They'd be lucky to do as well. My early odds are 95% make it to Germany. 50% to the second round. 20% advance to the QF. 5% advance to the SF.
I pretty much agree. We'll go to Germany. Our chances of advancing to the second round depend largely on the group we get placed in. I think our team will be some better than the 2002 group but we might not get the same results.
Nothing is a sure thing, but the US getting to Germany is about as close as it gets. That said, I think the US will have a better team in 2006 than in 2002, but will find the going rougher. On the one hand, the US should have a higher quality team, particularly in terms of depth in the next world cup. On the other hand, I believe the European teams will not be so prone to upsets as they were in 2002. Since these reasons would seem to cancel each other out, I think the team will do about as well as last time.
Only if George Clooney and Co pull off an Ocean's 11 (or 12 now?) style sting. The USA should have they capacity to do at least as well as 2002, especially since they now have that experience as a team and more experience individually with players in Europe such as Damarcus Beasley at PSV Eindhoven, etc. On the other hand, they may now have very high opinions of themselves, have big heads and fail miserably....but a lot does depend on the groupings. PS: Do all these polls have to be about the USA??
You also seem to be assuming that the quality of all the other teams has remained stable since 02 - this is not the case.... Lets be honest - success will be driven, to a large extent, by the luck of the draw in the Group stage. The US will be paired with at least two teams of equal or better quality - they'll need to get results from at least two of the three group games to have a chance of getting out of the group. On the basis of recent history (last 3 tournies) the US has got out of the group stages twice - once when they were the hosts and secondly in 2002 when they had to rely on the result from the other game in the group going their way. I think people are underestimating just how hard it will be to get to the 2nd round even (look at the quality of the teams who have fallen at Group stage in the past to see how tough this can be).
What he said. So much depends on the draw. If USA gets drawn into a group with say Italy, Russia, and Saudi Arabia--I like our chances very much. However, say the draw includes Brazil, Netherlands, and Japan--I'd be less optimistic.
I totally disagree. All the US needs to do is know that they can win and they can beat anyone regardless of the draw. Period.
I don't like the poll choices. I will be surprised if they do as well as 02, in terms of making it to the quarterfinals, but that doesn't mean that the 02 result was a fluke. You can't call it a fluke. The Mexico game could have gone either way, but that is also true of the Germany game. I think the US can make it to the second round, but a lot depends on who is in their group. After that, it is a crapshoot and they will need some luck.
a negative opinion is a sign of positive result, and the other way around, so, i like it when people give negative prediction.
Like I said, if they have very high opinions of themselves and big heads, they will fail miserably.... Be realistic, and take it one game at a time.
Exactly. That was my response immediately upon reading the choices. I don't think they'll do as well as they did last time, but that doesn't mean their result last time was a fluke. We are too young as a reasonably decent soccer nation to lose sight of just how incredibly hard consistently strong WC performance is. Our dreams should be sky-high; but our ideas of what would be a good result should be grounded in, oh, how hard it is for even the best soccer countries to consistently make the finals AND make it out of the group stage at the finals.
Erm... OK so if they believe they will win they will win... even if the other team scores more real goals. I don't think any team goes into the World Cup believing anything less than that they can win it all. So the odds of your winning because you believe is... what? 1 in 32...
It's too tough to predict. Even if you have a good team, you need a certain element of luck to move through the rounds of the WC. A couple of key injuries, wrong call, bad draw, and an Arena mistake and you have a real quick exit.
First of all, it's way too early to tell here. Secondly, we're obviously going to be playing a different role than before. Then, we were the unscouted underdogs. Who knows what will happen between now and then and who knows what the future will have in store...
My feeling is that the US will do very well, as long as they aren't placed in the group of death. With that said, they should make the round of 16 at the least. I would kill to have USA v. Germany again, and avenge our loss in their homeland. That would be amazing and solidify the Americans as a world power in the soccer/football world! Let is be stated however, I think WC 2010 in South America will prove to be the best tournament ever due to it's neutral location, much like 2002. That will be the perfect opporunity for the US or England to win it all!
Agreed! 2010: Not to mention the matches will be on television at a reasonable hour here in the states
Don't forget a possible player's strike. If we have to brings scabs to T+T and lose, it'll be a tough road to even make it to Germany. We need at least a point there.
I don't think I missed the point! You did say that all they had to do was "know that they can and that they can beat anyone." Of course they know they can win... I know they can win... every USA fan knows they can win... whether that is what happens is another story all together... I believe they will do quite well and I will not believe they can do anything less than win it all... that is until I am proven wrong! I hope I am not!
It was the Biggest Fluke Ever. No chance of repeating. __________________________________________________________ the best jersey http://search.ebay.com/albanian-soccer_W0QQsokeywordredirectZ1QQsonewuserZ1