I'd add: getting to the knockout stage in three of the four World Cups before the one we missed puts us in a pretty exclusive group of national teams. FWIW, we also outperformed England in three of four World Cups.
Bullshit. They win because they have better players. We have players grossly inflated by the fans, because most of our fans couldn't analyze a soccer game if their lives depended on it, so they evaluate players based on their expected market value and the club where they play.
Okay, I've just deleted a stereotype of Mexicans. Further repetitions of that shit from anybody will generate a ban. Also, this thread is being moved to USA Men.
You must work for Gillette Masculinity has no internal coherence or definition and is an amorphous concept...???????? What the heck do they teach you kids in school now-a-days???
My own experience as a long-suffering 'club soccer Dad' is that our youth "system" tends to segregate the "elite" players from the pack WAY too early. The kids who get groomed for select clubs, academies, and ultimately for college ball--sure, we all know that the pay-to-play model weeds out a lot of kids for non-soccer reasons--but the rush to essentially create all-start teams early on, and then focus on giving those kids a "competitive" environment (based on other clubs culling the herd early as well) creates a rather static environment. It's not that the cohort of players who were chosen rather early on in development are bad, necessarily, nor that they're not competitive in the context of their games and whatnot.They often are the kids who are more stereotypically 'athletic' and very often were the kids who were more obviously and vocally competitive at a young age. You can win a lot of youth tourneys and state cups with those kids, and your club will send a lot of them on to college teams--which validates their work in the eyes of customers (parents). But that competitive environment is rather sterile. And it's made of up kids with roughly similar trajectories--they were more or less the "all-star" kids at a young age, always the first-team kids, always the automatic starters in tournament games. They played plenty of competitive games with and against other "elite" players; but they really never had to compete just for a chance to play. It's sorta counter-intuitive, but by focusing so much on (badly, admittedly) identifying "elite" players early, we not only denied a lot of late-bloomers the opportunity to develop, the system also produces "elite" players who aren't hungry. And so when they rise to a level of play one step beyond their current capabilities, they simply don't have the humility or tenacity to dig in and grind.
Christian Pulisic is the one who described the team as playing scared. He's also the guy who said that its inexcusable to do so.
I think you're on to something here. At what point does the grit and tenacity come in that made a player like Michael Jordan learn to continue to add to his game simply to destroy his friends (and enemies) on the way to championships?
While nothing is 100% dependable, market value is one of the best indicators. It literally involves people risking money on that player.
All the takes in here are the dumbest things I have ever read. Soytuyo (or Suyuntuy) wrote it best, most of you are too stupid to even analize the basic concepts of football. Blaming society for USMNT faults is a neanderthal brain answer. USMNT sucks because the player pool is poor (besides Pulisic and maybe Dest) and the coach is not prepared to manage a national team.
The USMNT suffers from a lack of assertiveness and a lack of aggression. That's obvious from watching the team play. The lack of assertiveness is represented by their always being on the back foot, reacting to the other team rather than dictating to the other team, being mentally a step or two behind (this is a big one with Mexico), the reluctance to "try sh*t", the reluctance to set the tone in the mental game, etc. The lack of aggression is exemplified by the inability to win second balls, the inability to create chances from set pieces, the reluctance to put other defenders on the back foot by taking them one v one, and the reluctance to deliver "message" fouls or hard fouls to throw the other team off of their mental game. In the world of animal struggles for primacy, we're getting consistently beaten by stronger alpha males. If it offends you that the natural biological disposition is for competitive individuals to exhibit assertiveness, aggressiveness, strength, mental toughness. intelligence, and the desire to destroy the opponent at all cost, then you may want to shield your sensitive eyes from the brutality of competition. You can clean up the mess after the battle.
I agree. They aren't assertive at all however what they lack is not aggressiveness, they lack passion. Aggression has no place in football, we are not rugby. The lack of tactics is both the marks of a poor coach and under-average players who have no cohesion so they don't know how to create ''plays'' Three words: Poor player pool. When you only have 1 creative player, your team will suffer if the other team cancels him Meme take. Football doesn't toughness, it needs creativity, passion, space-awareness and cohesion. The things in bold are my answers.
Football absolutely needs toughness. The players that hit the field in Europe are honing that toughness in training. By the time they get on the game sheet they have walked over their own teammates (potential replacements) and subdued them. It isn't any wonder that our players struggle to survive when they go to Europe...they aren't fit for the struggle. Competition is brutality. Brutality requires mental toughness first, but physical toughness as well.
Seems to me dudes who walk around all worried about losing their masculinity are a bunch of insecure pussies.
CP can't even change a tire, he gets his butler to do it! Meanwhile Brad Friedel had to survive parking lot brawls after every game in his day.
He could/should have an assist after dribbling through the entire Mex defense then laying the ball off to Morales. Morales should have done much better with that shot.
Fear? You think Pulisic, Adams, McKennie and the rest of our Euro boys survive in the toughest leagues in the world, against the best players the world has to offer if they had fear? F*CK NO. Fear apply to the little MLS guys that never face the likes of Chicharito, Chuckie, etc. in their entire MLS careers. Guys like Chuckie and Chicha is a dimes a dozens in the EPL and BL. The problem with this team is we keep playing guys that don't belong, specifically the MLS guys. Did you see fear in Morales? Hell no you did not. I love that kid. He'll take on those Mex any days of the week. He's been hardened and seasoned by the rough week to week grind of the Bundi. MLS guys are a bunch of pussies and don't belong in the International games. It will be decades before you see an MLS guy like Donovan. That's just fact. You play MLS guys, with a mediocre MLS coach; that's what you get. This program is running straight to the ground.
This is exactly why I respect, admire, and prefer the Euro guys. They are willing to throw themselves against the walls, climb the mountains, and face the beast; even if they failed. While MLSers take the easy route. Most MLSers don't even have the talents nor the mentality to even try to climb the hills.
Nah.... They win because they have a much better coach that knows exactly how to coach a soccer team at the international level. Our players don't suck, our coach does. We have won against them with arguably less talents for years, this coach just can't win.
Exactly! You don't call out the team if you have any kind of respect for the coach. I am afraid 3G had lost Pulisic. I wonder if he even won Pulisic in the first place.