Some Americans are hesitant to cheer on the United States at the World Cup. They shouldn’t be | USA

The United States men’s national team is on the brink of history. One win away from matching their best run in the modern World Cup era, they are playing with more verve and quality than they ever have at this stage. Wednesday’s victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina created a rarity: American football, in the spotlight, in America.

For longtime American soccer fans, the question of whether to support this or that team at this particular moment is hardly a question. Or if there is, it sounds vaguely like “should I breathe?” »

But there are now many newcomers to the game, who may only watch the team at a World Cup, if ever. Within this group, it stands to reason that many will be uncomfortable with the idea of ​​supporting a U.S. national sports team. I can hardly blame them. Last year, they will have seen the United States baseball team cover itself in military propaganda, practically begging to be seen as an unlikable bully. Just weeks before, we saw the United States men’s hockey team move closer to the levers of power at the Olympics, just as countless crises were unfolding at home. The hockey players allowed these people into their locker rooms to drink beers and bellowed with them as the U.S. women’s team – also gold medalists – was ridiculed.

And that’s completely aside from any non-sporting reasons why many Americans, or future Americans, might have trouble rooting for their national team. They may base their unease on the misdeeds of the U.S. government over the past few years, or past generations, or perhaps even since the founding of the republic. For all the bluster and bravado that some proclaim the United States as “the greatest country in the world,” how many lives have been ruined – or destroyed – because of the government’s actions? Whatever your real grievances, I cannot in good conscience tell you to ignore your qualms.

What I encourage you to do, however, is to hold this truth alongside others.

On the one hand, the United States is far from the only country facing this kind of dilemma. Think about how many Germans felt like they couldn’t celebrate their team’s triumphs until decades after the end of World War II. Need a more modern example? Just look at Iran, where fans remain deeply divided over Team Melli’s role in their society and their proximity to a repressive and sometimes violent regime that has driven many people from the country. Is the Iranian national team playing for this government, or are they playing for the Iranian people – some of the kindest, most generous, most football-loving people on the planet? Among the admittedly self-selected sample present in the stadium at each of Iran’s matches this summer, the conclusion was undoubtedly the latter. Supporters booed the Iranian national anthem, wore protest shirts and covered up the central insignia of the flag. But when Iran played and when they scored, the stands in Los Angeles and Seattle went wild.

So, in the United States, what is our reason for cheering for the United States at a time when we are led by a government that is despised at home and abroad? How can we put aside the ICE raids, the attacks on other countries, and the mistreatment of so many of our fellow Americans and allow ourselves to feel patriotic for 90 minutes, plus extra time and – God forbid – penalties too?

I could tell you all kinds of reasons why this particular team is worth supporting. How they represent the diversity that makes us the nation we are; how their version of the American attitude was expertly refined by a coach who considers himself “200% Argentinian”. I can encourage you to remember that, just like at the Olympics, these people are extremely good at their jobs. They’ve trained for years and made countless sacrifices to reach the top of their game. And they either live in your country, grew up there, or chose to represent it over other options. They may even play in your town and love the same condiments as you (wait until you hear about Weston McKennie and ranch dressing). Unlike much of the soccer world, at least part of their existence can be implicitly understood by Americans. And this understanding has nothing to do with anything the government has done or will do.

But at the end of the day, my best argument for supporting this team is that the team isn’t who you support. Players, coaches, staff and their wide range of political opinions are ultimately temporary. They come and go; some will play great and some will play terribly, some will be boring, some will feel like parents. You’ll love one person’s politics and hate another person’s politics, depending on how open they are about it. And then they will make way for the next generation. It’s a great irony of sports that fans and journalists spend so much time obsessing over these people, when the real attraction lies in something bigger.

In international football these attractions lie, more than in any other sport, in the people immediately around you, whose names you may know and whose joy and well-being you care about. They are a small part of a large crowd, each of you riding the same emotional tidal wave, waiting for the opportunity to burst into joy, just as they did in Washington, DC, a picture of patriotism not far from an artificial monument to him, empty and sad.

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American men’s soccer’s first viral moment happened 16 years ago, when Landon Donovan scored the deadly goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup. Many people remember Donovan’s name because of that goal. They may also remember that Tim Howard threw him the initial ball. But I would venture to guess that the most vivid memories for many who witnessed this moment are not the intricate details of this piece. Rather, they remember where they were and, more importantly, who they were with and what they did during that glorious out-of-body moment.

So if you’re looking for a reason to support the United States Men’s National Team, please, this Fourth of July, look out the window. If there is a moment of triumph to be had on Monday when the team takes on Belgium, there will likely be thousands and thousands of people in your immediate vicinity experiencing the purest joy anyone can feel; the kind that only sport can deliver with regularity. They will be your neighbors and friends, your co-workers, the clerk at the grocery store, the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant. They were in your life before this race in the United States. And they will be there afterwards. You may not have much in common with many of them. But these moments are special because they can bring you closer together. They create a unity of ideals where none existed before.

Week after week at this World Cup, the American men have demonstrated their own interpretation of these ideals. It is a free country; you can reject them.

But when joy is at stake, how could you?

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