When the groups were announced for this World Cup, all USMNT fans had one date circled on their calendars: November 25th, 2022 - USA vs England. If you were gonna catch any of the three US group stage matches, this was the no-brainer to watch.
(Harry Kane and Yunus Musah; Via Deadline)
Not only were we playing England, our cross-pond rivals/allies/former parents, we were playing them the day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday. I’m not sure there is a single other country on earth, nor single other day on the calendar that could have produced a more appealing matchup for both American soccer fanatics and the casual viewer alike.
And the appeal on paper proved as unmissable in practice, as Friday’s match against England was the single most watched soccer game in the history of US Television. Period. It’s been reported that over 20 million Americans tuned in to watch on FOX and Telemundo, and that’s not even counting the bootleg streamers (yes, we see you) that surely tacked on a few million more on top of those official numbers.
(Packed bar for USA vs England match; Via 8NewsNow.com)
So, with more Americans than ever watching the match, how’d we do? Did we give the people the show they tuned in for? Well, I think it depends on who you’re asking.
If you’re asking the die-hard American soccer fan, I bet they’d tell you that they’re happy with a point at the end of the day. That’s exactly the boat that I’m in, and I think it’s a pretty natural place to be.
On paper, we honestly didn’t stand much of a chance. As much as I spend my days hyping up this US squad on Twitter, in my blogs, and to anyone unfortunate enough to come across my path on game day, it was hard for me to look past how much better this English squad should be compared to ours.
In fact, after seeing a handful of those theoretical “combined XI’s” online in the lead up to this match, I was having a hard time convincing myself that any individual player on this USMNT squad would break into England’s starting lineup - and that’s a pretty tough pill to swallow to be honest.
(England's Starting XI vs USA; Via PlanetSport)
Plus, when you consider England had just absolutely thumped Iran by a scoreline of 6-2 in the lead up to our match, it was getting pretty hard to imagine anything other than an England victory. So, I was very much in the mindset of, “let’s just hope for a strong performance”.
And ultimately, that’s what we were able to conjure: a very strong performance. England, despite their vastly superior squad, did not dominate the USA. In fact, I would argue that the Americans were the stronger side on the day, and by some margin. We created the better chances and created them steadily throughout the match, while basically limiting the Three Lions to set-piece opportunities, and one long-rage Mason Mount strike.
In the end, the match finishing 0-0 probably flattered the English. While I'm personally happy with the point and have been keeping a positive mindset about the result, others in the US camp don’t necessarily feel that way.
(USA's Starting XI vs England; Via SBI Soccer)
One group that wasn’t particularly pleased about the result seems to be the ‘casual American sports fan’. I’m talking about the ones who tuned-in because “hey, its the World Cup!”
First off, I want to start by saying I genuinely love this type of fan, because while they are still figuring it all out, they are usually 100% bought in on going balls to the wall for the US of A. No, they might not know the players on our team, the significance of the match itself, or even the very rules of the game they are watching, but to be honest, none of that matters in the slightest.
These fans are just going for it, and at the end of the day, they want us to win! And, if we want the growth of soccer to continue in this country, they are the very people we need to get on board with the sport at some point. So, I would argue pleasing this group is actually very important to US soccer as a whole.
But, when this kind of fan tunes in and sees a 0-0 draw, I honestly get a bit worried about whether or not they will tune in to the next match. They want to see action, they want to see goals, and they want to see the Red White and Blue win games. At the end of the day, they want something to celebrate. But, it’s just not really in the “American Sports” DNA to celebrate ties - regardless of how much of an underdog we were supposed to be.
And while it would be easy to discredit this type of fan for their limited knowledge of the game, I don’t think there’s much value in that. Yes, it’s difficult to listen to someone complain about a lack of scoring when that match was as entertaining as it was, but they’re really not wrong. We should have scored! Hell, we should have won too!
(American fan celebrating; Via TIME)
Maybe a bit of blind positivity is exactly what we need going into this must-win match against Iran on Tuesday. Yes, conventional wisdom would be to respect your opponent, and to not take anything for granted against a side that we really should beat. But, fuck it - that’s never been the American way.
I think we need every bit of textbook American arrogance going forward. At this stage in the tournament, every match from here on out will be “win or go home”, and I don’t think any of us are ready to go home. So, as fans, I say we come out unified, we come out hot, and we come out with every ounce of un-educated enthusiasm expressed by the casual fan that expects the USA to win every match they play in, because that’s what we have to do as a team to keep our World Cup dreams alive.
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