The argument is that they suck and that they will never win anything important internationally (outside the GOLD cup) and its sad because this country has 300 million people in it, and they cant find 15 guys good enough to get out of first round of WC more than once since 1934 (yes i know they got out in 94, but they were third so it was kinda BS)
2002 doesn't count? If population matters, why are just five of the top ten most populous nations at least relatively good? And explain how they suck in a rational argument? Defeating Spain doesn't matter? Confederations Cup doesn't matter? Look at the rosters and tell me it wasn't taken seriously.
Confederations cup is a money comp. i have no respect for it, and teams forced their stars to play because of the money, i put those games slightly more competetive than a friendly As for 2002, i did say that they got out once in my post.....
you really just sound like a guy who doesn't know what he's talking about. saying the US sucks isn't making an argument.
rocketeer - ok, cool, thought i just did Ronan - China hasn't really been a major force in ANY sport in the world and the oppresion of Communism has a lot to do with that.
that relates to the current US team how? they've made it to the last several world cups, advanced to the quarters two cups ago, just made the finals of the confederations cup. hell even their bad performance in the last world cup was one that should have been much better if not for a few bad calls and even with that they played the champs better than anyone else. if your argument is that the US team sucks historically, great. that's true but entirely irrelevant. there isn't an argument that says the current team sucks and i haven't seen you even attempt to make one.
In the last 3 games against european competion, the US has lost (if you want to talk about the current state of US soccer) Against the #4, #35, and #38 teams (FIFA) Thats the real stats
those were friendlies that i thought you didn't really care about. and those weren't exactly first choice US rosters either(the one against the netherlands was as first choice as injuries would allow, the other two were not). and i'll be happy to talk about it in june.
And here's Ives' take as posted on Fox Soccer. His 30 are the following: GK (4) - Howard, Hahnemann, Guzan, Rimando DF (9) - Onyewu, Bocanegra, DeMerit, Cherundolo, Spector, Goodson, Bornstein, Hejduk MF (9) - Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Holden, Clark, Edu, Torres, Feilhaber, Bedoya, Beasley, Adu FW (6) - Altidore, Davies, Ching, Casey, Buddle, Gomez Looks solid, though I am hoping and praying that Casey doesn't get a sniff of camp. He's immensely unskilled. I'd rather give Eddie Johnson a shot. Adu there is the shocker, but he still has a skill set that no one else in the player pool has when he's on. Its just a matter of him earning a serious look and playing time with a club team.
US Soccer and Bob Bradley will be announcing the 30 man provisional roster tomorrow at 2 pm on ESPN News. Here's Ives with a last minute update of some with rising and falling stock. And here's the 30 I invite. Bolded are the guys who are 100% going, barring injury. Italicised are the guys who are going if they are healthy. Keepers (3): Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan, Nick Rimando Defenders (8): Carlos Bocanegra, Steven Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Bornstein Midfielders (11): Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Ricardo Clark, DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, Bobby Convey, Freddy Adu Forwards (7): Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching A few surprising picks. I lifted Convey off of Ives and the same for Adu. Convey has been playing hard through six weeks and has San Jose playing well with four wins early on. Adu is worth a kick of the tires because of the creativity he can deliver when he's in there. Adu has also been getting some time, though not a lot with Aris. At keeper, I think the three are set, but Rimando gets a call just in case something happens in training. If there's not another keeper in the 30, we'd be going to the Cup with just two. Regardless, I'd be surprised to see Rimando actually leave Salt Lake for the training camp at Princeton. Defense looks set with one last spot available for either Bornstein or Pearce. Both play an attacking left back naturally. Bornstein is capable of more than Pearce, but Pearce is more consistent. Bornstein can play centrally against lesser opposition which helps his case, but I think Pearce can do the same as he is the better defensive player. Versatility helps here as Spector can play anywhere across the back four, Bocanegra plays left back in France, and, in a pinch, Maurice Edu can drop back from midfield. Midfield is the strength of this team. I like Bradley and Edu starting with Holden and Donovan on the wings. Dempsey moves up to forward at this point as I am starting to lose the faith/dream of Davies running wild. Clark provides more bit in defense than those two and that's why he makes it. Feilhaber and Torres provide some versatility as they both play the wings. I think Beasley and Bedoya will round out the midfield, with Bradley taking 9. As for the forwards, Johnson joins the streaking duo of Gomez and Buddle, as Ives points out, with three in the European qualification tournament in Greece. Johnson was already in consideration as he made the trip to Holland with the US in March. Altidore is in, Dempsey will start next to him against England. If Davies is at 80%, he's going, but who knows where he is exactly. I think Buddle is the next best bet, but don't count out Johnson. Here's how I think the final group shakes out: GK - 3 - Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann DF - 7 - Onyewu, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Spector, Goodson, Pearce MF - 9 - Bradley, Edu, Donovan, Holden, Feilhaber, Torres, Clark, Bedoya, Beasley FW - 4 - Altidore, Dempsey, Buddle, Davies Last seven out: Rimando, Bornstein, Adu, Convey, Gomez, Ching, Johnson
