While I agree with a lot of what Scott is saying - lets not forget the US was damn near bombing out of the Confederations Cup after 2.5 awful games only to pour it on in the 2nd half against Egypt and (if I remember correctly) a semi-late goal by Brazil for the US to squeak in. Now with that said, the showing against Spain and Brazil in the bracket was both awesome/encouraging... especially for sending our "B/C" team.
To semi-agree with Rascal, lets remember the US run in '02 to the quarters was huge... mainly because of leading off with the defeat of Portugal but almost choking away the knockout round by blowing it to Poland. Then a great win over Mexico in the 1/8's and a good showing vs Germany in the 1/4's seemed to push US soccer in the right direction. The lead up to the '06 Cup seemed to be greatly anticipated - but that crapfest led to a step backwards (what - we scored 1?).
Phenomanul is onto something... hopefully Altidore will fill that role.... Donovan tried to do it but he just never really made it big. Altidore seems to have "it" to do it - whether it's the confidence, personality, etc...
I think Altidore and Dempsey are the most likely options for that star to emerge - Donovan has a very good game and is the face of the US, but he's no spring chicken.
What is also encouraging is that the first products of MLS Youth Academy's are starting to make it into the MLS. We are still in the growing stages of soccer in the US.
Agreed, the US football needs a mix of Messi and Beckham to draw more attention to it. If only C.Ronaldo was American.
Its ridiculous that anyone thinks it matters whether or not they win a world cup. My point is exactly what you jsut said
Mexico is so passionate about soccer because it's all they have. If they had their own NFL, NBA, and MLB their collective interests would be much more divided.
No way 20 European teams are better than the US. The US just beat Turkey, and Croatia, Ukraine, Denmark, etc are not definitely better. That was a bs statement.
Ok guys... this is how it is....
The US national team is popular... and will continue to be if they get better....
the MLS? Nope....
except maybe Poland and Norway imo
Switzerland and Slovenia are better too.
lol you're funny.
except maybe Poland and Norway imo
Switzerland and Slovenia are better too.
The USA better score some goals this tournament. In the past all their offense comes off of counter attacks. They cannot mount a consistent offensive attack and the ball is always on their side of the field. They concentrate on defense and counterattacks. That will not cut it.
I heard last World Cup how good they were suppose to be and they could not score goals.
That is just it. People don't like soccer (MLS) in the US. They view it as a non American sport. There will be some interest in the World Cup but after that people will go back to not caring about soccer.
we'll see. Those teams have more talent though.
I don't know what to tell you if you can't see the differences in the 2006 team and the 2010 team. They're completely different with completely different coaches.
Maybe even more importantly, their group is completely different. The 2006 group was 10 times harder than this group is.
But whatever, we'll see in a few days.
PS - this is Manny - I just forgot to log Jess out on her computer.
Who are "people" and what are your expectations for what MLS needs to be to be considered successful? It's a successful and expanding league. Of course it will never draw 65,000+ a game like the NFL, but that doesn't mean it's not successful.
Average attendence for MLS in 2009 was 16,120 (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/a...r=2009&cc=5901). Average NBA attendence in 09-10 was 17,149 (http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance).
The two MLS games I went to last year were a sell out in Houston and the MLS cup which had 46,000 IIRC.
It's still the #5 sport in the US (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer) but the interest is growing tremendously in both the MLS and soccer as a whole.
2006 gives me nightmares. I pin the blame on that jackass Kasey Keller. 1990 was one of the worst turnouts in our History, Kasey Keller at the helm. 2006 jackass Kasey Keller in the net. Same story. The guy sucked. Why he beat out Tim Howard AND Brad Freidal is beyond me.(probably because he felt he was en led to it). Ill tell you this much if Keller was keeper in 02 US would have not gotten where they did.
well we are talking about soccer, right ? as far as I know Russia is playing qualification tournament with the Europe federation and the russian clubs are playing the UEFA champions league. So in terms of soccer yes Russia is in Europe.
Maybe they suck big time but I would still bet on them on an eliminatory game against team USA.@ Czech Republic. They suck big, big time.
Even if they are not really good a loss against USA would still be an upset for them.
This is why I said we can discuss.
Anyway point is it exists about 15 european teams better than USA right now.
Pretty fair list. It's obvious these teams are all better than the USA, looking at their history, performances and quality. Serbia should be there too and Greece, although I think they are very overrated. Even Macedonia was better than the USA and believe me, Macedonia sucks in football
Bear in mind, I don't hate on the USA. Im actually the one who put them in my bracket to go very far this year. They are just not better than these teams above. USA has always sucked, they don't have the amount of quality these teams above have, nor do they compete with same countries in qualifications than these teams above.
But, It is true that the USA is getting better and better every year. They have a pretty solid team, for their standard, they are highly motivated and I actually expect them to upset in the tournament. I think they can suprise and come very far, just like Australia and South Korea came far in previous world cups. Motivation is also a key part with such teams, it's not like Australia and South korea were that good, they had motivation and they had one of the best coaches in the world, who is the best in giving teams motivation.
As for popularity, It seems football is getting more and more popular in the us everyday, that's a good thing. The more popular, the brighter future they will have. I bet if football was one of the top popular sports in the us, their national team would have been one of the best in the world.
Now the FIFA rankings, those are a joke. Fifa rankings are not realistic. I mean a good team who competes with very tough opponents in european qualification cyclus is placed lower than say a less good country like the usa or australia who compete in qualification cyclus against crappy teams. It's just based on the result, they don't look at the opponents they've played or other factors, who do matter.
And it's also the image we have of the usa, maybe we underrate them too much, I think we do, but they have yet to prove themselves and I think this years tournament will be the best chance and opportunity to do so
Mexicans also love racing, golf, tennis, NFL, NBA, etc... And they are PASSIONATE about baseball too, they have their own decent league.
BUT, i get what you're saying.
I don't think this comparison is fair... it's only a 30 game season compared to 82.
LOL, My dad is Mexican and he doesnt like soccer at all, he thinks its boring, the only sport he likes is Baseball, but when Mexico plays in the FIFA he roots for them and watches soccer, i always root for the US to get him mad, but im not really a soccer fan either
I like this team. I can't wait to see what they will do on the pitch.
^^
^^ When do they play?
Of course you don't, because it flies in the face of your preconcieved notions.
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