The Pre-Game Plus: 6/23 @ Real Salt Lake

By: Max J. | June 22nd, 2007

There are some games that just defy the need for analysis, and this is one of them. Salt Lake is, point blank, a pathetic excuse for a soccer team, so bad that you wonder why the local paper hasn’t called in Joe Posnanski to write a requiem for the season already (sorry, arcane baseball reference). United is at full strength (for this game, at least) and in the middle of a tear. A team of their talent and ambition has absolutely no business dropping points in Utah. So the choice, and the commentary, is simple: DC can either go in and drop the hammer as great teams do to the unworthy, or they can suck their way to a draw or loss. The latter is humiliating at best and confidence-shattering at the worst, a sign that United is really no more than a mid-table team. No other option than a win is acceptable.

Since that was quick, some thoughts on the Copa and US Soccer: United got the expected call-ups today, with only Boswell and Olsen going to camp along with an interesting if lackluster assortment of others. As I said before, I’m not particularly worried: we have able subs and, quite frankly, this is going to be a short trip. A single goal in the tournament may be a serious achievement with this roster.

I realize that’s unfair, since, as Bob Bradley said, a lot of these guys are young players in US Soccer’s future who are getting a good chance at some tough experience. I am a big Jay DeMerit fan, and it’s mildly interesting to see people like Herculez and Bobby and Marvell Wynne (Marvell f@#$ing Wynne? Really?) suit up. But the team list is a good indication of US Soccer’s really disgusting institutional lack of ambition. I just can’t bring myself to care about the Nats, despite repeated and very sincere attempts, and this is exactly why. It takes the USSF’s special kind of idiocy to send the Drew Moors of the world to massively competitive, high-profile events while trotting out the A-team to nearly screw up the dog-and-pony show that is the Gold Cup. Small wonder our big guns are increasingly a pack of pampered mediocrities. Between the Gold Cup semi-final fiasco and this roster, it’s pretty much a perfect storm of incompetence and laziness, probably topped off with some corruption.

American soccer fans are still Americans: they want ambition and results, not Landon Donovan and half-witted play, and no one should be surprised when a lot of them continue to throw on their Rooney and Messi jerseys come international soccer time (my Klose shirt definitely isn’t leaving the rotation any time soon). In the short term, next Thursday afternoon I’ll be happy to ignore our inaugural Copa America beat-down to watch United.