clear line between vaccinated and unvaccinated players and could lead to forfeitures by teams whose unvaccinated members cause outbreaks.
“Everyone has a right to make their own decision regarding their health and their body,” Jones said on his radio show. “… until your decisions impact negatively many others. Then the common good takes over.
“You have to count on the other guy being available. You certainly don’t want to be doing anything that cause your teammates to not be available . ... What you agreed to be as far as a player, be part of a team. You check ‘I’ at the door.”
Others, like head coaches Mike Zimmer (Minnesota) and Ron Rivera (Washington), have spoken in favor of vaccines. But the voice of a powerful owner like Jones — in Texas, no less — carries more clout.
Podium protest
Despite expectations leading up to the Olympics, there were few athlete protests at the Games in Tokyo. But at the Paralympics, that changed.
Charley Nordin, an Oakland native, won a rowing silver medal in the mixedfour race. On the medal stand, he unzipped his white Olympic jacket to reveal a black T-shirt with the words “Justice for Oscar Grant.” Grant was murdered in 2010 by a police officer, shot while handcuffed. Grant’s case, which became nationally known in part through the award-winning film “Fruitvale Station,” is back in the news; this month, the California Department of Justice announced an investigation into the killing has been reopened.
Nordin, who rowed at Gonzaga, said in an email: “I hoped to draw attention to his case and the fact that it has been reopened.”
U.S. Rowing said in a statement that it “stands fully behind (Nordin’s) right to protest just as we support all of our athletes’ freedom of expression.”