DOES AMERICA AND ITS TEAM HAVE ANY CHANCE AT OUR WORLD CUP? GO WREXHAM!
A sweltering heat dome is wiping out top teams at the Club World Cup, and if they can’t survive next summer, all we know about USMNT is that Pulisic is out — while Reynolds and McElhenney keep winning
If nothing else in the global embrace of soccer passion, the United States did send Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to Wales. They are film stars, not players, but they managed to resurrect a lost city and turn it into a tourism site. They located Wrexham, spent $2.5 million for a flapdoodle team and stewarded a valuation of $350 million.
Deadpool? This week, Reynolds wondered if Cristiano Ronaldo might sign up for a season at the Racecourse Ground.
“Disney tropes,” McElhenney said of the ongoing documentary, in its fourth season, believing he’s running the Eagles in his hometown of Philadelphia after his team was promoted a record three times.
Though we’d love to put them in charge of the American men’s team for next year’s World Cup — including Reynolds, who is Canadian — neither will be involved. Instead, we are left to wonder if our boys will collapse as usual and if the world spectacle will melt in a summer heat dome. One current event — the Club World Cup — not only proves that soccer is oversaturated but is reducing teams to sweltering, oppressive extremists. They are trying to survive more than win games, and looking ahead, they think 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico might wipe them out.
Did you hear Enzo Maresca, coach of Premier League staple Chelsea, describe the U.S. as “a joke” after six games were delayed by weather? Remember, we do not play soccer well in our country, after decades of trying on the men’s side, but millions do watch and wanted the extravaganza for the first time in 32 years. Such is the problem in the coming months. “In a World Cup, how many games are suspended? Zero, probably. In Europe, how many games? Zero,” Maresca rambled. “I think for me personally, it's not football. It's already (too many) games that they’ve suspended. I think it's a joke to be honest, it's not football. It's not for us. You cannot be inside.”
The coach at Paris Saint-Germain, Luis Enrique, said “the ball bounced like a rabbit” at Seattle’s Lumen Field, where he found “an NBA court full of holes.” Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham is concerned about knees and said, “Hopefully, it’s something that someone will look at going into the World Cup. It’s important that we protect the players.”
“I’m all red,” PSG midfielder Vitinha said after a 104-degree day at the Rose Bowl.
“Even my toenails were hurting,” Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente said.
Maybe USMNT’s best hope is that others fade away. You’d think the top players, including Christian Pulisic, would be involved in another event, the Gold Cup, with new coach Mauricio Pochettino. Too many are missing. “Players need to listen and to stick with our plan,” Pochettino said last month. “They cannot dictate the plan. When I signed my contract in the federation, I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin.” He decided not to use Pulisic in two friendly games, as the player volunteered. No one feels sorry for him after playing 57 matches last season, most with AC Milan.
“It sucks for me to miss out with the team,” Pulisic said. “I want to be a part of the team always. But to be honest, towards the second half and the end of the season, my body just started talking to me, and my mind. I started to think, you know, what’s going to be best for me leading into next year and going into the World Cup. Is that to play eight more games, get no rest at all, go straight into preseason and then grind another year, and go straight into the World Cup? That’s not what I felt was best for my body.”
The former U.S. star, Landon Donovan, began a conflict with Pulisic and his father. Praising Ronaldo for continuing to play this summer, he said of Pulisic on Fox Sports, “This is what it means to represent your country. This is what it means. And if you don't want to take this as a professional soccer player, as someone who gets the opportunity to wear that jersey and take it seriously and responsibly, then don't come in. This is what it means. Ronaldo is 40 years old. He's played a long-ass season. He's tired. He's out there grinding. Hurt himself in the process, and I can't help but think about some of our guys on vacation, not wanting to play in the Gold Cup. It's pissing me off.”
Pulisic’s father, Mark, asked why Donovan took a sabbatical years ago. “This guy is talking about commitment. Look in the mirror + grow a pair and call names out, or are you afraid?” he said. “Next time you want an interview (with Christian), you will get rejected again.” His son liked the post.
“Just what the Dr. ordered,’’ said Christian, relaxing with his family.
Without Pulisic, Weston McKinnie, Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest, the national team is in the semifinals Wednesday against Guatemala. Is that progress? Or another joke, after a stretch of four straight losses? As a host, the U.S. will have one of 48 berths. At this point, organizers are concerned about security, transportation and how, say, Los Angeles will host events not long after devastating wildfires. President Trump announced a travel ban, which includes Iran, already a qualifier.
The World Cup could be a massive headache in a country that doesn’t need one. Pochettino, after ruling out Pulisic, remains positive. He replaced Gregg Berhalter, who was caught in repeated turmoil. “I’m not selling nothing that cannot be possible. All is possible in football, in soccer,” he said. “I see this as an exciting challenge. It’s an important opportunity to build together a legacy and make history.”
I have lost track of soccer. The Club World Cup, the Gold Cup, the Champions League, the regular seasons, the World Cup, multiple other must-see events? No wonder players have spoken about a possible strike. Only 25,929 folks showed up in Charlotte to see Chelsea have to retreat indoors. Manchester City is gone, a victim of Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal. Inter Milan is gone, shot down by Brazil’s Fluminense. Lionel Messi is gone, ousted by PSG, the team he couldn’t help with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
In about 11 months, the World Cup will begin, with 104 games over 39 days. The best team won’t win. The best fluids and doctors will win in the heat swarms.
“We are anticipating that this problem is going to be even more crucial,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, medical director of FIFPRO, the players’ global union.
Americans will root for their guys, until they lose. Then they’ll have one chant.
Go Wrexham.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.