With J Hutcherson -- Well, in a move that shouldn't be all that surprising, FIFA's Organizing Committee took advantage of the October FIFA Rankings to seed the usual suspects. That gave them an easy out on seeding France after they barely qualified, along with pretty good odds on setting up two monster groups with France and Portugal in Pot 4 and able to be drawn against any of the seeded teams.
For those already writing off the United States as a make-weight in any but the easiest groups - and yes, that's already happening - check yourself. If the US at full-strength has shown anything over 2009, they can and will get a result.
Yet there are those more than happy to dismiss all of that. The ones that always have a reason to downplay good results and build up losses. Where petty much every team the US faces is somehow better equipped.
It's an old song and dance, dating all the way back to the era when that might have been true. This version of the United States isn't a grind-out team, although they can play that way. They aren't a hope for the best on the day team, although they're quite capable of taking advantage of a break. They also aren't tactically naive.
That last one is the ticked off point for fans and pundits who should know better. Going back to that final against Brazil, the first response is that the 2-0 lead the US took into halftime came against the run of play. And? Everybody on that field in a US shirt realized who they were playing and the likelihood that no lead was safe. They also knew that trying to match Brazil's flow was only going to open them up for Brazil goals against the run of play.
A World final in South Africa against the new number one team in the World, and the United States did the smart thing. Absorb as long as you can and hope two goals hold. They didn't, but it doesn't erase the work from the first-half.
In the World Cup, there's still only one Brazil. There's also only a handful of clubs capable of showing the kind of game that the US will be unable to match. And that's only on those teams' best possible day.
Sweat the next couple of days lie the rest of us, especially the prospect of being drawn into a group with Brazil, France, and the Ivory Coast. At the same time, remember that this is a team that seems to prefer being up against it and responding. At World Cup level, what more do you want?
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
