MidValleySports.Com

By Joe Torosian

Kick it!

In 1994, soccer in the U.S. was said to have reached a turning point… In 2026, we’re still waiting for it to complete the turn.

How marvelous…

As a Casual, I will not do a postmortem on last night’s 4-1 loss to Belgium.

I’m just going to ask the Actuals.

Question: Is Christian Pulisic as good as we are being told…or has he been manufactured in America’s desperate need for a soccer hero?

(Note: Pulisic’s Chobani advert after the loss featuring him and his mom was bad timing.)

I thought the Yellow Card on Team USA’s Weston McKennie at the 35-minute mark was weak. Or at least seemed weak from the soccer I do remember. 

Is soccer really this soft, or have I misremembered?

Is Belgium that good, or did the U.S. make them look better than they actually are?

I found Spain versus Portugal to be a bit of a let-down. 

Speaking of Spain, they’ve pitched more shutouts, 5, in the World Cup than the Orioles in the ’66 World Series against the Dodgers.
(BTW: #77—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth.)

Let the world have the World Cup and soccer. I’ll put my America-loving credentials up against anybody’s, but I did not, do not, and never want to, see international success in soccer.

I like distinction. I like anomalies where it’s okay/safe to have an anomaly. I like ballparks with short-porches in right (but for some reason, I don’t like short-porches in left).

I like American football, and I don’t want to be like everyone else. Perhaps this is a result of too much Twilight Zone as a kid. (I don’t want Number 12 to look just like me. I don’t want conformity.)

I sense that the desire within our culture to be great in soccer is, at its root, a deeper desire to fit in with the rest of the world.

I don’t want to fit in with the rest of the world. I can respect the rest of the world, like the rest of the world, and appreciate the rest of the world…but I love my family more and deeper than your family…I love my country more and deeper than other countries—including Argentina, Armenia & Wales.

That said, I will always watch the World Cup because the passion is compelling.

I’m all in on Argentina… I’ll see what happens after that, because Messi & Friends have been playing with fire —I don’t think Egypt will be a duck-walk.

Final Add World Cup: When talking heads tried to pivot to moral victory and positive results for American soccer at the conclusion of last night’s game…I loved what Alexi Lalas said about being sick of moral victories, and what Carli Lloyd said about Christian Pulisic.

It was refreshing and desperately needed in commentary about the NBA, MLB, and, yes, NFL.

When you suck, you should be told you suck and not coddled.

I know, I’ve been told I suck, told I can’t speak, can’t write, and declared racist-sexist-homophobic…and every time I’m told those things, it gives me energy to press on.

You know what’s going to be compelling in 2030? I hope, I think, and it could be: “The Christian Pulisic Redemption Tour.”

I hope it happens.

The Dude abides…

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