Knowles: When the Big Game Goes Your Way
Ahead of the recent US men’s national team game in Orlando, any number of things could’ve gone wrong.
This was as close to a must-win as we’d had in the Octagonal round, which served as the final round of qualifying for the men’s World Cup. Panama was a team American fans should expect our team to beat.
However, the US men’s national team has developed a nasty reputation of late. Far from that of the US women, the men’s team have seemingly turned into perennial losers or failures, considering they didn’t make it to the last edition of the tournament to even lose. As a supporter, I hated how much this idea took hold and I was hoping a good result could help things there.
Being a soccer fan in America used to be a little niche. I’m very happy to see that the people I can talk soccer with has expanded from those people who grew up playing, often children of one or more immigrants, to a much broader fanbase. Whether by playing FIFA or because of top-notch coverage of the English Premier League, many people who didn’t play soccer as kids, or only played for a short period, now have a team they follow and love attending the big watch parties. They track statistics and they know who’s on form, who’s not, and who might be sold in the upcoming transfer windows.
One area of American soccer fandom that is still a bit niche at times is supporting the local team. The Tampa Bay area didn’t have a professional soccer team since the early 2000s (a time when even my family only went to a couple of Mutiny games over their whole existence). The old Tampa Bay Rowdies lasted much longer than most clubs from the first iteration of the North American Soccer League, so there were communities in America that hadn’t had professional soccer to speak of since the seventies or eighties.
It’s unfortunately easy to see why the instability and lack of history (let alone the difference in quality) might lead fans to the stereotypical Euro-snob type of fandom.
People who live in Atlanta might follow Atalanta sooner than their own Five Stripes. People living in Boston might take note from their Red Sox’s ownership and support Liverpool, entirely ignoring the Revs. That’s to say nothing of people living in cities without first tier soccer teams. The likelihood of finding Birmingham Legion fans around the state of Alabama is much lower than finding fans of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or either City or United from Manchester, England.
That type of local indifference had mostly not impacted the national teams, though. Since the men’s team started regularly qualifying for World Cups and since the women’s team started having those to compete in, that inherently innocuous nationalism that sports can induce has typically infected a majority of Americans with any passing interest in soccer.
Maybe it’s the size and prestige of the World Cup, the biggest sporting event by viewership on the planet, that draws them in. Maybe it’s the sense of being involved in a worldwide party. While there are problems with the national teams attracting fans of more diverse backgrounds, there are still healthy pockets of Hispanic American and African American support in addition to the traditionally white crowds soccer that America has drawn.
For the US Men’s National Team, it hasn’t been a likelihood of success drawing people in the doors. America has never been a powerhouse in soccer there. That being said, supporters did grow accustomed to seeing our side at least qualify.
However, the failure of the USMNT to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia seemed to lead to that same disenfranchisement among fans as many soccer folks with their local clubs.
The men’s national team became an afterthought – or worse: the butt of a joke. I can’t count the amount of times I brought up the national team news among my soccer fan friends, only to be hushed out while discussion of the UEFA Champions League resumes. The frequent and expected success of the women’s side, often in contrast to the men’s, has led to a comparative increase in interest and support for their team, which is certainly not a bad thing for an incredible group that has had to play second fiddle for way too long.
This ultimately means little to me, of course. I can still find people to talk about it with on Twitter if I’m ever desperate enough to dip my toe into that cesspool. The people who should be really concerned about this development are those in the United States Soccer Federation and those who represent it.
Soccer clubs in America have had to build up their fanbase often from scratch after years in the wilderness of the sport. The national team instead had a big base over the 2000s and 2010s which they then squandered (and largely lost) following the disaster that was a loss in Couva. Getting those people (and more) back into the fold is a huge task that will likely take more than simply qualifying for the 2022 edition in a lot of cases. Establishing a team that can compete at the highest levels, and do so regularly, would go farther still toward making that a reality.
While such a roster may still be a little ways off, steps can be taken now. The first certainly was to re-plant our flag on that Biggest Stage the sport has to offer. Enter the men’s national team to Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Emotions went hand in hand with the tension for a big result. Panama used to be minnows in this region before our slip at the final hurdle (a game against Trinidad and Tobago’s B/C team) allowed them to make a name for themselves as World Cup participants. Much of the US team from 2018 has retired, while a few veterans still remained. The places of those retirees had been filled with younger options, hungry to repeat the feat and qualify. This was the game to do it for both the United States and Panama.
Whoever won had a very strong chance of either qualifying directly or at least assuring themselves of a playoff spot. Whoever lost had not only a much lower likelihood, but might even be eliminated from contention altogether. If the US happened to do anything other than win this game, I can only imagine the fan response. Some people would be calling for the coach’s head (metaphorically, we hope). I think a good number would’ve done something more costly for the federation overall: tuned out entirely. If they can’t even beat Panama when it matters the most, why bother with them at all?
The game started out a little edgy, as one might expect from a competition with so much riding on it. However, things quickly took a turn. After a foul in the box, and an assist by Video Assistant Review, Panama gave up a penalty which Christian Pulisic coolly converted.
What was already a raucous crowd turned into the loudest celebration I’ve seen. Many commentators noted the energy of the crowd in Orlando even early on, setting their tone toward the referee and his decisions within the first minute. From the first goal to the halftime whistle, when the US was up 4-0, I felt multiple levels of elation. The standing section on the other side of the stadium led with their chants and we answered on our end with the strongest U! S! A!’s we could muster. I high-fived, I danced, I cursed in happiness, and I even got dizzy at one point. That’s to say nothing of the players on the field whose emotions clearly were also at fever pitch (Christian Pulisic himself had to be pulled out of more than one confrontation). It was a legitimate statement win and it ultimately secured automatic World Cup qualification for us.
I left the game to get a drink or two with my fiancee and we ran into multiple fans who’d had a similar idea. We then went to stay at a friend’s house and in between all this I was finally able to catch up with the group text I share with my soccer fan friends. There was much encouragement and there was a distinct lack of snark considering the team everyone was discussing. Having the USMNT back in the World Cup and having the eyes of the nation upon them, the mouths of the nation cheering them on, is the story we need before we host this same tournament in 2026. Momentum, and not a noticeable absence of it, will only improve the standing of the game here, hopefully leading to a greater uptick in interest in the game overall – from the grassroots to the local teams on up to the best leagues in the world.
I felt afterward that this is what sport can do; this is what soccer can do. People who had been disenfranchised and turned away were brought back by a hat trick in an otherwise emphatic game. The boys on the field were firing on all cylinders, transferring emotion between themselves and the crowd and back, and likely right through the screens of people watching at home or in bars around the country. It would take a loss away to Costa Rica (that we kept below a margin of six) to confirm our automatic qualification and return to the greatest sporting event on earth; but, it was assured in Orlando that Sunday night.
It was a Night and it was an Occasion which I will likely never forget.
