im not sure if this belongs here but ill write it anyway.......... if u put the usa world cup 2002 team in one of the euro 2004 qualifling groups which group would they advance in and which ones they would not??
we'd win each group, outscoring each opponent by AT LEAST eight goals. but that's only if freddy adu plays.
It doesn't matter what teams you match the U.S team against, because they would advance from their group no matter what. Whether people or admit it or not, the U.S is one of the best soccer teams in the world, and would play very competitive soccer against any of the top European teams.
Armas:That was dumb. We can't qualify in all the groups, possibly a few. Example: Holland 2 USA 0 Germany 1 USA 0 Poland 3 USA 1 Ireland 2 USA 1 Italy also beat us a couple months ago. Germany 4 USA 2. The last time in a long time we beat a european team was against Portugal, but they qualify automatically as hosts. USA is very good. They could qualify out of some of the groups, but definitely not all of them! Ringo: Are you obsessed with Ado? Unless he's better than Pel'e, he's not as good as you think he is.
All of those losses except Holland were away, and in the Holland match we only lost because Ronald Waterreus stood on his head in goal.
I believe they could qualify out of all of them. Call me whatever you like, but we have a great team.These scores don't reflect anything. They were to see what we could do. Yes, we lost to Holland, but if you watched the game you saw we clearly dominated, and if it wasn't for a great game by their goalie, then the game was ours. The Ireland game was at Ireland, and yes we got beaten fair and square, but we played very well, and we could beat them on any given day. The Italy game was in Italy, and the united states took it to them until Regis played with the ball and got stripped of it for their goal. The Germany vs United States has no relation to what the U.S can do now. We took it to Germany in the World Cup, and if Kahn wasn't a superhero, than we're in the semis playing a superior Korean side, which we tied in hostile territory earlier in the cup, and beaten earlier that year. SOCCERFAN220, you are giving old results of games that nobody even cares about, because we know now that we can compete with any of the European powers.
You left out Poland 3 US 1, in the WC, when we only needed a tie to advance. I think that score reflected something. When the pressure was on to produce a result at the biggest stage, we laid an egg. I guess theres no excuse for that, except the Landon "foul". Poland's not exactly a European power either, they also lost their other 2 games at the WC to SK and Portugal. We definitely have room for improvement. There are some friendly scores in those, but still, they're losses to Europe and not victories. Except for Portugal.
I'm surprised somebody actually took my original post serious. Just having fun, fella. Feel free to join in at your leisure.
The US would have a difficult time advancing in most of the 10 groups. In each group of 5 teams, only the FIRST PLACE team automatically advances. The runner-up in each group winds up playing in a play-off for the 5 additional spots. Seeing as how almost each group has one of the traditional European "powers" in it, I think the US would be hard pressed to finish first in just about all of the groups. Sure, the US would finish first in Group 8 (Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Estonia) and Group 10 (Albania, Georgia, Ireland, Russia, and Switzerland). But in Group 1 you've got France, Group 2 - Denmark, Group 3 - Holland, Group 4 - Poland and Sweden, Group 5 - Germany, Group 6 - Spain, Group 7 - England and Turkey, and Group 9 - Italy. That's some pretty tough competition. http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/Euro2004/Teams/index.html
you cant be serious about France being a power right now can you? Sure they have been great in the past....but their back line is too shaky to do anything...I think we could be them.....Denmark has a good team...we would match up with them...I still think we can beat Poland. We can beat England and hang with Turkey....the only teams that I think would beat us more than 50% of the time are Holland, Sweden, Spain, Germany, and Italy......this is with the current teams that each country fields....
Good lord. The European club season is finally underway, but clearly the silly season has begun on the USMNT big soccer board.
There's nothing "silly" about this. The original thread question was which of the groups the U.S could qualify out of. They have the ability and skill to qualify out of any of the groups. If you have ever seen them play, then you would know that, so your post is of no relation to this thread.
Silly season indeed! Sorry, but we’d be hard pressed to top these groups also. I’d like to see us breeze through CONCACAF qualifying once before we start declaring we could easily conquer any European group.
We are not saying we could easily breeze through any European group, we are saying we could beat the top Euro teams on any given day.Sure we're not going to go up to England and Holland and blow them out of the water, but we can certainly compete with all of the top Euro teams.
My rundown of the first five groups Group 1: France, Slovenia, Isreal, Cyprus, Malta I like the USA's chances here--I bet bet the USA finsihes either 1st or second in this group. France is the only nation that could consistently compete with them. They can also enjoy some nice island breezes while they are at it. 75% chance. Group 2: Romania, Denmark, Norway, Bosnia-H, Luxembourg This is a dicey group. I think it would be a difficult four way struggle between Romania, Denmark, Norway and the US. Any of those four could finish in any of the top four positions. 35% chance. Group 3: Czech Republic, Netherlands, Austria, Belarus, Moldova This would be a nearly impossible group for the US to qualify from. The bottom three are ebatable, but the top two are excellent. 30% chance. Group 4: Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, San Marino I think this is a toss-up. Sure, the USA lost to Poland, but I didn't see Poland advance out of the group. 50% chance. Group 5: Germany, Scotland, Iceland, Lithuania, Faroes. This group is weaker than France's. Still, Germany is less likely to stumble against the other four than the USA would be, so a play-off might be the only way in for the USA here. 60% chance.
Next Five Groups Group 6: Spain, Ukraine, Greece, Northern Ireland, Armenia Difficult group here. I would favor the USA to finish second, simply because Spain would probably run the table. Odds: 51% Group 7: Turkey, England, Slovakia, Macedonia, Lich. Oh baby--the group USA fans have waited for all their lives. I don't care if the USA qualifies, as along as they beat England. Odds: 30% Group 8: Belgium, Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Andorra This has qualification written all over it. I don't care how many times in a row Belgium has qualified. The USA would actually be favored to win this group, even by the European press. Odds: 80% Group 9: Italy, Yugoslavia, Finland, Wales, Azerbajan Another difficult group. I think Yugoslavia is really on the wane, however. Italy is also not at its strongest, and I also do not beleive Finland is quote there just yet. Odds: 40% Group 10: Ireland, Russia, Switzerland, Georgia, Albania Some wild stuff here--any group feautring the Russians and the Irish--much less both--is always unpredictable. Very, very difficult to predict. Odds: 45% Please keep in mind that every group, if the chances for each team were totaled, it would add up to 150%. One auto qualifier (100%) and one playoff team (50%).
Perhaps an equally interesting question is "how many European teams could have qualified out of CONCACAF?" I don't think its a very long list. Less than 16 could even have made it out of the USA's seminfinal group.
UEFA v. CONCACAF Photar, I see it differently… Every UEFA team would gladly swap places with a CONCACAF member, and I imagine it would mean automatic qualification for at least 16 of ‘em.
Re: UEFA v. CONCACAF I beg to differ. In the previous WC, Europe's elite struggled somewhat against CONCACAF's elite, as both sides went 2-2-2 when playing each other (7 goals CONCACAF, 8 goals UEFA), all on nuetral ground. Eight points from six matches is roughly the same level that Honduras played against Mexico, Costa Rica and the USA. In six matches, Honduras went 2-1-3 , seven points (11 GF - 13 GA) against the same three teams. Now, the six European sides were Germany, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Poland and Turkey, four group winners in UEFA qualifying, and two playoff qualifiers. Further, four of the six are ranked in the top ten on the European qualifying table, with Croatia and Poland both ranked in the second ten. If this high level UEFA teams can only perform slightly better against CONCACAF's elite than Honduras did, I would be more than a little worried about qualifying out of CONCACAF, no matter which UEFA team I supported.
Photar It’s hard to draw any conclusion from just 6 games. What happens to your analysis when you throw in the 1998 Cup?
nothing, thats too long ago to include anything that happened. Our team is much different now....along with many other nations(France)....
One thing to remember is that a league competition does tend to sort out the men from the boys more often than not, in a way that cup football often doesn't. There are a lot less shock results in qualifiers than there are in the qualifying tournaments. Partly due to the wider quality gap, but also because there isn't the same 'instant glory' incentive for a lesser team to get a better result. They know over 10 matches it's going to be a lot harder. Also just because the USA could beat a certain team on their day it doesn't mean they would. For example a team like Spurs in the EPL can beat any other team on their day, but that doesn't mean they are the best team in the division as it's amazingly unlikely that it will be their day all season. Sure if the USA played France and USA played well and France played badly then the US could win, but if France played well and the US played badly the US would get hammered. Rather than saying if the US played well they'd win this group and come second in this group or whatever, ask how you'd do if the US played average - or two put it another way, one game in three would be like the Portugal match, one in three would be like the Korea match and one performace in three would be like the Poland game. Would you still be as confident with that kind of form? If the US took the lesser European teams lightly they could be in for a hell of shock as well. You surprised everyone at this world cup, but you can't surprise everyone twice.