Plenty in Reserve
Veteran U.S. soccer writers are starting to get restless with this Women’s World Cup, starting to run out of patience with Team Happy, Team Sisterhood, Team Red, White and We Love You Too.
Where are the American soccer players backbiting the coach over his choice of formations?
Where is the burgeoning mutiny by former starters cast to the bench to make way for younger legs?
Where, for Mia’s sake, is the turmoil, the tumult, the second-guessing and the dissension that makes sportswriting so rewarding and so much easier?
Three-and-oh and cruising on the field, the U.S. women’s soccer team is nothing but nil when it comes to World Cup controversy. Every game, it’s the same thing: One-sided victory, reserves hopping off the bench to embrace the goal-scoring stars, all for one and one for all, bear-hugs and high-fives all around.
So predictable. So run-of-the-mill.
And then. . . .
Shannon MacMillan, a second-stringer against Denmark and Nigeria, is given a courtesy start at forward Sunday night by Coach Tony DiCicco because the United States has all-but-guaranteed itself a berth in the quarterfinals and has some battered regulars who could use some rest--and she scores the first goal against North Korea and assists Tisha Venturini on two others to trigger a 3-0 triumph at Foxboro Stadium.
Suddenly, the post-match interview area is abuzz with energy.
So, why doesn’t MacMillan start all the time?
DiCicco, ever the organized tactician, seemed fully prepared for the sudden counterattack.
“We have a player whose name is Mia Hamm,” DiCicco calmly replied. “Another player whose name is Tiffeny Milbrett and another player whose name is Cindy Parlow. And they complement each other very well. Shannon fits coming off the bench.
“We’d love to play with forwards all over the field, but I probably wouldn’t have a job very long if we did that.”
MacMillan is the No. 4 forward is a system that requires only three at a time. Currently, those spots are occupied by Hamm, who just might be the best female player on the planet; Milbrett, the 5-foot 2-inch mini-dynamo who leads Team USA in scoring in 1999; and Parlow, who anchors the forward with her back-to-goal ball distribution and, at 5-11, gives the Americans an aerial dimension up front most other World Cup contenders lack.
MacMillan, therefore, serves as Super Sub. She played the same role during the United States’ gold-medal run at the 1996 Olympics and turned it into a hero’s role--scoring the overtime game-winner in the semifinals against Norway, scoring the first goal in the championship victory over China, leading the team in scoring for the tournament with three goals.
But, to answer the obvious questions:
Yes, she wants to start.
And, yes, she has been pushing DiCicco--all but tapping him on the shoulder--for the opportunity.
“I go into every practice fighting for a starting position,” MacMillan said.
And: “I played nine minutes in the first game [against Denmark], then I played a half in the second, then I played the full 90 tonight. I think I showed Tony I’m ready to go.”
And: “I let my actions speak louder than words. I think I showed tonight I deserve more time.”
Yes, yes, the frothing media mob nodded as it eagerly waited for more.
“But,” MacMillan added, “at the end of the day, it’s Tony’s decision. The way I look at it, just to be one of these 20 women is awesome.”
There one of them goes again.
Team Happy, rearing its big round smiley face one more time.
Brianna Scurry, the U.S. goalkeeper, promptly jumped in to keep the good vibe flowing.
“The girl can shoot,” Scurry said of MacMillan. “I hate having to face that shot in practice. The ball moves and knuckles and dips. I hate it. I feel sorry for all the other goalkeepers. . . .”
MacMillan, looking embarrassed as she shifted from one foot to the other at Scurry’s side, quickly interrupted.
“And going against great keepers like Bri in practice enables me to fine-tune it!” MacMillan chimed in, eliciting loud laughter from the American writers.
Scurry, milking the moment, then wrapped both arms around MacMillan and MacMillan responded by wrapping both arms around Scurry.
“I love you!” MacMillan half-squealed and half-giggled, delighting in the impromptu parody of Team Togetherness.
What can you do when you ask MacMillan what the U.S. reserves do when they’re alone, with time to kill and coach’s decisions to second-guess, and MacMillan reports, “We have fun, we do each other’s nails and hair”?
Making one last stab, one writer asks MacMillan how she feels about sitting on the bench when she “could start for any other team in the world.”
No go.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to be on any other team,” MacMillan brightly replied. “We’re a big group of sisters. As for starting for another team, I wouldn’t want to go against these guys. I get enough of that in practice.”
