Maria Gonzalez Cuervo may have lived in the United States as an exchange student at Inglemoor High this year, but one thing is clear: she’s rooting for her home country of Spain in the World Cup soccer tournament.
“My heart tells me to cheer up Spain — come on, Spain!” said Gonzalez Cuervo, who played Inglemoor soccer this year and also won the 4A state doubles tennis tournament with partner Jasmine Singh. “Also, Spain has an amazing team, so I think we have a really good chance to win the World Cup. They improved a lot (the last two years).
“But I’ll cheer USA if it’s not playing against Spain, that’s for sure,” she added. “USA is like my second home.”
The 19th FIFA World Cup kicked off last Friday in South Africa with opening-round group-play matches: South Africa versus Mexico (1-1) and Uruguay versus France (0-0). Thirty-two teams qualified for the event, which will take place through July 11. Italy won the last Cup in 2006.
The USA opened its tourney with a 1-1 draw with England last Saturday. For Gonzalez Cuervo, Spain will play its first match against Switzerland June 16.
Liz Cummings, a recent Cedar Park Christian graduate who played soccer for the Eagles, said she’s looking forward to watching the USA this time around.
“They said the biggest game of the year was USA against England,” she said, putting some heat on USA coach Bob Bradley by adding: “There have been multiple changes to the team and some very surprising picks. (Bradley) has left out (Charlie) Davies off the roster, which is a huge mistake in my opinion. Davies is the one who just had a miraculous recovery from a tragic car crash last year. He replaced Davies with (Robbie) Findley, who has little to no experience and that showed when the USA played a friendly against Australia.”
The USA should make it to the round of 16 because “other than England, they are in a pretty weak group,” said Hall of Fame coach Cliff McCrath, who will run his popular Northwest Soccer Camp at Bastyr University this summer. (“We can encourage kids to excel and develop their skills so they can someday be part of the world stage. After all, Kasey Keller, Michelle Akers and Marcus Hahnemann grew up in our camp,” he said.)
Inglemoor High girls coach Bryan McNiel noted that the USA needs a delicate balance of solid organization while also being creative, confident and risk-taking in the offensive third.
“Individuals like (Clint) Dempsey, (Landon) Donovan, (Herculez) Gomez, (Jozy) Altidore and (Edson) Buddle have the potential to do so. Now is the time for them to make an impact,” he said.
When it’s World Cup time, soccer-for-life people like McCrath get emotional and wax philosophical about what’s termed the “beautiful game.”
“The World Cup competition is the closest thing to what will be played in heaven. There is a spiritual element to it that defies logic and makes the four-year wait just right,” he said. “It requires time to retool teams and play through two years of qualifying. Anything less would cheapen the product.”
According to McCrath, top contending teams for the Cup are Brazil, England, Germany, Spain, Italy and France.
Bothell 10-year-old Kellen London will be keeping an eye on the Brazilian team during the Cup, according to his mom, Debi. The London family, which enjoyed watching Brazil’s style of play during the Confederations Cup last summer, will — of course, Debi added — be pulling for the USA, as well.
Kellen returned home from Children’s Hospital in Seattle May 7 after recovering from two brain hemorrhages he suffered in late March.
See related story and his care page for more details.
Many of the World Cup players could take a cue from Kellen and his recovery process.
“As with many athletes, pro or not, they face challenges to overcome, whether it is an injury or any other setback. Kellen’s determination is what is carrying him and resembles one of a true athlete,” Debi said. “Our family and the doctors, as well, are very impressed with how far Kellen has come along in his rehabilitation in such a short period of time.”
Some of those top players will include Wayne Rooney (England), Xavi and Gerard Pique (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Philip Lahm (Germany), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia), Maicon and Kaka (Brazil) and Donovan.
Cummings noted that “the young Cristiano Ronaldo is still on fire and Brazil is always a team to look out for.”
Gonzalez Cuervo also enjoys Brazil’s style of play, but notes that her favorite players, of course, are Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas and midfielder Xabi Alonso.
“I will watch the World Cup with my parents and friends,” said Gonzalez, who will return home to Madrid June 23. “It is like a tradition to us, soccer is really important in our country. Every Sunday, everybody used to hang out together and watch the soccer game.”
And they’ll be doing a lot of that — almost every day — for the next month.
EXTRA KICKS
On the coaching front, McNiel hopes to improve his own ability by watching the main men on the sidelines, some of whom will scream or stay calm, appear nervous or over-confident or display high or low levels of respect.
“We’ll also see a variety of different team formations on the field. I’m always interested in how individual player talents/abilities play out in different formations,” McNiel said. “I like to pretend I’m coaching the team and come up with a formation that I think would be the most successful. Sometimes it is identical to what the real coach decided on … other times, not so much.”
