Soccer and Positive Politics: Why the U.S. Should Reschedule Egypt Friendly

By Ben Triana
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 23, 2011

When Sepp Blatter claimed that soccer should be void of politics, all the while claiming that the Qatar and Russia selections for World Cup hosts had, in part, to do with international politics, the world laughed.

In reality, Blatter should have clarified, that, in fact, while soccer should not be used for political gain by politicians, the international game is in a unique position to affect international relationships, awareness and economics, and has a responsibility to do just that.

With the unrest in Egypt subsiding, the USSF should involve itself in a bit of international diplomacy, some of the diplomacy Sunil Gulati admitted was missing from their World Cup bid.

By rescheduling the U.S. vs. Egypt friendly that was scheduled for February 9, the federation could make significant gains within FIFA, for both countries' players, for their governments and for their people.

If Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, and Pele could do it for the French in the movie Victory, why can't Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and supporting cast get an entire stadium chanting?

Of course there's the possibility that the U.S. might end up playing villains for a day, but remakes don't necessarily need to be carbon copies of the originals. Still, an exhibition with Egypt gives the U.S. an opportunity to combine an international friendly against a recently competitive opponent with some positive public relations.

First, the United States renews a much needed friendly against a decent opponent. The experience is needed as manager Bob Bradley combines a few of his younger players with the current squad.

Secondly, the U.S. should look to still schedule the game somewhere near Egypt, perhaps Turkey, in a difficult, away environment (even at a later date, Northern Africa doesn't seem like it will be ready to host a U.S. friendly any time soon).

And while both of these reasons are clearly sports relat...

Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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