Will USA win the Gold Cup? Germany's best seem to think so
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Version 0 of 1. One of England’s greatest gifts to the world is soccer. Football, as some of you still call it. Yet for large parts of the English-speaking world, the game is far closer to a curiosity than the obsession it is everywhere else. It’s one of the strange anomalies of the game’s situation, and it applies from the antipodes to North America, via the subcontinent. Perhaps it helps explain some of the experiences Michael Bradley and his countrymen have had across the Atlantic. “There’s no doubt that as American players and as the American team, we still fight for respect every time we step on the field,” the USA playmaker told the Guardian before their friendly against Germany in Cologne last month. “When you look at some of the players, some of the coaches, some of the teams that we’ve had over the past few years … there’d be certain cases along the way where we deserve a little bit more respect. “But that’s life and that’s football, and the only choice you have at that point is to keep going, to keep pushing, and to show people somewhere along the line what you are all about.” Even at home, respect hasn’t always been forthcoming. It goes with the territory when, like Bradley, you play under your father. But under Jürgen Klinsmann, his father’s successor as USA coach, he has at last been able to shake off whatever skepticism remained. For consecutive trips to Europe this year, the 27-year-old was chosen to lead the team as captain, albeit it as a stand-in. And it was Bradley who engineered remarkable come-from-behind wins against both Holland and world champions Germany. The win in Amsterdam was all the more impressive when you consider they were 3-1 down with 20 minutes left to play. But Bradley, you may not be surprised to learn, is far from content. “The real tests are coming,” he says in that distinct style of his. The way he talks is, in many ways, a stark contrast to the way he plays his football. On the field, he is all helter skelter movement, charging box to box with the ball at his feet, driving forward at any reasonable cost. In conversation, he is somewhere between laconic, considered and cautious. “The real tests are coming,” he repeats. “There’s the Gold Cup, the World Cup qualifiers in the fall, Copa America next year.” The US won the 2013 Gold Cup without dropping a point. They spent barely 10 minutes in arrears during the entire tournament. It was part of a remarkable run in which they won 12 games in a row, and it all started with a 4-3 victory in Washington against the Germans. By the time they met die Mannschaft again, in Recife at last year’s World Cup, the team had won a remarkable 20 of 26 games. It was a run that also included a vital victory over Ghana that would help the US progress to the knockout stages of the competition. It’s their form since that has been raising eyebrows. Prior to the game in Cologne, their scorecard read four wins, three draws and four losses. Break even figures, nothing more. Bradley puts it down to some post-World Cup experimentation, and letting a few results get away from them. When asked what constitutes a pass or fail in their Gold Cup title defence, he says “the idea is to win”, but he’s “not in the business of deciding what’s a pass, what’s good enough, what’s not, what’s a fail. “[It’s not] going to be easy. To start with, the quality from top to bottom in Concacaf has gotten better over the last eight to 10 years. Certainly when you look at the World Cup this last summer, you can see that. “To win the tournament, you know, you have to start with the idea that you’re playing three good games in your group, and getting out of your group, and you know at that point it’s a knockout tournament, and that point you are trying to move along on game at a time. “And then, obviously, even if you take care of everything you need to along the way, typically a final against Mexico, or a game against Mexico, at some point late In the tournament is always a very difficult game. Certainly on the field, but also in terms of the emotion, the tension and the rivalry. “So, look, it’s a big summer for us.” He takes a deep breath, umms and ahhs for a second, then pauses. “We understand that. But we’re also excited about that.” The result in Cologne certainly shows the potential this side has got. They dominated the world champions throughout the second half, and in the dying minutes, Bobby Wood gave them a well-deserved lead. It was a goal that began with a Bradley run through the midfield. “Can they win the Gold Cup? Yes, of course,” Mario Götze told the Guardian after that match. The man who set up Götze’s World Cup-winning goal last year, André Schürrle, went further. “[This is a] very good team. Very powerful. Very aggressive. And very strong in the tackle. And from that, I am certain that they have a good chance of winning the Gold Cup,” Scürrle said. “There’s quality in the midfield, and they are playing very well.” He sees similarities between the US and his own team, which Klinsmann rebuilt last decade. “They can stretch and press. With the fast switching and their entertaining approach, you can see the influences of Jürgen Klinsmann.” Beating the world champs on their home soil won the US plenty of praise. Will it be enough to earn them the respect of the footballing world? As Bradley walks away from his brief post-match interview, he turns and considers the question for a second or two. “That’s for other people to decide,” he answers. There was the faintest hint of a smile. |