In the immediate aftermath of the United States' commanding 2-0 victory over the Socceroos, American football presenter Mike Grella has continued to target the Australians with sharp remarks.
Grella's Controversial Comments
Grella had previously stirred controversy by labeling Australia the “weakest” team in Group D. Buoyed by the Socceroos' lackluster first-half performance against the US, he returned to live television to deliver another critique.
“There’s the United States of America over here,” he declared on CBS Sports following the comfortable win at Seattle Stadium. “This is a special place with big characters and big personality. This is a place that demands respect. It’s a game of football. But at the end of the day, I think you see, everybody wants to believe, everybody wants to compete. At the end, the football spoke. Two nil. Thank you very much.”
Grella’s reference to “the football speaking” was a pointed jab at Socceroos manager Tony Popovic, who had used that phrase ahead of the match, promising that the team would let their performance do the talking.
Mocking Irankunda's Celebration
Grella went further by mocking Nestory Irankunda’s Michael Jackson-inspired goal celebration. Rising from his studio chair, he imitated the gesture: “Irankunda, what’s the celebration, it’s like this,” he said, thrusting out an arm, then grabbing his groin and shoving his hips forward. “That’s what they got, two of them ... bam, bam,” he added, smacking his hands together as his colleagues laughed. “Goodbye, see you, 9400 miles.”
Australian soccer legend Harry Kewell had earlier dismissed Grella’s comments, stating, “lions don’t argue with donkeys.” However, Grella had the last laugh after the match.
Australian Reactions
Former AFL player turned podcaster Dan Gorringe was among many Australians to mock Grella’s assessment. Before the game, Gorringe posted a video vowing, “we’re going to f*** you up.” After the loss, he returned to his platform, eating humble pie, and compiled a list of things Australia does better than America “to make ourselves feel good.”
“So I just put a little list together when we were losing, just things that we’re better at than America,” the Dan Does Footy podcaster said. “So we’re way better at AFL than them, way better at NRL, cricket, coffee, calling sport by its proper name, like it’s football, stop calling it soccer over there ... like understand what it is. We’re way better at healthcare, pub culture, swearing, we’ve got way better swear words that we use, like we love saying c***. Animals, our animals are just so much more deadly than their animals, ours would kill all your animals easily, like a spider could take out whatever you’ve got over there. Units of measurement, kilometres over miles, degrees of Fahrenheit, like get with it. Sledging, chance, and also, we made Bluey the kids character, so they don’t have Bluey.”
Grella's Background
Grella enjoyed a lengthy Major League Soccer career but never represented his country. He previously addressed his critics: “People say you’re just doing this for clicks. I don’t have any followers. I don’t have a lot of money. I didn’t have a big career. They’re all right about all of that. But I own an entire country. This week and last week, I own an entire country. So I’m OK with that.”
