US Coaches Who Coach Other Countries' National Football (Soccer) Teams

Like millions of others in the United States, I have been following the World Cup closely. This afternoon, I caught the tail end of Morocco's 3-0 victory over co-host Canada.  For some reason, I decided to continue watching after the Fox network interviewed Jesse Marsch, the American who coaches the Canadian national team. Rob Stone led commentary with Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Alexi Lalas (for some reason, this guy is always invited to these things). I was hesitant because during the first week of the tournament, Donovan had criticized the French "arrogance" in their play during their opening round match against Senegal, and Lalas alluded to it later in the broadcast. Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded to both Donovan's and Lalas's assertions in his own unique style. 

During the interview with Marsch following the game, he stated, "What a privilege our fans (Canadians) have had to root a team on like this; that goes after the game, that doesn't play defensive; that shows that they can be better. Right? Of course, we have to be in these situations more and more, and then we have to find ways to succeed, and then we have to build from that. But what a great team. I'd rather be us than them. As good as Morocco is, I'd rather be us.  Right? Like, I'm really proud of our guys."

The interviewer ended the conversation by saying, "Jesse, Canada thanks you," and Jesse Marsch responded by saying, "I thank Canada". Nothing wrong here. All I see here is a coach who is extremely proud of his players, who has become a part of Canadian culture and embraces it. At no point did he say anything to disparage the United States. 

In the leadin to the analysis, Rob Stone commented that "And Jesse was awfully proud of his Canadian team after that round of 32 victory (he meant "loss"). Donovan had a problem with this issue asking "Did he just say say he preferred to be with Canada than Morocco? I would rather still be in Toronto." While he said this, Stone clarified that Marsch is not the coach of Morocco. But Donovan tainted the good feeling that Marsch had toward his Canadian players. Donovan is simply reiterating the silent American ethos of "win at all costs". 

Alexi Lalas added this: "I would rather be the team that won and is going on. I get the Romantic notion that Jesse's talking about, bur Morocco is going on and Canada is going home." "Romanticism does not win games," Lalas quipped. But there is more to life than winning, which neither he nor Donovan seem to understand. He displayed his usual Trumpian disdain for anything that is not fawning toward the United States. 

Why the disdain bordering on contempt for Marsch? After all, other Americans have coached the national teams of other countries: Bob Bradley (Egypt), and Steve Sampson (Costa Rica). I think it is the current climate that we are living in; where anyone who accepts a job in another country is somehow viewed as being "less" American. How sad. Hopefully, things will improve soon. Until then, Jesse Marsch is serving as a wonderful ambassador for our country. 

"Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe" by David Maraniss

For me, several of Maraniss’s sentences perfectly encapsulate the magnificent, troubled, and sad life of Jim Thorpe: “The arc of his life after his prime athletic years was less a series of jagged ups and downs than an unceasing exertion against the tide.” (p. 493) It would be a gross understatement to say that Thorpe’s life was itinerant-he lived in over 20 U.S. states and travelled through many more. He always went against the tide that first raised him to prominence (the media, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pop Warner, the mythmaking, his athleticism, the Olympics, and kindness) only to become his most unrelenting obstacle (Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pop Warner, the Olympics, i.e., Avery Brundage, his own stubbornness, and his magnanimity). Most figures in history have a linear career trajectory, but in Thorpe’s case, he went all over the place. I applaud Maraniss for his painstaking research in putting this book together. The sheer effort to visit each location that somehow formed a part of the Thorpe mythology amazes me. Maraniss admits that due to Covid travel restrictions, he was unable to go to Sweden to research that angle of Thorpe’s Olympic legacy. That is one regret I have here: I wish we could have had more input from the Swedes or even Swedish historians. Sweden’s Hugo Wieslander, who was awarded the gold medal that was stripped from Thorpe, always insisted that he (Thorpe) was the true winner and should have kept his medal. It would have been nice to have delved a bit more into what else Wieslander had to say. Whether it was intentional or not, the portrayal of Thorpe’s meanderings throughout the country looking for stable employment saddened me. The sheer hopelessness, sense of desperation, and the realization of how horribly he was treated by the US Olympic Committee, that Thorpe must have felt, really hit me. And yet, he persisted, or as he himself said, “A man has to keep hustling.”

Maraniss also notes that “Among his talents, he had a knack for remembering names and faces from the past. With his life, there were a lot of them.” This is certainly true. At times, Maraniss includes too much information, describing far too many individuals who had minor or incidental roles in Thorpe’s life. I understand that a great part of the research on Thorpe will be centered on what was written by sportswriters of his era, but I think the text by Grantland Rice would have been sufficient. Walter Lingo played a role in recruiting Thorpe for the Oorang Indians, but I think Maraniss goes too far in describing his work with kennels. It took me 70-75 pages before I could feel comfortable with this book. But this was only after I realized that this was not a “pure” biography of Jim Thorpe, but rather a study of elements that ruled and impeded his days: the U.S. government's efforts to force assimilation via Indian schools, the violence and then acceptance of American football, the mythologizing by sportswriters, the corruption of the Olympic Games, the erasure of Indianness in movies, racism, etc. “Path Lit by Lightning” was Jim Thorpe’s name, but this book concentrates more on the path than the lightning. If you are looking for a straight-up biography, this book is not for you. It is exceedingly detailed in its presentations of many of Jim’s encounters and ventures. When I came to the end of the book, although I had a better understanding of Mr. Thorpe, I felt like I learned much more about the early 20th-century milieu. At the end of the day, this is more of a cultural study than a biography.