Henry Kissinger on the Problem With U.S. Soccer
Henry Kissinger was just talking about soccer on the (rebroadcast of last night's) Charlie Rose. Why isn't American soccer good?
"There are not enough minorities." The players tend to be "middle class, suburban children." A similar point was made here. And this was before Ghana's Draman stole the ball from the entitled-looking Claudio Reyna to score Ghana's first goal.
Phil: Not sure if you're agreeing fully with Kissinger here -- I hope not, because his comment is effectively racist. K's saying "minorities," i.e., the dark people, are better at sports, regardless of if a hardscrabble life makes you hungry for the game. And this, if I can be mean, is what Kissinger likely believes those minorities can be proud of in life.
The irony is that soccer's great teams belie this view. Aside from Brazil, who are the powerhouse teams today and historically? Germany, for sure -- not many minorities there. Argentina, which has largely been a team of European ancestry. And Italy, a homogenous white team if there ever was one. The Netherlands and England are also perennially near the top -- and very, well, white.
Maybe the problem in the U.S. is entitlement, I don't know -- but the racist "minority" argument has the virtue of being an easy explanation, and the vice of being factually wrong, and bigoted.