\n\tWant proof that the U.S. is now \u201ca soccer nation\u201d that truly treats the sport like the rest of the world does?<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s the wholesale, unapologetic media homerism.<\/p>\n
\n\tForget the social media engagement, the packed stadiums (except for that first game<\/a>) or the jingoistic \u201cUSA! USA!\u201d watch parties. We\u2019ve seen that before.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat\u2019s new is how this World Cup feels like the culmination of a long-term shift in expectations of how teams, particularly national teams, should be covered. Open rooting for the home team used to be frowned on in the U.S.<\/p>\n \n\tNow it\u2019s expected.<\/p>\n \n\tThe big tell: manager Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s comments after the U.S., playing a lineup comprised mostly of backups, lost a meaningless game to Turkey in the final group stage match. The press corps dutifully asked about the team\u2019s failings in the late 3-2 loss\u2014it was an official World Cup game, after all, despite the lack of stakes\u2014and reporters were harshly rebuffed by the coach.<\/p>\n \n\tHe called one reporter\u2019s question \u201cweird\u201d and said he was \u201cconfused\u201d by the journalists\u2019 \u201cvibes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNo one congratulated us for finishing first in a very difficult group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \n\tUsing the press as a foil is a coaching tactic as old as sports media, or even Bill Belichick. And Pochettino walked back the remarks a few days later.<\/p>\n \n\tBut the online responses showed how much the playing field has changed, not just in regard to how a team should be portrayed, but how it should be interrogated. Social media and comment-section reactions from fans were often along the lines of, \u201cYeah, those were stupid questions,\u201d rather than, \u201cJeez, how thin-skinned is this guy?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut Pochettino was just doing a normal global soccer thing, where cheering in the press box is allowed, and expected, by the powers that be. The coach was seeing things through a different lens\u2014and it appears the fan masses, even in the U.S., like those optics. At least until the squad is eliminated.<\/p>\n \n\t(One question still hangs over the tournament, though: Is Pochettino\u2019s celebrity doppelganger Russell \u201cMaximus\u201d Crowe? Or actually Bruno \u201cYoung Clemenza\u201d Kirby?)<\/p>\n \n\tFox\u2019s coverage is certainly onboard with the new paradigm, as sideline reporter Jenny Taft\u2019s first words after the U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday were to congratulate the coach.<\/p>\n \n\tThis homerism isn\u2019t entirely a bad thing, and is, in a way, refreshing. The modern American soccer audience still has an annoying quality in its DNA, described unforgettably in a 1993 column in The New York Times by Robert Lipsyte<\/a>. \u201cThe sporting equivalents of uppity vegetarians, wine-tasters, cineastes, dog snobs, will be telling us that soccer is a world language we simply must learn,\u201d Lipsyte wrote, leaving a mark.<\/p>\n \n\tNow that more Americans speak that second language, many of the harder-core fans have ratcheted up their attitudes into Simpsons\u2019 Comic Book Guy territory, where everything about the U.S. team and U.S. Soccer and U.S. (homegrown) players sucks, especially compared to \u2026 [insert team\/player\/nation here]. And don\u2019t get them started on MLS.<\/p>\n \n\tThat cynicism can quickly become myopic, and kill merited joy over some things about the game right here in this country that are really kind of OK.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Fox coverage<\/a>, embarrassing as it can be, is an antidote to that, telling fans not to get ahead of themselves, but that it\u2019s fine to have fun watching this crazy-quilt mashup of a national team, even if it wasn\u2019t spawned by a flawless French-, Argentine- or Spanish-style development system.<\/p>\n \n\tOne way they\u2019ve done that is by incorporating a tres-Euro commentary model, calling exclusively on former players to deliver thoughts about the squad. It\u2019s a typical thing in soccer countries to bring out the old hands to give \u201cback in my day\u201d comps, and it can be tiresome, but also interesting when you have the right personalities doing it.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd the current generation of ex-Yank players behind the mic has largely been up to the task. Stu Holden\u2019s in-game commentary has been trenchant and largely traditional in his analyst role, while Landon Donovan seems to be coming into his own as a studio guy, and Clint Dempsey remains a revelation.<\/p>\n \n\tAll three have on-field cred. The trio were starters in the Premier League at one time, with Holden making the Guardian newspaper\u2019s Best XI while at Bolton before injuries hampered his career, and Dempsey scoring more than 50 EPL goals. At the World Cup, both Dempsey and Donovan had star spells for the U.S. national team.<\/p>\n \n\tBut the latter two had somewhat enigmatic public personalities as players; Donovan could come off as defensive and Dempsey at times seemed angry and morose. Yet both were fierce competitors, and Dempsey\u2019s temper tantrums on the field were legendary because of their comedic elements, with the notorious \u201cRed Card Wedding<\/a>,\u201d where he swiped the ref\u2019s book and tore it up in front of him, serving as a late-career coup de grace.<\/p>\n \n\tThe personality was there all along.<\/p>\n \n\tNone of the three were shy about enjoying the U.S. success on Fox Wednesday, with Dempsey and Donovan exhibiting a teammate-like chemistry on air. Dempsey chided Donovan for a clip showing him wearing a hat that covered his much-remarked-on toupee, while Donovan leaned in, telling viewers that he was so nervous during the final stages of the U.S. match, where they were playing down a man after Falorin Balogun\u2019s red card, that even his \u201cfake hair was falling out.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tDonovan also made a graceful pass to fellow analyst and former U.S. Women\u2019s National Team star Carli Lloyd, acknowledging that none of the former male players had won a World Cup, and asking her if the current team\u2019s run had a similar feel to her two victorious trips to the title. For the record, Lloyd said it did.<\/p>\n \n\tNobody wants to get in the way of the bandwagon. At least not yet.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd apparently, that\u2019s how real soccer nations do this.<\/p>\n