I've been told on numerous occasions this week that to expect anything other than a loss for the US National Team in Honduras this Saturday is a step too far. Honduras is flawless at home during the Hexagonal, have finally combined their considerable talent into something worthy of CONCACAF big boy status, and will be extremely keyed up for a match that will both unite their countrymen and could propel them to their first World Cup since 1982 (and their second ever).
I'll be honest. I'm not hopeful. In fact, as I went about recruiting soccer neophytes to make the trip with me to a bar that is showing the game, I made it a point not to tell them about my lack of confidence. I'm not sure how interested they would be in plunking down twenty bucks that the soccer "expert" of the group thinks is a lost cause.
Still, a US win is not impossible, just extremely unlikely. If the American play a perfect match (think, oh, I don't know...Spain maybe?) they can win. Anything less than that, and it will be difficult; not because the Hondurans on the level of Spain, but because the emotion and energy in that stadium Saturday night is bound to be on a level that the Americans have never seen. We're talking Azteca-times-one-hundred level stuff here.
The oft-repeated soccer cliche is that the away side must withstand initial pressure for the first fifteen or twenty minutes if they hope to win. That axiom will be on steroids for the Americans in San Pedro Sula; not only with the Hondurans be brimming with confidence thanks to their home record, there's that other little thing that might have them pretty keyed up.
The political situation in Honduras is tense, the populace is on edge, and a resolution to the standoff is still not on the horizon. The 45,000 fans that pack the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano on Saturday night will use the performance of their beloved national team, and the opportunity to cheer them on, as a way to release all of the tension that has built up in their homeland over the past few weeks. Politics will be forgotten for those two hours that Honduras faces off against the USA, and it will only be about futbol.
"Psychic energy" is not an idea many people ascribe to. The concept that people can create a "force" that can be felt by others is difficult to accept. For most, it's the type of thing that makes a good move or TV show, but doesn't have any real basis in reality. I won't tell you I believe in psychic energy as described by some of the nuttier new age wackos out there, but I will say this: The United States Men's National Team is going to face a tidal wave of psychic energy when they walk out of the tunnel in Honduras on Saturday night.
If you've ever been to an important, highly anticipated, packed to the gills sporting event, you'll know just what I mean. Crowds create their own energy, especially when they're almost completely homogeneous; I applaud and respect any Americans who will be in the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, but I doubt seriously that they'll mute any of the intensity that fervor caused by those very worked up Hondurans.
More than tactics or personnel, this is the key to the American chances. This goes well beyond what they've experienced in Costa Rica and Mexico. Sure, those were difficult environments with ultra-rabid fans and adverse conditions, but in neither case was the collective frustration of an entire nation focused on that particular match. If anything, the home-field advantages for the hosts in Costa Rica and Mexico were "run of the mill" for those countries; epically massive in a normal sense, but no where near the ramped-up magnitude of what the US will see in San Pedro Sula.
Bob Bradley has his work cut out for him, and while I hope and pray for a strong American performance, I'm already set to give the man a pass. If they lose, which I expect, I can't imagine I'll be able to justify any real criticism in light of the circumstances. Maybe the play still won't be good enough, and maybe I'll be castigated for my refusal to throw anyone (players, manager, whoever) under the bus, but there's breaking point for reasonable expectations, and I think Saturday night's convergence of factors is well beyond the load-bearing capacity.
If you don't think the expectations of a strong American performance go out the window right around "playing in a Central American country against a nation that is undefeated at home in the Hexagonal and is on the verge of qualifying for their first World Cup in twenty-eight years in front of a ravenous crowd anxious to release pent up energy caused by an ongoing political crisis", then I'd love to hear why. It's an open forum, share you thoughts. Give me a reason to believe that they can win. I think I need one.
