The Coming ‘Golden Generation’ Will Not Accomplish What the 2002 Team Accomplished

I think Reyna tried to show some leadership early on. Aaronson did more in the second half than Pulisic who just disappeared.

 

Germany played the reserves and injured Puskas in that game. The Hungarian talisman played the final still injured, and the Germans sent their A-team.

They had not been seeded in that group because they just returned to FIFA in 1950, after WW2.

 

Does anyone actually expect that? This group is a shambolic mess and I dont know what could fix that as long as the Federation remains a nest of corruption and nepotism.

 

Thank you for talking me off a ledge. You are undoubtedly right. I suspect there is some “leadership” being displayed after that sorry performance even.

 

I hope so. Huge opportunity for these guys to step up and start to deliver. If it goes badly, yes, Berhalter deserves blame, but not all of it. Club affiliation doesn’t buy a national team automatic success. The core has a lot to prove.

 

I'm reminded of that recent podcast where McKennie casually spoke of his live-in photographer, and Beasley was dumbfounded.

Now I'm not saying the young generation can't match or surpass what the older guys did, but I do think it's only natural that the "us against the world" mentality isn't going to be what it once was.

 

What do you mean there's no leadership? We have a whole council full of leadership. Like 6-8 guys or some crap. Total leadership overload.

 

Spot on.
Back in the day it was called having a chip on one's shoulder. How soccer was so hated on by many in the sports community in our very own nation much less a World that could care less if us Americans ever got our collective shit together for this sport. For decades there was a point to prove at home and abroad. When talking of this latest era of our National Team, who has a chip on their shoulder?

For sure, I mean what we miss the most is some guy with swagger, spoken or unspoken on the field like in the form of lead buy effort and consistency men like Brian McBride up top and a Pablo Masteroni in midfield. Or from our Southern States a quiet but no nonsense defender in Eddie Pope on our back line and if The Bruce needed fuel on the fire there was a Clint Mathis who was brash, inventive and got in every opponents face! I would ask for just an ounce of these combined traits to start to show through from this new era of players.

 

A lot of people here are willing to write off players who are younger than 23.

 

No kidding. I mean, here I am thinking that our biggest challenge with this roster is that our leaders were still technically considered USYNTers this year due to Olympic eligibility (Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Dest, and friends)

Basically our USMNT is a U23 team with Brooks and Steffen........................

This is a very young and inexperienced group. As fans we have to be prepared for ups and downs as they figure things out together. My advice is for folks to enjoy the ups and downs. Believe it or not, sports teams don't play well every game.

All of this "they're too pampered" stuff is garbage. It didn't seem that their pampered nature got in the way of Pulisic winning the Champions League, McKennie winning the Coppa Italia, Dest winning the Copa del Rey, Reyna winning the Pokal Cup, Aaronson winning the double in Austria, the list goes on and on...........................

Most of the criticism of these guys is based on literally nothing. And people should have been around when the USMNT vets at the time were talking about Dempsey, Donovan, and Beasley when they were young 'uns. Now those guys are talking about the new generation. "Back in our day we had to walk to training uphill for 2 miles!" Oh, shut up. If you could have had a live-in photographer, you'd have had one. You were going to frickin' Furman at the age Reyna is now.

 

And they have done all the things people have wanted USMNT players to be for ages. They have been willing to test themselves at the highest levels and avoid staying in their "comfort zones". We have defenders who can play in a high line and do not just hoof the ball under any pressure.

 

Thanks to technology, though, we're living towards the tail end of nationalism.

More and more people have mixed allegiances, or no allegiances at all. When you work for a big company, one of the things you must leave aside is your allegiance for any specific nation-state.

This is affecting everybody though, not just the USA. The surge of ethno-nationalism is a reaction to the inevitable globalization. But anyone saw it coming, when you can have breakfast in Tokyo, a business meet in Dubai, and go to sleep in Paris in the same day.

 

I am not going to read through a bunch of posts in this thread that is meandering into different topics and hot takes.
What I am going to do is address the Title of the thread.
This generation has a chance to be special for this main reason. We are hosting the World Cup in 2026 (2022 is too soon). If it were not for that I would be a lot less optimistic but the level of buzz and excitement is going to be like nothing we have seen before and that can help the players out big time no matter who the manager is.
Now I am not going to say tactics do not matter. I am not going to say we are going to win the World Cup.
I am saying we have enough young talent now that should be in prime position to make a run at winning the Cup at home.
If Russia can make it to the Quarters at home and Korea can make it to the Semis at home then why not?
I know people will say EGG or whatever but I am optimistic no matter what you say.
Now if it were not for the World Cup being here I would probably say that this generation is screwed or will not live up to generations past but that would be an alternate hypothetical reality..

 

Egg is not going to be the manager for the 2026 cycle.

Come on.

 

He may be.
Or he may be fired. That is besides the point.

To me it does not matter who the manager is.

 

The Honduras match provided a little bit of growth for some. Especially the aggressiveness that Honduras provided and yet when touched they went down almost too easily. Basically mind games with the opposition. The Concacafy way. We used to create a squad that would be able to maintain the toughness and grit of getting through concacaf, then lack in quality in the World Cup, feeling obligated to stick with those players that got us through. Although players like Beckerman shined at times in the WC.

What we have now is tremendously talented but cute footballers. Mixed with what Berhalter feels is a few older grit type players like Acosta, Cannon, and Lletget who fit that former player role. I imaging Arriola would be out here also if healthy. Watching McKennie, Adams, and Robinson this winter-spring I see timid but proficient footballers who need to become just a tad bit more aggressive. I thought McKennie was the man to be that grinder gritty player but a season with Pirlo made him a little soft. I’m hoping the new Juve coach will change that. Adams is gritty but not so much a grinder right now due to injuries, playing out of position, and RB dominating possession mostly. Almost there though. Robinsons football is interesting. When Fulham were going up against squads on equal par he played, when playing the counter bunker ball he didn’t. We need him for defending more than the attacking part of things. I still think he will be good.

 

I saw a lot of leadership out of John Brooks in the Honduras match.

 

Agreed. Hoping that game galvanized the team and prepares them for a slugfest vs. Mexico.

 

The good news for you is, you have five years to obsess about this hypothetical. Five years!

 

There is no need to obsess about 2016 when 2022 lies like a turd in a bowl of vanilla ice cream ahead of us.