- Manasquan native PJ Nitz grew up playing soccer and still laces up his big-league cleats near his home in the Washington, D.C., area.
- Defending Team USA “is a dream come true, man,” he said. “I’m very happy to be here.”
On the eve of his opening game in World Cup16 members of the US Men’s National Soccer Team visited Souq Waqif, a famous market in the Qatari capital, Doha.
They wanted to do a little shopping and sightseeing. For Philip “PJ” Nice, the US State Department special agent who defended the team, there was nothing sloppy about it.
Nice, 38, who grew up in Manasquan, was one of six government agents and two security guards hired by the team to escort the players to the market. When the players split up, they split up too, focusing on the more famous guys who were more likely to be recognized in public.
“We made sure that all 16 people had someone to consult with if something happened — if someone got in their face with a camera, they could turn to us and say, ‘Help me,'” Nice said in a phone interview earlier this week.
Of course, American star Christian Pulisic and teammate Serjino Dest, who like Pulisic plays for a big-name European club, looked his way after the attention became too much. Nice’s goal in this case is not just to get Pulisic out of the crowd, but to do it in a way that doesn’t cause a riot.
“As diplomatic security officers, maybe we have a little more tact (than standard team security) in understanding international fans and foreign cultures,” Nitz said. “So we can step in and say, ‘This guy is tired, he’s done with pictures. What do you want to know?”
It’s an exciting assignment for Nice, who will take the field when the USA take on England tonight at 2pm and then again on Tuesday when the Americans take on Iran. He grew up playing soccer and still laces up his cleats in an adult league near his home in the Washington, D.C., area.
“It’s a dream, man,” he said. “I’m very happy to be here.”
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Nice’s parents worked for the US government in the foreign service. He attended high school in Turkey and then in Uruguay, where he was introduced to the beautiful game. He has tickets for Uruguay vs Ghana on December 2nd.
“They taught me how to play and I’ve been a big fan ever since,” he said.
After graduating from Georgetown University, Nice joined the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service in 2008. It helps provide security for US diplomats and embassies. His office also handles the safety of American athletes at the Olympic Games and the men’s and women’s world championships. This is his first international sporting event at work.
“It’s very different,” he said, compared to a regular assignment. “We deal with many different areas between FIFA, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior and the US Men’s National Team. It’s very difficult to get everyone to see the same picture and work on the same page.”
The priorities of these stakeholders vary widely.
“We’re trying to investigate the threats, make sure these guys are protected and enforce the security protocol from a law enforcement perspective,” Nice explained, “while FIFA is looking more at this event and Qatar is more concerned that the arrivals from the West follow their own policy, which is different from any in Europe and the USA”
Ultimately, he said, Qatari officials have the final say. For example: the controversial ban on selling beer in stadiums. When asked if the ban makes his job easier, Nice laughed.
“No. Are you kidding me?’ he said. “Mexican and English fans drink beer much more calmly. You have all these fans sleeping in the stands while they’re drinking beer. Now all are active and conscious and (some of them) evil; they want to cause trouble. For me, come on, I was at the Mexico-Poland game (as a civilian) and it was the first time I’d been in a stadium without a beer since I was 16.”
During matches in the United States, Nice is one of four State Department agents working with the team at the field level. Other agents sit with family members of the team in the stands, and some wander around the stadium watching “some over-heated fan groups,” as Nice put it.
“We go with the team to the stadium, we escort them to the locker room doors, we go in and walk around the field to make sure we don’t see anyone without ID or anyone on any wanted list, or suspicious characters,” he said. Then we position ourselves at field level in places where we can see the bench, friends and family, and the core fan groups, the ones we know are going to be rowdy at times.”
The challenge becomes more urgent with each of Team USA’s three scheduled group stage matches.
The risk increases with each game
Before each game, the Diplomatic Security Service works with officials from Qatar’s Ministry of Interior to assess the threat level. The US’s World Cup opener, Monday’s 1-1 draw with Wales, was considered a “low-risk” event, Nice said. The United States and England are at medium risk “because the English team is more famous and their fans can be quite loud,” he said, and there is a lot of history and a sense of rivalry between the two countries.
“We will be on alert, but maybe not as much as the U.S. and Iran, based on the political implications that this has now,” Nietz said. “It has a lot to do with football but more with politics – especially at the World Cup. That’s what makes this one especially unique.”
Although his job is to blend into the background, Nice is very grateful to get a close-up look at Team USA, which is the second-youngest at this World Cup. Like him, most of the players are on this stage for the first time.
“The focus they have is real,” he said. “They are here to do their best and they are very happy to be here. I can definitely see that.”
He will be there as long as the Americans play. The American men have reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup just once, in 2002.
“We’ll see how long we last,” he said. “We hope for history.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and college basketball since 2003. He is a top 25 pick by the Associated Press. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
