atroia21

July 26th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^

Can we please get a damn squad that will challenge for a World Cup? It's absolutely embarrassing that a country our size has never made it out of the 1st game of the knockout round. That being said I believe that we will win! and Go Blue!

Joined: 04/21/2011

MGoPoints: 1903

Night_King

July 26th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^

What you stated is factually incorrect, but I agree, you would think a country of over 300 million people could put together a contending group.

With that being said, I don't see it happening anytime soon, although some of the youngins we have will be extremely fun to watch in future world cups (Pulisic could be best American of all time if he continues on this path). 

Joined: 03/02/2016

MGoPoints: 25672

brad

July 26th, 2017 at 9:47 PM ^

I wouldn't necessarily think that. 99.9 - 100% of america's elite athletes are focused on something other than soccer from middle school on. It will probably take a full blown concussion mania combined with direct competition of MLS against European clubs to induce a consistent American contender in the World Cup

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 15809

901 P

July 26th, 2017 at 9:58 PM ^

I'm not sure that's accurate, at least any more. I think a lot of young people who are great athletes are playing soccer these days. I don't know if it is measurable, but that's my impression. 

And a side note: soccer is so popular with my kids and their friends. They talk about soccer players the way I talked about baseball players as a kid. And they have so many jerseys and t-shirts. So many.  

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 9976

TrueBlue2003

July 26th, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^

but it's mostly amongst upper-middle-class white kids (dollar says that describes your kids and their friends).  Low probability they put in enough time to become pro soccer players between all the other activities like piano lessons, math camp, etc.

Until there are kids spending all their time at the playground playing soccer like many lower class kids play basketball or other sports on the playground all day long, the US won't be elite.  It'll take a cultural shift and it may happen but it'll take a while.

Joined: 01/05/2010

MGoPoints: 38075

901 P

July 27th, 2017 at 7:13 AM ^

That's the thing--where I live the white kids are big into soccer, but so too are the non-white kids, many of whom come from immigrant families. And yes, some of those kids are spending a lot of time at the park playing soccer. But I don't know that national success in a sport is predicated solely on having a group of economically-disadvantaged kids who play all the time. That might one demographic, but my larger point is that if the sport grows in popularity and lots of kids are playing, that will help our national prospects in the future. I'll bet future teams will look a lot like young people today--a combo of middle- to upper-class kids who had access to the best clubs and training, and less-well-off kids who grew up playing more informally.

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 9976

Impact_Panda

July 26th, 2017 at 8:57 PM ^

35th in the world IS embarrassing…however, it's good to remember that those are official FIFA rankings, which are notoriously inaccurate at times. FIFA's ranking formula incorporates the average number of points earned in competition over the last 12 months, plus the average number of points earned over the last 4 years (depreciating yearly). Importance of the game impacts the number of points in a competition, so doing well in the World Cup means more than doing well in a series of friendlies. The issue, IMO, with FIFA's setup is that teams can game the system and actually move up the rankings by playing few games. Likewise, a team that plays several games (and wins) may find itself falling lower in the next rankings due to the "averages" system. A more accurate system is probably the World Soccer Elo Ratings. Anyway, it doesn't really matter where the USMNT is on FIFA's rankings, except that the top eight teams are the "seeded" teams in the World Cup. Which, since the FIFA rankings are such a mess, is total bullshit.

Joined: 11/21/2016

MGoPoints: 891

drjaws

July 26th, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^

water and green tea, just like every day the last few weeks. Working 12+ hours a day 6 days a week trying to finish up at one company and transition to my new company. Haven't even golfed in 3 weeks.

Joined: 02/26/2014

MGoPoints: 46962

901 P

July 26th, 2017 at 9:59 PM ^

Having a Six Point Jammer (their gose beer) while watching the game. Six Point is solid--I think I've liked everything I've had from them. 

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 9976

901 P

July 26th, 2017 at 10:09 PM ^

We're not looking as good as we did against Costa Rica, but fortunately Jamaica isn't looking great either. They seem to turn the ball over a lot, or just kick it out of bounds. 

The shitty turf isn't helping anyone either.

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 9976

The People's Jones

July 26th, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^

USA soccer offense in a nut shell: play it wide, cross to a crowd 

 

practiced from youth through the pros, never works

Joined: 01/29/2017

MGoPoints: 4635