American TV viewers were treated to the pop-cultural equivalent of Gegenpressing in the leadup to Friday’s postcolonial grudge match between the USA and England: whenever a semblance of coherence materialised in Fox Sports’s preview of the match, it was quickly shut down. In the 10 minutes before kickoff, members of the Fox “team” asserted, variously, that “it all circles around Harry Kane” (does it?), that America is “used to being the biggest, the baddest, and the best in everything” (tell that to the tennis players of Europe or India’s cricketers), and that “you’re going to see this US team playing aggressively, stepping in the English players’ faces” (seems bookable). George Washington and the American Revolution scored a mention over footage of midfielders performing pre-match squats.
On the field, a match eventually took shape, with America’s players executing something close to Fox’s on-air strategy of confusion and harassment, only with much more pleasing results. For much of the match, the USA were consistently faster to the ball, playing with an urgency and an incision that made England look lumbering and befuddled. Despite their dominance, however, America once again paid for their lack of decisiveness in the final third – a story that has become depressingly familiar for a team that is at last threatening to make good on its immense promise.
