| Subject: World Cup Editorial: USA Displayed World Class |
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Son
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Date Posted: 23:49:04 06/23/02 Sun
In the face of defeat the Americans displayed class while making a brave exit from Earth's greatest event.
Team USA suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 loss on Friday to Germany in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, ending the Yanks' Cinderella story
But trailing 1-0 late and searching for the equalizer Bruce Arena's men did not resort to any of the 'cheating' tactics that tainted several moments of this fine World Cup.
There was no diving, no play-acting, no flopping about, no pretending like you just got shot, etc... from the Americans. No, there was none of that. Instead the Americans displayed determination, guts, valor and class.
"I don't want to leave," a devastated Landon Donovan said. In the end, however, Donovan's and his mates' resolve was not enough to influence the scoreboard.
But at least Bruce's boys went down fighting not faking.
Post game the United States could have dwelled on the ball-on-Frings'-arm play and what might have been, but they did not.
"Yeah, those are the breaks. But we're not going to cry like the Mexicans did. That's the game. We had other chances," said Claudio Reyna. Captain America was alluding to the round of 16 match against Mexico where the 'hand of JOB' (John O'Brien) went unnoticed inside the penalty area with USA holding a precarious 1-0 lead.
August U.S. defender Tony Sanneh echoed Reyna's thoughts.
"I don't want to sound like a sore loser. We had some chances to score, myself included. My hat's off to them. They made the plays and we didn't," said the Nˆ¢rnberg libero.
In the end, however, team USA's loss to Germany was also a gain. Bruce's boys gained international respect for their efforts and can go to sleep at night knowing they left it all on the field.
"We have had a great ride. The satisfying thing is we can go home knowing that we probably could have gone a little further. We can go home with our heads held high," said 'keeper Brad Friedel. Friedel was out-dueled on the day by the terrific Oliver Kahn, but the Blackburn Rover provided many gasps during the tournament with some classy saves of his own.
The post match scenes on the pitch between American and German players spoke volumes about respect and class.
Reyna embraced Jens Jeremies despite both players' troublesome World Cup affiliation. In 1998 Jeremies delivered a cheap shot to the American virtuoso in the opening moments of Germany's 2-0 win. On Friday, while defending Reyna, Jeremies faked an injury while players jockeyed for position in the box before an American set piece. For Jeremies' theatrics Reyna offered a light tread to his mid-section. But after the final whistle they embraced in a sign of mutual respect.
Elsewhere USA defender Frankie Hejduk and Germany coach Rudi Voeller walked off the pitch together with smiling faces, while Kahn held Clint Mathis' handshake a bit longer than usual so they could talk.
To me all these were signs of mutual respect, because these are the types of things teams and players do after a match when they respect each other. Sometimes footballers need to transcend the obligatory shirt-exchange to show truly how they feel about each other.
Ironically, it was the American players with the Bundesliga backgrounds who afforded team USA with numerous chances to knock off Germany, and those German connections may have fostered some of the mutual respect on display.
Sunderland's Reyna played at Bayer Leverkusen before moving on to a successful loan spell at Wolfsburg. Sanneh plies his trade with Nˆ¢rnberg, and Hejduk is a member of Leverkusen. Donovan, who currently is on loan to the San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer, also is on the Leverkusen payroll and his impressive World Cup play likely will mean his recall to the German club in October.
"We are not Perugia," said Bayer Leverkusen managing director Reiner Calmund. "He would have been welcome no matter the result. Thank God and thanks to Oliver Kahn, he hasn't scored today," said the relieved Calmund about Donovan.
The 20-year old has earned another shot with Leverkusen.
The USA, meantime, have earned respect, all the while displaying class.
Speaking out after the match proud USA coach Bruce Arena said, "I thought we played well for 90 minutes. We came out and got after the German team, which was our game plan...the difference in the game besides the goal by Ballack was Kahn. He came up with some great saves and kept them in the match in the early going and he came up with some saves in the second half that kept us off the board. It was probably the difference in the match."
Notice USA's headman never once mentions officiating or the controversial goal-line play.
That's class.
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