Scholarship table
I'm really excited for Copa America 2016
Has this been approved by FIFA yet? If not, the clubs aren't required to release players to their national teams. Since this is basically an exhibition (because a Confederations Cup spot is not at stake), and directly conflicts with Euro 2016, I am not sure it becomes an official event - which may mean the top players skip it.
BTW, forgot to mention that Tim Howard had one of the best performances by a GK or, really, any position, ever yesterday. Just incredible.
Do not disagree with this at all. My point is the next step is a really big one. In the meantime, you keep building brick by brick, get better athletes committed to the game, etc. That next step is big, it is also really difficult.
I keep coming up with more thoughts:-Not surprised Wondo missed. I was mad that he even made the roster. That was a classic poacher's goal that he has to put away. As his reputation precedes him, he missed. Crap. As was spoken about earlier, should the media/fans be absolutely going nuts on the guy who made it to Brazil for the sole reason of scoring and he couldn't convert? Is that an indictment on where we are as a soccer culture in the US?
Does Donovan make that goal?
Our group was the group of death. Don't care who said it or when. All 4 teams would have made other groups tougher.
I think that your link on the future vs the present highlights that a little bit. However, I also think that a lot of the perspective is that Belgium totally deserved to win.39 shots by Belgium!http://thebiglead.com/2014/07/02/gif-heres-a-look-at-all-the-shots-belgium-took-against-the-u-s/related: This article tells a tale of three parts.Part one: 0-60 min (Slight advantage for Belgium, with xG 0.7 - 1.2)Part two: 60-105 (Belgium dominates, xG 0.6 - 2.8)Part three: 105-120 (US rallies but it's not enough, xG 1.5 - 0.4)http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/07/02/what-went-wrong-for-the-u-s-against-belgium/
Lots of intriguing thoughts about the future: https://twitter.com/John_Infante
That's the beauty of soccer, there is no such thing as a team deserving to win. You can look at all the stats but the score in just about every sport but soccer and get the winning team right 95% of the time...not the same with soccer.FYI 67.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
What is the next step to you? And by what metric are we measuring the meeting of this next step?The US faced a very tough group, even if you don't want to call them such, had to travel the most of anyone in the field, played in some very challenging conditions and advanced to the Round of 16 for the 2nd cup in a row (only 8 other teams have done that). They nearly stole the game to advance to the Quarters.Yes there is work to do and improvements to be made but there is talent and capability there and into the future. Look at the backline, what was once a question mark is now very solid barring a catastrophic injury or two. Midfield should be pretty solid and the forwards should get better with time. There is a very strong core that needs depth to build behind it.Could the US step back, sure...but they could just as likely step forward in the next 4 years. I don't follow what objective criteria you are following that allows you to say as a "realist" that they have a long way to go.
My two great sport passions are Marquette Basketball and the USMNT. The parallels of supporting these two teams is interesting:- Rosters turnover every year, but in general, there is an approximately 4 year cycle- My expectation is to perform and compete for league championship, do well in tournaments and compete in the biggest competition++ MUBB - compete for, occasionally win the Big East conference. Compete for, occasionally win the Big East Tournament. Look good and make the sweet sixteen in the NCAA tournament++ USMNT - compete for, and generally qualify for the World Cup. Compete for, and generally win, the Gold Cup. Battle in the group stage, and make the knock out (also sweet 16) of the World Cup- In both cases, the dream of winning the big tournament (NCAA and WC) seems very far away- In both cases, the reason it seems very far away is talentBecause of all of the above, I have chosen to focus on the achievable / accessible areas of fan-dom for each team. I absolutely love going to the Big East tournament, and USMNT WC Qualifiers, for example. Falling short of winning March Madness and the World Cup is never really a concern of mine. Someday, perhaps, that will be a realistic goal; but it's not now. Right now, I enjoy the journey of each team, and getting to know the constantly changing cast of players.
Definitely some similarities, but you are much closer on the MU side than the WC side. MU can and has had some of the top players in call of college basketball on their team, while the US rarely, if ever can say that in soccer. For hoops, having 1, 2 or 3 guys can make all the difference in the world, where soccer it requires more talent in volume.Soccer is also a more difficult game to breakthrough, where Cinderella exists with the crap shoot that is college basketball. You don't see a Butler type run happening in the World Cup. In the last 10 WC finals, spanning 40 years the finalists have been Italy, Germany, Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina and the Dutch. That's it. Go back another few decades, and Uruguay, Hungary, the Czechs and England's one appearance, but the list is small. The powers are the powers.
That, is reality. That is not someone being negative. That is someone as a realist. It's not what is said here, it is who says the what.
"We cannot win this World Cup, because we are not at that level yet," "For us, we have to play the game of our lives seven times to win the tournament."-KlinsmannThat, is reality. That is not someone being negative. That is someone as a realist. It's not what is said here, it is who says the what.
Did anyone here actually say we could win the whole thing? or that anyone expected that?
Being called Eeyore really bugged you, huh?