You would think folks within the NBA wouldnt be mad at development since its an American league but they do.. the fact that the most recent MVPs arent American and the play style of the league and attitude of players definitely has folks up in arms over player development… Winning international competitions keeps the big criticism at bay but an international competition and an olympic loss and you will see true panic set in… the NBA wont have the luxury of the misguided “if only our best athletes played basketball” no sense.. Honestly I would love if it happened
Y'know...if the thread starter had consulted with Knave 1st before posting he would know there is already a "Doom" thread in P&CE!
It is a bit silly, as foreign MVPs are a sign of the NBA's success at building up the game worldwide. Also, MVPs are by definition a tiny sample size and don't really tell you anything about the overall player pool.
Last I checked Jalen Brunson was the Finals MVP........ and that's really all that matters in the NBA.
Whereas I wouldn't say McKennie or Adams as elite but I wouldn't deem them slouches. McKennie has been among the best midfielders for Juventus in recent years while Adams gets a lot of credit for his team in the Premier League when he's not injured. They're def the face of "Golden Generation for the US" alongside Christian.
1- One of the worst Juve sides in history (during McKennie's time there they've been an afterthought in both Serie A and Europe). 2- Bournemouth averaged more points per game without Adams in the lineup. US fans dramatically overrate pretty much all of our players. We don't have anyone in any of the top leagues who is key to a successful side.
We are still on the “we cant consider ourselves any kind of serious international threat until we have consistently mastered our region in qualifiers” part of developing the program right? or is going to El Salvador for a qualifier still considered a “vastly underrated” futbol challenge I sort of lost track on where the program currently sees itself
Strawman aye A Golden Generation would require one or two world-class players and a few elite players supported by above-average players. We definitely don't have anywhere near that. Being better than previous generations does not mean you are "Golden," it just makes you better. My feeling is that people have always taken solace in the fact that the US Nats were always greater than the sum of their parts. With the parts being higher than previous iterations, people assume the sum would also increase. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. Plus, sometimes you can catch the right team at the right time. It can skew your perception of how good you actually are. People need to have a more realistic appraisal of where this country is at in terms of soccer talent.
It is difficult to say what the attitude/mindset is like for the U.S. (and Mexico and Canada too) since they didn't have to go through qualifying for the World Cup. Will the U.S. and its co-hosts be far ahead of the CONCACAF teams who didn't qualify for World Cup 26 or the 3 who did make it (and the 2 who had a chance to qualify but failed in the playoffs)? Or will they backtrack a bit and struggle to get results in Central America and the Caribbean, and if they do have trouble but still get a road point, is that deemed acceptable? Based on population alone, the Big 3 have a large player pool to draw from compared to other CONCACAF sides, so you wouldn't think it would be that difficult, but longtime fans of the international game know otherwise.
CONCACAF would do far better if we had far more competitiveness from the likes of a Honduras or Guatemala or even Jamaica. Really surprised the likes of Panama qualified again yet Costa Rican didn't manage.
The problem there is that besides Mexico (and somewhat so, Canada), the rest of our region doesn't play anywhere near the kind of match that is played in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The type of match and players needed to win in El Salvador or Costa Rica are different then those needed to have us advance past the round of 32.
Great post! I mean McKennie led Juve in goals scored during Champions League. Again, Juve and US fans can quit disrespecting this guy on the most unqualified subjective takes. McKennie is borderline elite just for his versatility alone. Someone already addressed the Adams claim. We have good players. I don’t think they are overrated. People tend to overhype the “star” player, ala Pulisic, which can be an extremely damaging thing to do.
Therein lies the trap.. We are not at a disadvantage skillwise, speedwise, or strengthwise.. all the major metrics are in our favor aside from the gamesmanship… that we cant go into any of these places and be front footed is a good indicator why the US program is a step below the others. Mexico goes in those places and gets results.. whats the US excuse?? Intensity beats skill when the skill can't match, or gets frazzled by, the intensity…. this isnt a problem of the new generation of players, it has always been a problem. Instead of saying its a “different challenge for the team to solve” they should have already grown the program beyond this..”navigating” concacaf by winning at home and stealing “results” should be a thing of the past.. I hate how qualifying is still an existential struggle instead of a sharpening tool… these always in the US tournaments because “profits” is still part of the problem… just do multiple hosts and get this mess out of the US
This does not necessarily translate to the player who elevated relatively. This could be a matter of cohesion or chemistry. Elite and World Class players not only possess both technical skill and tactical sense, but also consistency.
I think it's kind of silly to think there aren't skills that don't translate. Especially for a team that might lack mental toughness. I might also agree with you if we dominated in these spaces, but we don't.
Ironically, a good portion of those "profits" go to the programs at the other Concacaf nations. Yes, the tournaments are held in the US primarily because they make the confederation a lot of money. That money does help fund the programs at those other nations. Outside of Mexico and US, the rest of the confederation just doesn't have the infrastructure to host the Gold Cup. Nations League Semifinals and Final............ those can and should be played outside of the US.
Sure, but you get the point. There’s no reason for the Pistons to develop 12 year olds because they don’t retain the rights to keep the player. There’s no incentive. A national soccer/basketball team has a reason, as do MLS teams.