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You've heard several accounts of the USA-Mexico match at Estadio Azteca, but ESPN columnist Bill Simmons' take on his experience in Mexico City is a unique and entertaining one.
While much of what's in the piece is common knowledge to American soccer fans, the piece is an invaluable one for offering a glimpse into the soccer world for all those casual American sports fans who have yet to catch the soccer bug, as well as those sports fans who don't realize the type of stories and passion that exist in the world of soccer. It's a great read for both soccer fans and casual sports fans alike.
Give Simmons' story a read and share your thoughts on it in the comments section below.
I enjoyed the article especially considering the source, but man it is quite obvious he doesn’t know exactly how good the US team is. He thinks it was a huge achievement to ‘hang in there with Mexico for 2 hours and lose’?
Winning in Azteca is tough as hell but to say it’s a GRAND moral victory is a bit much. We are a bit beyond that now. I have a feeling he’d think it was a major feat to beat Mexico in the US.
chg-
Charlie Davies and Landon Donovan have world-class speed on the soccer field, and when they connect, as they did on that overlapping counter against Brazil, it’s breathtaking. They both would be burned in a footrace against guys like Percy Harvin, Trindon Holliday, or Jeff Demps.
I don’t see how one could argue that the MNT would not be improved if it was getting more first choice athletes in this country. The South produces a disproportionate number of our best athletes. Football gets two thirds of those, and basketball 90% of the remainder. In most urban areas outside the South, basketball dominates.
I don’t know if there is a single large public school in this country where the soccer team would be faster or stronger than than the football skill position guys.
Yes, you obviously need skills to go along with athletic ability, but the more natural athletic ability one has, the easier it is to excel in any sport, including soccer.
Maybe Allen Iverson would not have panned out as a soccer player. However, there are literally thousands of guys 18-22 playing college WR/DB/RB/QB/PG/SG that would stand out in raw athletic ability if tested against our MNT*.
If a quarter of those tens of thousands had played soccer from childhood and devoted as much time and energy to soccer as they devoted to earn the scholarships in their sport of choice, we would be right there with the Brazils and Germanys of international soccer, and as bored with CONCACAF as Australia became with Oceania.
* Yes, the soccer players run more. Big deal. There are limits to training, but 70-90 minutes of fitness is well within the attainable range for any athlete.
Spot on article!
In depth analysis made simple.
The thing with Latin America is that players who made it as far as their National Team, sometimes grew up having next to nothing, especially by American standards.
Carlos Salcido, to pick an example, was washing cars outside the Jalisco Stadium just two years before joining Chivas, and three years before joining the MNT. Lost his mother at nine years, had to support his cousins, and help his dad out, doing all sorts of part-time jobs. Was never told he had brothers that where doing better economically, was never offered anything! The only thing he had was soccer and a dream.
How are Mexicans not going to be passionate about it!!!
Next time Bill come up on the 3rd level with us.. Bring a rain jacket
I don’t know about Bill Simmon’s comments on Americans not carrying enought for a game like the mexicans!! I take soccer to the soul like a religion, especially when the U.S team plays! Mexicans have passion, but Americans have just as much passion as them! I just think Bill is just new to this game!!
Viva el futbol,VIVA USA!!
It’s amazing how many people commented on Simmons’ article. I will echo what everyone has said here in that it’s great to see a mainstream sports guy appreciate soccer, and actually “get it.”
I also sense the increased attention the Beautiful Game is getting in the US. I hear Colin Cowherd mention it, and even Stephen Colbert who posed the question “Is now the time we start paying attention to soccer?” He then went on to say, “Nation, this is not a question that I would normally think twice about, but that was before we were any good at it.” Brilliant.
Good read… and he managed to do it without any references to the Red Sox, Saved By the Bell or Bevery Hills 90210.
“Sadly, Simmons repeats the common misconception that the U.S. has the greatest atheletes in the world. The US dominates many international sports because of money, population, climate, infrastructure & other reasons, but not because their athletes are better than those in other countries.”
from a purely athletic standpoint (run, jump, be stronger and bigger) we actually do… if you dont think so please tell me whole is the Brazilian LeBron (260 lbs, 6’9″, 4.4 40 yard, 44 inch vertical) or D. Howard…
I am just going to point out that the middle passage killed half the people forced to take the trip (likely weaker ones of the group) then the stronger ones who survived the “trip” were forced to live in isolated groups meaning strong people mated with other strong ppl etc… (note: this arguement/point was told to me by a black professer in college in a “Black History class” so dont jump all down my throat with misguided finger pointing.)
He is by far my favorite sports writer. Love reading his stories. Crack me up so bad at work, it’s terrible. Loved the story and was so pumped he wrote about futball instead of the freaking NBA finally!
How precious. Little Billy goes to the big game.
The piece was effusive and revealing, but somehow tiring to read all the way through. I found Ray Ratto’s column on US soccer fandom following the win over Spain superior, and more poignant.
http://sfchronicle.us/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/28/SPCQ18F4JC.DTL
“… Over the past several years, we have seen the true nature of soccer fandom in America, and even a win today won’t change it.
And the point we wish to make here is that’s perfectly all right. It doesn’t have to be anything more than what it is, and the sooner we stop making the U.S. soccer team a litmus test for the game’s popularity and just enjoy its achievements on its own, the cheerier we will be.”
The notion that the US would be better if the über athletes would play the sport instead of baseball or American football or whatever is flawed. Our team already has some of most complete physical players in the region and that is one of the big reasons why we have been able to dominate and neuter more skilled nations. The physical aspect of the American game is second to none.
As reference, Brazil has great basketball, volleyball, swimming, and track athletes and that does not seem to affect their production of football talent.
Omar, the problem is that this country has a lot of immigrants who grew up calling the name ‘football’ or ‘futbol’ or ‘futebol’ or whatever, and soccer is the aberration.
Cheers
THE ABSOLUTE BEST SOCCER ARTICLE I’VE READ IN A LONG TIME.
Simmons is an excellent writer and that article was great.. He wrote another one a few years back in which he detailed his thought processes in deciding for which EPL team he would route for.. Went one by one through every team until he made his choice.. Was one of the best articles i have ever read.. would def recommend you guys give it a read…
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719
A-men, A-Lott. The moment an American soccer fan starts referring to the sport as “football” my eyes glaze over. You lose all credibility if you’ve grown up in the USA, where 300 million of your closest friends call the game “soccer,” but you feel the need to talk like a British announcer. If you’ve called a soccer field a “soccer field” for 20 years of your life, continue to do so. It doesn’t magically become a “football pitch” the moment you become an Arsenal fan.
And the way a British person reacts to hearing the word “soccer” with indignation is quite hilarious. (They’ll immediately tell you how baseball is “rounders,” basketball is “netball,” and both sports are only played by girls. Truly funny how defensive they get.)
See, the thing is, it’s not throwball. It’s football. England’s “football” is “soccer” in the American idiom. I don’t call french fries “chips,” and I don’t call gasoline “petrol.” I watch soccer on the TV, not football on the telly.
The difference is that I don’t expect the Brits to change their idiom to suit me. It doesn’t bother me that the English language isn’t intercontinentally homogenized.
A-Lott,
And when you give up Throwball and only support soccer will you gain respect.
One of the best soccer pieces I’ve read in a very long time.
But in no way did I find the article a condemnation on Mexican fans, as some here want to turn it out to be…Again! On the contrary, I found exhilaration on the part of the author from an experience that is so unique, it defies a one dimensional explanation! He succeeds because of his multifaceted approach!
The last paragraph is moving!
Rome is by far Mr. Anti Soccer.
I remember he had Maurice Jones Drew (top running back in the NFL) as a guest on one time and Jones Drew was wearing a Brazilian soccer jersey. Anyway, instead of interviewing him like he was supposed to, Rome spent two minutes bashing Jones Drew for his jersey and soccer in general.
FIFA is probally afraid to do anything about the Mexican fan base….Seth Blather wouldn’t go to Azteca if yuo paid him…:)
First of all it’s Sepp Blatter. Secondly, He’s been there many times. Go look at video from the Confederations Cup final there in 1999. He’s the one that hangs gold medals on the Mexican Players’ necks.
News Flash: Not everyone south of the Mason-Dixon watches NASCAR. Any time some sports fan casts dispersions on the Southern U.S. by tarring us all with stock-car brush, I know they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. The biggest, most popular sport in the south is college football. Birmingham, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee don’t have NFL teams because they could never compete with the Tide or the Vols.
It’s naked hypocrisy when American soccer fans high-handedly drawl out their disdain for American football or other major sports currently more in tune with national zeitgeist. Stop breaking out the quotation marks for “football.” It’s pretentious, and, when you flash your sport-snob credentials all over the ‘net like that, you’re just as big a prick as Jim Rome and the other people who think soccer is a step up from ballet in the man-sport heirarchy.
There are plenty of us out here in the southern states who like both football and soccer.
Also, Bill Simmons is a clown who has a job writing at ESPN only because he’s a talented and entertaining writer. His Boston bias warps everything that flows from his keyboard. You can only write so many peans to Tom Brady, Curt Schilling and Larry Bird. Glad he’s writing about soccer, but I think he’s wrong about a lot of things in the article.
Nice to know there are others from the Greater Memphis Metropolitan Area here, too.
Shorter version of your argument:
“You think X is bad! Take a look at Y! It’s way worse!”
Guess what? They’re both bad!
My point is that this behavior shouldn’t go on anywhere–Mexico, Honduras, and the US included. Rather than waiting for something really bad to happen FIFA should take control now.
As for the naivete of American fans (ad hominem attack!), I am neither naive nor American.
christian,
Your argument amounts to a non-sequitur. It would not be so hard for FIFA to impose punishments (fines, games w/o fans in the stadium etc) on any country that fails to protect opposing national team players. I think most readers of this blog would agree that the conditions in Mexico should not be allowed any WC qualifier. If the US is included in those countries punished for similar offences, so be it.
Posted by: Max
————-
Protect players from what? A beer shower?
I think the naivette of some (American) fans is starting to show.
I’ll be the first one to apologize for the behavior of some at Estadio Azteca last week but it’s undeniable that this is getting blown way out of proportion.
You want hostile atmosphere? Wait until you visit San Pedro Sula.
Also, Gerrard, skilled as he is, was invisible for most of the pool-spurs game (save for one or two long distance strikes that flashed wide). Modric, Palacios, and Benayoun played far, far better.
chg,
Hilarious, and well put.
christian,
Your argument amounts to a non-sequitur. It would not be so hard for FIFA to impose punishments (fines, games w/o fans in the stadium etc) on any country that fails to protect opposing national team players. I think most readers of this blog would agree that the conditions in Mexico should not be allowed any WC qualifier. If the US is included in those countries punished for similar offences, so be it.
or those other sports truly are just extremely boring.
I really enjoyed the article, as I have only been following soccer for a little over a year, and I started following soccer for a lot of the same reasons. One thing that bothers me however, is the need for a certain section of soccer fans to ridicule other sports and their fans. As someone who likes a lot of sports, that just seems to be jealousy.
FIFA won’t take action against Mexico because they don’t really care about some* rowdy fans throwing plastic cups at players when there are fans running onto the field, with knives attempting to injure players elsewhere (Bolivia, Copa Libertadores)
As far as the vomit thing goes, it’s funny that Donovan never said anything about people throwing “urine and vomit” at him.
It’s because it never happened. At least not in the context that has been portrayed.
There are real fan “hooliganism” problems at the moment, in South America to be precise. Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile have all had recent incidents that make you think throwing plastic cups is child’s play.
For all the pre game talk from US fans and media, it’s no surprise that you’re looking for anything negative to cling from instead of criticizing the way the team played and the tactics employed during the game.
I remember seeing US fans throwing beer cups at Mexican players in Columbus back in February. US fans wearing “mow my lawn” shirts, some chanting “INS”.
Where was the outrage back then?
Spare me the double standard.
Carry on.
parsimony baby. i’m south of the M-D too. if you’re around the Memphis area we have some great weekenders for footie fans.
@ bigcatasroma-
So you think ESPN’s promotion of soccer can best be explained by Occam’s Razor? I suspect you have only the vaguest idea of what Occam’s Razor actually is, and “silent majority” is frequently a phrase of desperation offered up by proponents of a minority opinion.
Many American sports fans’ dislike for soccer is just transference of their feelings towards a subset of American soccer fans. If you want soccer to grow, do your part – stop being such a pretentious douche.
Sincerely,
A yahoo from South of the Mason-Dixon
Omar,
ah, good looking out. He should just go the soccer stalking route. Though the more Toffees fans, the better.
6-1 drubbing or not.
Ching,
Iverson was just an example. It’s not anyone who is good at basketball would be good at soccer, but the best US athletes don’t play soccer, the best athletes in other countries do, if any amazing soccer player throughout history grew up in the US, it’s almost 100% likely they wouldn’t have played soccer on the same level in the US. And alternatively if the top 500 athletes throughout US history grew up in other countries, I’m confident that many of them would have ended up being world-class soccer players.
Admittedly this is a totally unverifiable argument. I certainly understand there is a lot of reason to disagree with my assessment.
Biebs,
Sorry, but we cant expect someone who is good at bball to be good at soccer or anything else for that matter. Allen Iverson could have practiced all day every day with a soccer ball and not been half as good as a half decent USL player.
Mark,
I don’t know if Jozy will transcen the sport of soccer, but I do have high hopes for some of our u-17ers. They are arguably the best generation of soccer players to ever come out of America. I think Luis Gil will be the best American to ever play soccer. I dont know how many have heard, but he signed on with Arsenal’s youth academy(the best in the premiership) and scored against Charlton’s u-16 team.
Jim Rome is a horses arse. The fact that he hates our game is proof-positive that we’re the good guys.
Jim Rome is anti-soccer who’s alma mater is one of the BEST soccer schools and most vocal/lively fanbase in the entire NCAA.
UC Santa Barbara… If a national championship from his cherished school cannot win him over to the sport, nothing will.
I think Simmons is distinctly trying NOT to be a “Euro snob.” For one, he’s on record as saying he hates English people. He just wants to watch the game at a technically high level, which is perfectly understandable. I personally am happy to see him write in the vernacular of football/basketball/baseball. The fewer Americans writing about how “pacy” the “side” on the “pitch” “are,” the better.
@chingsmama
I think what he’s saying here is that the US has not had a transcendant athlete in soccer yet. We haven’t had a Gretzky, Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, Joe Montana kind of player. So a great athlete, but can also do other-worldly things with ball. Basically, the American Messi. With the number of physically gifted athletes in this country, and there are thousands of them, we haven’t had one transcend the sport yet. With more opportunities in the sport, I’d like to think there will be more guys like Jozy who have all the physical gifts, but can also pass, dribble and finish. Using Jozy as an example here, though I think we all agree he’s still raw and needs works, but I’m hoping you understand my point.
Ching… I disagree. His point is that the top athletes in the US don’t play soccer, they play basketball and football from a young age (baseball too) before they play soccer in any sort of league form.
One example he used on a podcast was Allen Iverson. His point was that if a guy like Iverson played soccer from the same age he started playing basketball that he could be a soccer superstar. It’s not an unreasonable statement.
Great article in terms of conveying the passion (and insanity) of the environment, but he’s not entirely on the mark with his soccer analysis. Of course Mexico played the possession game, but it’s not as simple as this. The fitness advantage our boys usually have was dulled by the conditions and, unfortunately, swine flu. This is compounded, as Simmons correctly noted, by the backline’s inability to connect a pass to the midfield, which makes it much easier for Mexico to dominate possession. But the US could never get the ball back due to sluggish play. There’s no way that the conditions and the flu did not play a large role in this. I hope Simmons realizes that watching Mexico play at the Azteca against a poorly-performing US team should not be the definitive case study of quality soccer.
And Jozy, although I’m a big fan, was not the reason the “axis had shifted.” That spark was from bringing Holden and Feilhaber on the field, two sets of fresh legs and two of the better possession guys on the team.
And, finally, Gerrard was not dominant yesterday (in some ways Benayoun was more impactful in his 25 min). I suppose Simmons has finally given up on supporting Tottenham. Perhaps Simmons should save that discussion for another article, which I hope he writes soon – I’m always glad when soccer gets more PR in the US.
Nice read. Pretty ironic how he listed ‘few commercial breaks’ as a subtle factor for soccer being a breakout sport at the end. I remember the lack of stoppages in play for commercial breaks was cited as an obstacle in getting soccer on American TV after World Cup ’94.
Chingsmama……exactly. If you can’t control that ball you’ll end up just another big lugger. A bit like Gooch actually!
It was good up until he said the best athletes play other sports.
I am tired of that excuse. Our players are much more athletic in different ways than those of football, baseball, and basketball.
Athleticism does not equate skill!!!
cyrus — he agrees with you. that is the point of the article. he loved the game because he experienced a passion and fervor that he had only witnessed twice before in his life.
He is far from a wannabe euro-snob. He just likes to watch sports played at the top level and appreciates passionate fans. MLS is not at that level yet. There are a few teams that are developing passionate fans, but that takes time and the right setting. The first step is building the stadiums. The second step is being around long enough that your fans care. Step 1 has been achieved in many cities and Step 2 is on its way.