Smallwood: U.S. soccer can't afford to be xenophobic
GROWING UP, I was always told that the United States was a nation of immigrants, and that we are strongest when we embrace our diversity and use it to achieve a common goal.
GROWING UP, I was always told that the United States was a nation of immigrants, and that we are strongest when we embrace our diversity and use it to achieve a common goal.
Longtime U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard was out of line and a bit xenophobic last week when he implied that the recent poor performance by the men's national soccer team was due to dual-citizenship players who might not have been fully invested in the red, white and blue.
"(Recently fired U.S. coach) Jurgen Klinsmann had a project to unearth talent around the world that had American roots," Howard said in a recent interview with USA Today. "But having American roots doesn't mean you are passionate about playing for that country.
"I know there were players who came in that it didn't matter as much to. If you get enough of those players, one or two can get found out, but if you get enough of those players you lose sight of what you are all about.
"While it was a good idea in theory, it had its flaws."
First off, everything the United States has done in its effort to reach the highest level of international soccer has had flaws.
It has moved up in the hierarchy but still is a codfish in an ocean of sharks.
Besides, the German-born Klinsmann was hardly the first U.S. coach to invest in foreign-born American players.
American soccer history is filled with foreign-born players, with many making huge contributions to the cause.
What Howard – who was born in North Brunswick, N.J., to an African-American and ironically a mother who is a native of Hungary – did was introduce an "us" and "them" philosophy on the squad.
Even when Howard, who has more caps than any U.S. goalie, tried to take back his comment, he went where no teammate should go.
He told ESPNFC, "Some of them are (dual nationals), but I think others are players who have their roots here in America, too."
Publicly questioning the commitment of teammates is always a no-no, but again the worst thing was Howard split the team into subgroups.
Just as there is no "I" in "team," there is not a "u" or an "s," either.
There are, however, a "t" and an "e" and an "m."
That's three letters from "them" compared to zero from "us."
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has surfaced.
After her final game in 2015, retired U.S. women's star Abby Wambach criticized Klinsmann by saying, "the way that he has brought in a bunch of foreign guys is not something I believe in."
Philadelphia Union and U.S. defender Alejandro Bedoya, whose father is from Colombia, responded to Wambach by calling her "xenophobic" and letting her know that "someone born outside the USA to parents who serve the American military are American."
Of more relevance to the current U.S. team is that Bruce Arena, who replaced Klinsmann, said this in 2013: "Players on the national team, and this is my own feeling, should be American. If they're all born in other countries, I don't think we can say we are making progress."
Arena, who coached the U.S. team at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, has softened that stance since returning as coach, saying he "embraced all players that are eligible to play."
The irony of this discussion is that "foreign" or "dual-citizenship" players have produced some of the most important moments in U.S. soccer.
The goal scored in the famous 1-0 victory over England at the 1950 World Cup was scored by Joe Gaetjens – a native of Haiti who never gained U.S. citizenship.
Union sporting director Earnie Stewart, the son of a U.S. Air Force airman who was born and raised in the Netherlands, scored the decisive goal in the stunning 2-1 victory over Colombia at the 1994 World Cup.
Benny Feilhaber, who was born in Brazil and was also eligible to play for Austria, scored the game-winning goal against archrival Mexico in the 2007 Gold Cup final.
At the 2014 World Cup, German-born Americans – Jermaine Jones, John Brooks and Julian Green – contributed three of the five goals scored by the U.S. team.
Still, this is about the concepts of being a team.
Chemistry is a vital component to success in a team sport. Statements like Howard's threaten the unity of the U.S. squad.
Jones, whose father is a U.S. soldier who was stationed in West Germany, summed up the issue best by calling Howard's comments "dangerous."
"You have to see the bigger picture, and that's the whole team," said Jones, who lived in the United States before returning to Germany with his mother after his parents' divorce. "There's not an American guy and a German-American guy."
The value of so-called "foreign players" to American soccer is not debatable and there are several in key roles with the current team.
After losing the first two matches in the CONCACAF Hexagonal, this is a desperate time for the U.S. team in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
This team needs to come together and regroup quickly. The last thing it needs is to be split by an attitude of "us" and "them."
@SmallTerp