Soccer Distopia

America's sports writers seem upset with our country's failure to win soccer's World Cup--as if that had been an option. Soccer, of course, is our country's most popular youth sport; about half the fathers I know have served as soccer coaches in recreational leagues. Our sports talkers and writers respond to these facts by mocking the sport mercilessly, taking time out every fourth year to demand victory at the World Cup

Perhaps victory for the United States had been an option, because in soccer, as in baseball, the worse team often wins. This tendency gets exaggerated in soccer; the refereeing is often absurdly incompetent. In this tournament I saw (on television) three goals disallowed for no reason.

The teams from Mexico and the United States did well. Both made it through the preliminary groups into the final round of 16. That's not bad for North America, a continent with only three teams to start with. Landon Donovan demonstrated high competence, as did the American goal keeper. As I see it, the USA and Mexico made it into the top 16, and maybe next time they'll make it into the top eight.