INGLEWOOD — On the first Sunday afternoon of this World Cup, a few hours after Scotland had won its first match in the tournament in 36 years, the Tartan Army decided to take a victory lap around Boston.
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They gathered near the statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, the author of “Auld Lang Syne,” in Evans Way Park and began to march en masse, bagpipes a blowing, Samuel Adams a flowing, toward Fenway Park.
They were a few bars into “Scotland Forever,” when one of Boston’s finest informed the Scots they were, um, going the wrong way.
The Tartan Army finally made it to Fenway, a sort of Loch Ness Monster meeting the Green Monstah, in time to watch the Texas Rangers beat the Red Sox 6-4, apparently drinking the Hub dry.
Eight days and nearly 1,500 miles – 3 x “500 Miles” if you will – later, the Tartan Army was also present when the Rangers beat Miami. For the record, Texas is 2-0 against the Scots, which would place it second in Group C. Scotland, its 1-0 victory against Haiti good for 3 points, is currently third in the group and on the bubble for a spot in the tournament’s Round of 32.
The World Cup’s first round, especially this expanded (watered-down) World Cup, is much like the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, full of feel-good moments but not really telling us anything of real importance.
What have we really learned from the first round that wraps up this weekend besides that in Alexi Lalas, that human Foghorn Leghorn, America has finally found something we can all agree on?
Lionel Messi, Argentina’s ageless wonder, scores all three goals in a victory against Algeria. But the hat-trick loses some of its luster when you consider that Algeria was 1-1-6 in its previous nine World Cup matches.
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The second round, the first round in the tournament’s knockout phase, is where the World Cup really gets serious. In most World Cups, that would be the next round, the Round of 32, which starts Sunday. But the first World Cup expanded to 48 teams isn’t likely to provide any real clarity until the Round of 16.
And so Team USA’s 3-2 loss in its Group D finale at SoFi Stadium Thursday night to a Turkiye side that still finished last in the group didn’t really provide any real insight into the first U.S. team to win its group since 2010.
We did learn that U.S. national team coach Mauricio Pochettino, unlike his countryman Lionel Scaloni, the Argentina coach, realizes this is the longest World Cup in history, a whole round longer because of FIFA’s greed. So while Scaloni has played the 38-year-old Messi in 170 minutes in Argentina’s first two matches, Pochettino rested all but two of the U.S. starters from last week’s 2-0 romp against Australia.
And we learned that U.S. winger Christian Pulisic is healthy. The AC Milan star missed the Australia match after suffering a calf injury in the first half of Team USA’s opening match victory against Paraguay. Pulisic drew the night’s biggest applause Thursday when he entered the match in the second half and then proceeded to prompt the night’s loudest groan when he hit the post a few minutes later.
The knock-out phase is where we learn if the U.S. two group stage victories are a real indication of how far this team and by extension American soccer have come under Pochettino. Is Team USA really ready to join the world’s elite or was the group stage just more tease before the usual one and done in the knock-out phase?
The knock-out phase is where we determine what a successful World Cup for the U.S. looks like. Next up for the Pulisic & Company is a Round of 32 match with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara July 1. Would advancing to the Round of 16 be success? Or does the U.S. have to get past a Round of 16 game with Mo Salah and Egypt or maybe South Korea?
The defining moment for this U.S. side, for American soccer will most likely would be a quarterfinal showdown at SoFi July 10 with Spain, the reigning European champion and one of the pre-tournament favorites. That is where we’ll really find out if the U.S. has really taken a step forward or like the Tartan Army not really sure where its going.
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