national identities

Back before the 1994 World Cup in the USA, in a fine book that as far as I can tell has been out of print for many years, Pete Davies, in a chapter titled “Different Climates, Different Cultures,” tried to explain to American newcomers to soccer how the various nations played various styles of soccer, and why.

Where the sun shines you’ll find artists, with their minds prone to wander, and where the rain falls, you’ll find hairy-arsed cavemen disciplined into not having too much mind in the first place….

In Britain it rains and the wind blows, and by the middle of the season half the pitches are swamps, so if you go out and play at a hundred miles an hour you’ll just be warmer. But if you’re playing in Naples or Marseille or Barcelona, for the best part of the season the skies are more clement, and if you go running your butt off all you’ll get for your pains is dehydrated….

So the style of play preferred by the Latin nations tends to be slower and more thoughtful….

Knowing these differences, I have little doubt that the true soccer aficionado could watch a game between two sides wearing neutral colors and still have a good guess, before the game was much advanced, where the two sides had come from.

Davies discusses other things besides the weather that contribute to national styles of play, but what the casual American fan might still find surprising is that there are stereotypes attached to national soccer teams that are generally accepted as true. Italy was the birthplace of one of the key defensive tactics in the game’s history, and while most teams, Italian or not, have moved on, the image of Italian soccer as a boring, defense-minded snorefest lives on. Argentina often features talismanic playmakers, perhaps because the greatest Argentine of them all, Diego Armando Maradona, was such a player, so fans are always on the lookout for that magical player in the Argentine squad who will mesmerize us (hello, Lionel Messi!). However, Argentina vacillates between the beautiful game and a vicious, cynical style, often in the same game, so you never know which Argentina you will get. I have no idea how this relates to Argentinian culture or weather … I just know that Argentina has a certain reputation, embodied in their current manager, the aforementioned Maradona, who, like Barry Bonds, is loved and despised in equal measures (although Barry, unlike Diego, does not have tattoos of Fidel and Che).

The Netherlands gave us the still-beloved “Total Football” in the 1970s. Soccer today is in many ways a child of Total Football … every player is expected to be able to do a little of everything. Combined with the cultural stereotype of Holland as a fun-loving land of legal pot-smokers, and it’s easy to understand why soccer fans enjoy watching the team in orange. Except … sometimes, like Argentina, the Dutch erupt into the kind of brutal play that is anything but beautiful.

German soccer is well-known for being methodical and efficient. Except in 2006, the Germans played some of the most entertaining soccer in the entire tournament.

Spain is known as the great underachievers of soccer. Many of the world’s best players are Spanish … the Spanish league is one of the two or three best in the world … but Spain has never won the World Cup, often going out in heartbreaking fashion. Some have suggested that in the past, it was hard to get the Spanish national team to recognize itself … between the Basques and the Catalans and the Andalusians and the rest, teamwork was impossible. In 2008, Spain won the European Championship, though, and it is said that players now are proud to wear Spanish colors. Who knows how true this is? If Spain wins the World Cup, they will be united, and underachievers no more. If they do not win it all, their old reputation will continue to haunt them.

And then there’s Brazil, the country that first comes to people’s minds when they think about soccer. In Brazil, they say, kids are kicking round objects before their first taste of solid food. Because they are poor, they make do with rolled up socks for balls and sandy beaches for fields. Because they play with socks and sand, they have to develop intricate ball skills to compensate. When they grow up, they play The Beautiful Game because that’s all they know. Toss in their fanatic, samba-dancing followers, and you have the best soccer party on the planet. Except … under current manager Dunga, Brazil plays a much more disciplined style, with far less dazzle than we are used to. It is often said that Brazilians don’t just expect their team to win, they expect them to win and look good doing it. Dunga will settle for winning.

And the United States? We’re the opposite of the Brazilians, applying good old American know-how and obsessive parental guidance, so that a kid who, in Brazil, might be left alone to play with his or her friends while growing up will, in the U.S., be forced into soccer camps. There will be no pickup games, just soccer leagues. The ubiquitous “soccer mom” isn’t picking her kids up at the beach or in the slums, she’s carting them around to the coaching centers. The result is players who are technically adept and very athletic, but lacking in the kind of skill that allows a Brazilian kid to kick a ball by himself for half an hour without letting it touch the ground.

One of the delights of international play is that these stereotypes are always being challenged. Again, think Germany in 2006, winning converts with every match thanks to the delightful nature of their play.

And I haven’t even gotten around to discussing the way current events affect the play on the field. England and Argentina have played some monumental matches over the years … the war in the Falklands/Malvinas in 1982 was not forgotten when the two nations met in subsequent world cups. Iran picked up its first-ever win in a World Cup when they beat the U.S. in 1998 … you don’t think the identity of their opponent made it all the sweeter? The USA and Mexico have an interesting rivalry. For many years, Mexico was the top team in the area, but improvements in the U.S. have made them a lot more like equals. When the U.S. beats Mexico, it’s like beating the bully who tormented you when you were a kid. When Mexico beats the U.S., well … again, consider the cultural and political relationship between Mexico and the USA, and ask yourself if Mexican fans might particularly enjoy a win over their giant neighbors to the north.

Here in the States, the match everyone is anticipating is between the USA and England. England is the birthplace of the sport … America is the place where no one is supposed to care about the sport. England’s league is arguably the best in the world … MLS, well, MLS isn’t the best in the world. England has a superiority complex because they once ruled America, because the sun never set on the empire, because soccer is their sport, because they are so much better at soccer than we are. America has a superiority complex because of George Washington, because we “saved” the Brits in WWII, because we’re the big-ass rulers of the world now, because all the way back in 1950, we beat England in the World Cup, 1-0.

So yes, when the United States beats England 2-1 on Saturday, it will be about more than just soccer.

Comments

[Charlie Bertsch]

Goddamn I love your World Cup entries!