IRVINE, Calif. – After their last meeting with Paraguay ended in a near-brawl, the U.S. men’s national team is steeling itself for another fiery match in Friday’s World Cup opener. But the American players are also working on playing the victim a bit better, too.
The U.S. has long had a reputation for not being quite as skilled as other countries in soccer’s so-called “dark arts” — exaggerating contact, embellishing fouls and putting pressure on the referee, among other things — and that element is even more critical in high-intensity matches.
“I think that’s one thing that we can get better at for sure,” midfielder Cristian Roldan told reporters on Tuesday. “I think being a little bit more savvy, being too honest at times is probably too much of a fault for us.
“We need to be a little bit savvier in the way we manage games, the way we take fouls, stay on the ground a little longer. I think these are things that we can learn from different nations, but Paraguay does a really good job of that.”
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The Dutch referee for Friday’s game, Danny Makkelie, is generally considered a more lenient official who lets the game flow but the aggression that the teams showed in their friendly last November was impossible to ignore.
A stoppage-time fracas broke out after Alex Freeman and Gustavo Gómez wrestled over the ball at a throw-in, with players from both sides converging quickly.
Miles Robinson was briefly in a headlock; Roldan, Sebastian Berhalter and Tim Ream jumped in. U.S coach Mauricio Pochettino slipped and fell as he sprinted over. Paraguay’s Omar Alderete received a red card for his part in the dustup.
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The U.S. won that match, 2-1, and Ream, who will captain the U.S. at this World Cup, said it was an important benchmark for team chemistry.
“The Paraguay game was a little bit extra,” he said Monday. “It had a feel that the game meant something more and now you look at it and it was a perfect test for us in that moment.”
Eight months later, the players know that tactics and execution will be the primary factors in whether they can beat Paraguay again. But making the most of the moments when the referee is involved could well shade the difference.
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If nothing else, the Americans know they’ll need to counteract the Paraguayan players trying to do exactly that.
“Being smart with not taking it overboard and not feeding into what they do,” Roldan said. “[It’s] really important for us to be able to manage the game.”
