World Cup Day 9: Getting Hyped By Any Means Necessary

IT'S GAME DAY

Welcome to Day 9 at the World Cup. Here's where I am, just to give you a sense of my emotional state on match day for the United States:

Moments ago I scrapped 600 words on Mexico's win in Guadalajara and the emotional state of that footballing nation because it wasn't my best work. This is the World Cup. We all need to raise our game.

The Aussies certainly have. And I don't just mean the Socceroos, who surprised with their 2-0 win over Turkiye in their World Cup opener. Australia coach Tony Popovic deserves immense credit for creating a plan to stop Turkiye's talented attackers and create moments to hit them with speed. The famous win will echo into the Australian soccer future in important ways.

I also mean the Australian media, who have taken up the cause of manufacturing outrage on behalf of their national association football team. You've probably heard about the controversy swirling around Mike Grella—a television pundit with zero senior international appearances—that is driving the conversation about American disrespect for the Australians down under.

Here's the part of today's newsletter where you imagine me doing an overly dramatic eye roll.

But I get it. I get why the Socceroos are leaning into the underdog roll and going to great lengths to imagine an American arrogance that doesn't actually exist. The truth is that there is a talent disparity between the two sides and though this is a team sport where a collective effort can mean more than individual ability, the Australian will hit the field in Seattle facing not just an American team with better CVs, but a roaring mass of red, white, and blue-clad fans lifting the home side with waves of emotion.

There's plenty of research to suggest that the human mind can be tricked into believing anything if exposed to a message often enough. It doesn't matter if we initially know the message is untrue; over time, our reality is shaped by the the repetition. The Aussies are engaged in the classic sports trope of psyching themselves up.

It's easy to see ourselves in the Aussies. While I don't think the USMNT has leveled up permanently into the role of the overdog, we know the game the Aussies are playing all too well. Outside of CONCACAF (where the problem is playing down to the opponent), the USMNT is often the side with the reserve of disrespect to tap for motivation.

Remember this?

Back in 2010, it didn't matter if it was The Sun, a trash rag always inclined to provoke, who looked down on the USMNT. We latched onto the message and discounted the reputation of the messenger (Mike Grella is not an English tabloid, but neither he is a significant voice of American soccer attitudes) because it served our purposes.

I don't know how much The Sun did to motivate the USMNT in South Africa and I don't think the Socceroos needed Grella's comments to find a well of drive for a World Cup match that could put them into the Round of 32. But the narrative adds to the drama and that's what the World Cup is supposed to be about. There are no bigger stakes in the sport and I want the stories to match the moment.

As for the match itself...

Despite Pulisic's injury status (which I'm not entirely convinced isn't subterfuge), I expect the USMNT to win the game. If we learned anything from the win over Paraguay, it's that Pochettino understands how to use movement off the ball to pull apart a defensively stout side.

The Aussies will make it difficult and I don't know that I expect a four goal output, but the US ability to repress (something Türkiye did not do well against Australia) and the quality the Americans bring up top with Folarian Balogun should be enough to break the Socceroos down and find the goals to win.

In the first half Türkiye's impatience was their undoing. When movement slowed and gaps in the Aussie lines didn't appear, Arda Güler and his compatriots resorted to inadvisable shots from distance. That played into the Aussies hands defensively and allowed the Socceroos to catch Türkiye offguard with the opening goal.

I think Pochettino will have prepared his team for those moments.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

Moments after this newsletter drops I'll be on the air with our Friday edition of Morning Kickaround. We're talking about the World Cup, but we'll also drop in other American soccer stories and continue to track growth down the pyramid across this massive country.

If you have time ahead of USMNT v. Australia, check out this week's edition of The Best Soccer Show. Ryan Rosenblatt and I hit on a number of topics, including our attitudes about the World Cup as both USMNT fans and observers of this soccer moment.

See you tomorrow. Hopefully with six points in the bag.