Good for you....thats the least I would expect of a Mod, I on the other hand am a legendary troll USMNT has become respectable over the last 10 years, but you will find that soccer improvement is not linear...I forget the name of the curve but it is one that grows exponential but then the rate of growth slows down dramatically and the curve takes on more of a logrithmic shape. You could describe things like setting up a real infrastructure as the inflection point that triggers the exponential growth....then at some point those infrastructure improvements hit a natural ceiling....they have done all that they can accomplish. I can see that U.S. soccer is definitely nearing that ceiling....so you will need some dramatic improvements on your league before hitting that next level. Mexico in contrast, got very serious about youth development (after the painful & embarrrasing loss in S. Korea) and strategic planning and is entering another era of exponential growth (the U-17 title is proof of that)....so I am going to guess that the U.S. will be stuck smelling Mexican gas emissions over the next decade or so.
No, I just accepted the fact that I'm now on a school teacher's schedule and not a college student's. Midnight seems much later than it used to be.
Wait, did I actually read a fan of Mexico complain about Gringo's hacking and flailing? Thanks, we are all much dumber for having read that. Oh the irony... Ask anyone in Central America who the kings of CONCACAF are and they will tell you that it's the USA. 90% of Guatemala will say it, and 90% of Costa Rica will say it. Hondurans will say it and Nica's just want to play baseball so they don't count. Finally, Freddy will be just fine. He'll be a regular starter next year in the MLS and be near the top in scoring and assists, afer that he will go to Europe and warm the bench for one of the big four in England before going on loan to a middle of the table EPL team and making a name for himself. Mark it..
League Quality does not reflect the national teams. If it did England and Spain would be in every world cup final. If you want to argue which league is better that is a whole other topic than the national team because the amount of foreigners, and their quality, in the league come in to play. To say Mexico will never beat USA 4-0 is foolish to say because we just beat them in Olympic Qualifying 4-0. Anything can happen during 90 min. of a game and any team can beat any other team on any given day given the right circumstances. Remember Panama outplayed U.S. on home soil in the Gold Cup final and could have easily won it. Look at Argentina-Brazil...Argentina beat Brazil something like 3-0 in WCQ but then got thrashed by Brazil in the confed cup final just weeks later. U.S. beat Mexico in the world cup.....congratulations but that was just 1 game and anything can happen over 90 min. 1 game doesn't decide who's the best. And don't tell me about the other friendlies over the past ten years because friendlies don't say squat. Just ask the Columbians....before the '94 WC they were beating everybody in friendlies but what happened at the WC? Had John O'brien been called for his very intential punch of the ball in the box, then Mexico could have tied it with a penalty given, changing the history of the whole game. Mexico outplayed the U.S. but got got outscored so there are no excuses. When the U.S. can outplay Mexico then credit will be given that they are the class of Concacaf. But not while your style of play is defending and getting lucky on set pieces and counter attacks like in the last WCQ. Why did Bruce Arena put in 2 defenders and take out 2 offensive players after the goals? and why did Bruce Arena tell his players at halftime to take falls near the penalty box to get set pieces? Because the U.S. was nowhere near the Mexican goal in the 1st half. What would have happend if Keller wouldn't have blocked that shot near the end of the 1st half and Mexico go into half time 1-0. U.S. would have to open up and that's where Mexico would have killed them. But the right circumstances that night were in favor of the U.S. The main reason Mexico lost that game was because they were playing awful on that particular night. Teams have good days and bad.
We beat Mexico in the world cup, we've beaten them 7 out of the last 10 times. We usually outplay Mexico, like we did in our last match against them.
Bull. There is a reason the US National team has gotten better since 1998. It's not all Bruce Arena. As I said in my other post, MLS didn't do too much for the top 2 or 3 players on our team, but it made ALL of the other players better. I snipped the rest of your post to illustrate a point. If you spent half the time reading that you did flipping out and making excuses for previous games, you would see that I DID NOT say Mexico will never again beat the USA 4-0. That would have been stupid. I said that Mexico will not go back to beating the USA 4-0 EVERY GAME, which is what you lot were claiming would happen once Arena steps down. Finally, stop making excuses. It's sad. Friendlies don't count. The World Cup game doesn't count because the US team took a lead and decided to hold it or because Mexico almost scored a goal. But some youth cup team DOES count? Please. You're embarrassing yourself. When we were winning the friendlies, you said to win when it counts. When we won in Columbus, you said to win when it counts and it wasn't cold. When we won in South Korea, you said it was too humid and the game should have been in Japan etc etc. When you win in a youth cup game, all of a sudden it's "AHA! I TOLD YOU MEXICO WAS A LOT BETTER THAN THE USA!" Pitiful.
Please provide me with some grass so I can kill the last remaining brain cell. I just left Costa Rica after two years, they get far more nervous about playing the US than Mexico. Same for Guatemala where I spent my last six weeks. Hey, they do hate you far more so at least you got that going for ya. You got problems when Chapines bitch about how Mexicans whine and flail, but at least that translates well into European play. Ohhh wait, no it doesn't as evidenced by the play of the great Borghetti.
I didn't say MLS didn't help U.S. improve. Of course having any kind of league is better than having no league because you need somewhere to develop as a player. I merely said that the quality of the league doesn't determine the strength of the National team because foreigners play big part in all clubs. Spain and England have the 2 best leagues in the world but what have they accomplished in WC? Spain have never done anything and usually take an early exit. England won 1 WC decades ago but when was the last time they got to a final? and for having such a great league they haven't been able to qualify to every WC like Brazil, for example. Arena is the best american-born coach because he studies his opponents well and is a very intelligent tactician. He knows the american player better than anybody. But when he leaves can you tell me who will replace him and be able to do the same job? I am not stupid to say the next guy will tank but I do know that there doesn't seem to be any other successful american-born coaches in MLS. Unless the U.S. goes for a foreign coach. For your sake I hope they don't go back to Sampson cause then we won't be able to fight about who's the best in Concacaf . If you read the rest of my post I said these weren't excuses. I was pointing out that just cause you guys won the WC game doesn't mean Mexico couldn't have won it on another day. And yes the U-17 is more important than friendlies because it's a world title and not many teams have won one. and I haven't read anywhere that said Mexico was a lot better than the USA because of it...just that we are the first from concacaf to win a world title to go along with our Confed cup title making for 2 FIFA titles so far. By the way, in a recent letter by the President of Concacaf Jack Warner, he states Mexico is the class of the region and an example for all.
I snipped the rest because it's irrelevant to the point. Spain and England are simply bad examples. Really, Europe is a bad example to use, because they can all use as many other European players as they want due to the rules there. There is a limit here in the US, so we don't have rosters made up of the amount of non-nationals like they can do in both of the countries you listed. Which brings me to the Arena argument. He's a good coach. Accepted and agreed. With that being said, we wouldn't be any better than we were throughout the early 90's if it weren't for MLS. That league has given shots to players that would have been in the A-league or college otherwise. That opportunity has acted as a springboard to our better talent. In terms of importance, MLS > Arena. It's as simple as that.
You are using faulty logic in your argument. All teams that have accomplished something in the World Cup have good leagues. The inverse doesnt logically follow though, all countries with good leagues do not necessarily succeed in the WC. Give me the last World Cup champion, or runner up, who did not have a good leauge............ Which leads to the same obstacle, MLS is crucial if the US wants to do anything in the WC.
What a spazzo...the U.S. played a tight defense, or rather Mexico never got their offense going...but pay attention to this from someone who actual knows a little about futbol....NEITHER team did much playing in that game. It was a technically & tactically sh1tty game that is an embarrassment for the region's top two teams. Do yourself and never mention any other thing about the game, other than you guys got a justified victory but there was NO futbol involved.
Was that before or after they two goals in 20 minutes, when Mexico decided to accelerate? You guys all hate us because WE are the GIANT and you envy us.
the u.s. had more more chances, the u.s. had better chances, the u.s. had more posession, the us went forward more, while mexico was playing conservatively with no offense. Is your name lavolpe? The U.S. bitch slapped mexico in columbus
i don't know what game you were watching but the U.S. didn't manage a single shot on goal the entire first half. In fact Mexico had the best chance in the first half that Keller barely saved. The only attack you had were on set pieces and that's the 100% truth and even the most loyal U.S. soccer fan would admit that. The goals came and Mexico had you pinned back...granted their offense was awful on that day. As a matter of fact the game was awful on both sides as there wasn't much action at either end except for the 2 goals that were off set pieces.
Look at Argentina. how many players on their WC National teams play in Argentina? They may have a good league but most play away from home and hardly use domestic players, so league strength doesn't matter.
Your logic is once again wrong, but you dont seem to get the concept so forget about that While most Argentinians and Brazilians play abroad, they were created in their own leagues and this is why having a good league/youth club systems is so crucial.