The United States national soccer team qualified for their sixth consecutive World Cup on Saturday. Although this might be news to some, for the team with the best RPI in the nation, it’s of utmost importance.
“We were getting all the updates from ESPN in the hotel Saturday night,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “We’re excited to see the team make the World Cup. It’s good for our country, it’s great for soccer in our country.”
No. 16 Northwestern may be players of their own right, but when it comes to the national team, they’re all fans.
“There’s a sense around the team that we’re excited about it,” midfielder Lucas Swertloff said. “The U.S. team is really coming up. Seeing our national team doing well really gives us a chance to feel good.”
Despite the national team’s success, top-notch soccer is difficult to access on this side of the pond.
“There is American soccer, like the MLS,” sophomore midfielder Peter O’Neill said. “But for the real good stuff, you’ve got to watch European leagues to watch the highest quality soccer.”
That’s easier said than done. Most European league games are played on weekend mornings on obscure cable networks, which doesn’t make them easy to watch for a team that plays most of its games on weekend afternoons.
“Every once in a while, I’ll sneak in an (English) Premier League game,” Lenahan said. “But generally, in-season, you don’t have an opportunity to watch much foreign soccer.”
The team’s main source of international soccer comes in the spring, when the vaunted Champions League comes around. That tournament features the best teams in Europe and airs on ESPN on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
“I probably shouldn’t be saying this,” Swertloff said. “But I watch those games in class from time to time.”
Americans such as Fulham’s Clint Dempsey, Everton’s Tim Howard and AC Milan’s Oguchi Onyewu are the players who most impress the Wildcats.
“We try to keep up with those guys who play abroad and do their thing over there,” Swertloff said. “It gives us that extra motivation, knowing that they can play with the best over there.”
However, one of the biggest ways soccer fans stay connected to the game is not through watching games, but playing them. Like many other college students, NU’s soccer team has an obsession with the FIFA series, a video game produced annually by EA Sports.
“Last year we had a FIFA lounge where we all went to play,” O’Neill said. “It’s just a relaxed, social way we can all kind of play and interact with the game.”
Other members of the team singled out Swertloff as the team’s reigning FIFA champion, but he’s not sure he can hold his crown.
“Currently there’s not that many guys on the team who can beat me,” Swertloff said. “But we’ve got some really tough freshmen this year, so who knows?”
Sadly for the team, FIFA does little to enhance the squad’s on-field skills.
“I’ve played it my whole life,” sophomore forward Oliver Kupe said, “but if you’re good at FIFA, you’re not naturally going to be good at real soccer.”
That said, NU (7-1-4, 1-0-1 Big Ten) will be heavily favored when they host Wisconsin (3-6-2, 1-2) on Saturday night. The Wildcats have won four of its last six matches against the Badgers.
