The United States finally gets a chance to showcase its new generation of soccer players to fans around the world at the 2022 World Cup. To date, the pieces of an 11-man puzzle have never quite fallen into place. The dream of the World Cup continually falls short of reality. It seems hard to convince the world that the beautiful game really made it to all 50 states.
The US men’s team consistently fails to make a deep run in any of the final stages of any World Cup. Fans of the American team may still be wondering if things will ever change.
Past achievements
In the past, the US left a mark that still resonates to this day. The United States produced the most famous upset of all time at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. The American squad defeated the most feared and successful team on the planet, the English. The English players convinced every bookmaker in the world that victory was inevitable for an undeniably dominant talent from England.
Perhaps the sheer will of the underdog American players clinging to the blue-collar arena aided them in something supernatural. When the final whistle blew, the English team was losing 1-0. The rudimentary hard-nosed players from the US somehow achieved the global impact that was heard around the world. The mind-boggling annoyance on the mighty Englishman’s face fortified American head coach Bill Jeffrey and the 1950 American team straight into immortal soccer legends.
Bill Jeffrey was born in Scotland. He came from an immigrant railroad camp deep in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania. Eventually, he became the head coach at Pennsylvania State University. This was long before his triumphs in Brazil in 1950.
To this day, Jeffrey has the most college championships as a coach. In his 27 seasons at the helm of Penn State, the Nittany Lions went 13 undefeated seasons. Additionally, PSU had a 65-game winning streak. Jeffrey was old school out of school often reciting Scottish poetry. The official national champions before the start of the NCAA. Jeffrey’s teams at Penn State won titles in 1926, 1929, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, and 1949.
Bill Jeffrey comes full circle on World Cup legacy
Jeffrey’s international roots and coaching legacy left an everlasting mark on the coaches who followed his coaching lineage. Walter Bahr was Jeffrey’s star player on the 1950 World Cup team and later became PSU’s head coach; then Bahr’s assistant, Barry Gorman became the head coach and president of the United Football Coaches Organization. Gorman’s youth player, Fraser Kershaw, became the head coach of Penn State, Altoona in 2021. All the coaches have passed away or retired, but Kershaw still remains, coaching a men’s team in New York City.
Coach Kershaw can be seen jogging with a crowd of college players at sunrise under the Statue of Liberty in Brooklyn, New York. Kershaw says, “Sometimes I look up and there she is showing me a yellow card as a warning to ensure this next generation trains hard, stays focused with hard-working roots, which we were taught.”
His father was born and raised in the Caribbean and later became a local landscaper and artist outside the confines of Penn State youth player Fraser Kershaw, who became the head coach of Penn State, Altoona in 2021. All trainers died or retired. but Kershaw is still coaching a men’s team in New York City.
Kershaw says: “Blue-collar workers and low wages for some who pass by, but unlimited money for his son, to this day the smell of freshly cut grass reminds me of his smile.”
The United States needs to embrace tradition at the 2022 World Cup
Immigrants from around the world once made Ellis Island their first step toward a new beginning. They entered the country to leave their mark of hope for a better life. Did the athletic skills, drive and dreams of this game get left behind? Some ask, where is the football talent today?
Kershaw seems to have a theory: “Most young talent can’t afford these expensive American training methods; If a country is going to be successful, I think it needs to find the root of the hardest working community; so find the eleven working class kids and give them the ball to lift their family out of poverty and let them reveal the American Dream for all the world to see.
Kershaw and many others alike seem to think that the American game has been plagued by expensive club fees, travel dues, training fees, and extensive travel; which requires that the family is very well to give themselves the opportunity to compete. Kershaw says, “If the feeling is not in the Spirit, it will never work, as it must pump within the heart with open eyes at 5 am.”
New York City has every nation in the world calling it home. It could surely be the perfect place for the new generation of footballers to emerge. Pick-up football in the city is reputed to be the best in the world. This November would be the perfect time to join in on an impromptu game and follow the many players to the community pub for the 2022 World Cup to cheer on the 2022 American dream.
If all else fails, America could revisit its history within Brooklyn and find the local pastor or priest to bless the dance.
PHOTO: IMAGO/ANP
