Ivory Coast only got their independence in the 60s and have always had rebel insurgent problems like most of Africa, its kinda hard getting a soccer program together in the middle of a lot of turmoil, plus they are way poor compared to the USA, taking that into account I think they have done quite well as of recently, their level of play is rising at a faster rate than that of the US
I can accept criticism of the team no problem to an extent but when it is from an AMERICAN who goes to a wonderful soccer game like ours against Brazil and cheers for Brazil just because they are well known for having some of the top players and never lose that just baffles me. How can you be american and consider yourself a true football(soccer) fan and cheer against your own country in the highest level of play? this will never make sense to me it is astonishing. I can say Bob Bradley should be sacked especially if we dont get a result in our next international match. I believe we need a top level coach but i dont know many options.
Yes, US fans are thin-skinned. However, we don't need to tolerate poorly reasoned, ridiculous arguments merely for the sake of appearing thick-skinned. There has to be a balance between discussing (which is what we're here to do) and whining and discussing.
Agreed, African teams haven't been producing the goods. I agree some of the squads look tremendous and they have some great individual players. Maybe they have struggled because they tend to have weird problems (the Togo bonus payment thing this year seems to strike one African club every World Cup). Maybe it's because a lot of the players don't know each other all that well because they leave the continent at a young age to play in French academies and the like. (I read in FourFourTwo a few months ago that Drogba said he's spent very little time in his whole life in CIV.) Maybe it is the political unrest that makes it difficult to pursue sport in Africa. Maybe it's the screwy qualification system they use that makes it very easy for the best teams to miss the World Cup. (No Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal last cycle.) I don't really care what the answer is. You can analyze this stuff forever. (Have you ever tried to figure out why Spain chokes in every major tournament?) For whatever reason, they just underachieve. One final stat -- the population of the CAF is about 300 to 400 million people more than that of CONCACAF.
so then African should be better and have more star players right? isnt that what everyone is saying...
Actually Africa's huge population advantage while achieving so little compared to CONCACAF shows what underachievers they are.
population is not everything... we are the world's biggest underachievers if you want to use that as a tool... (outside of China and India) and again... only one team (Mexico) can say they are achievers...
Yes they can say the are achievers by Beating Brazil and coming in fourth in the Confed Cup other Also two rounds of 16 in WC.US has the same performance in less world cups.
The US has not had the same success as Mexico in World Cups or in International tourneys and thats a fact. Just to name a few events. Confederation Cup Champions in 99 Third Place in-95, Fourth-05 Copa America Second Place-93,01 Third Place-97,99,07 And we have advanced from our group in every WC since 86, so I have to agree with DaPrince84. The reason i pointed this out wasnt to make this a Mex vs US but for you to give credit where credit is due.
Oh of course, you are talking about the 1999 confedderation cup hosted in mexico. Mexico beats the US in "Asthma-ca" 1-0 then goes on to beat Brazil 4-3 at you guess it at "Asthma-ca". The USA win 3rd place.
I am not sure how much coaching has to do with our development. I do not know how much coaching is done in Brazil or Germany for example. What i know for sure is that not enough emphasis is put on developing SKILLS ON THE BALL. The problem starts at the youth levels . I wish i could see kids play with the ball, challange each other at soccer skills on the field, in the backyard,on the streets. Who can hold the ball longer with their head or foot without dropping it for example. You never see that in training. They should set up small area for a game of foot tennis. make it a competition if you have to. Its the best way to develop precision passing and skill. Look Mexico is atracting a bigger crowds for their Nat team on our own soil ,something is wrong with that. (USA-Brazil 46k Mexico-Brazil 67k). That is the problem right there. Not enough people care for the sport. Every kid should have been glued to the tv and be in the stands to watch the skill of this players. It will take time if ever, we can only hope.You cannnot teach someone to love the game. It has to come from their home, from watching professional soccer and falling in love with the game wanting to be a Ronaldinio a Beckham.
A lot of that crowd weren't Mexican though. It's a problem and a trend that we need to correct. But I have a question... why would should I want to see the Nats play? We don't really have the star power yet to draw the crowds we would like. I know supporting the US badge should be a fan's main allegiance but here we lack the stars. USSOCCER drops the ball again.
because soccer is not number one sport in your country.. and fans in the USA are different from those in Europe.. there are not many soccer fans in the USA compared to Europe US fans wants to support their sport so they want to hear only positive things US fans are very different. you have different soccer culture
When are we going to develop stars if we don't have fan support to draw youngsters into the game? Chicken / Egg question. As a soccer fan you should be part of the solution by supporting, not part of the problem by whining. BTW, what did USSOCCER do to drop the ball? Not genetically create an American Kaka?
yes... and none of them are the USA... where this is not our national pastime and fans like to be entertained... its not that hard they had Messi and Dinho last year and won nothing... what is your point?
As a US fan, I would think you would be the last person to diminish the importance of an achievement just because it took place at home. If you do that to the US, then your Nats have yet to win a game that counts in a very long time. While countries like Afghanistan, China and Canada have been able to get results away from home in the same span of time. Lets be consistent, for your sake