If this had been a real emergency
Posted on September 20, 2012 12:25 pm
My computer has been in the shop for the past week, which is why I’m not exactly up to the minute here. Pretend you’ve been organizing a boycott of my insensitivity and ignorance (well, more so than usual), because I had a real problem with having this game held on September 11 to begin with, and I had a real problem with how some of the people involved handled the juxtaposition.
I suppose Sunil could have asked Jamaica and FIFA to move the game one day or the other, but FIFA and Jamaica probably would have said no - international days are difficult to come by, and even one day to the left or right screws up a lot of people. Every other game was held that day, and since in retrospect there were probably no realistic alternatives, our team and fans had to adjust as best they could.
Which, a week out, was as good or better than expected, I suppose. But at the time, I didn’t think much of this at all. What if Jamaica had been the ones to score between minute 9 and minute 11? What if we have a national tragedy on New Year’s Eve – will future in-stadium demonstrations have to take place for 19 minutes? Should a 9/11 memorial really perform the same function as “MAKE SOME NOISE!” on the Jumbotron at a Clippers game?
Fortunately, Herculez Gomez made the discussion irrelevant…at least until Ian Darke said “the number 9 scores on 9/11!”
I love Ian Darke. He, even more than John Harkes, are the overriding exceptions to my “American announcers for American soccer” jingo platform, and I look forward to Darke’s commentary throughout qualifying and in 2014. But boy, was that crass.
But what else could I expect? Have the moment of silence, then go on as if nothing had happened? The phrase is “Never forget,” not “Okay, forget for a couple of hours.” The alternatives were to remember in the awkward context of a soccer game, or forfeit the match entirely. And forfeiting would have done about as much to honor the dead and help the survivors as…I don’t know, a sanctimonious blog post. I still don’t like it…but gee, maybe I should save some of that disapproval for the terrorists.
Oh, there was a game? So there was! Hey, you guys know who’s really good? Steve Cherundolo. If an American player had spent nearly a decade and a half in the Premiership, let alone with the same club, let alone as captain – well, look how much we got excited over a couple of Landon Donovan loan spells. Clearly, American fans are racist against Germans. Well, that, and it probably wasn’t smart of Cherundolo to be injured for the 2002 World Cup and the 2009 Confederations Cup, since he’s not associated with a couple of the program’s high-water marks.
I was a little surprised that Jamaica wasn’t a little more willing to attack – viz., at all – but if Jamaica had to lose on the road to the group bully, and Guatemala had to beat the group cupcake, then 1-0 all around suits Jamaica fine. They might fall further behind in Guatemala City, but they have Antigua at home to make up for it. Barring a disaster on the 12th – a multi-goal loss – Jamaica should be in control.
Oh, us? In October, Landon Donovan will be back, and Clint Dempsey will be in full-season form. We’re through to the Hexagonal, bet the world.
Wait, you need more than that? No, you don’t. So what if there’s no way we can clinch the group before the all-important, all-dangerous match against Guatemala. Fine, Guatemala is probably the biggest pain in the ass in the world, when you compare how difficult it is to do anything productive against them to their comparative standing in world football. Fine, so there’s an outside chance we turn six points into two, and bring the sport to a screeching halt in this country. (I’m assuming Canada, who by my quick math are in TERRIBLE trouble despite the standings, will not survive to carry the flag of MLS to Brazil.) And fine, so we’ve already bungled a never-happened-before scenario when we lost to Jamaica.
Okay, and yes, the “if we can’t do this, we don’t deserve to go” sort of rings a little more flat when you consider Mexico won an Olympic gold medal in a tournament we, er, boycotted.
But enough manic-depression. We’re fine. We’re going to win. Let’s roll. (Too soon?)
I don’t know about “Jamaica should be in control”. A Guatemala win and a US win means that a 0-0 in KC knocks Jamaica out.
Unless you are suggesting that we shut the entire country down on every 9/11, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to accept that soccer games might be played on that day. Even if you can’t accept it, you could at least cut back on the melodrama.
Can agree with you more SoccerScottWV. I don’t get the whole treat 9/11 as sacred crowd. My memories of that day are awful and I will always remember and respect them but 9/11 is just a fricken date. I don’t think shutting down anything on that date does anything but validates the terrorists.
Sorry, Scott and Kuhl – by the time I got to paragraph six, I came around to the way you guys see it. You’re absolutely right, sitting at home with the shades drawn doesn’t do anything.
I still think both the goal announcement and the Two Minute Flag Wave were too far in the other direction, and I don’t want to see either repeated. But at some point, I also have to realize it didn’t bug anyone else, so I’m overreacting.
Yeah, if Guatemala ties the US, they’re going through. That’s not very likely. If this site is right, the US has won every meaningful home game to Guatemala, and only tied at home once. Plus, Donovan, Dempsey and Michael Klinsmann – er, Michael Bradley, who I inexcusably forgot to mention in the main post. That’s Why They Play The Games, and all, but Guatemala is a prohibitive underdog to get any points on the final day.
Dan I totally agree with your second paragraph as well. Probably they just should have rescheduled the game for Pearl harbor day.