Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

NBC seems to have upped their game for this Oly. I keep seeing interesting things show up, and I'm adding this to my list of great moments. As a runner, I love the entourage.



Side note, this reminds me of the Swiss runner, Gabriela Anderson, during the 1984 marathon in LA. That day was incredibly hot, and she was incredibly dehydrated and wandering all over the track on the finishing lap. And the crowd cheered her for the entire lap!

 

Along with being the greatest marathoner, he comes across as a really good human as well.

 

It wasn't just because of the dominance, but it drilled down to the tribal level as well. Literally.

 

He's a good mid to upper mid level manager. Espanyol, Southampton, and Spurs are about right. And with Spurs, he did well with the right squad, a team that didn't have the huge egos like PSG or Chelsea. The USMNT is about right, in that regard.

But he is not the guy to get us to the WC Final...probably. There are times when he has the players he wants, like he did at the clubs I mentioned, and he is fine. And he will get that with the USMNT. Tactically, though, he's not dynamic or hugely inventive, and sometimes slow to adjust, but with a mid to upper mid squad, his obsessiveness will work well. Spurs did make it to the CL final under his care with a bit of luck, but mostly on merit. He'll do better than Berhalter, but I don't expect anything beyond a semifinal, at most. Quarterfinal is where I think he'll get us, depending on the opponent. He's a good stepping stone.

 

The 'purposely pitted against each other' part is the important one, I'd argue. This was a common colonial tactic, and the British for one had a shameful track record of hard-wiring sectarian divisions into post-colonial national boundaries.

"Artificially created countries" kinda bugs me because ALL countries are 'artificially created' to some degree, and very, very few sovereign nations are entirely homogeneous in their ethno-national makeup. What matters is the degree of legitimacy the new state has, and whether or not it can make a complimentary claim to other forms of group membership (tribe, ethnic or sectarian group, etc.). Or to put it more directly--the degree to which the newly-drawn borders and newly-created states are expressions of local self-determination rather than unilaterally imposed by the former imperialist power is the core issue, IMHO.

 

Seemed like a pretty measured take to me.

 

What did you want to see in him?

That was the perfect squad for Poch - solid up the middle from Lloris to Kane. It was also before Dele mentally broke and was at his peak. And there was no hint that Moura would show up like he did v. Ajax. It was a great squad, just lacked depth. But, he was able to manage it well, and with a few good substitutes, Spurs could have been title winners. But, alas, Levy.

But the worry is that when he got pressure from expectations, he folded. This is why he failed at PSG. And why he would never succeed at Chelsea. Both places, he was in over his head. And for the same reason, he's never do well with countries like Italy or Spain or Germany. Or Brasil or Argentina. Portugal and Netherlands might be too much, as well. But Switzerland or Japan or Scotland or the US, maybe Senegal, Nigeria, or Cameroon, too, are his sweet spots.

 

I think you are underselling the squad, and Poch, too.

Transform? Not Poch, but our squad is good enough for quarterfinals. But I agree that Klopp would have been great. Even if he wasn't taking a hiatus, I still think he turns us down.

 

It's optimistic, but hugely optimistic? We're by no means good enough to expect to make the QF, but in 2022 Berhalter was able to make it to the R of 16 with this squad when they were younger and less experienced than they will be in two years. It's not CRAZY optimistic to think that a coach who's almost certainly an upgrade to some degree could do one better.