Right now we are traveling to developing nations (what do you call a developing nation that has not developed since the slave trade left?), staying in suspect lodging, and playing in cow pastures. Though the flights may be tougher, the trade-offs may be worth it.
So breakdown this Confederation for me? Is it GDP driven? Soccer driven? How many teams is it gonna have and what percentage do you think will be allotted World Cup Spots? Is Africa allowed in? Iran?Are we gonna invite Singapore and The UAE? Like I'm just being real, we play Mexico and Canada who have nice stadiums. Costa Rica isn't at The Saprissa anymore, their new national stadium is not far off from some MLS stadiums. How many times per cycle are we playing matches in a country that you having deemed unworthy of hosting The USMNT. 6 or so? Seems like a lot of work to get out of not very many games
No opponent is beneath them. But there’s clearly a talent discrepancy between the US and Panama that dictates the strategies employed by each team in their matches. And this also makes “beating Panama” not a great measuring stick for overall progress. That said, in sports you can and (especially recently for the USMNT) do lose to teams worse than you. The results are what matter in the end.
I’d look for others who may be interested in changing federations. UEFA would be the first place I looked to pry nations from, as there may be several countries who may want other opportunities. I’d try to peel some off of North Africa (like Morocco) as well.
This reads like some weird fanfic. Nobody in UEFA is going to abandon access to the Euros and the Champions League to fly around the world to play in some breakaway confederation with the Americans. Morocco isn't going to quit AFCON for the bizarro world Gold Cup.
Sure, you can assert without evidence that a random UEFA country would make more money by abandoning the UEFA ecosystem for a breakaway non-geographic confederation that's formed because the USSF decided that traveling to Central America was below its station, but that just leaves you holding an assertion without evidence.
The US is hardly the only country that has struggled the year prior to the World Cup. I do not support the US leaving CONCACAF, though I would be interested in exchange teams between confederations for a cycle. Too bad that WCQ has been bastardized by FIFA.
Its such a weird conversation. Yes. There's a talent discrepancy between the US and Panama. And there's a talent discrepancy between Man City and Southampton too. But Man City didn't win that game this past weekend. They didn't say "Oh. This sucks. Let's join the Bundesliga." This is soccer. Its sports. Sometimes you don't beat teams that you have more talent than. We had chances to score in that game. We didn't take them. The sucker punch came. The consequence of that shouldn't be "let's take our ball and leave the federation." We barely play the CONCACAF minnows with how the Nations League, WCQing, etc. are now set up. I don't know what argument people are using to suggest Panama is "below us" considering we've failed to beat them 4 out of the last 6 times we've played. That includes a WCQer, the Gold Cup, Copa America and the Nations League. Wake the eff up. They can rightfully argue that they're better than us. To the victor goes the spoils. Seeing as they're ranked ahead of us in the CONCACAF rankings. Show some effing humility. We have talent on this team. We also have significant holes. A few in our starting XI and a bunch with our depth. And with the way players get injured these days, those depth issues erode the so-called talent discrepancy to our CONCACAF competition. We don't know who our #9 is. We don't know what our centerback combination is. We don't know who our goalkeeper is. One of Johnny or Adams is always seemingly out injured. Under Pochettino we've never had both at a camp. Antonee being out exposed our lack of quality depth at that position. The list goes on. Wing depth is questionable. Enough with how talented we supposedly are. We started the 2nd leading scorer on the 13th best team in the Championship at forward in the Nations League. Josh Sargent doesn't start for Real Madrid. I'm not sure he could score in a Thai brothel for the USMNT, much less against Panama in the Nations League.
The stands are already filled with our opponents' fans. Most Americans don't care about the MNT and as far as I can tell, that's never going to change. The MNT certainly doesn't help itself by pricing out potential fans and also having terrible results on the field. It's also so disheartening to watch this team find a way to fall flat on its face over and over and over again. Next summer, the general American public which pays little to no attention to soccer at all will soon get to see why the MNT doesn't have much home support, since there's not much good to root for. The USMNT are a Perennial Disappointment, just like our political institutions which are even worse. It's sad, but it's reality.
The stands are filled with an overwhelming number of the USMNT’s opponent’s fans only when playing a select number of well-supported Latin American teams (I’m not going to list them out, we’ve already done that earlier in this thread). The US has less support than these teams because the USMNT has only been around as a serious competitive team for about three decades. Soccer is still a niche sport in the US. And many soccer fans in the US have been supporting the team of their country of origin (or their parents) since they were born. Those fans are not going to change teams, but some of their children will. That’s just how sports fandom works. Why does the Ottawa Senators’ arena get overrun by Toronto and Montreal fans when those teams play? Same deal. The USMNT as a serious entity is relatively new. Regardless, comparing anything recent (USMNT attendance, support, TV ratings) to what it will be during the World Cup is irrelevant. There are US fans who haven’t watched a soccer game in four years but will be buying tickets and fervently supporting the team, with no idea or care about how the team has been playing in the years leading up. Having the team play in such a high profile event will make some new fans. Winning some games will build even more.
Play in a MLS stadium (or USL); Reduce ticket prices; Give home season ticket holders and known USMNT supporters Outlaws/Insiders etc first option on tickets; Ban resales. The World Cup games are different. Each game is an event. Americans flock to events. The US v Canada hockey game was an event. The USMNT plays Mexico all the time in different competitions and friendlies, with different types of rosters, it makes no sense to a casual fan.
I'm just not seeing that at all. The USMNT looks like it's heading toward disaster next summer. What new fan is gonna see this team massively under perform and capitulate, but then conclude, "hey I want to support my terrible national team?" This might be the World Cup that finishes off any support the USMNT still has. Instead of wasting everyone's time, the USMNT should withdraw from the World Cup. The US is wasting a spot for far more deserving teams that actually want to be there. What the US is currently doing is not only insulting to its own country and fans, but arguably to the entire sport with their total lack of respect.
Why bother getting out of bed every day? I mean you're very unlikely to become a billionaire and marry a super model ... so what's the point?
A lot can happen in a year for a host. Do you remember how Russia played before 2018? They looked like one of the worst teams on the planet in all their friendlies and looked underwhelming in the Confederations Cup. But when the lights turned on for 2018 they made it to the Quarters. So yes, right now things look pretty bad for the USA but it is not a guarantee things will get worse.