SYDNEY – There have been two huge soccer moments for me – moments that were supposed to be catalytic, making this game of the world relevant in the U.S.
The first came in the mid- to late-1970s, when Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia and Franz Beckenbauer transformed the New York Cosmos into a glamour team capable of both drawing 75,000-plus to the Meadowlands and making the NASL seem a league with legs.
But like Studio 54, Gloria Gaynor and “Welcome Back, Kotter,” the league was a fleeting phenomenon, a fad the way mood rings were a fad. It went away and the mourning was brief, if at all.
The second great soccer moment for me came last summer, when the U.S. women won the World Cup at the Rose Bowl before a full house and more soap-box proclamations that what the rest of the globe considers football was about to take an American foothold.
But 14 months later, how many of those very, very memorable women can you name?
I’ll get you started: Mia Hamm you probably get because she was the best player. And Brandi Chastain because she took her shirt off. Who else do you have? Did you get to 10? Five? Did you get a third name?
Where is that women’s pro league that was coming after Chastain’s penalty-kick-and-sports-bra snapshot on July 10, 1999? Do you even remember the opponent from that unforgettable game? Here’s a clue: China.
So forgive me if I did not head to the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday buying the latest pitch of an American soccer revolution. The American men, who had never before made an Olympic second round, had advanced to the semifinals to face Spain. That left them two wins from yet another of those transcendent U.S. soccer moments.
The NFL can rest easy. It is still the only football in town. The Spanish, creating a series of odd-man rushes with superior work in close quarters, defeated the U.S., 3-1. The Americans are now left playing for the bronze medal Friday against Chile.
“We are not going to be world soccer powers overnight, but we are making progress,” said captain Chad McCarty.
This was the post-match spin. That the U.S. had come farther than expected. That the gap to the world powers has been closed. That better – a World Cup victory or an Olympic gold – was on the way. And that this will help make soccer a major factor in the U.S. Just like the Cosmos were going to do. Just like the U.S. women were going to do.
Except the Cosmos are long gone. And the U.S. women play for gold tomorrow, and how many of you even knew that? The reality is we have become a niche country. We have more options. Just look at the major U.S. networks.
They cannot carry the ratings heft of the past because cable channels and satellite dishes eat away segments of viewers to a panorama of possibilities. The Internet has made NBC’s taped-delayed Olympic coverage as relevant as an Ahmad Rashad sideline report.
The major sports leagues are learning this new reality. In a post-Jordan world, the NBA cannot hold its audience. The numbers were slipping on Monday Night Football well before Dennis Miller. Who needs the Baseball Game of the Week, when you have a Game of Every Night?
In this atmosphere, what those leagues have at least is history and a broad base, meaning there will be erosion, but probably no threat to their heavyweight status.
What has become nearly impossible is to break through even to the level of the AFL or ABA to force merger with the big boys. Without a Tiger Woods or scripts like the PGA Tour and WWF have right now, soccer can just hope to gain bigger nibbles at a pie shared by the likes of Arena Football and the X-Games.
And it is still to be seen whether the PGA Tour and WWF can maintain this heightened attention. The advantage soccer has is that so many American kids play it. Right now, that is leading to better players, but not more fans of a pro game. Alexi Lalas, a former long-time member of the national team, has seen a U.S. transition from fielding a few capable players to “now we field a quality 11 that can compete against the world.”
American soccer is not to the rest of the world what the rest of the world is to U.S. basketball team. The Americans will weigh in with meaningful victories here and there. But before you make too much of the advances here, know each team is allowed just three players over the age of 23, and most of the best international players stayed with their professional clubs rather than come here.
Spain did not have a player over 23, yet showed the precision that comes from having the game more in its blood. American goalie Brad Friedel had no chance on any of the goals, two on crossing passes to wide-open Spaniards and one on a rebound to a wide-open Spaniard.
America scored on a penalty kick, its only shot on goal in the whole game. So the U.S. will play for bronze. And the country will have to wait for that next great soccer moment.
