Bruce Arena resigned last week. The consensus, I think, is that it’s not nearly enough.

Listen, I’m not someone who thinks that changing one guy at the top — Sunil Gulati in this case — is going to make things all better. Maybe most of the board of directors of the US Soccer Federation who has supported him should also go? I don’t know enough about the inner-workings of an extremely political organization like that to even consider specifics right now.

But after Gulati affirmed that he’s not resigning last week, I started to take the liberty of looking through what’s online about the Board of Directors and the bylaws of the USSF. I need to educate myself (at least a little) if I’m going to have an opinion about this.

Here is a link to the list of who is on the Board of Directors. 

And here’s a place you can click for yourself and read through the bylaws. Because educating yourself as a soccer fan can’t hurt either, right?

I’m no lawyer, but it seems that something like a motion to remove Gulati from the top would require a 60 day waiting period unless it’s considered an “urgent case.” In that case, a 2/3 majority vote would be required.  Right now, there is a three-term limit on the presidency that Gulati has in place. I suppose that could be amended, but that seems like a slam-dunk to the people who are talking about whether he’ll run for another term, which is confusing to me. Maybe someone who has the opportunity to talk with people in the chain of the USSF can explore that.

His Wikipedia page says that Gulati, an economics lecturer at Columbia University. Full time. Also he runs United States Soccer. Because that’s just a little part time thing. 

Looks like someone on Reddit had the same general idea I tried to address here. 

OK, let’s talk about the people who could be in charge of changing US Soccer, aside from Gulati:

Executive Vice President – Carlos Cordeiro

What you need to probably know is that Cordeiro is a former executive at Goldman Sachs and was described when elected as a confidante to Gulati. So, I guess you won’t find much change just by Gulati resigning, because Cordeiro would serve out his term. I think. 

Player representatives

The player reps get twenty percent of the vote, no matter how big the Board is. There are three players reps on the board: Chris Ahrens, Carlos Bocanegra, and Angela Hucles.

Ahrens is a Paralympics player and adaptive PE teacher in San Diego. 

Bocanegra is a 38 year old who went to UCLA and spent time in English soccer before returning to MLS and playing on the national team. He is, by far, the most recognizable name on this list aside Gulati. His resume seems like it would have some context, but it’s hard basically all you’ve known of US Soccer has been run by one guy. 

Hucles is a former player on the women’s team and is the president of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Pro Council Representatives

Don Garber in the MLS Commissioner and always has MLS owners’ best interests in mind. His stance will, by definition, to make the professional game less open. Promotion and relegation is the last thing he, and MLS string-pullers like Bob Kraft want. 

Steve Malik is the the owner of the Carolina RailHawks of the NASL. This is interesting, since the NASL filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation for not having fair and open practices with regard to putting leagues into Divisions and not having an open promotion/relegation system. Malik would almost certainly be in favor of Pro/Rel, which, it could be argued, is at the heart of most of the issues American’s have pointed to as shortcomings of our soccer program over the past few days. 

Adult Council Representatives

Richard Moeller is a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Adult Soccer Association. According to the USAAA website, he is the vice president of the USAAA board. It looks like he’s the president of the Florida State Adult Soccer Association. No telling where a person like this is at with regard to a desire to see change.

John Motta is the president of the United States Adult Soccer Association and an executive at Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts. Based solely on where he’s from and what his day job is, my guess would be he’s a person who would be close to people like Kraft and Gulati. That said, he did post this on Thursday, and his tone sounds anti Sunil, which is an easy position to take publicly in these times.

Clarification on running for President of US Soccer. Here are the requirements as of 9/1. The Board passed this nominating procedure. pic.twitter.com/cTdpUjpQtv

— John Paul Motta (@JohnPMotta) October 12, 2017

How far with reform the USSF will go probably depends a lot on people like Motta. Motta’s twitter account certainly confirms my suspicions about how much of a damn political dumpster fire the whole thing is… .

Youth Council Representatives

Jesse Harrell is the Chair of the US Youth Soccer Board of Directors. He’s in the insurance business in Houston and that’s just about all I could find on him in the few minutes I spent. I do this site for fun, remember?

Tim Turney is the Vice Chair of US Youth Soccer. If you google “Tim Turney youth soccer,” the second and fourth hits are articles about how officials were directed not to speak about concussions for youth players. So, that’s fun. It seems that Turney is from Kentucky and 

At Large Representative

John Collins was the attorney for the USSF nearly 20 years ago, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has been a US District Attorney and now is in private practice (again, all according to LinkedIn). Here’s an interesting article about an antitrust suit brought against USSF and Collins and about his fighting it off. Probably pertinent to what’s happening both with the NASL lawsuit and the American undercurrent to cut the power out from those who have it at the USSF. Just judging from his history with the organization and the fact that he’s a lawyer who’s been in the middle of these things before, I’d say that whatever happens, Collins is probably someone who is in the middle of things.

Independent Directors

Two of the three Independent Directors have collegiate/NCAA ties. At least one of them is talking about change, but who knows how serious anybody is?

Donna E. Shalala is the president of the University of Miami. She tweeted about the need for a revolution last week, as reported by SI. We’ll see how serious or far-reaching her concept of “revolution” will go. 

This morning 2-1 unacceptable For us in USSoccer more than a wake up call. Time for a revolution. Need a long term plan that is smart

— Donna E. Shalala (@DonnaShalala) October 11, 2017

Val Ackerman is the commissioner of the Big East Conference. She has come out strongly against paying student athletes in the past. Here is a 2013 profile of her in USA Today. No mention of soccer anywhere in there. The March 2017 articles you can find that link her and US Soccer also tout term limits of 12 years. Again, I’m confused how Gulati would get re-elected for the next cycle since he’ll be at that limit. 

Lisa Carnoy is a bank president on the East coast, so I would posit a guess that she’s not in the business of upsetting the current regime. She’s not listed currently on the website, but there’s a tweet and some articles that would indicate she’s also an independent director. In the announcement by US Soccer of her joining the board, there isn’t any mention of soccer experience. 

Welcome, Lisa Carnoy!@LCarnoy will serve as an Independent Director on the Board, the governing body of the USSF.https://t.co/7v2MDBBJdK

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) August 26, 2017

Immediate Past President (non-voting)

Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia’s wikipedia page is interestingly small. It says he has “played, coached, and managed soccer at several different levels,” which, based on their biographies I could find, puts him ahead of most other board members in that regard. He doesn’t get to vote. 

CEO/Secretary General (non-voting)

Dan Flynn’s resume says he was a collegiate soccer player over 40 years ago and is an Anheuser-Busch executive. Straight from the USSF’s website: “He was also directly involved in Anheuser-Busch’s sponsorship of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, which served as the springboard for their future involvement in the sport on a long-term basis.” So, though he’s a non-voting member, his presence is interesting in that Anheuser-Busch is a huge sponsor of US and Mexican soccer. 

Flynn is quoted as a representative of US Soccer in this release from the USSF, though I guess he could technically be a representative of both sides?

***************************************************

So, there’s the information I could gather in my spare time over the last few days, and maybe it gives you a more rounded-out picture of who’s in charge over at the US Soccer Federation. 

Here are a few things that stick out to me:

Lots of banking people and people tied to MLS

This was probably a natural thing around the turn of the millennium. It’s probably less appropriate and natural now, especially with the budding conflict between a free market system and the current system that ensures an MLS franchise can’t be relegated. 

Not tons of soccer people

Aside from the players, there aren’t very many high level soccer people on the board. I see lots of people who have worked on the business side of things for a long time, but I don’t think I saw any kind of coaching certification or anyone who has that level of context. There are more women there recently than there have been (good) and some players (also good), but by and large, most of these people are business people rather than people who think about soccer full-time. Probably having both a business/political IQ and a soccer IQ would be great for everyone here to have. Doesn’t seem like there are lots of examples, if all you’re doing is reading their biographical information that’s first-page searchable. Maybe I’m wrong and I’ll find out that Richard Moeller is actually a highly trained soccer development tactician. I’m open to that kind of information.

East Coast Bias

Holy moly! Who on here has any west coast representation? For a country so geographically big and regionalized, it seems like having someone from California around would be a priority. Obviously, it isn’t. There is a high concentration of power in the USSF in the New York/New England area. One of the three players (Bocanegra) is originally from the west coast, but as I looked at people’s biographies, the most western state I think I saw is Texas. I wonder how that affects everything from resources to selections at even the earliest of ages. The lack of west coast representation has to have an impact, doesn’t it? Californians sometimes joke about having their own national team. 

Change would mean a MASSIVE shift

Given the ties that many or most of these board members have to both Gulati and each other, and given that people generally think they’re doing the right thing (whether they are or aren’t), it would take an amazing amount of change in the groupthink that goes on within the board or in the people themselves. Given how long he’s been there, it’s likely that Sunil Gulati has been a huge part of getting each one of the board members onto the board. Even if people in the (still sometimes ignorant) US Soccer community want to put the blame on Gulati, it will take much more than ousting Sunil to deal any real change to the USSF. Even if he’s ousted on the next election, the Gulati principles will remain long after he’s gone in the form of the people he helped get there. You see, organizations and boards like this are not easily moved or changed. At least not usually. Especially not when so many dollars in general are up for grabs — specifically if the United States has a shot at a World Cup within the next decade. 

What do you think? What would you like to see change? What is a reasonable timeline for real systemic changes or do you feel that tweaks are better than changes? Comment below or find me @fansmanship on twitter. 

It came into conscious clarity around the 84th minute — this was the quintessential USMNT fan experience. In my first in-person US Men’s Soccer game, the Americans conceded an early goal off a corner kick, gave up a penalty to close out the first half, and were the same frustrating, uncreative, non-adjusting team they have been lately in a 2-0 loss to one of the best teams in the world.

This guy was in the stadium and amped more than 2 hours before the game. By Owen Main

Oh, Hi Columbia

All the Columbians came to Santa Clara. The fans were pro-Columbia, and it wasn’t even close. For every one fan of the United States, there were four or five yellow or white Columbia jerseys. Of the sold-out crowd of 67,439, I’d guess about 45,000 were Columbia fans. Seriously, it’s like everyone in Bogotá traveled to Santa Clara for Friday night’s game.

You think it doesn’t make a difference when Michael Bradley and co. step onto a pitch in California and are greeted with a sea of gold?

The AO Experience

As a member of the SLO American Outlaws chapter, I was really pumped to see what sitting in the AO section would bring to the table. Honestly, it was really cool. The chants, cheers, and collective will the section exuded was pretty awesome. It would have been better if the rest of the stadium wasn’t in yellow and if it didn’t feel like a road game, but it was really fun nonetheless.

Cheering-wise, my favorite part early on in the game. Just seconds after the first Columbia goal — a crushing one inside of 10 minutes, the AO drummers started-up a progressive clap to help keep both the fans and, hopefully, the team right in the game.

The good and the bad

Let’s start with the good, and this section will be short. Geoff Cameron and John Brooks looked all right in the center of defense. Michael Bradley generally hustled behind the ball. Alejandro Bedoya left it all on the pitch, and Clint Dempsey’s free kick was a good one, despite the save by the Columbian goalkeeper.

Now to the bad.

First, DeAndre Yedlin. Yedlin should be one of the few US players who can put pressure on other teams with his speed and skill on the wing. Yedlin’s play, though, seemed less inspired and sharp than I’ve ever seen. Passes he sent seemed to go awry. Passes to him sailed out of bounds when he stopped runs, or flew out of bounds behind him. He looked really out of sorts and like he couldn’t find his place on the right wing that Gyasi Zardes and sometimes Bedoya also roamed. Yedlin’s handball gave Columbia their second goal.

Fabian Johnson did all right on the left side, though on a particularly weak cross right in front of me I wondered how strong his left foot really is. I know Johnson likes being a left-side player, but he’s got to do more than run straight north and south to create moving forward.

The most annoying aspect of the game was the US’s inability to be creative and matriculate the ball forward from the back line. Throughout both halves, Columbia would sit back without pressuring Brooks or Cameron. The tactic totally stopped any flow the US had, as they closely covered Bradley, Bedoya, and Jermaine Jones, who the Americans were trying to play through. None made particularly creative runs and so, despite having three attacking players looking to get forward, the United States spent very little time in the attacking third.

For years, Americans have had a really hard time with the final pass or two to break-down world-class defenses and get goals. Nothing I saw tactically or from the players on Friday night made me think that would change anytime soon.

There are lots of other criticisms of tactics and players you could make. If you were in the AO section, you probably felt like the US didn’t really get the calls they should have. From behind the goal, it looked like Dempsey was dragged down in the box early. It also seemed as though Columbia committed enough fouls to have deserved a yellow card somewhere along the way. It definitely wasn’t the ref’s fault that they didn’t win and maybe it’s just part of that pure fan experience to hate the ref in a game like this… .

On the line

Jurgen Klinsmann’s legacy has already in doubt for a lot of pundits, and this performance didn’t do anybody any good. I’ve always been a Klinsmann supporter, but this team’s play is just flat-out mediocre right now.

I’m no body language doctor like Bill Simmons, but if I was going to guess, I’d say Klinsmann would be out of his job prior to the next World Cup cycle. I hope he turns things around and Sunil Gulati has no choice but to keep him, but it’s hard to see a series of events that makes the team better enough to justify that.

So THIS is what it’s like

So, the overwhelming thought I had leaving the stadium is that I’d just been indoctrinated into a US Soccer fan. The game and tournament had such promise. Maybe it still does. But, maybe, I learned a little more about what it was like to be a US Soccer fan. The American soccer fans who were there were really great. It’s a fantastic, loyal, passionate community whose main currency right now might be frustration.

That said, I wondered how US fans were SO outnumbered in their own stadium. It was a little bit embarrassing that US Soccer hadn’t done more to generate better interest in the Bay Area. And isn’t California supposed to be full of soccer people? Man, the more I think about it, the more I think the Bay Area didn’t do very well in terms of numbers. Hopefully Chicago and Philadelphia do better. Again, props to Columbia fans for buying up all the seats.

On the way home, I stopped in King City for a snack. Waiting to use the restroom with my US Soccer gear on still, I found myself face-to-face with a Columbia fan. He had a gold James Rodriguez jersey on and we made eye contact.

“Sorry, bro,” he said.

Yep.

Up next

The US will have to get good results from their remaining group games against Costa Rica in Chicago and Paraguay in Philadelphia. If they play like they did on Friday, that’ll be their last game in this tournament they’re hosting.

Photos by Owen Main

If you are a United States soccer fan — I’m pretty sure I am — you have to be pretty darn excited right now.

The 2014 World Cup was fine. The United States made it through the group stages but were bounced in the first round of knock-out play, leaving fans wondering what direction this seemingly stagnant team was headed.

In a post-Landon Donovan era, it was a team that was built around getting players — and in turn, fans — out of their comfort zones.

For evidence of the United States’ changing of the guard, look no farther than Donovan’s weird departure from the team and from playing soccer. Fans who had grown up in an era when Landon Donovan was synonymous with the game in this country might have been questioning Klinsmann’s plan.

Largely because of players like Donovan, though, the United States has continued to find young, talented players. Getting those guys into winning form has been a tough, fluid code to crack.

In a recent game against the Netherlands, the US team looked like they were going to lose in familiar ways. There wasn’t enough back-line discipline. Forward Gyasi Zardes wasn’t taking advantage of his opportunities. Zardes did put one in the back of the net, but the United States was down 3-1 with things not looking good.

Then a few funny things happened. Central defender John Brooks — who gets pretty badly beaten at times — made a 70th minute  box-to-box run and finished to put the US within a goal. OK, his run wasn’t “box-to-box.” Actually, it started around midfield, but still, it was a piece of inspired play that depended especially on Brooks’ trust of others to cover his back line in the likely case his run hadn’t resulted in anything good.

OK, so here are those pesky Americans who always give their fans a little more hope than is realistic. So I thought.

Danny Williams, a relative unknown, proved me wrong and unleashed this crack to level the match.

Then lightning struck in the 90th minute. I mean, Amsterdam was reeling, but one name you know (Michael Bradley) and two names you probably didn’t know (Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood) took advantage and made history.

Yes, the Netherlands took their feet off the gas and no, their defense was never VERY good in this game.

But the US team took advantage. They scored four goals. They were opportunistic. They finished.

To summarize, The four goal-scorers on June 5th have six total goals between them in International play.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey’s group. However, in a post-Landon Donovan era, with a national team that was 1-3-2 since the World Cup, the recent wins are huge.

Following the comeback in Amsterdam, the Americans beat Klinsmann’s Germany and are now 4-1 in their past five games.

The really fun thing about their recent run is that they have done it without some of the names US soccer fans have gotten used to. Perhaps it’s time for US fans to get to know some of these younger, lesser-known guys.

A week ago, I sure was pumping my fist in excitement, celebrating a comeback for the ages. My arm has plenty more where that came from. I wonder if some of these new faces have the same.

Landon Donovan took a hiatus from the National Team, but has been great since his return. So have his teammates. By Noelle Noble, via Wikimedia Commons

United States Men’s soccer. It’s not a punchline anymore.

Recently, the US national team has been on a small tear, winning a record 10 straight games. On Wednesday, they defeated Honduras 3-1 to move into the Cup Final where they will meet up with Panama, who defeated Mexico in the semi-finals. During their run, the USA team has not just been defeating opponents but putting beat-downs on them.

The only competitive game they have played was a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in the group-stage finale. Aside from that game, the USA has outscored opponents 19-4 in Gold Cup games. In addition to star players Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore, the team has recently added other creative players such as Joe Corona, Jose Torres, and Omar Gonzalez who have certainly helped in this recent turnaround.

But the new success the team has had is a direct result of the pace of play this team is playing with. It was clearly evident in the El Salvador game when the US team forced an easily noticeable change in pace of play in the second half, created more chances, and cruised to a 5-1 victory. Aside from slowing things down to an unwatchably-slow, defensive 90-minute struggle, having as much conscious control of the pace of a game is not something the US team could ever be counted on to do in the past. Under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, they have really found their groove.

While the Gold Cup is filled with “B” level teams, this is a huge improvement from what they have been. While the red, white and blue has their immediate focus on the Gold cup, Klinsmann is also eying next summer’s FIFA World Cup, a tournament they have all but punched their ticket into.

The team still has much to do. If the US is to be a contender in the World Cup, there are new levels that must be reached. Settling for a few match victories will become less and less acceptable as Klinsmann and the current roster continue to raise expectations from United States soccer fans. Maybe soon soccer in the US will become even half as popular as it is in other countries, and it’s about time. As Terrell Owens once said, “Get your popcorn ready.” For once USA soccer means it.

In Miami, the Heat came back from a huge deficit to take a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. In New Jersey, the Devils hosted the Kings in game one of the bicoastal Stanley Cup Finals.

But what I was really excited about was the United States Soccer team playing at home against Brazil. The Americans had reeled off five wins in a row including a road victory over Italy and a 5-1 drubbing of Scotland last week and I couldn’t wait to see how they would fare at home against a world-class team’s second unit. Full disclosure, I saw none of these games, but

With another great performance, coach Jurgen Kilnsmann could have put the world on-notice that the new ball-control style the team has adopted is a force to be reckoned with. There were 70,000 people on-hand dancing, making noise, and ready to be excited about a great United States performance.

Instead, the US team was outplayed, outshot, and outclassed by something resembling Brazil’s olympic team. In other words, Brazil’s B or C team dominated our best guys. 4-1 in soccer is like losing by 20 in the NBA. It’s like losing by 4 touchdowns in the NFL. It is not good.

This writer is no soccer genius. I played until I was 12 or 13 and only started watching the game on television in 2003 or 2004. But here are five observations about the US team I saw on Wednesday night.

1) There are some players who struggle every time I watch. It seemed as though nothing had changed from the poor performance I saw in the last World Cup from players like Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu, and Jose Torres.

2) While Carlos Bocanegra has meant so much to the team, I think his time has come. Does the US not have a better alternative? The lack of up-and-comers at some of the midfield and defensive positions make me think that…

3) Maybe the system just doesn’t have better guys. While Clark, Edu, and Torres all seem to me like liabilities, perhaps the fact is that there just isn’t anyone better in the system. I know there have been American players who have had promise, but they have generally faded. What is Jonathan Spector doing these days? What about Freddy Adu? Are they even options?

4) New faces are really good to see. They give me hope for a truly different outcome. Twenty-four year-old Fabian Johnson was awesome. This is a player with some world class athleticism and poise. He is an upgrade over whatever the US had there before. He is young and is a defensive player to put around Onyewu for the next few years. A defender who can get up the pitch and help offensively is always a good thing too. Johnson and Cherundolo  are a fun pair of outside defenders.

5) Some of the players on the US squad are really, really good. Donovan still has it, Bradley is world-class, Howard is Howard, and Hurcules Gomez had an impressive performance. Altidore was still rehabbing and Dempsey was not 100 percent, but the US has a nice core.

The potential problem, though, is that, in soccer you have to have a “next” group to take the mantle. By the next World Cup, we will be talking about Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Bradley, and even Altidore as getting old. In a country that has a good soccer program, there are not huge fluctuations generation to generation.

As a fan of the US Soccer team, I don’t need them to be Brazil. I don’t need 22 year olds on my second or third team to go out and put a licking on another country’s “A” team.

I won’t presume to have the answers. Honestly, I don’t really know what they can or should do. But I do know that performances like Wednesday night aren’t it.

Officiating a sport is equal parts psychology, integrity, listening, and at the same time not listening. A baseball umpire can miss a single call that determines the game. A basketball official is forced to listen to 6’10” of whining on a nightly basis. In football, the Line Judge has a coach in his ear all night and has to try to not let it sway him.

All those guys (and girls) have tough jobs, but none is as physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding as a soccer referee. While there are three NBA referees for 10 players, four MLB umpires for 9 field players and 4 bases, and seven officials on an NFL field for 22 players, one soccer referee stands alone on a field that can be up to 130 yards long x 100 yards wide. To give you a frame of reference, an NFL football field is 100 yards x 53 yards.

With players spread over most of the field for most of the game, the opportunity for high jinx from players is abundant. And, especially at the highest levels of the game, soccer players don’t disappoint. I would contend it’s one of the main reasons the game hasn’t caught on in this country in the fervent way many soccer fans predicted it would.

Whenever a player takes an elbow in the face behind the play, gets kicked (as Freddy Adu did the other night in the Gold Cup Final), or is pushed or shoved behind the official’s back, the 22-1 player-referee ratio has always seemed unmanageable to me.

One of the marvels of high-caliber soccer leagues and even the World Cup at times is not just how the players play, but how much control one ref can keep over the entire 90 minutes.

FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, has tried to empower the referee (and his two assistants, who mostly stay on the sideline) more recently. There has been experimentation with things like communication systems. Theoretically, the 2 assistant referees should be the proverbial eyes on the back of the referee’s head. But from what can be a 100-yard-wide field in soccer, it would be difficult to imagine seeing anything accurately from the opposite sideline. Even when taking into account the two assistant ref’s, the amount of space and number of players to cover still doesn’t seem altogether reasonable.

An easy solution would be to add an assistant referee. Soccer has experimented with it some and has had limited success. One place this model has worked is in the NHL. In a sport with a referee system somewhat similar to soccer, the additional official on the ice has been nothing but a rousing success. Hockey games are much more exciting since the change a number of years ago and, with players not getting away with many of the grinding, stalling tactics they were in the past, it has contributed to a change in the pace of the game.

I can picture the additional ref having the a similar effect on soccer. If even some of the shenanigans of soccer could be limited, US fans might even find themselves enjoying the game more.

Some would say that soccer is the most popular sport in the world — that changing soccer even by adding an official would be painful and maybe sacrilegious. But every sport has to change sometime and an extra official could help solve a lot of the issues US fans have with the sport… When it comes to crazy soccer shenanigans, players getting away with things during the run of a game, and post-play shoving and trash-talking, an additional official could help.

Along with the great players, one of the reasons I most enjoy watching the English Premier League is the way the game is officiated. The players are the best in the world, but so are the officials. It makes a difference. Unfortunately, not every league has officials that good, and so why not make their jobs easier- at least at the highest level? Why not add a fourth official?

The Earthquakes played the Rapids at Spanos Stadium Friday night

On Friday night, the San Jose Earthquakes “hosted” the defending Major League Soccer champion Colorado Rapids at Cal Poly’s Spanos Stadium, where this country’s variety of soccer fansmanship was on full display.

While soccer isn’t in my top three favorite sports, I consider myself a casual fan. With a professional game in town, I decided to attend the game with Nuge, who is more than a casual fan, and some of his friends.

A San Jose native, Nuge had a strong rooting interest in the game. Of the group, he was the only one, which is probably why his friends rooted so hard for Colorado. I was mostly ambivalent about the outcome of the preseason game. What was more important to me was the soccer “scene.”

Soccer fans generally come in a few types. You could think of them on a spectrum – maybe similar to a political spectrum one might see in a social studies class in high school.

The most extreme type is the radically intense fan. These are fans who have a single team and will chant, scream, yell, beat drums for 90 minutes, blow horns, wave flags, and even fight other fans to defend their team’s honor. This fan type comes a dime a dozen in Europe, but is pretty difficult to find in the United States. The closest thing we have in this country is Raiderfan or Nascar likes-to-fight guy. While there are pockets like these, the United States is largely hooligan-free in the world of sports-fansmanship.

The second-most extreme type is where Nuge falls. This soccer fan is the most admirable and dedicated of the bunch. This fan ranges from those who will travel to see their team play to those who see a large portion of home games consistently. These fans also may be vocal and excited during games because the game matters to them. They may also wave flags and play instruments without the flair for fighting. I fall into this category for the Dodgers, Lakers, Cal Poly basketball, and UCLA basketball.

Following the “actual” fans above, there are casual fans, like me with soccer. I enjoy soccer, but there are seasons that go by where I don’t have a clue. I asked an Arsenal fan last night if Cesc Fabregas was still on the team and whether Almunia was still their regular keeper (yes and no). Fans like me like to join in the scene, whatever the scene is. If it’s appropriate to be a crazy fan, screaming and making noise all game, then I’ll join in. I won’t, however, be the first to start a chant at a soccer game. Most of the parents of the kids playing at half-time of the game also fall into the casual fan category.

After the “casual” soccer fans, there are the folks who are there for the scene. My guess is that, in a city like San Luis Obispo, about a third to half of the fans at the game on Friday fall into this category. They are there because it’s an event in SLO on a Friday night. It’s at Cal Poly and it’s an opportunity to be at a once-a-year event that makes SLO feel a little bigger. This group is integral to selling enough tickets to draw major teams to SLO for a game.

Let me be clear, some of these reasons also influenced me going to the game on Friday. I enjoy a good event as much as anyone — probably more. But the difference is this: I know a little about soccer.

There was lots of soccer fansmanship at Spanos Stadium Friday night

An example of the conversation from the people behind me: “Didnt’ that guy foul that other guy? Why is the referee just shrugging his shoulders and letting the game go on? How was that not a foul?”

Another conversation: “Why are those guys on the sideline wearing those weird differently-colored jerseys?”

Of course, the first question was referring to the advantage rule. To the credit of the fans behind me, one fan was able to mostly describe the rule to another fan. To the credit of United States soccer, refs in this country have begun to use advantage more and more, allowing for more open and free-flowing play.

Aside from three or four free kicks and corner kicks, the Spanos Stadium crowd of almost 3,000 stayed at a strong murmur for most of the evening. People reacted to good plays, but in a distinctly mellow and mostly laid-back San Luis Obispo way.The Earthquakes are three hours away, but there wasn’t even really a pro-Earthquakes feel aside from Nuge’s anti-Colorado trash-talk.

The Earthquakes struck for the first and only goal on a penalty kick. The thing that I didn’t even realize until I looked it up, was that there were at least three or four players who have appeared for the US National Team in the past. In other words, the teams were playing their starters. I expected teams to play their second and third-string players throughout this exhibition in SLO. But both teams decided to bring out some of their “big guns” or at least big names.

Colorado’s roster included Conor Casey (taller than I thought), Marvell Wynne (whose foul led to the PK and goal), and Pablo Mastroeni (still seems like a hothead and doesn’t strike me as an overly heady player). San Jose, still rebuilding after restarting as a franchise, had Bobby Convey come off the bench. Did the fans realize that they were seeing a lot of each squad’s “A team?” I spent most of the night trying to figure that out.

It was clear that people around me were having a great time (whether they knew who they were watching or not) and the atmosphere was a happy one. Kids swarmed around the stadium, looking for a grassy area to play, watching the game, and generally having a great time. The kid in me got his hands on a pair of churros and a soda halfway through the second half. The relaxed crowd atmosphere allowed for kids to have a great time at this MLS game, which was probably the point, especially from the perspective of the MLS.

If soccer is to grow in this country, places like San Luis Obispo will be the front lines of this growth. Our city and country won’t ever be rife with hooligan fans. For those who think that hooligan fansmanship is a necessary part of a healthy soccer culture, you’ll be sorely disappointed at a game in SLO. For people, like me, who see one fan explaining the advantage rule to another as a sign of the growth of the game in the United States, Friday night was a definite step in the right direction. Go Galaxy! (Sorry Nuge, couldn’t help it).

owen@fansmanship.com

One more picture from Friday night. Gotta want it.

Around four years ago, a group of friends (myself included) embarked on a journey that would change our lives and loyalty to our country forever.  There were four of us, pumped up from the summer after seeing the Men’s National Team play China in a friendly in San Jose, CA.  I remember the game vividly, the four hour drive down to The Home Depot Center in Carson from San Luis Obispo, the peer pressure of painting my face red, white and blue, and the energy from the stadium as we ran from the parking lot to the stadium; it was unreal.  I remember all 4 of us cheering our hearts out in the midst of the opposing fans and US “fans” who were telling us to sit down.  After the US won their game, I realized that we were a part of something much bigger, it wasn’t just a soccer game, it was a movement.

Fast forward four years later to January 22, 2011; our crew has grown from four to more than 30 of us traveling from all over California to unite for just a few hours in the name of soccer and the United States of America.  Some would deem this game against Chile as “not worth” watching.  No players from the World Cup team were on the roster for the game against Chile, as a matter of fact, most of the players have never seen play at the international level, with seven players earning their first caps.  It’s like going out of your way to watch the Laker’s D-league team play; it’s just not worth it.  But to us, it was more than a soccer game, it is a movement and a way of life.  And it’s not just 30 of us that are a part of this revolution, we are a part of something larger and unified.  In attendance were over 18,000 fans, and hundreds packed out The American Outlaws (The US National Team Supporter Club) section.  People from all over country (yes, the country) came in to see the US “D-League” team play.  The energy was off the charts and I never thought I could hug so many strangers when Teal Bunbury scored the equalizer goal on a penalty kick.  You see, it’s more than just showing up to see your favorite player play, like you fickle Laker fans who don’t know a thing about basketball and have named your kid, dog and car after Kobe Bryant.  It’s about supporting the team as a whole, each other and this country.

It’s amazing to think back and see how one game impacted our lives.  For the game against Chile, it was a first live game for some of our friends, and when they smiled and said that this definitely won’t be their last, they didn’t need to explain, I understood completely.  So for you all who think soccer is dead in the US, think again.

The revolution has just begun.

Cheers,

Nuge

matt@fansmanship.com