Another horrible start

[GGGG]

Club soccer is big in the US...for girls.

I too see the same shift for boys as they select the top three sports (FB, BB, BK) over soccer.
More must be done to provide US kids an opportunity to display their talent. MLS will NOT cut it.

Part of the issue is that you *need* to send the best US players to Europe so they can play against the best competition.  However, that relegates the MLS to minor league status.

[MUfan12]

And yet, they made it further win an American manager in 2002 than they did in 1994.

I would argue that had a lot more to do with drawing Mexico than Bruce Arena's tactical genius.

[MU_all_over]

You are correct but many feel that the 2002 World Cup is an anomaly.

First, the tournament was moved up due to the rainy season in Asia. As a result, it came straight on the heels of a 10-month season for any of the major leagues in Europe. Looking back, a lot of the poor performances of some European nations could be down to fatigue from the season and travel to Korea/Japan. The US had Portugal and Poland in its group.

It was only moved up about 10 days. 2002 started on May 31. 98 and 2006 began on June 9th and 10th. The poor performances of the European teams had more to do with their history of performances outside of Europe than fatigue. No European Team has ever won the World Cup when it was held outside of Europe. I'm betting a non-European team will win in South Africa. You also have to account for the fact that lots of national team players from around the world play in European leagues. Brazil won, and they were full of players coming from Europe. Even some of the major players for the US were coming off European seasons (Friedel, Reyna, Lewis, O'Brien, etc.)

I agree with your other points completely.

[MU_all_over]

If you are not a young player, and are starting in Europe or a star in the MLS, you should not be seeing the field in these games.  If Bradley ever caps Beasley or Sacha Kljestan (or Casey, IMHO) again, he should be fired immediately.

At least we should be getting Jermaine Jones in August now, in time for the Mexico qualifier. http://goal.com/en-us/news/1614/americans-abroad/2009/06/17/1331868/schalkes-jones-eligible-to-play-for-usa-in-august

a line up of
Howard
Spector - Gooch - Demerit - Bocanegra
Dempsey - Bradley - Edu - Jones - Donovan
Altidore

Should at least give us a chance in 2010.

I like this lineup. I don't know why Bradley doesn't start Demerit in center and move Bocanegra to the left. Pierce and Bornstein have both showed they can't compete at a high level.