OBAMA MISSES A SHOT AT SOCCER DIPLOMACY
Alex Koppelman

Salon
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 18:01 EDT

WASHINGTON — President Obama had a full day of meetings with G-8
leaders scheduled today in L’Aquila, Italy. But if he’d stayed home,
he might have had a good chance to attempt a little bit of soccer
diplomacy.

The United States plays Honduras tonight at Washington’s RFK Stadium,
an easy 4-mile motorcade away from the White House, in the CONCACAF
Gold Cup, a tournament to decide the North and Central American
soccer champion. Honduras, of course, has been on the minds of
U.S. diplomats and national security aides since the military there
forced President Manuel Zelaya out of office — and into temporary
exile in the D.C. area — a couple of weeks ago. U.S. officials
have condemned the coup, even though Zelaya has been cozying up to
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and was apparently in the process of
trying to subvert the Honduran constitution to extend his term in
power. Republicans, meanwhile, have been flocking to the side of the
military coup — ironically, in the name of restoring democracy —
on the theory that any pal of Chavez’s can’t possibly be democratic.

With all that as the backdrop, the soccer game could take on more
importance than an early matchup in a regional competition might
otherwise have had. Honduras, after all, fought a war with El Salvador
that began with riots during World Cup qualifying games between the
two nations almost exactly 40 years ago. So if any country might be
open to diplomacy on the f¨²tbol field, it might be Honduras. It’s been
tried before, with limited success; the U.S. Soccer Federation recently
requested a match with Iran, though since Iranian authorities recently
banned players who wore green wristbands in support of protests there,
that may not happen. FIFA officials awarded Turkey and Armenia their
"Fair Play" prize last year, since the two countries — which don’t
have diplomatic relations — got their leaders to agree to attend a
World Cup qualifying match in Yerevan, Armenia, in September. Former
Liberian star player George Weah ran for president there in 2005,
losing in the second roun!

d, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — who Obama met
with today — was already well known to voters there as the media
mogul who owns soccer power AC Milan. CONCACAF officials told Salon
they weren’t sure whether Zelaya — who was in Washington this week
to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — would attend
tonight’s matchup. Regardless, if Obama had been in town, dropping
by the stadium might have been a good way to show Hondurans that he’s
thinking of them.

So far, though, Obama has shown only limited interest in using
soccer to promote U.S. interests abroad, even though it’s by far the
world’s most popular sport — and even though his sports-obsessed
administration recently launched an official White House Office of
Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport. Aides denied reports a couple
weeks ago that Obama had already committed to attending the World
Cup in South Africa next year, even though FIFA Commissioner Sepp
Blatter, the top international soccer official, told ESPN to expect the
president there. (The U.S. hasn’t yet qualified to make the tournament
next year, anyway.) When the U.S. unexpectedly made it to the finals
two weeks ago of FIFA’s Confederations Cup, a sort of mini-World Cup
also played in South Africa, Obama never contacted coach Bob Bradley
to cheer the team on. The U.S. beat European champion Spain, 2-0 in
the semifinals, and the international media focus on the Americans
was pretty heavy ahead of the final against Brazil. (The U.S. lost,
in heartbreaking fashion, 3-2.) A short phone call to Bradley could
have helped Obama shoehorn his way into some of the global coverage,
in a way that made the U.S. seem to have a common passion with the
rest of the world. And Obama hasn’t been shy about calling other
coaches, but apparently Bradley didn’t make the cut. Obama also hasn’t
yet dropped by RFK to see the local team, D.C. United, even though
they’re in first place in their conference in Major League Soccer. (He
hasn’t been to see the Washington Nationals play baseball yet, either,
but since they’re on pace for 113 losses, that’s n!

ot so surprising; he will make to baseball’s All-Star Game next week
in St. Louis.) "Of course he and his family are welcome at any game,"
United spokesman Doug Hicks said. "We’d love to introduce the First
Family to D.C. United, and we’d welcome his support."

What makes Obama’s decision not to use the sport to reach out to the
world a little surprising is that the administration is, generally,
pretty soccer-friendly — certainly more so than George W. Bush’s
was, though Bush rooted for the U.S. team in the 2002 and 2006 World
Cups. Obama is already on the record supporting the power of soccer
diplomacy. He sent a letter to FIFA officials in April urging them
to hold the 2018 or 2022 World Cup in the U.S., and a month later,
he told Univision that it would be a "diplomatic coup" to host the
tournament. The president grew up playing the game in Indonesia; his
press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was a goalie on the North Carolina State
University college team, and other press aides were sneaking peeks at
the Confederations Cup matches during the workday as the U.S. made
its surprising run. The Major League Soccer champions Columbus Crew
will visit the White House on Monday for a congratulatory photo op
with Obama.

And even though Obama wasn’t there to welcome them, and won’t be there
tonight to cheer them on against Honduras, U.S. national team forward
Brian Ching and defenders Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad and Heath
Pearce all toured the White House yesterday. The players met with some
aides and wandered the complex in the afternoon. "It was fantastic,"
a U.S. Soccer official told Salon. Maybe soccer diplomacy has a shot
sometime, after all.