Soccer's position in national pysche hampers American World Cup chase.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Thursday, September 6, 2001) -- ‘We’re number one!’ is not simply a cheer in the United States. It has become deeply ingrained in the national psyche, that whatever Americans do, they believe they should be number one.

Well, it isn’t true in soccer, especially at a time such as now when the men’s national team is missing several key players. After losing 2-0 to Costa Rica last night at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa The U.S. now stands fourth in qualifying for CONCACAF, the region that includes the smaller nations of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with only the top three finishers advancing to the 2002 World Cup. Ahead in the standings are Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico (by goal differential only), three teams that are performing clearly better bow with two games left in the qualification process.

The good news in this is that while the U.S. stands fourth, the remaining opponents are fifth-place Jamaica on home soil October 9 and last-place, winless and pretty much hapless Trinidad & Tobago on the road on November 11. Neither country has anything left to play for and two American victories and its on to South Korea and Japan.

An important question is why the U.S. with its millions of kids kicking soccer balls around suburban fields, lags behind countries as small as Honduras and Costa Rica. A good part of that answer was on display here yesterday and today.

Drive through a U.S. city on the day a World Cup qualifier -- whether it be Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio, or Boston - and there would be no indication a big match was about to be played. Drive through San Jose, or for that matter through San Pedro Sula, Honduras, or even giant Mexico City, and there is no way not to no when it’s match day.

Yesterday morning, driving through the city on the way to look at Estadio Saprissa, on almost every street corner vendors were selling Costa Rican flags, team jerseys or some other symbol of the national soccer team. Cars were festooned with red and blue. At 10 a.m., the area around the stadium was swarming with fans ready to cheer their team getting off the bus for a walk through, and to boo the U.S. when it arrived.

It started to rain heavily at noon, but the stadium opened at 2 p.m. and by 6, two hours before kickoff, every seat in the stadium was filled and people were standing in every nook and cranny despite the downpour. By kickoff, the crowd was in a frenzy.

When the match ended, and the Ticos had assured themselves an invitation to the World Cup, the country exploded in happiness. No, it was not the ugly riots of Los Angeles or Detroit or Denver after a Super Bowl or NBA championship. It was simply the unleashing of joy and national pride.

Immediately after the match, Costa Rica president Miguel Angel Rodriguez plunged into the winning lockerroom. He went in wearing a well-cut suit and dress shirt, but emerged 10 minutes later wearing a Tico match jersey. Politicians are the same worldwide.

On his way out, with what appeared to be a single bodyguard, he stopped for a moment to talk with a couple of American reporters. "You can’t imagine what this means to our country and to our people," he said. "This team is the heart of our nation. We are now going to play before the world. Every person in Costa Rica feels this pride in what we have accomplished. I am so happy. We are all so happy."

After telling us that he had declared today a national holiday with schools and businesses closed and a parade through the city to start at 11a.m., he left to join the celebration.

All this shows how deeply soccer is a part of the national culture and identity in so many countries of the world. It is safe to say that every young boy, or almost every young boy, growing up in Costa Rica dreams one day of playing for the Ticos. For the small number who eventually do, they wear the national colors with the knowledge of what is expected of them.

Obviously, this will never happen in the U.S., a nation simply too big and too diverse where soccer is surely not a major part of the national identity. The fact it isn’t points up the difficulty the Americans have competing in situations such as last night.

An hour after the match, a forlorn Earnie Stewart trudged with his U.S. teammates across the field of the empty stadium to reach the team bus. Four days after losing 3-2 to Honduras before a majority of vociferous Hondurans at RFK Stadium in Washington, he looked up at the empty seats of Saprissa and said wistfully "Just once I would like to play in front of a home crowd like that in the U.S."

He probably won’t. In fact, few athletes in any sport in the U.S. ever will. That goes a long way towards explaining why, at least at this moment, we’re number four.

Senior correspondent Robert Wagman's "It Seems To Me . . . " appears regularly on SoccerTimes. He can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com..