The assumption is that the USA will establish itself as a true world power in Germany. That may well be true, but remember that only a handful of teams have made the quaterfinals on consecutive occasion since Mexico '86. I think the list reads Brasil, Germany, Italy, Holland, Argentina and that's it. So a second round and out wouldn't be a bad showing for the USA, no matter what prognosticators say. But I digress... here are some important milestones we still need to achieve on the road to Germany. 1. Beat a European team in Europe. The last victory we had in Europe was against Austria in 1998 before the World Cup, when Steve Sampson was coach. We must win in Europe if we are to establish ourself as a true power. 2. Go unbeaten at home. Obviously this is damn near impossible, but the best teams in the world are very difficult to beat at home. Losing to Honduras and Holland has robbed us of the homefield advantage, so it's up to the team to restablish it. 3. Win in Saprissa and Azteca. If we're going to be the top dogs in our region, we have to win in both places. Our main rivals must feel that there is no place where they are guaranteed a victory. Right now, both CR and Mexico know they have a trump card over us. 4. Win the Gold Cup and the qualifying tournament. 'Nuff said. Sachin
I think the two biggest keys ... both mentioned by you ... are winning in europe and azteca. We've beat Germany a couple times, but there's always excuses (they didn't send their best team, it was in Florida so the Germans were treating it as a vacation). If we want to be legit, we have to march into Berlin, London or Rome and do some damage. No more moral victories like the one against Italy prior to WC2002 Secondly, Azteca. It's the final piece of the puzzle. If we want to be the best concacaf team, we have to prove it in Azteca. We do that, the debate's over. those, for me, are the two most important milestones to reach because it gives the team confidence. in 1998 we played scared, in 2002 we played tough. If we want anything in 2006 we have to have a swagger and that's how they'll get it.
oh but i disagree.... we do not need to win in Azteca.. or any other big stadium... we dont need to beat Brazil, Argentina or Germany, all we need to do, i stay in the top Ten... i have an exchange student from brazil living in my house now. and he thinks that give 2 more world cups, and USA will be one of the best in the world. he thinks it will be like this 1) Brasil (being from Sao Paulo) 2)Argentina 3)USA 4)Italia 5)Germany
Sachin hit the nail on the head. Those issues need to be dealt with in order to really validate the rank we are at now.
As Ric Flair would say, "To be the man, you have to beat the man." And right now, Germany, Brasil, Argentina and Italy are the men. Sachin
i think the u.s could be a world power not by 2006 but maybe for the world cup in 2010. to those that think that we will become a world power in the game just with 2 good world cups you are wrong. It is a tradition of greatness that makes world powers. remember we got last place in 98.
Still, you've got to look at the teams we trotted out against Mexico and Costa Rica on the road last time: No Reyna, JOB, Mathis or Wolff in either of those teams. And Donovan wasn't hitting on all cylinders yet either. If we're 90% healthy going through qualifying this time, we'll have qualifying sewn up about 3/4 of the way through. Of course we're talking about the U.S. here, so we have about a snowball's chance in hell of being that healthy. It always seems that somebody(usually our best player) ends up getting injured.
Yes and no. Along the way, there are other milestones that mark our progress as a team. If we achieve these milestones, we surely will qualify and advance in Germany. Sachin
That's one hell of a list. I'd say we're making progress if we accomplish 2 of the 4 and I'd say we accomplish No. 3 by getting two or more points total in those two games.
Thats what I think. We started players like Kirovski, JMM, Cherenudolo, Earnie Stewart, Regis, Razov, armas and I can't even remember our midfield. Over the middle of that tourney very few our WC starters where on the team. Claudio Reyna John O'Brien Landon Donovan Frankie Hejduke Tony Sanneh (he might have started vs Hondo) DaMarcus Beasley Eddie Lewis Josh Wolff Brian McBride (blood clots i think) Clint Mathis Pablo Mastroeni I'm sure I am missing more...but with those guys not playing is it any surprise that we lost 4 straight? We have those guys and we accomplish 3 and 4. BTW we were an inch and a bad call away from beating Italy in Italy.
I don't think much of anything we do through 2003 means a damn other than for evaluation purposes. 2004-Olympics will be useful for evaluating some individual talent. Copa America(if we play)-An important tournament. WCQ semis-I'd like a clean sheet,but it's not likely. 2005-The Hex-Performance in Saprissa in Azteca will be important,both for moral and evaluation reasons.I think we will be fortunate to get points in both games.I hope I'm wrong. 2006-The WC.We can go unbeaten from now till June 2006,but if we bonk in Deustchland,it's all for naught. That's the hard truth.
The milestones sachin laid out are certainly achieveable, and in time the ones regarding dominating our region wil take care of themselves. But what I would like to see is many more friendlies on Euro soil throughout the next 4 years, not just 4 months before the WC. With half of the team playing over there, it would make sense to have some Euro training camps and games. Its also easier for MLS players in the offseason to go over there, than for Euros to come to the US during their club seasons.
And at least five times during each half, each US player has to yell : "NOW WE'RE GOIN' TO SCHOOL!" (I saw him at a mall 12 or 13 years ago and told him I could take him. He just lowered his glasses a bit and looked over them at me and said "In order to be the best, son, you gotta beat the best")
ummmm....I don't know about you but dying would make me kind of scared to. Which would happen if he got hit the wrong way while playing with blood clots. Maybe you should think a bit before saying things like that
I think a milestone will be if Clint Mathis can make it two weeks without a controversy. and Brian McBride is THE MAN! what's not to like ... hard worker, good attitude, scored three world cup goals, hot wife.
thats right, and france didn't even qualify in '94....oh wait there a world power, and england hasnt won since '66, but their still a world power, so i think a good showing in 06 could set us on our way. I don't think spain has ever done well....but their a world power......thats all from me!
Success for the USMNT can be summed up in three simple criteria. 1. Qualifying out of region (no matter how ugly the process--there's NO way we run the table here). 2. Advancing out of group play in the next WC finals -- and EVERY final. 3. Playing top teams (England, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil) face up, playing WINNABLE soccer against them (not winning, but ALWAYS being in a position to win), and competing hard. That's it. This is the maximum we can expect for the next couple of decades. By the way, this would mean we are a top 10 or top 20 side in the world, which is not too shabby.
This seems a bit naive to me. The odds that anyone (i.e. Brazil, Germany et al) would win in both places during WCQ are pretty low.
That's setting the bar too low. A couple of decades! What the heck was Holland in 1954? 20 years later they could have won the whole thing. I don't see why we can't expect the same success.
Yep. But injuries are part of the game. And you can rest assured they will happen again. Hopefully we have a better talent pool for 06.
England did it in 86 and 90. I did a post about this a few moths ago to demonstrate how uncommon this was and how we shouldn't build expectations so high. Of course, the fact we made it last time does not make it any harder to do so again. It's just not easy making the QFs period. We could play exactly as well and easily not make the second round. Personally, I am hoping we make the second round. I will consider that a step forward. If we just make the second round, we will finally have the respect of the world. There will be no dobut that we are a pretty good team.