It was late in the second half of a Brazilian Series
B (read: minor-league) soccer match between America-Minas Gerais and Botofogo
in 2004. After a particularly rough play involving a Botofogo striker and the
America keeper, heated words were exchanged between the keeper and the referee,
culminating in the referee giving the keeper a yellow card with a macho flair.
Then all hell broke loose. The keeper attacked the referee,
firing wild punches that would make a professional basketball player proud, but
a professional prizefighter cringe. Despite attempts by his teammates, the
America keeper began chasing the referee around the goalposts as mass chaos
ensued on the field. Eventually, uniformed police led the keeper off the field
in handcuffs. To put it in common sports’ vernacular – it was freaking’ great.
How can it be that the United States struggles to appreciate
this game? Witty and pithy Yankee sportswriters like to extol on the dullness
of the world’s favorite game, casually mentioning how the game would better
appeal to Americans if there were monster trucks, land mines and automatic
weaponry involved.
A Child Shall Lead Them?
That could all change with the emergence of one 15-year old,
however. Freddie Adu, magically talented and supernaturally composed, made his
debut in the United States’ Major League Soccer in April 2004 at the age of 14.
Thus far, the youngster has shown the charisma and ability to possibly become
the Tiger Woods of U.S. soccer.
Not that the U.S. is hurting for soccer talent. Landon Donovan, the nation’s previous teen-age sensation, is
arguably the best currently playing in North America, while other U.S. stars
are thriving in Europe, with DeMarcus Beasley playing Holland, Brian McBride and
goaltenders Kasey Keller, Tim Howard and Brad Freidel all having success in
England.
The U.S. soccer league is known as “Major League Soccer.”
The MLS has been around since 1996 and has shown a persistence normally not
known for American professional soccer leagues.
Regardless of the growing interest in soccer in the U.S.,
Yanks still lag well behind the rest of the world, who take a uniformly
fanatical approach to the game.