Comments
GELFAND’S WORLD - Whether you call it soccer or futbol, it’s an exciting game at the top levels. There are maybe 7 billion people in the world who consider this the top game. And in the top level of play, there are, at this moment, two or three players who would be in consideration as the Greatest of All Time. So any red blooded sports fan ought to take the opportunity to see Argentina’s Lionel Messi in his last World Cup. In his opening game, he scored 3 goals, which is so unusual that it inspired headline writers all over the internet to take notice.
Let’s talk a little about the U.S. team. And notice that I’m not talking about the American team, because in soccer, there is South America, and it not only dominates anything that North America can field, it has dominated the world quite a few times. But this is a year that is tailor made for the U.S. to get further into the winners’ bracket than it has done for many years. Partly that’s because this is an OK team by world standards, and partly it’s because of the way the brackets were drawn.
One aside: In this first round, the top 48 teams in the world are in groups of 4. Each team plays every other team in its own group, and then the top 2 teams from each group go into the next round. (This time, there is an additional complication, because some third place teams will also go into the next round.)
And that’s where things get interesting for our U.S. team. When I say that this is an OK team, I mean that it is considered good enough to have been rated 15th in the world coming into this World Cup. (The top five ranked teams on this list are, respectively, Argentina, France, Spain, England, and Brazil.) If you look a little further down the list, you will find Belgium at number 10, which is of interest if you read the next two paragraphs.
The bracket that the U.S. is in (Group D, if you care to look things up) includes Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey. Every one of the other teams was ranked lower than the U.S. in world standings coming into this tournament. The U.S. played up to expectations in its opening game, defeating Paraguay rather easily. Meanwhile, Australia won its opening game, setting up the defining game for this round, which will take place in the middle of the day on Friday.
It may be the biggest game in U.S. soccer history in this sense: If the U.S. beats Australia, it is likely to finish first in its bracket. Finishing first in the group stage means that it goes into the next round (called the Round of 32) with a much easier game, because it would play the third place finisher from some other group.
OK, so much for fantasy, but this next one is not unreasonable. And it only depends on getting past Australia on Friday. Stay with me for one more moment.
The winner of that Round of 32 game would then play a highly ranked team. If you want to guess based on the bracket, it’s going to be Belgium. (Obligatory joke for those of a certain age: The game should be played on a Tuesday.) And that is where the tournament would realistically end for the U.S. team because Belgium is a European team which went into the World Cup ranked tenth in the world. But that’s where the rest of the story comes in.
A lot of my fellow Americans aren’t interested in soccer. They think it’s boring. And if you don’t understand the following comment, there is reason to feel that way: In soccer, any instant that a team has the ball is an instant where it could go on to score in the next 30 seconds. It depends on making a great play or finding some instant weakness in the defense, and there you go. But here is the thing: It’s a lot easier for a team to play good defense than to play great offense. (Exactly the opposite of NFL football.) So every single team in this World Cup has a pretty good defense.
This adds an element of uncertainty into any game where both teams have pretty good offense, a pretty good goal keeper, and adequate defense. In other words, the U.S. has a chance of getting into the round of 16 game and pulling off an upset. Just saying.
And yes, a lot depends on our players staying well and getting well.
Addendum the First:
A lot of naysayers will be claiming that the agreement between Iran and the U.S. is no better than the earlier agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration. Some will say that it is worse. (Where is that $300 billion going to come from, anyway.) Here is one analysis. If nothing else, you can conclude that this isn’t an agreement at all, but merely an agreement to try to negotiate an agreement. The clue will be whether one or the other side breaks it and closes the Strait of Hormuz once again. I suspect that the Iranians are more highly motivated to take this step.
Addendum the Second:
It was almost amusing to watch J.D. Vance explain that we need to cool the rhetoric lest more political violence occur. Has he forgotten who the president is?
Addendum the Third:
The fact that the Trump administration continues to deny the reality of global climate change caused by global warming is not only a crime against civilization, it is becoming a tragedy. Just the other day, one news outlet mentioned in passing that the increased danger of flooding in the southeast U.S. comes from increasing loads of moisture in the atmosphere. And that moisture is directly linked to increasing temperatures. I’m still waiting for the Fox Weather channel to use the words Global Warming.
Addendum the Fourth: A view from the balcony
The L.A. Opera brought back The Magic Flute. It’s presented in a wild and crazy way, with singers standing on platforms raised up above the stage, with cartoons and animation projected everywhere, and with some really good voices. To the silent film fan, it’s fun to note that the bird-catcher character is dressed up like a latter day Buster Keaton, and the soprano is dressed up like Clara Bow. The animations were worthy of something from that era. A full house audience cheered and yelled in approval.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
