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Questions remain for U.S. squad
By Martin Rogers
June 7 2009
A year plus change to go until the World Cup and the stars are aligning for the USA.
Despite its often tortuous stagger to the halfway point of the 10-game Hexagonal pool that will decide CONCACAF’s representatives in South Africa next year, there is something inevitable about Bob Bradley’s team’s qualification for soccer’s biggest show.
Bradley can reflect on a campaign that has produced plenty of mediocrity after a flying start and the five matches so far have offered little in the way of real perspective as to the team’s chances of making a splash at the World Cup.
This week marks 12 months remaining before the tournament’s big kickoff yet USA fans are no nearer to getting answers from the side than they were a year ago.
Even so, other results – namely the current woefulness of traditional CONCACAF power Mexico – have ensured there is precious little chance of Bradley’s men failing to secure a finals spot, however badly it plays.
To be fair, Saturday’s 2-1 victory over a courageous Honduras outfit at Chicago’s Soldier Field was a commendable performance and some positives could be found in a strong fight back after going a goal down.
There was none of the attitude of surrender which permeated through the players during last Wednesday’s 3-1 capitulation in Costa Rica.
However, only the most blinkered member of Sam’s Army would dare suggest that a home win against Honduras is an appropriate barometer for when the big names at the World Cup must be faced.
A better one will be the Confederations Cup later this month, with fixtures against Brazil, Italy and Egypt in Pool B on the eight-team tournament, to be held in South Africa.
Bradley’s future as head coach would have been plunged into severe doubt with a defeat by Honduras and he is still under some pressure.
Yet the nearer we get to the World Cup the less likely U,S Soccer is to opt for a change of personnel, unless qualification comes under direct threat. The most popular choice for a replacement would be Juergen Klinsmann, the former German boss who was sacked by Bayern Munich towards the end of the European season.
Much of the discontent surrounding Bradley revolves around his unorthodox 4-2-2-2 tactical system. When it works, it is highly effective, though unspectacular. However, there is little evidence to show that it is a formula that would pose any real problems to the cultured and confident line-ups that will lie in wait at the World Cup.
Unusual systems are nothing new in U.S soccer. Soccer historian Kartik Krishnaiyer penned an excellent article last week highlighting that while the tactics employed by the national team over the past 20 years have rarely been consistent, they have never been conventional.
Indeed, the 4-3-3 used to ill effect in Costa Rica may have been the closest Bradley has come to toeing the European or South American line. And that was ditched summarily after the shellacking at Saprissa Stadium.
Bradley’s critics will insist that his preferred system does a reasonable job of containing good teams but has attacking limitations that make an upset result of an established power unlikely.
The Confederations Cup will go some way to testing that theory one way or another. If the game plan starts to unravel, Bradley’s hot seat will get a little warmer.
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South African soccer culture goes global in preparation for World Cup
By Celean Jacobson
June 9, 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Helmets and horns - the colourful, crazy core of South Africa's soccer fever - are going global as the nation gears up for the Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.
South African streets may be crime-infested and violent, but its stadiums are filled with raucous joy and harmony. The aggression that plagues European soccer is unknown here as rival fans cheer and dance together and compete against each other for the most colourful costume.
There is a homegrown feel to this outpouring of sporting enthusiasm. The signs and outfits are handmade, often stitched together from recycled materials. The creations are unsophisticated but imaginative and humorous.
None more so than the outlandish transformed miners helmets called makarapa and plastic trumpets called vuvuzela that have come to reflect the face of soccer on international ads and local billboards.
Alfred Baloyi made his first makarapa hat in 1979 after he saw a supporter hit on the head by a bottle thrown from the stands. In a country where millions of black men spend their lives working underground in gold mines, miners helmets are almost a household item.
Hailing from a poor rural family, the 57-year-old Baloyi decided to use his artistic talents and decorate his own helmet in honour of his team, the Kaizer Chiefs. The hat was an instant hit and soon he was taking orders and producing four to five hats a day in a backyard shed.
Later, he began cutting and bending the hard plastic, so his designs stood up. He also embellishes his creations with goat horns, bells, bicycle hooters, even firecrackers. He uses plastic tubes and containers to extend his creations, making some of them up to a metre tall.
Baloyi has become something of a local legend and has earned the nickname "The Magistrate" because he "sentences" the helmets to his ideas. His wife has made him a judge's gown that makes him easy to spot in the crowd.
The grandfatherly Baloyi is excited about next year's soccer extravaganza and sees it as an opportunity to show the world how the game is played in South Africa.
"I am going to see many different stars like Ronaldinho," he said. "They will see my makarapa and my style."
Soccer has traditionally been the sport most favoured by millions of poor black South Africans, who turned patches of dirt into soccer fields and fashioned goal posts out of tree branches. They play barefoot and use balls often made up of a round wad of plastic shopping bags.
In township lingo, soccer is known as diski, and it has its own terms for different kicks and styles of dribbling.
Shibobo refers to when a player kicks the ball through an opponent's legs, Tsamaya is for a feint. There are names for kicks from the side and when the ball is bounced off the chest, knees or toes. When a player balances the ball on his back, his body bent at a right angle, he is doing the "Table Mountain," named after Cape Town's famous flat mountain.
These moves have been turned into a new dance that tourism officials hope will become the next Macarena.
"The diski dance shows the unique way soccer is played in South Africa," said Sugen Pillay, global event manager for South African Tourism. "It shows our welcoming spirit and showcases our rhythm as a nation."
The dance is part of an advertising campaign that taps into a vivid mix of South African street and soccer culture to market the country and the World Cup.
The event, which is expected to see about 400,000 soccer fans flock to South Africa, is an opportunity to present a different view of the country, which is more known for its wildlife and its political history, Pillay said.
"The atmosphere at a soccer game in South Africa is very different," he said.
"You've got vuvuzelas going throughout, people ululating, whistling. This is the different experience people are going to get."
The vuvuzelas and the helmets have even been adopted by South Africa's mainly white rugby supporters - although the noisy trumpets have been banned from rugby matches and many would like its irritating sounds barred from all sporting events.
As soccer fever mounts in South Africa, so do the opportunities for small businesses and artists like Baloyi.
Baloyi has teamed up with a marketing company and an artists' studio. They are making makarapa's with a machine programmed to follow Baloyi's designs. It can cut about 400 a day and prices range from less than US$20 to about $60 depending on the level of detail required.
The hats are then hand-painted by a number of local artists and sign writers at a renovated warehouse in downtown Johannesburg.
The factory was only set up a month ago and the response has been positive.
Orders have come in from a number of local companies and negotiations with soccer officials and sponsors are under way.
Proud of his artistic skill, Baloyi dreamed that his creations would make him famous - and provide him with a decent living.
He hopes that everyone who comes for the World Cup will buy one of his makarapas.
In his mind, he sees stadiums filled with people wearing his hats - not just in South Africa but all over the world.
"That is my wish," Baloyi said. "If all Liverpool supporters can wear my makarapa, I can be happy.
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