Each week The Examiner sits down with a Comcast SportsNet personality to get their take on the issues of the day.
The United States is no longer a pushover in international soccer, but Russ Thaler tells us why that won’t matter when the World Cup starts next week in Germany.
Recommended Stories
Examiner: Do you see any way the World Cup can be a positive for U.S. soccer if the team doesn’t advance out of the group stage in which it faces Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic?
Russ Thaler: If they don’t, it will probably be perceived as a failure. It’s not fair, but it’s true. In essence they brought it upon themselves with their run to the quarterfinals in 2002. I was down in Cary, N.C., with them [at the national team training camp] for a few days, and it’s something that they fully embrace. It’s also something that they’re looking forward to trying to uphold. It’s their expectation, not just our expectation, to get out of the group. The biggest difference between this year and 2002 is this team goes into the tournament fully expecting to compete on the same level and fully expecting to beat some of the best teams in the world.
EX: Compare the buzz for the tournament itself to what it was like four years ago.
RT: The big difference is there is more of a focus on Team USA within the United States as opposed to the focus being on the World Cup being a huge event so we cover it. This time there’s an actual buzz about the team, and a lot of that has had to do with the success that MLS has had the last four years. We know these guys now, and they made a name for themselves in the Far East four years ago. Instead of just watching the World Cup and rooting for the USA because of the colors, a lot of people feel like they’re rooting for guys they’ve come to know.
EX: Can anyone beat Brazil?
RT: Anyone who follows soccer at all will tell you that if Brazil plays up to the way everyone thinks they can play, I think they’re the team to beat hands down.
That being said, soccer is pretty fickle, and the ball can bounce any number of ways. And the U.S. team believes — and I believe too — that they are good enough on any given day to beat anyone, and that includes Brazil if things break the right way. It won’t be an upset of such monumental proportions that our mouths will be left agape. It will be something that the guys knew they could do it. And that’s a big stride for U.S. soccer.
EX: How will the World Cup impact D.C. United and Major League Soccer, which unlike most countries will continues its season during the World Cup?
RT: I think the World Cup hurts MLSas a whole. But I think with D.C. United, they’re playing so well. If they continue to play so well — they’re quest isn’t to be the biggest story nationally — people in the D.C. area won’t have any choice but to start to notice. It can only help them if soccer becomes more in the public conscience.
As told to the Examiner’s Craig Stouffer
