Was the U.S. performance in the 2002 World Cup a fluke?

[NEKSoccer]

Was it a fluke? Was it for real? After viewing the Confederations Cup, what do YOU think? Let me know. Write away!

[MarioKempes]

Of course it wasn't a fluke. The Confederations Cup matches B teams against each other. We failed to advance, mostly because Cameroon, Brazil, and Turkey have better B teams than us. It's that simple.

[Roehl Sybing]

It was an absolute fluke. We suck. I fear for World Cup qualifying now. It's over. It's all over. Shame.

[PScott8502]

Originally posted by Roehl Sybing
It was an absolute fluke. We suck. I fear for World Cup qualifying now. It's over. It's all over. Shame.
Im gonna have to agree with you on this one.

[michael greene]

I predict that any WC we get to play Mexico will be a good WC for us. Any WC where we don't get to play them will be much harder.

Not sure if that makes WC02 a fluke or not, but as with any large tournament, the teams you draw play a huge role in how far you go.

[JRstriker12]

The USMNT perfomance at the 2002 WC was no fluke.

The Confed Cup is simply a great chance to squeeze high-quality friendlies into a condensed time period and try out some new and younger players. Bruce got what he wanted out of the confed cup. It would have been nice if we won, but it's clear that there were other priorities.

See BA's commnets on Ussoccer.com: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=38058&itype=113&iCategoryID=0


On what the team got out of the Confederations Cup.
“Overall, I think we can’t schedule games like this against these types of opponents. So, anyway you look at it, our plan was to use these three games as a method of evaluating players and giving them experience. I think we got exactly that. Obviously we are disappointed we are going home, but I’m not disappointed with the experiences we’ve had here in France.”

[Malaga CF fan]

The only thing flukey about the US success in 2002 was how they got into the second round. Korea didn't need to win to go through, and the way Portugal was playing, they were certainly banking on a tie. If Korea doesn't win, we all know what happens.

On the field against Mexico and Germany, the US was no fluke, they played inspired soccer and were unlucky to make the semis.

Arena's experimentation with players, only 3-4 players on the field in each game during the Confed Cup that had World Cup experience, is the reason the US didn't perform well. And I wasn't too concerned about how we actually ended up doing, the Confed Cup is a meaningless tournament. Brazil didn't even make the second round.

[aorig]

As far as I am concerned, the loss against Poland was a fluke.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
Was it a fluke? Was it for real? After viewing the Confederations Cup, what do YOU think? Let me know. Write away!

Was Brazil's World Cup championship a fluke? Because if you haven't noticed, they, too got eliminated in the first round of the Confederations Cup.

[Dr Jay]

Fluke ? - No way.

The problem is some people are now mixing up results with skill/style/quality of play. In other words, since we were a quarterfinalist, we should now paly the "beautiful game" every time out.

The US is arguably now one of the top 15 sides in the world in results. We are far from this in skill or quality of play.

While the Confeds cup showed us that our team is still far behind Brazil and Turkey in skill, the results were a whisker away from being something most posters here would have been crowing about.

One called hand ball (negating the PK) and one correctly called offside and the US goes 0-3-0 with 3 points in the the Cup and ADVANCES.

Arena's teams can get results. It may not look pretty now (and maybe won;t for another generation) but we can get results.

[JRstriker12]

Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
Was Brazil's World Cup championship a fluke? Because if you haven't noticed, they, too got eliminated in the first round of the Confederations Cup.

Good Point!

I wonder how the posters on the Brazil national team board are handling thier first round elimination?

Hopefully they're doing better than some USMNT fans.

[vinh08]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
Was Brazil's World Cup championship a fluke? Because if you haven't noticed, they, too got eliminated in the first round of the Confederations Cup.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Good Point!

I wonder how the posters on the Brazil national team board are handling thier first round elimination?

Hopefully they're doing better than some USMNT fans.


Please don't compare Brasil (five times world champs) and u.s.a. Just watch Brasil and learn from them. At least win 1 world cup first. Brasil and u.s.a. does not goes together for long long times.

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
Was Brazil's World Cup championship a fluke? Because if you haven't noticed, they, too got eliminated in the first round of the Confederations Cup.
WE had Donovan, Beasley, and a fair number of players from the WC 2002 roster (e.g. Hejduk, Lewis, Stewart). THEY had no Ronaldo, no Rivaldo, no Roberto Carlos, no Big Phil, and a coach that seems to like possession more than scoring. 'Nuff said.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
WE had Donovan, Beasley, and a fair number of players from the WC 2002 roster (e.g. Hejduk, Lewis, Stewart). THEY had no Ronaldo, no Rivaldo, no Roberto Carlos, no Big Phil, and a coach that seems to like possession more than scoring. 'Nuff said.

We also had Kirovski, they had Ronaldhino.


But if you guys enjoy penitentially lashing yourself in remorse, feel free.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by vinh08
Please don't compare Brasil (five times world champs) and u.s.a. Just watch Brasil and learn from them. At least win 1 world cup first. Brasil and u.s.a. does not goes together for long long times.

Why not? They have one thing in common: elimination in the first round of a meaningless tourney.

[Various Styles]

France has allways shown the True level of the USMNT http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/francais.gif

[soccerfan]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
Was it a fluke? Was it for real? After viewing the Confederations Cup, what do YOU think? Let me know. Write away!


now if you think about it, just take away one goal we scored against Portugal, remember that Donovan cross that fooled their goalie? ..we would have had 2 points in the group. Oh yeah we beat Mexico, we have their number.

All I can say is that we looked bad out there in this Conf Cup. It isn't that we didn't make it to the next round that we ended last in the group, but what worries is how badly they played. There is very little skill on the ball, a lot of bad passes, no imagination, no creativity, mistakes one after the other. Those of you who say this is our B team are full of crap, face it we need to rebuild and find players that will take us thru competitions for years to come. If this is what our future team looks like then we are going down really fast, one Adu will not be enough to save us.

[Roehl Sybing]

Oh, Christ.

Guys, there's going to be high times and there's going to be tough times. This is a tough time. Have a little more faith in this team, soccerfan. It's easy to be confident when you're in the last eight of the World Cup, the question is are you going to be there when they go three and out in the Confed Cup?

Rebuild? You gotta be kidding me.

[voros]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
WE had Donovan, Beasley, and a fair number of players from the WC 2002 roster (e.g. Hejduk, Lewis, Stewart). THEY had no Ronaldo, no Rivaldo, no Roberto Carlos, no Big Phil, and a coach that seems to like possession more than scoring. 'Nuff said.
I think we had 2 more players from our World Cup squad than they did. (9 to 7 I believe).

[Aidaen]

Everyone who voted fluke should be tarred and feathered.

Just to recap - you're getting upset about our B team being unable to advance in the group of death in a meaningless tournament.

FIRE ARENA NOW!