If you want to know why Lalas disagrees with you, it's right here. I'm not quite sure why you chose to compare Kasey Keller with Dest or Pulisic, but let's focus on Kasey Keller and the vast majority of American Soccer Twitter. Keller was a beast. He did a TON for the USMNT. And based on Millwall versus Man City or Rayo Vallecano versus Man City, there's a whole lot of people out there stating that Steffen >>> Keller. Which is absurd both on Steffen's current talent level and on Steffen's contributions to the USMNT. So yeah, it's not unreasonable that there's pushback to people just posting Xis with club titles or crowning a team that literally played more than a competitive game or two. (Hell even comparing Steffen to Dest (presumably) is kind of ridiculous. Not that Dest doesn't have insane talent, but it's true that most he's done is play pretty well in some Nations League games. )
People underestimate what the TV sound bite format does and what gets ratings. People also tend to judge sports commentators by whether they say something they already agree with rather than whether they teach you anything.
Zardes creates a lot of chances with his runs. He's gotten better at finishing. He's still bad at the build up and he's not going to get better. His job is there for the taking, but someone will have to seize it.
I think the general message of the article was good. Ameriican fans have always gotten carried away with the smallest of successes. The past successes are vastly exagerated... 1995 copa, 2002 WC, 2009 confed cup, etc. The fact is we still have never played a complete tournament. Now I can really get behind Strauss (and the rest of our media) and former players like Lalas being petty. I give the players who went abroad in the early 90s a lot of credit, but that generation of talent was so entitled andarrogant for no reason. It started with them being pampered in ODP. Then treated like gods playing big college programs. Then tons of attention for being the best of a really poor group of players. I met some youth national team players of that Era who had lackluster careers because they thought they had already achieved something because they had llayed in a YWC. Anyone who wants to get a feeling of what they were like can listen to Roger Bennets podcast on the 1998 WC. In Episode 7, the players tell the stories about how they whined about having to stay in an isolated chateau with 5 star chefs. The only one who comes off well is Heyduk. Lalas is probably the worst. He admits to be a malcontent and basically sabotaging the team. He described it as being childish. He was 28 years old. The whole thing sounds so ameuterish. Now look at the kids today. Does anyone see them doing crap like that? I dont. They are already hardened professionals at 22 or younger. Many are at huge clubs and talk about how they need to push themselves and havent accomplished anything yet. This group is so much more likeable than those spoiled brats. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/american-fiasco
one last thought about 1998 that might become relevant this cycle.... what happens if/when the players lose respect for the coach? I dont think this group will respond anywhere near as childishly as the players did in 1998.
I think the best comparison is Gio vs Claudio. Claudio was viewed as one of our best players ever. Gio had already gotten to higher club level at 17 than Claudio ever did. It took Claudio a year to break into a bundesliga team at 22. Gio already has a much more complete game and is on a comllete different level athletically. I am not sure there is anything other than injury that prevents Gio from being considered a significantly better player than his father when his career is over.
I think Fox encourages his “louder” persona. In general their soccer coverage is looser, and much less stuffy than NBC for instance. But agreed, Lalas can can do the more grounded approach as well, and in general he’s charismatic and a good spokesperson for the game. I’m always surprised some fans view him with such vitriol.
Well................the star midfielder and captain of the 98 team slept with the star striker's wife. So the whole thing melted down. Hard to recover from that. https://www.si.com/soccer/2010/02/05/john-harkes
Lets make sure we are talking about the same thing. First, Wood had 9Gs and 2As in all comp his first year in BuLi. It was not just the numbers it was the kinds of goals he was scoring; spectacular single effort affairs like his posterization of starting German NT defender Howedes. The term "that's a Bobby Wood goal" became a meme in BuLi that season. He was so good his rookie year in the BuLi that he immediately got a raise to >$3.5MM and had Hamburg beating back offers from EPL and other BuLi clubs including Dortmund. He was held in such high regard that when Hamburg went down, Bobby was the first name on the list of many clubs to pickup. Sargent has not yet reached that level of esteem, but he is on track.
Is that supposed to be an excuse or a distraction? The team acted like spoiled kids, not professionals.
Fair enough. Every championship is evident before the trophy is awarded but not guaranteed. The Lakers won the NBA this year and you would say it started when they got LeBron. Nothing was guaranteed when LeBron went there, but you look back and see that was a key moment. Nothing is guaranteed, but I think it has started. Of course, it started off the field, maybe with the creation of the DA, or with Pulisic breaking through, but the first very visible manifestation was against Wales, in the rain, in November 2020.
I disagree with the last graf. I prefered the individuality of the past to the cookie cutter academy role players which the big teams are grinding out in their brainless academies. Let's hope the MLS doesn't fall into that trap. We need to boost NCAA Div I participation and raise the level of our pro soccer culture.
The simple answer is you can only win what is in front of you. Pulisic has won WCQ'ers. He has led the team in them. These goal posts will constantly shift. As soon as they win a qualifier, it will be, qualify. Then win a WC game, then make a quarterfinal. Whatever. These are measure in hindsight for doubting Thomas's. What are your lying eyes telling you? I could put the bar for, "doing something" at 20 Champions League caps and none of these former greats would qualify. Berhalter has said himself, multiple times now, that the best way to measure NT talent is by UCL minutes/players. We are in uncharted waters then. I see it, I know you see it. Time for cynicism to go!
Yeah, I think it is completely fair to say this generation appears to have the most talent and potential we've ever had. But, best requires some actual wins first. frankly because this ain't figure skating. There's a scoreboard and that's what counts. Right now, it still reads 0-0 in CONCACAF for this generation.
Well, if he doesnt make FIFA WC best xi, he will not have cleared the bar just for starters. If Claudio had gone the pro route as a teen in Europe any number of things could have happened to him to derail his career. It's a dog-eat-dog world in Europe, especially in those days.
Come up with one post where someone says Steffan is better than Keller. Fans are allowed to be fans. Getting grumpy about fan enthusiasm is not what this program needs when Mexico shows up for friendlies here with 50,000 and we show up with 8,000. Comparing guys with a whole career against guys just starting is fruitless. It only works when the younger guy has already surpassed the older guy. Which is what we have now. Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Reyna, Dest, are all playing at a level beyond Donovan, right now. That doesn't diminish anything Donovan did to say that or say those USMNT teams were bad, they weren't. But something different is happening now. Embrace it!
What was the score for the prior generation? Is that all we have to remain cynical, qualifying hasn't happened yet? Come on people, let some joy in your lives. On Tuesday, maybe 6 U23 Americans will be playing the UCL and nothing has been accomplished yet? Geez. You guys are tough.
Nothing you wrote has anything to do with my post and I disagree with most of what you wrote. I think there is tons of individuality in this group and don't see Pulisic, Mckennie, Dest, Adams, Reyna, Weah, etc as "cookie cutter" players. NCAA doesn't have much of impact on the game so is pretty irrelevant. Raising the pro soccer culture would have a big impact, but that would take being critical of the league and most people are afraid of doing that for whatever reason.
That is funny. So, Yoo Sang-Chun is better than Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Christian Pulisic? Claudio didn't turn pro, so who knows. Great player for the USMNT, very good European journeyman. Gio is on a different level and Claudio would be the first to say it.
A lot more people will embrace it once they win a few games. I think we have potentially the most talented team in US history, but until they make the WC quarters, they haven't accomplished as much as the 2002 bunch. You can point to club competitions all you want, but the nice thing about international soccer is it stays relatively the same with the same teams winning and not a lot of movement. You want to be the best in your country's history, it is the perfect platform. You fail there and you'll always struggle to argue you're better than a team with more success.And you should since this is a game that keeps score, not a aesthetic competition. Nothing would make me happier than to see this team destroy CONCACAF in qualifying and make a good run in the 2022 World Cup and an even deeper one in 2026. But, I'm not pretending those things happened until they actually do and right now I think it's probably even money if it does happen. And frankly saying it is even money is way optimistic for my general nature so I actually consider myself quite high on the kids.
That is just nonsense. If he passes by every club and national team metric, but doesn't get selected to something that is based on relation to competition he wouldn't be viewed as being significantly better? I guess CP can't surpass LD because he won the young player award.
I don't disagree that we are seeing a wave of increased talent. But I also get that you got to deliver.
It's not cynicism at all! If I weren't excited would I be spending all day on here! It's just an understanding that we're young, and untested, and it's not going to be a straight rocketship.
Gonna give this a latest shot after the last 2 games. Sargent CP-Musah-Gio McKennie-Adams Robinson-Brooks-Miazga-Dest Steffen -CF is an absolute grab bag right now. I like Sargent the best but others could prefer 3-4 other options that I wouldn’t argue much with. -I’m really struggling with whether I would Put Musah or Gio in the attacking midfield. I think Gio is the better finisher, and therefore would probably like him getting a few more looks on goal with him being able to float outside and in. If Musah doesn’t stick with us, that’s fairly simple to me with Gio in the midfield and Morris on the right. -I wanna put Dest in his best spot, on the right. I rate Cannon and ARob similarly. -Little disappointed we didn’t get to see Richards get more run against Panama. I feel like that was the perfect opponent for it. I THINK he’s better than Miazga right now, but until we see it, Miazga is a placeholder there for me.
That's my 11 too. Really hope Musah sticks and they start using him in qualifiers next year... I've said it a lot, but it's Sargent and everyone else. When we have other strikers starting in a top 4 league, then we can start arguing. Happy to see young guys doing well/improving, but we're still talking a bunch of 2nd division players at this point. Not sure on the Cannon/ARob. I think Cannon is a good backup/spot starter, but they both could have been had by any top team for about 3 million. ARob had numerous EPL teams in for him at that price (after his 10 mil Italy fell through), Cannon had the 15th place team in Portugal, possibly with some French money. Beyond what the open market thought of both, ARob has displaced Bryan apparently, starting consistently, looks good, and has good/great analytics for a LB. I get he'll have to perform better with the US, but he's had like 1 game in two years. If he has another half dozen and doesn't perform, ok. But I don't know how it's that close at this point, just because of 90 mins for each player.