If 10+ 23 to 24 year olds go to the world cup in 2022, I think we can call it a golden generation. Maybe short periods of comfort may be helpful in case of being a minor, injury, confidence shot, etc but competition makes players better. The best at just about every profession have to deal with top competition through out their careers.
Simply bringing a young team to a WC does not make it a golden generation. It has to be coupled with what is widely perceived as the team having legitimate expectations.
Sometimes "golden generations" fail to bring home the trophies that their fans have hoped for. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they were failures, because international tournaments are a bit of a crap shoot even for very good teams. A few bad games or bad breaks can kill your chances for glory in any given year, even if you have an excellent team. For example, the Czech Republic repeatedly failed to qualify for the World Cup during the prime years of their "golden generation." But during that same era, their core of star players elevated them into the top 10 or so teams in the world, and if they'd hosted a World Cup they'd have had a decent chance of winning it. After that generation burned out (which more or less happened between the first and second games of the 2006 WC group stage, bad timing for us), they haven't returned to similar heights. So, even though they had no World Cup success and didn't accomplish anything beyond making the Euro 2004 semifinal, I don't think that Koller-Nedved-Poborsky-Smicer really failed to live up to their potential. [edited - the Czechs also made the 1996 Euro final - that was before I started following international soccer, so I forgot about it.] You can apply the same logic to the current generation of US players. Will they win any World Cup medals or come close? No way of knowing, because no generation of players gets more than a few chances at that, and even top teams usually need some luck. But, what if we define success in terms of the question "will they raise the US to previously unseen competitive heights, and make us more likely than ever to reach the late World Cup stages?" I think there's a high probability of success by that measure.
i think they'd have to dominate in qualifying and make a run in the WC to attain golden status. but that's just me.
I think the term "golden generation" refers mostly to the individuals and what they have accomplished, particularly with their clubs. It's more looking forward at what the national team hopes to do during their era than looking backward at what it did do.
The term is used about talent and less about results. I'd focus on performances than results. I say a young team with similar expectations of past teams would be enough. Anything beyond that would definitely do it. Strong performances would be enough for there to be significant expectations for the next cycle. Keep in mind that I think we are producing better and more youth players now, Budesliga and other leagues are recruiting our players, MLS is feeling that pressure and responding by playing more young players, and have decided to be a selling league. I think we are entering a new phase and this just the first wave. I could easily see our best XI in a few years looking something like this... Pulisic--------Sargent--------Weah -----------Mckennie--Mendez------- ---------------------Adams--------------- Robinson-Brooks-Miazga-Dest -------------------Steffen------------------ Based on the definition that is six starting. I think five of them should be our starters now. I think that could the best/most complete starting lineup we've ever had. The next 10 guys in that group that look to have the potential to help fill out the squad... FW: Soto W: Amon MF: Pomykal, Mihailovic, Carleton, Durkin DF: Gloster, Richards, CCV, EPB, Keep in mind that starters tonight include Ream, Long, Trapp, Arriola, Morris Zardes. That isnt a large hurdle for these guys to get over. I'd take CCV, EPB, Durkin over the first three right now.
Well bless Yedlin's heart. I like his optimism, but yeah--it's an observation borne of coming up in a time of sparse talent that makes this round look uniquely awesome. Some really good posts here about what makes a generation "golden" and whether this one qualifies, so I'll add only this: My sense is that the most conspicuous GGs that come to mind are famous for (perceived) underperforming. The parens are key; Portugal may not have deserved to do any better than they did from Euro 96-WC06, but that wasn't terribly shabby (included a WC semi and a EuroCup final), but they are widely perceived in that country's sport culture to have been a disappointment. Point being, labeling a generation as golden is all downside: It places unreasonably high expectations on young players who already have a lot of pressure on them, and often sets goals so lofty that even good outcomes are seen as failures. This is a program that is just starting to dig itself out of the ignominious mire of a historically humiliating failed WCQ campaign, and people are already talking about a deep WC run in 2026? DGMW I'd love to see this as much as anyone and there are some good signs, but let's not jinx things before they even get started. I say if anyone thinks this generation is golden, they should keep it to themselves and just let the kids play.
I didn't know where to put this, but considering Yedlin's optimism it's as good a place as anywhere. Check out @zlebmada’s Tweet: Watched some of Mexico-Paraguay and I have a report: We're way behind El Tri.Not talking manager or system, just player quality. First touch, ideas, decision-making, sharpness in physical battles. It's no contest. 🇲🇽 > 🇺🇸. And that was arguably Mexico's B squad.— scuffed (@scuffedpod) March 28, 2019 Check out @zlebmada’s Tweet: The lost generation is real! No amount of tinkering with roster, formation and approach overcomes the gap. We badly need new blood in the US player pool before Qatar. Ideally several current U20s hit. I think they might! Until then it'll be a slog vs real competition.— scuffed (@scuffedpod) March 28, 2019 I'm as much a fan of the USMNT as anyone, but if I'm being honest we're just not as good as Mexico. We're finally making strides with the DA, HGs, etc., but we have a long way to go. Beyond the DA, we still have a way to go with the coaching and environments we have at the youngest ages. That holds the key to producing better players in the next generation and beyond.
Seems like Mex is at peak Mex. They're really good right now. For myself, I wouldn't use them as a measuring stick. I tip my sombrero to them. For us, there is little to go on, because there has been so much turn over. But, we seem to be under performing. We're a year and a half into the qualifying, we should be better than we are. I remain confident about the future. We've been a pretty good team, mostly, since '94. And, the resources going into development dwarf what was going on 20 years ago. It would be better if MLS prioritized developing American players - but Garber has said he doesn't give a rats ass about that. Still, all those academies, where once there was only Bradenton, are going to produce talent. And the opportunities to go abroad are much greater than they used to be. We will, eventually, be consistently very good. And, a note on Mex, it's my understanding that soccer wasn't much of a big deal there until the 80's. Maybe it was ramping up before the WC, but their WC probably gave it a big boost. Like us. Of course, we started from zero, and there are the 3 major sports to compete with, unlike in Mex. They have two big advantages: 1) no other sports to compete with; 2) their league (and federation) care about the success of the national team.