U.S. Men's Soccer Team: The Soul of a Team Makes a Difference

The United States men’s national soccer team, if nothing else, finally gave itself a clear identity during its time in South Africa.

This team will be the fittest, hardest working side on the pitch, period. It will form the most cohesive unit possible, make everyone feel like family, and then rely on synergy to get results on the field. Put simply, it’s a squad with a ton of heart and no quit in it, t he kind of team that any fan of the game can get behind.

But fans of the MNT have always known this...why is this suddenly important now ?

Because it has a habit of attracting players who are essentially international “free agents,” players with dual nationality.  Increasingly, these players are bringing even greater levels of skill to the table.

Although there have been some fairly recent defections from the national team program, which have justifiably angered the Yank faithful (Italy’s Giuseppe Rossi and Serbia’s Neven Subotic), the MNT has finally begun to really attract players who have options.

Take Jermaine Jones as an example.

Born and raised in Germany to an American serviceman father and German mother, Jones has never stepped foot in the United States. After having been a stalwart starter for his club side Schalke 04, for years, Jones still had not received any callups to major German tournament squads. 

Angered, he chose to exercise his right and switch allegiances to the US MNT. Had he not sustained a season-long injury to his shin, Jones would have likely began his tenure with the team in the 2009 Confederations Cup run, then started alongside Michael Bradley in 2010. He will be 32 in 2014, giving him some chance of making that US World Cup roster.

In the meantime, he’ll play in the Gold Cup and be with the team for qualifying, and the slate of high-caliber friendly matches that the US will play.

Other notable dual-nationality players that have appeared in the Stars and Stripes are Herculez Gomez, Jose Francisco Torres, and Stuart Holden. All were on the field at one point or another in South Africa.

So why did these guys choose to play with us?  Jones could be with the German team, Torres and Gomez with Mexico, and Holden with Scotland. None of these squads are minnows. Why would they want to play for a country that, until recently, hasn’t had soccer in the forefront of sporting culture?

There are a few very simple reasons.

Heart

The team showed its resiliency throughout the South African campaign. There were many times when the team could have said, “well, we did our best, but the odds were just stacked too high against us.”

But they didn’t. Instead, the team banded together and stepped up their game even further…just ask Landon Donovan.

To a soccer player, there is truly nothing more attractive than this. You want to play on a team that always has a chance to win, and on its day can beat anybody on the planet. Does this apply to the US? Oh yeah. 

Need proof? Check the US’ results in the Confederations Cup in the summer of 2009, and of course there are plenty of other examples, too.

The entire team works until their legs give out, a nd for a good 10 minutes after that, it often seemed. The squad already has enough skill behind it to challenge opponents, but throw in the heart that the Yanks play with and you have a very attractive combination. 

Just look at Clint Dempsey: Great talent, and more willpower than anybody I’ve seen on the pitch. He dedicates every goal to his sister, whose tragic passing actually made it possible for Clint to pursue his soccer dreams. According to teammates, he yells like a man possessed when he scores a goal: “I’m the best, can’t nobody stop me!” The guy has passion, pure and simple.

Look at Charlie Davies, t he guy should seriously be dead. Not the “his career is dead” variety, but the six-feet-under, pushing up daisies sort of dead. The accident he was involved in just days before the US’ final qualifier shocked the American faithful and made many wonder if Davies would ever even walk again. 

So, once he came out of surgery to repair skull and leg fractures, plus a host of other injuries, what did he do? He worked so hard that he was just a week shy of making it to South Africa. He’s become a cult icon to MNT fans.

The squad’s celebrations in friendlies leading up to the World Cup were dedicated to him (also known as the attack of the stanky leg). The roar he receives whenever he next suits up for the Stars and Stripes will likely make even the biggest rock stars jealous.

One could even look at Tim Howard, who battles Tourettes syndrome and manages to be one of the top five goalies in the world. He works hard in every training session, and has shown very admirable courage. After essentially being tossed aside by Manchester United, Howard rose like a phoenix to become a rock for club and country. He got annihilated in an early challenge against England in the World Cup, managed to shake off the immense pain (he needed cortisone shots at halftime and throughout the rest of the tournament), and continued to come up big for the US, showing zero fear in challenging for a ball. 

To quote a great football (the other kind) movie, “It takes miles and miles of heart, kid.”

As a player, you really, really want guys like that suiting up next to you. It makes you want to become better and work that much harder. It means you can trust the player next to you to do his job. It means you can focus more on your job in the squad instead of worrying about a potential head case being on your wing.

It makes the game fun, knowing without a single doubt in your heart that the other 10 guys out there with the same shield on their jersey want it just as bad as you do.

Family

Every player on the international stage has a huge amount of motivation—to play for your country is the highest honor.

That being said, there are a lot of countries whose players seem to forget this, using the world’s stage as simply a place to show off, spurning the chance to form something special with his teammates.

This has been seen countless times before, but perhaps the best illustration of a team that has no love for itself can be seen in the English. Their drama was splashed all over the front pages of their newspapers, and it very obviously made their entire South African campaign a struggle.

The US doesn’t have that problem because every player has shown that they are willing to check egos at the door and come together to form a family. You can see it anytime the squad gets together in the smiles and shenanigans that occur. The Studio 90 webcasts went even further to prove this. 

Perhaps one of the best examples of the family atmosphere of this team actually came about a year and a half ago. During one MNT camp, the Studio 90 broadcast was being recorded from the corner flag. Behind the host, you could plainly see starting center back Oguchi Onyewu giving backup goalie Brad Guzan a piggyback ride across the pitch.

Ask yourself, isn’t that what being on a team used to be about?

The camaraderie that the team has always had was on display twenty-four seven.  These guys genuinely like playing together, and would do anything on the pitch, or off of it for each other. It’s that simple: These guys want to work together.

What player with options, like Jones or Jose Francisco Torres (Mexican and American citizenship) wouldn’t want to come into a situation like this?

Lack of Pressure

In England, the national team’s members are dogged by the tabloids. The same is true in most every other major soccer nation. To be perfectly honest, I would absolutely hate to be a member of either the French or Italian teams in the next few months. The level of media anger and national inquest will be simply tortuous. 

That doesn’t happen with the Americans.

Soccer has arguably broken into the top tier of sports in terms of coverage and participation in the United States, showing that there is certainly no lack of interest in the country. The team has two major support networks in The American Outlaws and Sam’s Army.

But the huge levels of public pressure simply aren’t present. A player for the MNT can reach enormous heights, certainly (gee, Landon Donovan seems like he’s been everywhere lately…oh, wait…), but they are given the space to develop and ply their trade without having prohibitive pressure. It certainly isn’t a stress-free environment, but it’s just about the closest thing possible in big-time international soccer. 

Again, given the option of little playing time and enormous public pressure with a huge nation (pick any of the the majority of top UEFA teams as an example) or more time, more opportunities, and more support from a squad like the United States has, the desire to join the Yanks becomes easier to see.

This is becoming a trend for youth players now, as well. Young talents such as Alex Zahavi, who could also play for Portugal, are now getting involved in the US setup. Zahavi hasn’t made his switch of allegiance from Portugal to the US official as yet, but Thomas Rongen recently went on record as saying that the young winger was excited to participate in the Milk Cup tournament with the United States.

Sebastian Lletget, another future MNT midfielder, also has had his options. He has an Italian passport courtesy of his grandfather and has an Argentine father. Plus he trained for a while in Buenos Aires. Perfect recipe for the team to lose another young talent, right?

Not this time.

Lletget is close to breaking into West Ham United’s first team in the English Premier League and has dedicated his future to the US, not giants Italy and Argentina.

Rongen recently convened a camp full of players who play in the Mexican league and who also have the option of playing for the Mexican national team. The fact that these players are choosing to take their chances with the United States over Mexico, a nation that is historically rabid for its soccer, is proof positive of the above theories.

These guys want the chance to develop in a wonderful environment and to play for a team with excellent character that isn’t fodder for tabloids on a daily basis. The American faithful are there to welcome them with open arms.