US soccer great Tobin Heath hoping Club World Cup spurs more growth for game at home
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tobin Heath might know something about what makes soccer resonate within the U.S.
Her resume, in part: She won NCAA titles in college at North Carolina, then went on to win two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. women's national team and two World Cup titles as well, all of that coming after she was inspired by the 1999 Women's World Cup.
And so far, she thinks the Club World Cup could have a similar effect.
Heath — who is working as part of FIFA's technical study group for the tournament, alongside the likes of former Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger, former German star and U.S. men's national coach Jurgen Klinsmann and others — said Saturday that a match she attended earlier this month between Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors, with a full and jammed stadium in South Florida playing host to that matchup, shows what could be possible in this country.
'As an American, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life to witness that passion and energy,' Heath — during a FIFA briefing with the technical group — said. 'It's something I never believed I could see in my own country. And the stadium was literally shaking. You could feel it, and the fans were absolutely incredible. So, I know the power of these home competitions. ... I know the power of these games in our country, to change the landscape of this game in our country.'
The attendance for the games in the Club World Cup has varied widely; some stadiums are jammed, some pretty much empty. With the tournament entering the knockout round and some strong matchups ahead — including Lionel Messi and Inter Miami taking on his former team, Paris Saint-Germain, on Sunday in Atlanta — there should be plenty of good crowds throughout the remainder of the event, as FIFA looks to build momentum toward the World Cup that's coming to North America next year.
'This is a fantastic dress rehearsal for us,' Heath said.
Only one U.S.-based team made the knockout stage: Messi's Inter Miami, though some wonder if that's a club that will have a true pronounced effect on soccer in this country. Messi is the biggest name in the sport and has an enormous following everywhere, one that obviously existed long before he came to Miami two years ago.
'Messi has not the best data of this tournament, but he's certainly the most influential player of this tournament — because without him Inter Miami would never qualify," Wenger said.
The job of the technical study group is simple: watch all the matches, either live or on television (with the benefit of many screens and angles), assess style of play and determine what is making teams successful. The level of data collected from these matches is beyond deep; reports are more than 50 pages thick and measure everything from time it takes a team to recover possession after a giveaway to how hard players are sprinting at key times of a match.
'This tournament has blown me away,' Heath said. 'It's made me even more excited for the summer to come, and I couldn't be more proud of this country. It shows that football is deeply embedded and deeply personal to our country. I can't wait to see the growth.'
Field quality
FIFA is promising that fields for next year's World Cup will be in better condition than some used in this tournament.
There have been comments — and in some cases, complaints — about conditions from European clubs, particularly about fields in Charlotte and Orlando, Wenger said.
'I've been personally on the pitch at Orlando,' Wenger said. 'It's not at the level that the European clubs are used to because it's not perfect, but that will be rectified for the World Cup next year.'
Even the field at MetLife Stadium, which will play host to the Club World Cup final in two weeks, has been the source of discussion.
'The pitch is different turf, different grass than in Europe. In my opinion, the pitch was a little bit soft and not dry, but the ball was not traveling as fast as we are used to. This is my impression, my feeling," Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac said after his team played a scoreless draw there earlier in the tournament against Fluminense.
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