As the US team anticipates its next World Cup match against Germany on Thursday, team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and US football team officials have been busy fending off rumors that the next match might be a draw due to the German-born coach's ties with the Germans.
Yahoo Sports said that his kind of wink-and-nod deal making (or outright plotted result) is not new in the world of football.
Since the subject of the draw was raised after US tied Portugal on Sunday night in a high-octane 2-2 game, Klinsmann, US Soccer president Sunil Gulati and a host of players have all repeatedly shot down rumors that the team will consent with a draw against Germany. Gulati, at one point, was noted to have bristled at that thought of trying to assure everyone that no such thing would happen.
He said, "[Klinsmann has] answered it about 35 times. Let me answer it real quick. That may have been the mentality in 1982. It is not the mentality of the U.S. team. We're going into that game to win the game. Full stop."
The sports blog said that match-fixing is actually an occurrence in international soccer, which have fueled the rumors of a US-Germany draw more. Plotting might be the easiest step in match-fixing, as the only way to carry it out is for several people, including FIFA officials, to get involved. Moreover, match-fixing would also warrant a potential criminal prosecution should someone is found guilty of it.
On the other hand, US defender Matt Besler is trying to appeal to, at least the US fans, that they too, are in the same boat as their followers in the dream to at least secure a significant place in the World Cup.
He said, "It's not going to happen. It's not going through the players' minds at all. We don't think of scenarios, we think about ourselves. We have our head down and we're trying to win games. That's all we're thinking about."
Should the US beat Germany, the team is expected to play either Algeria or Russia, both of whom, Yahoo Sports pointed out, are far lesser opponents, which would increase the country's chances to advance in the Round of Eight. On the other hand, should the Germans prevail, the Americans would need to play the expected champion of Group H, Belgium, who are among the top five favorites to snag the World Cup championship.
