Even in 2001, soccer still suffers from bad press.
The traditional enemy was the soccer-basher, the columnist who hated soccer and was proud of it.
Soccer-bashing largely disappeared after the 1994 World Cup.
But a new form of enemy has appeared.
Soccer is the victim of ignorance.
The USA-Mexico qualifier in Columbus attracted unprecedented coverage in the American media.
You’d never have figured if you picked up the San Francisco Chronicle. Since its merger with the afternoon Examiner, the Chronicle has more staffers than it knows what to do with, but it didn’t have anyone who knew of the import of the USA-Mexico game.
The Chronicle compounded its error of relegating the short game report to the bottom of the back page of the sports section by trying to be cute.
Five days later, in a short piece entitled “Let’s Kiss and Make Up” in a must-watch TV guide, the Chronicle recommended the Champions League on ESPN2: “We’re talking Real Madrid, Leeds United, Galatasaray, AC Milan, maybe even riots.”
The item ended with the following advice for soccer fans who had complained about the USA-Mexico coverage: “Now, stop calling us.”
Nice service!
The United States is gunning for its seventh appearance in the World Cup finals, but don’t tell Parade, which has been running its prestigious high school boys soccer All-America team since 1979.
With a circulation of 37 million, larger than the distribution of Reader’s Digest, TV Guide, Time and People combined, you’d think Parade could afford fact-checkers.
This year’s team is dominated by current and former members of the U.S. U-17 national team residency program in Bradenton, Fla., reflecting, Parade notes in its lead, the rising tide of interest “since 1998, when an American men’s team competed in World Cup play for the first time …”
As I said, ignorance can be just as damaging as soccer-bashing.