Japan’s victory over the United States in Sunday’s finale of the Women’s World Cup, it is universally agreed, was a feel-good moment.
“A Resilient Team Soothes a Nation,” The New York Times headline proclaimed.
Soothing a nation, as admirable as that may be, is not enough for some people, though. Now they’re saying it’s the game that finally will make soccer take root and flourish in this country.
But every time I hear that claim — which is made approximately every time a U.S. team of any gender advances past the first round in any international competition — I’m skeptical.
Not that my credentials as a sports forecaster are impeccable. Eleven years ago, for instance, I went on record to predict minor league baseball wouldn’t last more than three seasons in Dayton.
OK, so I missed that one by juuuust a little bit.
But rumors of the imminent explosion of soccer in this country have proven to be greatly exaggerated for, oh, 30 or 40 years now.
I don’t know why.
It could be a reluctance in this country to try anything perceived to be foreign. Look at how many of us still won’t touch sushi.
Maybe it’s all those low scores, although a 1-0 soccer match can’t be any duller than a 1-0 baseball game.
Or maybe it’s because some of the rules seem weird to us.
I probably shouldn’t quibble with a sport that somehow manages to attract billions of fans without my help, but how can you have the championship of the planet decided by one player’s ability to stop a penalty kick while the rest of the team just has to watch? That’s like having the World Series settled by two guys in a home run derby while the other players stand around spitting and scratching themselves.
And what’s with not letting us know exactly how much time’s left in the game. Can’t they afford to put a clock on the scoreboard?
In spite of all that, maybe Sunday’s match really will provide the impetus to lift soccer interest in this country to the level of March Madness, World Series fever and Super Bowl Sunday.
If not, well, soothing a nation still is a pretty good accomplishment for any game.
Contact D.L. Stewart at dlstew_2000@yahoo.com.
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