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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
www.thegoldenyears.org / The Americans need to get Max(imilan) points from Ghana, or their World Cup verdict will be sealed: guilty of impersonating the No. 5-ranked team in the world.
Off the Ball shamelessly ripped off the name of one of her favorite movies to set up Thursday’s win-or-go-home scenario for the U.S. against Ghana. We are all very familiar with what is at stake. A win by the Yanks, coupled with three points by famously moody Italy over the Czechs, gets them into the second round. ‘Nuff said.
Knocking themselves out, the Yanks are, for the right to get knocked out by Brazil. Amazing sport, this is.
The mystery is, which U.S. team will show up in Bavaria? The one that rolled over against the Czechs, or the one that refused to give in against Italy?
In terms of cinematic analogies, will the Yanks be more like the character played by Burt Lancaster, the brilliant but fatally flawed jurist on trial? Or Richard Widmark, the dogged, almost to a fault, American prosecutor with a take-no-prisoners persona who gets on everybody’s nerves with his self-righteousness? Or his courtroom adversary, played by Maximilian Schell, defiantly and nobly plowing ahead with his defense of a lost cause?
Regardless of the outcome, will you, the American soccer fan, acting as the head of the U.S. World Cup tribunal, render a fair but firm verdict on this odyssey in the same way Spencer Tracy did?
The cry in the American media will be a familiar one should the U.S. not advance, despite the difficulty of this group. Seeing how the Dutch and Argentinians carved up their foes, but that everyone in this foursome is still alive, the U.S. certainly is in the Group of Death.
The dramatic exasperation that has come in the two U.S. games has been most memorable, for very bad and very good reasons. That its play has been far from stellar is no shame. This is the World Cup, where survival is the objective.
Having bloviated about all that, there is one thing for sure: Ghana is scary, and not just after running the Czechs off the field. They are fast, athletic and aggressive, and have nothing to lose. Who starts in this one?. Given the sensational midfield combo of Appiah and Essien, how can the U.S. compensate for the loss of Mastroeni, who was having a great game against Italy until his red card?
Atlanta Silverbacks’ defender Joe Afful is now an American citizen, but admits on Thursday that his heart will be with his homeland. And not just because he’s tight with Essien.
A few other links to chew on: Here’s a good backstory on why FIFA is clamping down so relentlessly on rough play. Rough play is only half the story. A lot of this is overcompensation for sins and corruption of the past that haunts still.
Everybody’s jumping on the Germany bandwagon — well, at least the Germans are warming up to the home team a bit more.
Nearly two weeks in, and it’s obvious: There is no 12-step rehab program for this malady. It is incurable.
Go ahead, and admit it.
