That goal from Christian Pulisic was really special. He is really special. It's a shame that he wont play in this World Cup, but to be honest this squad didn't have much of a chance anyway. Let's hope that in the next four years US soccer can build a competetive team around Pulisic.
Slept on it and that didn't help. I'm still angry. No one has been fired yet. WTF are they waiting for? Not joking even a little. This isn't one of those "We need steady leadership at a time like this" things. This is a "aim a flamethrower at it and burn it the f*** down" thing. If I were Pulisic, I'd be more pissed than anyone on that team. This likely cost him millions in endorsements. He hadn't yet become a household name in the US. This would've put him on a stage not previously available to him. Now, they'll be playing friendlies against Papua New Guinea. No meaningful games until the next Gold Cup. That alone makes me sick.
The MLS still sucks ass btw. It literally is a detriment to players developing to compete in the world stage. It’s a traveling circus.
This is a good point. The headlines are very rough today (as they should be), but this could bring about a "cleansing fire" in the USSF that is long overdue. Had this team qualified, been placed in a group of death, and gone out as poorly as the 2006 team did, we'd be complaining about another missed opportunity for soccer in this country.
You'd still have an abundance of world-class athletes/talents as "leftovers", compared to smaller countries. The true issues have been mentioned here, mainly a terrible structure and organization that isn't good at developing talent. Having someone like teenage Kobe, LeBron etc joining soccer wouldn't turn the USA into a soccer powerhouse, things like good fundamentals, programs and tactical emphasis are far more important. This whole situation is comparable to Africa, there's an abundance of physically gifted talent there which often won youth world cups, but the African soccer federations fail at technically and strategically using this advantage.
I am still pissed off. I do want to clear up a few fallacies. 1. The MLS is weak - it is not weak - it is not a top league but plenty of players on Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama are in the MLS and they are still in the tournament. The MLS is not the problem. 2. Best athletes mythology - it is not about our best athletes playing, never has been, never will be it is about the BEST SOCCER players picked for the team or discovered and nurtured at the right time. As we don't have pickup soccer games in the streets like some countries do.....our Pay to Play soccer culture is a major problem, but NOT one that caused us to lay an egg this qualifying cycle. What caused the failure was the lack of leadership on the pitch and on the team - particularly on the team, we have weak minded soft players, we have no one that drives the competitive fire on this team - none....losing Jermaine Jones or his type of player hurt, Pulisic is amazing, but he needs help, we have enough up front, we have NOTHING in the back - we need big strong players who are not afraid of making a tackle. And Michael Bradley has to go - he passes back all the time, when was the last time you saw him take someone on, off the dribble? This chemistry was weak, THAT was the problem we had no enforcer, no culture of accountability - we have players that can replace soft players like Bradley but they weren't picked. Having Michael Bradley as your captain is not going to get you anywhere. DD
You got to have top youth system, top strategists, top everything, Soccer must be priority sport. Put together 11 players that complement each other plus 4-5 good quality backups is hard.
This proves that despite all of the progress that has been made the USA is closer to missing a World Cup than it is to winning a World Cup. And yet despite that fact almost everyone involved has yet to resign or be fired. It's a joke.
You must have thought that USSF was in this to win a World Cup. NO, they’ve been in this to make $$$$. They accomplished that with the MLS and Gold Cup. Nothing about USA soccer is about helping the USMNT becoming a great team. It’s about making money. MLS did successfully develop Players though. Just not US players.
The countries u mention aren't first world power. Us is and it's sad that most of our players can't compete with da best, so they hide in the MLs and stay mediocre
His point is that many players of those teams stay in small leagues and the countries still qualified for next World Cup. You don't need to have your starting XI play in the top leagues to qualify for that event, which is why the "they only play in MLS, no wonder we suck" argument is misguided.
I don't think it is. Altidore, Bradley and Dempsy came back to the USA and MLS to GET PAID. They were struggling to make it in Europe so when MLS offered them crap loads of money they ran back, got lazy, stopped trying and look at the result. That doesn't happen to Hondurans, Costa ricans, Mexicans in the MLS. Those guys aren't getting the money these so-called "American stars" are getting. They are hungry. The problem is the MLS papers USMNT players to the point that they regress.
no shame in saying it but I'm a Pulisic fan only. And these punks (the usnt) robbed the world from watching this kid play at the biggest stage. I was outraged when Klinsmann forced donovan out of the squad, seems like yesterday but this topped that incident.
The MLS is fine for young players looking to use it as a launching pad to something else. I wasn't trying to insinuate that the entire league is bad earlier. What I was trying to say is that the MLS is a weak option for veterans who are not at the tail-end of their careers, especially those who could be playing in Europe. Michael Bradley was 27, I believe, when he returned to Toronto from Roma. This was an inexcusable decision when he had an offer from Roma on the table. Jozy Altidore went to Sunderland, the worst possible team for a guy looking to score goals, and came back to the MLS for a payday instead of returning to the Eredivisie where he scored plenty. My issue with players like this is that they came to a league that treated them as conquering heroes instead of staying in European leagues that, inarguably, have better technical coaching and higher levels of competition. I believe this bred complacency in them and that influenced how they played for the national team.
This thread usually has about 3-5 people posting in it.. This utter embarrassment has brought us all together to mourn. It's the little things.