U.S. Men's Soccer: World Cup Ready? ⚽
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Season 2: Episode 14 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🏃🏽♂️ We are grabbing our shin guards and hitting the field to talk soccer! 🏟️ Will the U.S. Men's National Team make it to the 2022 World Cup? Our sports correspondent Kenny Curtis breaks down how the qualifiers work ahead of the next match on October 7th. Hear our favorite soccer facts about this popular sport. 🏆 And test your World Cup knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
When a Soccer Star Falls, It May Be an Acting Job - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Ever wonder? How far do soccer players run during a match? | NBC Sports
The Historical Diffusion of Soccer (arcgis.com)
All you need to know about soccer | World Football FAQ | Bundesliga
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:03
Grab your shin guards and cleats. Today we are hitting the field and talking about soccer. I am Bethany Van Delft. It's Saturday, October 2nd, and this is The Ten News Gets Extra.
Various Voices 0:16
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:24
Last week we talked about the NFL, the National Football League. Today we're talking about what the whole rest of the world calls football, the great sport of soccer. Our sports correspondent Kenny Curtis is here to catch us up on the US men's quest to qualify for next year's World Cup.
Kenny Curtis 0:52
Fall, I love fall. It's the best season around, isn't it? You got your pumpkins and your sweaters and Halloween. And you know what else is amazing about the fall? The Sports, oh yeah, forget Christmas. Fall is really the most magical time of the year for sports fans. You got the NFL and college football they're starting up. The World Series is on the way. The NHL and college football are just around the corner. And we can forget about one of the most popular youth sports in the country, soccer. Goal! This year is particularly exciting for soccer fans because the US men's national team is on the hunt for a spot in next year's World Cup. Nice. The World Cup is the biggest soccer tournament in the world. It's one of the largest international sporting events anywhere, and winning in the tournament earns you the ultimate bragging rights. Countries all around the world get their best players together and organize a national team to compete in the World Cup tournament. But first, they have to qualify. Longtime American soccer fans will remember that the men's team failed to qualify four years ago for the World Cup. And that was the first time that the US didn't make it to that tournament since 1986. So this year, the stakes are especially high for the team to qualify and make a return appearance to the world's biggest soccer stage. Now here's how the process works. In order to make the cut and get into the World Cup, you have to be one of the top national teams in your region. And that's determined by kind of a tournament. Yeah, it's sort of like the tournament before the tournament. What? The United States plays in the CONCACAF region. That's the North American Central American and Caribbean Soccer Confederation. The CONCACAF region is guaranteed three spots in the World Cup. But since there are currently eight teams competing for those spots, the US, Canada, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, and El Salvador, there will be five disappointed countries when this is all said and done. Now all of these teams will compete in an eight-team round robin competition. It's not exactly like a regular tournament because there isn't really one winner. And these qualifying matches happen over a long period of time, like a year, not just a few weeks, like the World Cup itself. Each country will play each other twice, once at home and once on the road. Since only the top three teams will go on to compete in the World Cup. This is where the United States wants to be. Now there is a chance for the fourth-best team to compete in a play-in spot against a country from another region, but that's a much riskier option. The best way for the US to return to the World Cup is to place in the CONCACAF top three. These World Cup qualifying games are already underway and while the United States was determined to prove itself after failing to qualify for the World Cup four years ago, they struggled for the first few games. They tied against El Salvador in a scoreless draw and then went on to tie again against Canada despite having a home-field advantage. This meant that the US really needed a victory when they played Honduras in Honduras. Unfortunately, the first half did not go well. The US simply wasn't able to make anything happen offensively, they were down one-nil at the start of the second half. And I don't know exactly what happened in that locker room. But after halftime, the US team was re-energized. Suddenly, they were winning balls and controlling possession. After a few key substitutions, they ended up winning that game 4-1 in an impressive comeback victory. Now, the United States is tied for second place in the standings, but still has 11 more games to go before the top three teams are decided. And if the first few games taught us anything, it's that qualifying for the World Cup is extremely difficult. The World Cup is the world's most prestigious soccer tournament. Getting there is not an easy feat. It's also important to note that the US Team is particularly young, so they don't really have that much playing experience. The average player on the US squad is 24 years old, the team is captained by Christian Pulisic who is only 23. And, because we didn't make it to the World Cup last time, we only have two players John Brooks and DeAndre Yedlin with any World Cup experience at all. So despite our favorable standings, it's going to be a huge battle for the US men's national team to earn a World Cup spot. The US plays against Jamaica on October 7, and then goes on to play Panama and Costa Rica shortly thereafter, so be sure to check out the games. Tune in to see if the US can fight their way back to next year's World Cup tournament.
Sound Bit 5:46
USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA!
Bethany Van Delft 5:54
Thanks, Kenny. I'll be tuning in to see if they make it on the seventh. Here in the US, soccer is the fifth most popular sport behind football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. But that is not true everywhere. Just how popular is soccer? Here are five foot-tastic facts about soccer. Fact attack! Fact one, it is the most played sport in the world. With over 250 million people playing in over 200 countries. That's a lot of soccer playing. Fact Two. It's an old sport. People all over the world have played variations of soccer for over 2,000 years. The modern rules we use today were developed in England between 1840 and 1870 and spread around the world with the British Empire. Fact three. It's hard work. Professional soccer players run somewhere between seven and nine and a half miles in a 90-minute game, the most of any sport. Wow. Exercise. Exercise is good. Fact four. Just like every sport. Not everyone plays fair, players sometimes pretend to be knocked over or fall down to try to get the referees to give them penalty kicks. Officials call this flopping, falling, and flailing simulation. And while video replays help cut down on some bad behavior. Anyone who's watched the game knows players still tend to exaggerate their falls. Fact five, it's by far the most-watched sport in the world. Over 1 billion people around the world watch the 2019 Women's World Cup tournament. And the largest single-game audience ever was for the men's 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia. It averaged over 55 million viewers. That's almost four times as big as the audience for America's largest sports event. The Super Bowl. So the next time you play or watch soccer, just remember, not only are you not alone, you are watching and playing the most watched and played game in the world.
Bethany Van Delft 8:42
Hey Ten'ers, remember when we asked you to fill out a listener survey? Well, today we're giving a very special shout out to one of our Ten'er's Isabelle Demaree. Isabelle was the lucky winner of our giveaway and gave us a ton of great feedback on the show. Thanks so much, Isabelle. Great job. And what about you? Do you have anything to tell us? Or do you want to help out with a segment? We have so many ways for you to be involved with The Ten News. You can write to us, send us a voicemail, or share your thoughts with us on our website. Come on, we'd love to have you. Check out our show notes for all the options and we cannot wait to hear from you. Up next, it's time for...
Various Voices 9:32
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 9:34
Trivia on The Ten. The United States women's national soccer team is ranked as the number two team in the world. How many cups have the footballing women won? Is it a) two, b) eight or c) four?
Bethany Van Delft 9:58
Did you guess it? The answer is C. The Women's World Cup tournament started in 1991 and has now been played eight times. The US women have dominated winning four of those eight tournaments, including the last two in a row. The next tournament will take place in 2023 on an Australia and New Zealand road trip.
Bethany Van Delft 10:30
Time's up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts. It is distributed by iHeart Radio. The Ten News creative team is practicing their footwork and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Kenny Curtis contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Oh, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. That's my time in the song. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Oh, yay, Ceylon.
