At this point, I shouldn’t need to remind any of you. In addition to the ubiquitous FIFA ads over the past couple of months (you saw them, even if they hadn’t registered), our country’s most powerful sports resource, ESPN, is judiciously handling the 2010 World Cup coverage (with the help of ABC). It’s the one time (every four years) that the Worldwide Leader has the opportunity to reach mass markets that don’t care for Yankee/Red Sox games. And although the lucrative task isn’t quite as burdensome as the heft of the Olympics, I’m glad the World Cup is out of the clumsy grasp of NBC.
Of course, their soccer-centric coverage has to do with what is on as much as what isn’t. With the Stanley Cup decided, the achingly-long NBA Finals on an off-day and baseball offering underwhelming rivalries (Cubs/White Sox, Dodgers/Angels), today is all about an American second-tier sport. Do you remember anything about the 2006 World Cup? Maybe so, but what about our national team’s showing? Who scored? Who did we beat? Right.
I love supporting our national teams. I was pumped up when the U.S. hockey team made it to the gold-medal game at the recent Olympics. And although I’m not a soccer or hockey aficionado, I look forward to getting together with groups of people around a television and sharing in the joy, sorrow, surprise and dismay. And really, the Olympics and the World Cup are the prime times we do this as Americans — it’s all so rare.
No, we aren’t going to win the World Cup. (At this point, considering soccer’s popularity in America, it would be sin.) But what our team can do is advance into the knockout stage. We’ve landed in Group C, likely the easiest overall selection of teams. As two teams advance from each group, our chances look great. From then on, it only gets hard or harder. That’s what make today’s outcome against England so important. If the U.S. defeats Wayne Rooney and company they could face Austria/Serbia en route to France. But if England comes out on top the U.S. could be at the mercy of Germany.
That last paragraph may have been more than you wanted to know about the World Cup. I can’t apologize, because the rewards far exceed the effort.
Watch the game. Watch all of them.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
