Have you heard that World Cup Teams are under Pressure?

One surefire sign that the World Cup is almost upon us is the increasing number of stories being written about the pressure players and teams are under to perform well for their countries. Journalists love to write about pressure for some reason. There are a few stories today that illustrate this.

The first involves Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe who says that the United States face no pressure because most people in their country are more concerned with American football then soccer. The money quote from Lavolpe:

“My sister, my aunt and my grandmother could play on that team,” said Lavolpe, criticizing the depth of the U.S. soccer team. “There is little pressure. Americans watch football and baseball.”

If Lavolpe’s female family members are so good, they should have suited up during qualifying. After all, the United States did finish ahead of Mexico.

But his point about the pressure the US team faces is somewhat valid. Bruce Arena probably has the most job security of any coach in the World Cup. The media in the US does not scrutinize the team’s every move and an early exit won’t be cause for national alarm like it might be in other countries. That doesn’t mean the players don’t feel pressure from within to do well, however.

Spain coach Luis Aragones isn’t in the same position as Arena. People in Spain expect his team to go to Germany and to win. Case in point, fans are showing up to Spain’s training camp and vocally expressing their opinions about the players. So much so that Aragones has asked them to shut up and let the boys concentrate on their work. You could chalk this up to someone being a bit under pressure. Or maybe Spain just needs to close their practices to the public.

In France, coach Raymond Domenech is blaming backup keeper Gregory Coupet’s meltdown yesterday on the pressure and stress of the moment.

“There was a problem,” Domenech said Thursday. “Gregory Coupet had a moment of stress and he cracked. Stress exists for everyone, Greg left. But he came back of his own accord and no one made a big deal out of it.”

If there is one position where I wouldn’t want my player to crack because of stress it is goalkeeper, but I’m sure Coupet and France will try their best to move on, while the French media tries its best to stir up trouble.

In the end, the issue of pressure seems a bit overrated to me. The media and public scrutiny might be greater in some countries than others, but every player and coach is going to feel pressure when they take the field during the World Cup. Some will handle it better than others.

And I guarantee that at least one big team’s early exit will be blamed on the pressure of the moment. Journalists love to write about that excuse as well.

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