World Cup Recrimination Is The Best Recrimination

There are a million reasons why the World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth, and one of those reasons is that it’s the rare setting in which soccer managers can be forced to eat some shit.

American sports fans are spoiled by the traditional press conference. Yes, most press conferences are a waste of time and feature obsequious beat reporters lobbing easy questions at the coaches of the teams they cover, but there still exists in this country an impulse toward challenging a coach’s thinking when the moment calls for it. If some bozo called for a field goal when he should have gone for it on fourth down, or left his starter out there too long, or or drew up a horrible ATO with the game on the line, he’s at least going to be asked to explain himself after the game. If we get lucky, he may even get pissed and start yelling.

Mick Cronin moments are harder to come by for the European soccer fan. If you’re a fan of a Premier League team, for example, the only times you get to hear the manager speak are during a mid-week press conference that largely exists to provide injury updates, and during a brief post-match interview that is conducted by a single questioner who often works for the team. This can be a maddening experience, especially if your team sucks and you want someone to ask the dingus running the show why he keeps insisting on trying to turn a slow-footed full back into a wingback.