Jason Davis

@davisjason.bsky.social

4938 Followers 681 Following

Soccer guy with other interests, including Puerto Rico, history, and the fate of our democracy. Find me on SiriusXM and YouTube. If you want to make American soccer things, REACH OUT. https://linktr.ee/davisjsn

Screenshot of a comment suggesting David Beckham should be involved in improving American youth soccer

screenshot of an email from linkedin asking "Do you know Bruce" and the "Bruce" is Bruce Arena

I'll cut to the chase and just blurt out that all of this is making it difficult to know how to thread the needle of my feelings about tonight's game. As a fan of the USMNT who also despises FIFA and the current presidential administration and sees the influence of latter upon the former as a there's a war happening in my head.

Chalking the whole episode up to standard FIFA corruption and therefore unremarkable as a example of the genre feels like a dodge of the ethical implications. Letting ourselves off the hook of facing up to what it means that our corrupt president acted corruptly in the interest of our soccer team might be the simplest thing to do, but it's also the most poisonous.

video of the World Cup bracket on Fotmob showing a viking boat moving from their sport in the Round of 32 to the Round of 16

Screen shot of Fox World Cup postgame with a sign in the background that says "Sun's Out Baloguns Out"

weather forecast for Washington DC indicated insanely high temperatures, including a "will feel like" number of 115 degrees fahrenheit on Friday

Text: Today the world is celebrating Paraguay (and tearing down Germany) because Orlando Gill made the extra save and Germany's winning goal was taken off the board because of a World Cup-specific emphasis on limiting physical play in the box on corner kicks. That's it. The South American triumph over the famous European side (again, not saying it was not deserved) probably doesn't happen without the reaction to set piece meatwallery across the Premier League and other competitions this last season. If that's not the definition of "fine margins", I don't know what is.

Text snippet: I've had to work through my own reactions to this version of Pochettino because it can feel like he's talking down to American soccer. He certainly has a negative view of a lot of elements of American soccer and sports culture and hasn't been shy about expressing those views in foreign outlets.
And yet, Pochettino also presents as a man enraptured by some parts of what makes America America and can be found waxing poetic about Herb Brooks and the 1980 US hockey team as portrayed in the movie Miracle or invoking the wisdom of Kevin Costner's character Crash Davis from Bull Durham when deciding what to wear on the sidelines during USMNT World Cup matches.

An illustration of former FIFA vice-president Chuck Blazer. Chuck is wearing a gold grill on his teeth. He's holding up this fists and "CONCACAF" appears on his knuckles, one letter on each finger. He's wearing sunglasses with pink lenses.

But the World Cup is much more than a series of games meant to deliver a champion. It's an examination of our connections as humans who share this particular spinning ball of dirt expressed through the greatest sport man has ever created. The game is laid over the rocky strata of commerce, immigration, politics, war, and is both a reflection of our current moment and a means by which to understand it.