Both opinions here are some of the stupidest I've ever read, so this certainly seems like the best place for them. The US is easily a top 50 team. Historical results and talent level clearly show that. I'm guessing you're more troll than poster.
It's also unpopular but American fans here and on reddit severely overrate the US team. Have you been watching the WC and notice how far below the US really is compared to the teams playing?
Stupid opinions? The US has been playing poorly for years now and looks both incompetent and intimidated against most of its opponents. This program has serious structural problems that if they are not addressed, are going to lead to the MNT's irrelevance in America's sporting culture and Mexico becoming the USA's de facto home team if it hasn't already. USSF itself appears to be in complete disarray. Its leadership isn't even hiding that fact now.
Also, in addition to Mexico look north to Canada. The CSA is well organized and made big plans to improve the national team. And they're starting a proper league that's more attractive to soccer fans and I bet the CPL will surpass MLS 5 years from now. When Canada missed the Hex last time, they realized they need to do more than tagging along US leagues and create their own path. Canadians know what's wrong with US soccer and they understand things better than the USSF.
Also, not an opinion by why do people still support MLS? What other country has such a useless, unsuccessful, mediocre, unpopular league as their top division? What has MLS done to deserve any credit and fans?
A student who’s failing can get to D or C level just by cracking a book open. Going from B- to A is lot harder. Plus, maybe we should let Canada qualify for a hex before we start emulating them.
Sure thing. USSF sucks. That doesn't invalidate historical accomplishments. And your "Mexico = de facto home team" is complete and utter nonsense, pulled from the ether.
There's a name for this. It's called "convergence". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(economics) Canada's been so terrible, that their advancement to the knockout stages of the GC is a giant step forward after their high-water mark of a 2000 GC victory. The fact that it's plausible to see Canada qualify for the Hex, is a giant leap from previous cycles, their last best chance coming in 2012 before an 8-1 defeat at Honduras.
Nonsense? Every time the USA plays Mexico anywhere near the Mexican border, the entire stadium is dressed in green. Even worse, we have our own federation and even our own players telling us to root for Mexico in the World Cup! If Mexico isn't the de facto home team at this point, I'm not sure who is.
I don't care about retired players wanting to root for Mexico or anybody else even though personally I never "adopt" a team when the U.S. is out.
What does SUM have to do with the selection of a USMNT coach? Seriously! Asks someone who obviously never watches it. MLS has provided a stable and gradually improving level of top-flight soccer. I don't know what people like you want? NASL version 3? GrubHub has grown faster than Amazon and Facebook over the last 3 years but will never get near their market cap. The Canadian national team is improving largely because of MLS! Alphonso Davies, Jonathan Osorio, Ashtone Morgan, Jordan Hamilton, Cyle Larin, Raheem Edwards, Michael Petrasso, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Jay Chapman for instance. I can't see how 8 to 10 teams, most playing in stadiums with 5-8k capacity, in a country spread across 6 time zones will achieve anything like MLS has in the next 2 decades. CanPL is based on a report published in 2013. After 6 years they've still only confirmed 7 teams. Asked any Canadian fans for their opinion of CSF recently?
Player. Not Player(s). And Donovan has made a nice habit over the years of saying stupid sh!t and showing what a flake he is so his Mexico comment simply cemented his Landy-Cakes flake status.
Would people be so pissed if Donovan said he was supporting England or Germany? It's his choice, he grew up around Mexicans, he obviously likes their culture, and he learned to play with Mexican-Americans. Also he's making his money over there now. Doesn't mean that because I liked Donovan as a player I have to support Mexico, or that because I don't plan to support them I must stop liking Donovan. Big deal, to each their own.
What does the FBI have to do with Presidential elections? Soccer United Marketing is the for-profit marketing arm of Major League Soccer and the exclusive marketing partner of the United States Soccer Federation,[1] which primarily both deal in the promotion and sanctioning of professional soccer in the United States.[2] Roger A. Pielke, Jr., a noted author, professor, and chair of the Sports Governance Center in the Department of Athletics at the University of Colorado Boulder, confirms that Soccer United Marketing, as the marketing arm of Major League Soccer, is affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation.[7] Regarding the relationship between Soccer United Marketing and United States Soccer Federation, Roger A. Pielke, Jr. writes that the United States Soccer Federation "exempts from its conflict of interest policy 'any constituent or affiliated member entities of U.S. Soccer'”, which includes Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing.[8] Roger A. Pielke, Jr. writes, sourcing the New York Daily news, that this conflict of interest exemption allowed Sunil Gulati to become President of the United States Soccer Federation while also being a "founder, board member, and deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer, and a member of Soccer United Marketing's Board of Directors.[9][10] Describing the relationship between Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation, MLS Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber told Sports Illustrated, " Sunil and Dan (Flynn) had this view that as the governing body of the sport they would make commitments on the commercial side and on the competitive side to have MLS be the leader of the sport." He continued to say, "That’s not something that exists in other parts of the world. I believe that Sunil could have made a different decision when he came in as president (in 2006), and had he made that decision MLS isn’t what it is today. Because we are joined at the hip.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer_United_Marketing The actual inter-related workings of SUM, MLS and US Soccer are opaque, to put it mildly. We do not know if SUM provides any compensation to US Soccer officials or if any of these individuals have an equity stake in SUM. We also do not know much about the business relationships between SUM, MLS owners, sponsors, vendors, clients and others with a financial interest in decisions made by SUM. That includes US Soccer officials who oversee the organization’s non-profit functions. Of course, even when everything is done appropriately and above board a crucial aspect of managing COI is that the appearance of conflicts is just as important as any actual conflicts. The “cozy” relationship of US Soccer and SUM certainly appears problematic to the outside observer. To improve its governance, US Soccer should undergo a high-level, independent evaluation of the relationship of US Soccer, MLS and SUM. Such evaluation will no doubt be strongly resisted because in many respects US Soccer, MLS and SUM are one and the same. However, the mixing of business interests and non-profit sports governance is a recipe for disaster, as we have seen repeatedly in the soccer world in recent years. The business and non-profit functions currently under the umbrella of US Soccer should be clearly separated into completely separate organizations. http://www.soccernomics-agency.com/?p=973 tldr: SUM has a marked interest in using the USMNT as a marketing tool for MLS and vice versa. A USMNT coach loyal to MLS serves their interests.
There have been more and more USA fans over the last 20-ish years, this is an obvious trend. Mexico clearly has larger numbers of "passionate" fans, I don't think anyone would really deny this. If the US/Mexico is playing far away, more Mexican fans are going to be spending thousands of dollars to go to see their team play than Americans. But I don't think that necessarily means that there are more "fans" of the MXNT compared to the USMNT. There are ~36.5 million Americans with full or partial Mexican heritage in the US. We could assume that all of them are Mexican fans, which we know is not true, and we'd still have ~295 million US citizens to categorize. Anyone who's from another country that likes soccer will almost automatically root for their home country or the USA, or perhaps both. The vast majority of people, who aren't into soccer whatsoever, are going to root for the USA by default. It's an argument that's devoid of statistics, but with what we have and a little logical reasoning, I think it's pretty clear.
Well, all that area used to be Mexico, or rather land of the tribes that are the same people with the tribes south of the border. The Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty and the Gadsden Purchase were done without consulting the tribes, so many got split right down the middle, and the people on both sides are still pretty much the same people after 150 years (take the Comanche, who're not just genetically very similar to the Aztecs but spoke a language related to Náhuatl until recently). So it's like the Poles in Silesia and Opole (where Podolski and Klose were born), who have preserved their German lineage and, at World Cup time, still root for Germany, after a century.
Mexico beat Germany. Mexico defended well, but Mexico was Mexico. They should have scored 4 or 5 goals. Chicharito looks like he actively wants to not score. At least not if it’s in the run of play. He still loves diving and getting penalties. Lozano and Layun are wasteful. So is Tecatito, even if he didn’t play in this one. Germany was terrible in this game. They were worse than when we beat them in Germany with Mix and Zardes leading the charge. They had no desire to get back on defense or defend the counter. They had no ability to combine in the build up or connect on a cross. When your best offense comes from your box to box midfielder firing 30 yard shots over and over again, you don’t deserve to beat anyone. Again, Mexico defended well. They had some good breakout passes and long balls that connected. But if I was a Mexican fan, I wouldn’t be counting my chickens before I faced Sweden. This game was more about Germany being horrible.
Thanks Jurgen! In 2013 attendances for USMNT home friendlies were 11,737 (Canada), 27,720, 47,359, 25,080 In 2016 the USMNT couldn't break 10,000. SUM is a marketing organization responsible for MLS, USSF and CONCACAF sponsorship and TV rights including CONCACAF friendlies and international tournaments played in the US. If it's responsible for the appointment of the USA head coach then why not the Mexican or Jamaican head coach?
Key word here is "exclusive". USSF does not market its teams with any other company. Mexico, Jamaica, et al. are free to find other sponsors and marketing agencies to help market their brand. Do you think it's only SUM marketing the MXNT? Of course not, it's the TV giants like TV Azteca and Univision...
"SUM holds the exclusive commercial rights to Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation, as well as promotional, operational and marketing rights to Mexican National Team games played in the United States, in addition to the CONCACAF Gold Cup™ and the 2016 Copa America Centenario™. " Source But claiming they have any say in appointing a US coach is ridiculous. It's a football decision made by a footballing body. To appoint an incompetent coach just because he has a nice smile, wavy hair and a foreign accent is not in the interests of SUM, a competent head coach is.
SUM has rights to marketing Mexican games hosted in the US. Which is, for one thing, far more limited than marketing everything for the Mexican FA. In addition, SUM, MLS, and USSF have members that serve in leadership positions in multiple organizations, and It's well-established that these organizations have relied on their own insular networks, mixed with nepotism and quid-pro-quo, to fill roles in each organization. For example, SUM coordinates with the MLS commissioner Don Garber, as well as USSF, to co-brand MLS with the MNT. Certainly we see from MLS's content, they are interested in a US National Team that boosts the league's profile as much as possible by using as many MLS players as possible. Which isn't a big deal on the face of it, except for the fact that they co-brand with the USSF, they use the same pot of marketing resources, and they advise the USSF in matters of soccer by serving on advisory committees (from what I recall, these advisory committees have been restructured in the wake of the WCQ failure, but I'm not entirely sure). Perhaps the insular nature of all of these organizations is what's to blame, rather than their relationships with each other, but so long as they are joined at the hip the way that they are, they will never not be a good ol' boy network.