World Cup 2026

[pbiflyer]

This actually highlights why US soccer will not be good for the foreseeable future. Our best athletes always went to a sport that paid more. And now with NIL money, there is no way a talented athlete is going to choose soccer over baseball, basketball or football.

[#UnleashThePortal]

Again, I don't know squat about soccer, but we seem to be light-years behind.  My brain tells me this should not be an elite rich kid sport based on the success of other countries.  But if I'm not mistaken, we have essentially had a stupid system that caters to a major $$$ commitment.  I've been thoroughly disappointed with this performance.

Our poor man sport is basketball. The rest of the world's is soccer

[Dish]

That was the best the US could come up with? Yuck.

[ATL MU Warrior]

I think we were severely hung over.

[MuggsyB]

Our poor man sport is basketball. The rest of the world's is soccer

That was a piss poor/inexcusable performance.  I'm sorry to be harsh, but we simply cannot sugarcoat this debacle.  I disagree with the announcers. 

[GB Warrior]

The heroes we deserve

[MuggsyB]

4-1 in ⚽️ is like a 40 pt loss in college hoops.  We have a lot of work to do gents. 

[lawdog77]

Choke

They were simply beaten by a better team.

[panda]

Pulisic 1
Ream 1
Dest 1
Freeze 3 massive mistake

Hard to overcome such terrible performances against a good team.

Different year same story but this tournament had a different feel. So much fun and i thoroughly enjoyed the home World Cup. Fun team to watch and awesome seeing the entire country unite and get behind the team. 

[MuggsyB]

They were simply beaten by a better team.

I think it's more than that ld77.  We made absurd mistakes and crapped the bed.  That doesn't mean had we played well we would have won, but this was a putrid performance at arguably a biblical level. 

[Pakuni]

This actually highlights why US soccer will not be good for the foreseeable future. Our best athletes always went to a sport that paid more. And now with NIL money, there is no way a talented athlete is going to choose soccer over baseball, basketball or football.

We're a country of 342 million.
Even if 90% of our top athletes went to other sports, that leaves a bigger talent pool than a majority of WC teams, including about three times more than Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal, twice as much as the Netherlands. Add to the fact that we have massive resources at our disposal, and this excuse doesn't really hold.
Also, many of our top athletes don't have the body types/skills to play soccer. LeBron James and Myles Garrett aren't built for soccer.

[Pakuni]

Lots of teams lose by three goals and are still better.
Source: Canada.

[Shaka Shart]

If you've played competitive team sports. You can suss out what putrid vibes does to a team

[MU82]

Senior year, I took Team Sports as an elective. My best friend, my girlfriend (now my wife) and Glenn Rivers were among the others in the class, which was taught by MU golf coach Charlie Nader.

During the soccer segment, my best friend was playing goalkeeper. He tried to go way out of the net to playthe ball, messed up and allowed a goal. Nader yelled at him for his "stupid play."

And that's what I thought of as I watched Belgium's third goal.

I texted my buddy, who said: "Did the U. S. Coach scream at him like Charlie yelled at me?"

[Dish]

We're a country of 342 million.
Even if 90% of our top athletes went to other sports, that leaves a bigger talent pool than a majority of WC teams, including about three times more than Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal, twice as much as the Netherlands. Add to the fact that we have massive resources at our disposal, and this excuse doesn't really hold.
Also, many of our top athletes don't have the body types/skills to play soccer. LeBron James and Myles Garrett aren't built for soccer.

You're not wrong, but the problem is, the US can not come up with a megastar player. I do think if you're a youth stud athlete in this country, for the most part, you're playing something other than soccer. It's just the reality of US sports culture.

[Jockey]

Sultan is right. I don't care about socker.

Let's celebrate another come from behind Brewers win instead.

[pbiflyer]

We're a country of 342 million.
Even if 90% of our top athletes went to other sports, that leaves a bigger talent pool than a majority of WC teams, including about three times more than Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal, twice as much as the Netherlands. Add to the fact that we have massive resources at our disposal, and this excuse doesn't really hold.
Also, many of our top athletes don't have the body types/skills to play soccer. LeBron James and Myles Garrett aren't built for soccer.

Well, now with private equity firms taking over many of the travel sport organizations we should get much better.

[SoCalEagle]

Only two shots on goal???

In the whole game???

[MuggsyB]

Only two shots on goal???

In the whole game???

Very good point.

WTF?

[Pakuni]

You're not wrong, but the problem is, the US can not come up with a megastar player. I do think if you're a youth stud athlete in this country, for the most part, you're playing something other than soccer. It's just the reality of US sports culture.

Lionel Messi is 5'7", 150
Mbappe is 5'10", 165
Vinicius Jr. is 5'9", 165
Luka Modric is 5'8", 150
Mo Salah is 5'9", 170
Neymar is 5'9", 160
Bruno Fernandes is 6', 140
Pedri is 5'9, 150
I could go on.
What sport are stud American athletes this size excelling at? Most of them would be frozen out of competing at high levels simply on account of their size.
We're not losing these athletes to football and hoops, or even many to baseball and hockey. We're just not developing them as soccer players.

[MU82]

Lionel Messi is 5'7", 150
Mbappe is 5'10", 165
Vinicius Jr. is 5'9", 165
Luka Modric is 5'8", 150
Mo Salah is 5'9", 170
Neymar is 5'9", 160
Bruno Fernandes is 6', 140
Pedri is 5'9, 150
I could go on.
What sport are stud American athletes this size excelling at? Most of them would be frozen out of competing at high levels simply on account of their size.
We're not losing these athletes to football and hoops, or even many to baseball and hockey. We're just not developing them as soccer players.

Yup. We even let Muggsy get away from the beautiful game and become a basketball legend.

[#UnleashThePortal]

You're not wrong, but the problem is, the US can not come up with a megastar player. I do think if you're a youth stud athlete in this country, for the most part, you're playing something other than soccer. It's just the reality of US sports culture.

Pakuni fails to understand the reality that the most athletic kids who have any shot of being a professional athlete are filtered into sports that generate the big money at a young age.

[#UnleashThePortal]

Lionel Messi is 5'7", 150
Mbappe is 5'10", 165
Vinicius Jr. is 5'9", 165
Luka Modric is 5'8", 150
Mo Salah is 5'9", 170
Neymar is 5'9", 160
Bruno Fernandes is 6', 140
Pedri is 5'9, 150
I could go on.
What sport are stud American athletes this size excelling at? Most of them would be frozen out of competing at high levels simply on account of their size.
We're not losing these athletes to football and hoops, or even many to baseball and hockey. We're just not developing them as soccer players.

I mean, all of those heights or weights are far below the national average for male height and weight. That pool is becoming less and less of a great lake and more of one of Minnesotas ponds.

[Dish]

Lionel Messi is 5'7", 150
Mbappe is 5'10", 165
Vinicius Jr. is 5'9", 165
Luka Modric is 5'8", 150
Mo Salah is 5'9", 170
Neymar is 5'9", 160
Bruno Fernandes is 6', 140
Pedri is 5'9, 150
I could go on.
What sport are stud American athletes this size excelling at? Most of them would be frozen out of competing at high levels simply on account of their size.
We're not losing these athletes to football and hoops, or even many to baseball and hockey. We're just not developing them as soccer players.

My casual guess would be most of those guys you mentioned went to an academy at an early age. The US has nothing like that (travel is its own beast, regardless of the sport).

If the US had ever had a megastar, I think that would inherently help the sport here tremendously (including development).

[Shaka Shart]

Yup. We even let Muggsy get away from the beautiful game and become a basketball legend.

I didn't see any 4s with a single apostrophe after in the above