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Fox Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
What if ... the USMNT was awarded the handball against Germany in the 2002 World Cup?
Editor's note: Throughout the history of sports, there have been countless moments that have made us wonder how things would differ if just one circumstance or decision had been changed. "What if" is a series in which we will examine how the trajectory of several athletes and teams could have looked had major moments gone in a different direction. While it's impossible to predict how these outcomes would have played out, that doesn't make it any less fascinating to discuss. Previously: What if … Drew Bledsoe never got hurt? What if… the 49ers drafted Aaron Rodgers instead of Alex Smith in the 2005 NFL Draft What if the USMNT was awarded the handball against Germany in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal? The 2002 World Cup was the first to have multiple hosts, and also the first to take place in Asia— with the tournament being held in Japan and South Korea. After being eliminated in the Round of 16 in 1994 and not making it out of the group stage in 1998, the USMNT was primed for a run in 2002. They were able to finish as runners-up in their group, most notably defeating Portugal 3-2 and drawing with group winner South Korea. In the Round of 16, they faced Mexico for the first time at a World Cup— and recorded a 2-0 victory behind goals from Brian McBride and Landon Donovan. Next, it was on to the quarterfinal against powerhouse Germany. Michael Ballack got the Germans out to an early 1-0 lead in the 39th minute, but the Americans responded with several attacking plays to start the second half. But in the 50th minute, everything changed. Off a USMNT corner kick by Donovan, a German player attempted to head the ball away from goal— only to have it find a wide open Gregg Berhalter, who took a shot at goal from just a few yards out. German keeper Oliver Kahn was able to barely save the shot, but the ball would bounce off the arm of midfielder Torsten Frings who was defending the post. Immediately, U.S. players began clamoring for a handball, and when the replay was shown— it was clear as day. However, referee Hugh Dallas didn't call it. And with VAR not yet in existence, the call was irreversible. Had it been called, the U.S. would have been awarded a penalty kick, and Frings would have been given a red card. As mentioned, the USMNT were dominating the first 10 minutes of the half, and surely would have taken advantage of 10-men German side. Below, we dive into several outcomes that could have resulted from a U.S. victory in that match. Does the USMNT reach the 2002 World Cup final? If the handball had been called, the best-case scenario would have resulted in Claudio Reyna scoring the game-tying penalty— and Germany would have had to fend off a momentum-driven American attack with just 10 men. So many of the legendary Americans could have subsequently scored the game-winning goal— with Donovan, McBride, Reyna, Cobi Jones, Eddie Pope, and several others headlining the squad. Had they advanced, they would have faced South Korea in the semifinal, whom they had drawn with in the group stage. A win against the co-hosts would pit the USMNT against Brazil, and the U.S. would have made its first men's World Cup final ever. While the Brazilian squad was filled with superstars like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo— the exposure from such a massive stage could have changed the landscape of American soccer for the next two decades— regardless of the result. Would the men's team see similar growth to the women's team following their first final? Few can forget the dominant fashion in which the USWNT won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999. This sort of success undoubtedly influenced young American girls watching the tournament, leading to the likes of Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach— and current stars like Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman, and Naomi Girma. Such an emphasis on women's soccer in the United States has led to them winning four of the nine World Cups ever held. So what would a win over Germany in 2002 have resulted in for the men? Just imagine all the young boys who would have participated in soccer during the early 2000s instead of the usual suspects— Pop Warner football, little league baseball, and AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball. For perspective, in a study done by the National Federation of State High Schools in 2022, there were 374,773 participants in girls soccer for that school year— the third-highest of all sports. On the boy's side? Soccer participants ranked fifth, behind football, track & field, basketball, and baseball. Would Bruce Arena have gotten a shot at coaching in Europe? No USMNT coach has coached or won more matches in the team's history than Bruce Arena, with 148 and 81 respectively. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010, but what would his career have looked like if he had taken down Germany in that 2002 World Cup quarterfinal? Arena had already won two MLS titles with D.C. United in 1996 and 1997 before spearheading the 2002 national team past the Round of 16 for the first time ever. Considering that two Arena's successors – Bob Bradley and Gregg Berhalter – were able to coach abroad, it's not unreasonable to think he could have done so as well. Had he taken a potential offer in Europe, that could have also changed the team's fortunes at the 2006 World Cup. The USMNT did not make it out of the group stage in 2006, finishing last in their group and ultimately leading to Arena's exit three weeks after the tournament. He'd go on to win three more MLS titles with the Galaxy in 2011, 2012 and 2014 and was again hired by the national team in 2016. In his second stint, the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup— the first time that had happened since 1986. One can't help but wonder how all of this would have changed if the handball was called in 2002. Do we see even more interest in MLS and American academies? It's incredible to think about how a win over Germany would have changed the landscape of the MLS and American youth academies. Such an upset could have sparked massive national interest in soccer, leading to unprecedented investment in the U.S. youth soccer system. With never-before-seen pressure from both public and corporate entities, we could have seen high-level sponsorship in the MLS and a complete overhaul of youth academies— which has often been faulted for its pay-to-play model. The next five to ten years could have allowed for a network of talent aggregation modeled after the European youth system, emphasizing technical development and scouting in underserved communities. In turn, it's possible that an entire generation of world-class players would have emerged— with players like Christian Pulisic appearing in much greater numbers. Just imagine what the 2014, 2018, and 2022 World Cup results would have looked like for the U.S. had this occurred after 2002. It's totally in the realm of possibilities that the USMNT would be a consistent soccer powerhouse had this foundation been set. How big does men's soccer become in the U.S.? Possibly the biggest question of all that arises from this hypothetical exercise, is just how much bigger soccer would be in this country had the U.S. taken down Germany with the correct call. It's hard to imagine that Landon Donovan wouldn't have become even more of an icon than he already is, and that he would have inspired several people to become fans of the sport. While it's hard to say that this single result would have propelled soccer as the top sport among Americans, there's little doubt that the millions of potential viewers a final or semifinal match would have generated would have changed the trajectory of the sport. For perspective, 26.7 million people watched the USWNT take down Japan in the 2015 World Cup final. The 2022 men's final between France and Argentina had over 25 million viewers. Just imagine a world in which the four-and five-star high school basketball and football recruits that colleges fight over grew up playing soccer instead. We'll never know. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? 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Fox News
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Tom Brady shares his advice for Shedeur Sanders after draft slide
Tom Brady talked about the advice he gave Shedeur Sanders as he slid in the NFL Draft to the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns finally selected him with the No. 144 pick. Brady was the No. 199 pick of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Michigan. The New England Patriots chose him. Drew Bledsoe was the team's starting quarterback and Michael Bishop appeared in seven more games than Brady did in his rookie season. John Freisz also made an appearance in 2000. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON When Brady received the chance to take the reins from an injured Bledsoe at the start of the 2001 season, he performed at an elite level. The rest was truly history. Brady appeared on the "Impaulsive" podcast with Logan Paul and Mike Majlak. He was asked about Sanders' draft slide. He said he wasn't involved in Sanders' evaluation process even as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. He critiqued the media's narrative around the draft before he shared his words of wisdom to Sanders. "So, nobody knows. I actually texted Shedeur because I know him very well," Brady said. "And I said, 'Dude, whatever happens, wherever you go, that's your first day. Day 2 matters more than the draft. I was 199. So, who could speak on it better than me – what that really means. Use it as motivation. You're gonna get your chances, go take advantage of it.'" Sanders had an NIL deal with the Brady Brand when he was the quarterback at Jackson State. It helped start the relationship between the two athletes. Sanders then transferred to Colorado once his father, Deion Sanders, took over as head coach. SHEDEUR SANDERS FAN FILES $100M LAWSUIT AGAINST NFL FOR SHOCKING DRAFT SLIDE, ALLEGING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION Brady recalled watching the coverage around Aaron Rodgers during the 2005 draft. Rodgers was projected to be a No. 1 pick before the San Francisco 49ers took Alex Smith. "I remember when they were talking about Aaron Rodgers sliding and Aaron slid to like 21 in the first round or whatever it was. I'm like, 'Dude, you're the 21st pick in the first round. I think they still think you're pretty good. You're still a great player. You're still a first-round pick in the NFL. There's only 32 of those guys every year.' So, use it as motivation," he said. "Wherever you end up going, it's still about your performance. Like, what do you do when you get there, because you're gonna get there." Brady mentioned that some of the greats he played with on the Patriots were not high draft picks or selected at all, including Rodney Harrison, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. He described the draft as "some overhyped day, where a lot of people are selling stories and saying, all right, this is the big day, it's the draft. And it's an important day, it's fun, and I love watching it and seeing it. But I've also been there on Day 2, where they actually gotta show up and learn a playbook, learn (to) be a part of a locker room. There's a lot of growth that needs to happen." Sanders will now look to win the starting job with the Browns. He has to beat out Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "He has to show up every day because, as a quarterback, you have to be a leader," Brady added. "And to me a leader is, do I care about my teammates and do I care about what we're trying to accomplish?" Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter .
Boston Globe
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Drake Maye teases possible uniform change for Patriots in 2025
Maye is likely referring to the royal blue uniforms that the team wore for much of the 1990s. In 1993, the team did its first uniform redesign in the history of the franchise, ditching the 'Pat Patriot' uniforms for the royal blues. Those uniforms became synonymous with Drew Bledsoe's time as the Patriots' quarterback. The franchise went from the bottom of the league to playing for the Super Bowl just a few years after making the uniform swap with Bledsoe emerging as one of the league's top quarterbacks. As a result, the uniforms have been dubbed the 'Bledsoe Blues' by many Patriots fans. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Despite New England having one of its best stretches of football in the history of the franchise with those uniforms, it ditched the royal blues at the turn of the century. Instead, the Patriots began to wear navy blue uniforms as their primary home jersey in 2000. The navy blue jerseys were the Patriots' primary look during their dynasty run, wearing those uniforms for 20 seasons before making their navy color rush jerseys their primary uniforms in 2020. Advertisement As the NFL requires teams to wear their primary uniforms for at least five seasons before making a change, the Patriots can switch their primary uniforms for the 2025 season. The team hasn't said yet if it plans to switch their primary uniforms in 2025, but they've dropped some hints that they could bring back their royal blue uniforms from the 1990s. In their 'Happy New Year' post on social media in January, the Patriots shared an illustration that included a fan wearing a royal blue Ben Coates jersey. A toast to '25 🎆 — New England Patriots (@Patriots) The Patriots might have dropped another hint in their Valentine's Day post. Their illustration in that post included the white away jersey they wore when they switched to make royal blue their primary color in 1993. Additionally, the illustration included their red 'Pat Patriot' jersey, their navy blue jersey from 2000-2019, and the helmet they wore for their first season in 1960. Their current primary uniforms, though, were missing from the illustration. Advertisement We love y'alllll 💖💝💘 — New England Patriots (@Patriots) The NFL has recently changed the rules to allow teams to have up to three helmets in their rotation, increasing it from one in 2022. That allowed the Patriots to bring back the 'Pat Patriot' uniforms that year and it appears they might bring back the first helmets the team ever wore. Of course, they didn't wear those helmets with the royal blue jerseys in the 1990s. But the Patriots could mix and match them with their royal blue looks starting in 2025 in some capacity. Regardless, it seems like the royal blue uniforms are returning in 2025, at least if Maye is to be believed. It's just a question of whether they'll be their primary uniforms or one of their two alternate looks.
USA Today
15-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Patriots legend sees Mike Vrabel leading team back to playoffs
Former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe believes the organization will return to playoff contention within a few years under coach Mike Vrabel. 'I would predict that within the next two, three, four years they're gonna be contenders again,' Bledsoe said on NESN's 'Boston Has Entered The Chat' podcast, as transcribed by 'And they're gonna be back in the hunt.' The Patriots will obviously have their work cut out considering they've gone back-to-back seasons with a 4-13 record. However, there's renewed hope with Vrabel in the mix and Drake Maye under center at quarterback. They have a legitimate shot at turning things around and returning to the playoffs for the first time since the 2021 season. But the front office must knock it out of the park, starting with this offseason. They'll have the most salary cap space in the NFL and the No. 4 overall pick of the 2025 NFL draft. All of the pieces are there to begin the turnaround run in New England. A new and experienced coaching staff coupled with Maye and the right roster moves could lead to a dramatic difference for the Patriots in 2025 and beyond.
