It's always good to show a little bit of restraint. I was going to bet $100 that Spain were going to win the Euros last summer but we all agreed on $25 each. I would of made $400!
i wouldn't say the US got robbed. italy is the better team and probably would have found a way to get the result. it's just funny how after the italy game, the talk was that the US played well they just had the unfortunate bad call that forced them to play with 10 men. then suddenly after the brazil game, people decided to revise history and pretend that the US was horrible in the italy game as well.
Yeah, we're one of the only nations who are unbeaten in the qualifiers. I think the other two are Netherlands and Spain. We aren't ranked that high, and we've been hovering out of the top five for a couple of years now which probably comes down to us fucking up in the Euro qualifiers. I don't expect us to win or reach the final next year but I'd like to see a passionate push to the semis. Capello has almost reached godlike status after coaching us for only a year and a bit.
Spain are a better team and didn't get the result--And you had a guy sent off again! Italy are a bunch of jammy bastards and will dive until it goes out of date. I'm still dumbfounded on how they won the WC. Shocking.
had clark been sent off in the 86th minute instead of the 30th(ish) minute, the US would have had a much better chance against italy. i don't think that we need to say the US got robbed, just the circumstances of the loss should be taken into account when looking at the result.
I used to live in Spain, so I was being understated. I'm well aware their feelings about both futbol and Los Estados Unidos. Right now, that game is just KILLING them. They would have rather lost to the French or Italians. As for soccer's popularity here in the States, I think it's not going to improve much. We've had plenty of great wins that were supposed to turn the corner. We've now had two generations growing up playing the game, and interest still lags behind the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.
I hope we can look back at this win as a turnaround moment for the USMNT, not just a single great moment surrounded by mediocrity. A good showing against Brazil on Sunday would be a start.
Well, unfortunately, having kids play it and then offering them more money and more recognition in other sports isn't going to be enough to pull a higher percentage of great athletes into the sport. It's not an easy answer, but I also don't believe that just because it hasn't happened so far = isn't going to happen. While this win might not matter much to Joe-NFL (though there was plenty of great coverage everywhere from the NY Times to PTI to being immediately nominated for an ESPY -- as if that mattered) it made a difference to 1) the world, 2) fifa, 3) soccer fans, 4) on the fence soccer fans 5) soccer athletes. While that, on the surface, may not look like the result that non-soccer fans believe that soccer fans want (I think onlookers assume we all think one player or one game is going to magically change a bunch of idiots lack of interest into passion overnight). I think those 5 areas are VITAL to growing the game. 1) Importance to the World. Raises our national team profile to other countries, we've played lots of top teams in friendlies and this should continue. We got front page press on international sports sites, which helps potential American soccer players (the Guiseppi Rossis, Jermain Joneses, Castillos of the world) view the national team and program more favorably so maybe next time Rossi chooses to play for THIS country. The press also helps our current American players with their profile for their club, especially those playing abroad. More Americans on Champions League teams or more Americans on Cup Winning Teams is a big plus for the immediate success of our national team and the long term success of US Soccer. People always like a winner and the more winners we have and the more wins we get, the more people will show up to watch it. It was true with the Blazers and it's true with soccer. 2) FIFA Rankings. We have the potential to get a favorable seeding in the World Cup, making getting out of the group stages easier than if we were in a 3rd or 4th tier selection group. Getting further in the WC means more of #1 (above) which results, again in more press, more experience, more wins, more fans. 3) Soccer Fans Fans of anything need hope and something to hold on to. This was the most memorable match for many if not most of the Fans of the National Team. It gives fans more reason to be vocal about their passion, a reason to spend more money on kits or scarves or tickets and all of those things bring the team higher in the public consciousness which has an effect on those who see it, but may not participate in it. Kids see Altidore jerseys with more frequency and see the players as something to aspire to, which helps to keep young athletes involved and not switching to Baseball or American Football. 4) Fans on the Fence. While Jim Rome or MediocreMan might never be swayed, those who are casually interested have taken more notice and those who just needed a reason to get involved, have. Bringing over new converts helps to grow the base. 5) Soccer Players One of the most important areas. Specifically, the 15-18 year old players who are passionate about playing but are asked to choose another sport to play in high school or who see the glitz and glamour of LeBron or Jeter. A win like this will keep some of those great talents in the program longer and we have more players like Adu or Altidore that to choose from. More talent in the pool helps everything but ultimately leads to more wins, which is what people respond to most. Those are by no means the end of the list of things to help the profile of the game. Until it becomes a street and alley game for kids, it will always be an immense struggle, but progress has been made and this was a great step with PLENTY of important merits.
things like this have been said a lot, but i don't really understand. this isn't going to be any turnaround moment for the US. there is nothing to turn around. the reality is that the US simply is not as good as the top tier teams in the world. for the US to compete with those teams(spain, brazil, italy, argentina, england, france, germany, portugal, and the netherlands)and have much of a chance at getting a decent result, the US has to play a great game and have some bounces go their way as well. the US, however, can consistently compete with anyone else in the world that is not in the top tier. people say that the US hasn't shown any improvement since the 2002 world cup, but that just isn't true. since then the US has turned qualifying for the world cup into a given where they basically dominate concacaf and have started having consistent success against the 2nd tier of international teams while occasionally having success against the top tier teams. the 2006 world cup had bad results, but really it was one bad game and a couple of unfortunate events(bad calls leading to reds against italy and a very weak penalty against ghana) that made the results look worse than the play on the field actually was. like i said, there really isn't anything to turn around. the US is still on the path they were on gradually becoming a better and better soccer nation.
^^ Go back and watch the States in the 2002 World Cup and tell me they've progressed as a soccer team in the last seven years. What I saw against Spain, and the Egypt game before that (and to some extent Italy) is a team that is showing initiative to attack instead of sitting back and absorbing pressure and then trying to earn free kicks in dangerous spots. Confidence that you can put a team on their heels without worrying about exposing yourself on the counter is something the US has been lacking for quite some time. If getting into the semifinals of this tournament and then beating Spain serves to teach us that lesson, we'll begin to progress even more. I honestly think we have the talent to consistently stay in the top 10 in the world. We just need that belief and confidence that we can compete with those nations like Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, France, etc.
the US has improved since 2002. they definitely have. that was my whole point. you(and others not necessarily here but definitely other places) have talked about how they hope this win turns around US soccer. my point is that there is nothing to turn around and that US soccer is still on the same path of improving that they were already on.
Yeah, and the stock market has progressed since 1932, but try telling that to people in the late 70's or right now. We've had some deep valleys since that 2002 WC. The 2006 WC was a disaster. So was the Copa America a couple years ago. We should be at the point where we never have any "disasters" in tournaments. Obviously you aren't going to win every one, but we should be regularly able to compete. We were decimated in both of those tournaments.
that seems to be what people generally say, but i don't agree with it at all. world cup 2006 was not a disaster. the end result was bad. definitely. but not what happened on the field. the first game against the czech republic was terrible. the US were dominated. after that though, the US played well. the draw against italy despite playing 9 on 10 for half the game was tremendous and really the US deserved the win and should have been playing a man up as both sending offs were not good calls. then the US lost to ghana in a game decided by an undeserved penalty. you can't change the results, but looking at what caused them is important. all it would have taken was decent officiating for the US to likely end up with 4 points instead of 1(which still would have left them eliminated after the group stage). as for "regularly competing", the US was very competitive in two of the three games they played there. what happened at the copa america was meaningless. that was an absolute B team at best because the A team was playing at the gold cup to ensure that the US won and qualified for the confederations cup. the US sending a squad mostly of backups or worse was a bad idea(they should have just declined the invitation) but the results there have no bearing on how good the US team was at that time. the "valleys" between now and then have been vastly overstated. of course during that time the US has begun to consistently dominate concacaf, gotten good results against mexico anywhere other than mexico city, has been competitive with top tier nations in friendlies, and has gotten multiple wins on european soil against the non top tier european teams. i'd call that consistent progress even if the results in the world cup and copa america weren't great.
huge upset, congratulations. but to think this was a result for the ages, one has to remember this was confederations cup, a competition that isn't generally taken very seriously. spain had almost their best squad though, they can't hide behind that excuse.. in a group like that, going out is not necessarily a disaster. and when there are only 3 matches in the group stage, almost any team can fuck it up. in 2002 france, portugal and argentina all failed to qualify. it happens to better teams too. keep on whining. it was a clear penalty and the best team won the world cup. and anyway, with players like beckham, gerrard, rooney and others in your team, I wouldn't complain too much about diving.
