Lol, keep believing that is the key for success in Soccer if you want to. I'll maintain that the best athletes part doesn't really matter. The other part does. Did you hear or know that your guys were playing arguably the #1 team in the world? A team that would run through the majority of teams playing the European Championship tournament right now? Those "crap" players were missing their hardest working striker and energizer bunny midfielder as well as the underrated, dirty work doing midfielder. They. Had. No. Chance. At least appreciate that they played with heart and didn't give up and let Argentina have their way with them in front of goal... a la Mexico vs Chile.
Sigh, I said the population advantage equalizes the athletes argument FOR THE USA. India not a country that typically produces athletes in any sport.
I hate to defend texxxxx here but... 1) India has most of the best cricket players in the world (the only sport they give a **** about) 2) texxxxxxx is right, U.S. soccer is pretty much irrelevant b/c more or less no one cares about it relative to the major sports in North America. Things have changed in the past 20 years and Soccer is at least a respectable sport in the United States now. But it has a long way to go before it catches up to any of the major sports such that kids growing up will want to be soccer players.
Texx and the rest of you all are just wrong. My two boys since birth have grown up wanting to be soccer players so do many of their friends. The main issues here among others are pay to play, coaching, weird pyramid structure, and infrastructure. Until those things are fixed USA will always be way behind the rest of the world. The sad part is I don't see any of those getting fix in the near or distant future.
It's not one thing but I do think that is part of it. A lot of the kids that use sports to get out of poverty seem to be the ones that grow up to be superstars since for them, it's a life or death thing. They believe it's their only chance at living a successful life. A lot of those kids are playing basketball or football because those are the sports that will get you the paid for college education, the house on the hill, the commercials, all of that. I agree it is a infrastructure thing too but also for a long time Soccer wasn't the sport that would get you on top 10 for ESPN or the nike shoe deal. I do think that's changing slowly and when it does I think you'll see a lot more supreme young talent from the USA. I don't think population has anything to do with it though. I think if the infrastructure was right AND the perception of the sport you'd still have enough people in the States to have a great national team. But infrastructure is a big thing. We put a lot more into our youth basketball (AAU and agents basically scouting guys at 15...) and football (huge high-school football stadiums...etc etc) and I think along with that the whole "Star chasing" element just isn't going for Soccer here. Again I think that's changing thanks to how more accessible it is for kids to see international soccer stars like Messi and Ronaldo. I think that's a part of it, just the perception. I know playing sports growing up I've never met a kid want to be a soccer star. It was either football, basketball, or baseball. No one thought that playing soccer was even a worthy dream to chase. For a long time soccer had a negative "anti-american" kind of thing going for it. But things are changing, the team if they get 3rd that's...no one would say before the tourney started that is a bad result and there are a lot of good young players coming up.
Unfortunately soccer is a sport for the affluent in the US which is why almost all the entire USWNT is white. Kids aren't playing at a competitive level unless they spend 2-3K dollars a year to join a club. Soccer in public school is an after thought behind football, basketball, baseball, and volleyball.
That's a straight up lie Gotta love the excuse, comparison to the worst arguments people use to defend the USMNT program. It's cute and I'm sure will continue for another decade.
The US would be straight up dominated in the Euros compared to the top-heavy Copa. In Europe you have teams like Croatia or Switzerland who might not be strong from top to bottom but have at least a couple elite level players. You look at the US roster and when your best option for marking Lionel ****ing Messi is Kyle ****ing Beckerman you realize you suck. The US will always manage to produce a couple of decent players who can hang and maybe even be pretty good in one of the Top 5 in Europe, but the final product on the International level is still lacking and I don't see a golden generation happening any time soon. The team plays with grit and heart, but a game last night exposes just how much skill they lack. First touch non-existent. No attempt to even try to pass in the mid-field. Just long ball after long ball to no one in particular.
To be fair, Jermaine Jones is quite an upgrade over Beckerman. The US could sneak through in the current Euro format. The US played far worse than what I expected (and I expected them to get destroyed) With that said, it was a rather uninspiring performance. Also the long ball strategy only worked with Wood in the front. Zardes has no first, second or third touch. Doesn't help that Bradley gives away the ball 50% of the time nowadays so good luck creating anything by actually moving the ball up the field. Dempsey couldn't do anything since no one could hold onto the ball. And don't even get me started on Wondolowski somehow making it onto the field. I think if Wood and Jones are there, the US loses 3-1 instead of 4-0 and looks half decent instead of the pathetic display we saw yesterday. if anything, this game showed the US's amazing lack of depth. The German contingent (I'll include Wood in that group since he plays there), pretty much carries the whole team.
Don't know which scalpers you talked to, but if you bought the presale 3 pack tickets for $300, you most definitely made money. Broke even on Colombia game and then made $250 off the Mexico and USA game.
Yes, but the MLS has started building youth academies and is paying players at a young age to be on their club. Granted it is the MLS but at least there is hope that some young players can get paid at a young age and gravitate towards soccer to help their family instead of waiting till they are 25 in a sport like baseball to actually earn some real money. We almost need a partnership with a Euro club that can come in and scout our top talent around the age of 10 (I know it seems ridiculous but true) and then the MLS teams can sell their rights to them and work out some arrangement between the MLS and the Euro team as to when that player will play in the MLS vs. the Euro league. I am grasping at straws but this is the type of thing that we need to work on. I do believe there will be more and more Pulisic type players in the near future that seek development over seas since that is where the money is and where they can develop the most (assuming they get playing time). There are a couple of other young players like Emerson Hyndman (signed by Bournemouth) and Palmer-Brown (Porto FC on loan from Sporting Kansas City) that have been signed by some of the best clubs in the world so I believe these high upside players should be around during world cup qualifying to see what they got. The biggest mistakes Klinsmann has made is continuing to go with retreads like Beckerman, Zusi, and Wondolowski. They may play well against a subpar team but can not hang with the good teams. He stresses going young and that the MLS is a knock against you and then he adds mediocre MLS talent to the roster and starts them against one of the best in the world. Seems hypocritical to me. I do not know much about the young guys signed by major clubs but if the Premier League or any other league overseas deems you worthy of a big contract at a young age, that player must have talent and should have an automatic roster spot waiting for them on the USMNT lacking in talent, technical ability, composure, etc. I believe we finally know what it takes but it is still going to be a long road before we have the youth talent to truly compete someday. I thought when I was younger that the 1994 world cup would have bred an elite group of talent (in my age group) in the 2000's and I guess to an extent that happen but only a few players turned out to be elite (Dempsey, Donovan, goalies) while about half the squad or more turns out to be just another guy. That is where the other teams have our numbers, the depth of talent is amazing where a team like Argentina could probably still beat us with the guys that missed the squad or are bench warmers. Soccer teams are only as good as their weakest links.
I haven't been able to catch the game on TV but the stadium was a total blast. Yes, the USA lost but c'mon this is the number 1 team in the world with arguably a top 3 best player of all ****ing time in his prime and hungry to get his first ever piece of silverware with Argentina NT ( No counting U-20, Olympics.) USMNT was missing some key players but even then it would have been enough to beat Argentina. USA simply isn't good enough, at least not yet. The turn-out at the stadium was amazing though, basically the entire stadium was on their feet for both halves. Here's my view of Messi's goal which was unbelievable... https://streamable.com/0koa
^ WTF? #1 team in the world? All that goes out the window on the pitch. Then why play the game? Yeah, thanks for leaving the U-20 and Olympics out, which the USA doesn't have, either... so conveniently, you don't count it. True. No, we Mexicans don't show up to root for ONE PLAYER in the other team. That was the worst display of BANDWAGONER, casual fan, betray your own team example ever. Why would you wear your own team jersey and go see another team's player, or even cheer when he scores? Unbelievable. I can't believe some of you saying "but this was the best team, so it's ok." No, it's not. No wonder USA doesn't grow as a soccer country... you cheer on the other players and are OK with your team not getting one shot at all! It was a clear 80% to 20% possession of the ball, and at one point I counted 30+ passes for Argentina. You can't tell me that you're OK with that. Come get the ball! If your belief was "Oh, well, at least we have the third place game", then... you're conforming and don't demand anything. Mad respects for another good performance from Argentina, and proving that this Copa belongs to a South American team, for sure. Chile is still the Champ until they lose the chance.
Last night was, again, a microcosm of Jurgen Klinsmann's tenure. Do just enough to get off the hot seat and then find a way to f*** it up again. What in the name of f*** was that f***ing starting 11? Missing Jones hurt, as did missing Wood. I'll argue that Bedoya is one of the more replaceable players on the team...but not more than the walking piece of s*** that is Wondolowski. The Argentine defense was allowed to sit back and stay in their lanes with little to no effort at all. There was no threat from the US. There was no one in the midfield working to get the ball from the back and move it forward with short passes. You had 2 30+ yr old forwards and you're playing f***ing longballs? WTF? I'm still pissed and haven't gathered all of my thoughts. It has nothing to do with whether I believe we could've beaten the #1 team in the world right now (in the rankings and the fact that they are simply playing the best soccer in the world right now). It has everything to do with showing up and we did not do that...and I'm pissed. The only thing I'm happy about is that I didn't shell out hundreds to go watch it in person.
I have no clue what you're trying to start here... but you come off obnoxious and know it all. Kindly point to where I said you shouldn't play the game if you're playing the #1 team? Leaving U-20 and Olympics out has nothing to do with the USA and/or Mexico. Let me ask you one question, Mr know it all, what is the biggest criticism Messi receives constantly?
To all those who say "at least we didn't lose like Mexico", I say that back to them: "that's because they took it easy and you weren't a threat", like you say. Aye. And when you finally get a mistake from Argentina, you kick it FAR, FAR away, instead of playing it to another teammate. Check out the stat line, especially the SHOTS, POSSESSION, and "CORRECT PASSES." http://www.ca2016.com/matches/29 0 - 10 33% - 67% 121 - 625 ! I never said you said it, I asked a direct question related to your point about it being the #1 team. That shouldn't matter on the pitch or the reason why you're OK to losing to them... not in the way y'all played. Fine, I'm obnoxious, but you could just answer a question, kindly. I'm trying to END something here. I don't give a darn what Messi is criticized about recently, and quite frankly, no one but Argentineans should give a @(#*& about Messi. You and I shouldn't even discuss other teams' players like the way you are about Messi winning or losing something to be criticized. Stop worrying about other players. Who gives a darn? Don't tell me, you cheered when he scored the free kick. I don't want other teams to come to my country to beat my team or other teams in my region.
Don't try and come lecture me on what I should or shouldn't do. I left out U-20 and Olympics out of Messi's trophy case because to a vast amount of people only trophies with the senior squad matter. The lack of silverware with the senior team is Messi's biggest criticism. Judging by your signature, you're Mexican, and you automatically assumed it was a knock on Mexico (having won U-17 and Olympics) but you already knew that. Fyi, I'm not American. I studied and work in this great nation so of course I support them, most times. Stop assuming things.
