The Irresponsibility Of ESPN

The Worldwide leader had an article today on the front page talking about the US-Sweden match today (I of course can't find it now, hopefully they took it down or revised it greatly). The crux of the article was not about the US MNT's 1-0 loss to Sweden, or really anything about how they looked or played. In fact, if i had not seen the game (which i had not when i read the article), i would have no clue about the Americans stacked up against the Swedes. Instead, the article was about the fact that the US MNT had now lost four games in a row. And while this is technically correct, it is leaving out a large part of the story.

The previous three losses by the US MNT were last month in Copa America. It was not, by any means, a good showing by the Americans. But it was largely (almost exclusively actually) made up of 'second tier players'. I don't mean they were bad players, they were just really young and inexperienced. Consider this: Of the team that played in Copa America, only five players were on todays roster against Sweden, which was made up of our 'top' players. Out of 19, that's not too many. Consider also that going into the start of Copa America, the Americans had only 5 players with more than 10 international appearances. It was a young, inexperienced team that took its lumps, which is what coach Bob Bradley. Well, not to take the lumps, but to get the kids some experience.

So while technically correct that the US has lost four in a row, true fans of soccer and the US MNT will know that it is not the whole story. I just wish ESPN would be a little more representative of that...