Was just thinking about this but if we're all completely honest and forthright we have no idea how most of our 1st teamers (doesn't matter who we think they are) will perform against real competition when it matters. I don't think we can base things on friendlies to really judge anyone's performance especially the recent ones. So we're left with only knowing this when we are in the World Cup every 4 years. We don't even have something along the lines of the Euro competition so we're facing good teams at least every 2 years if not every year. If the US wants to get to the next level we will need to address this. Some say Copa America which I would be a fan of and others have even stated merging our federation with CONMEBOL which is intriguing. Whatever it is we should probably start thinking about it because it will be difficult to evaluate our players always playing island countries.
I hope we get invited to next years Copa America... we could have been seeded with a good performance in the last one and we turned it down.
Well, we do put together the teams we need to assemble for World Cup Qualifying. I'd say that there is "real" competition when we have to play at The Office, at Mazatenango, at Saprissa, at Edmonton, at Panama City, or at Azteca. I think CONCACAF may have the toughest road matches in the entire world. After all, we do have Columbus.
I would love to see the US play in Copa America. Competitive matches vs Argentina and Brazil is what the USA need to take that next step.
Don't get me wrong playing better teams will help us but i think in many way our players have taken the next since so many more are playing in europe. Now it's the coaches turn to get overseas and coach/managa.
it is true, we very seldom assemble our best for a meaningful tourney. even if we went to copa, we would send untested players. the two most recent confederations cups (99 and 02) was the same. the us needs to take other competitions seriously. look at africa and europe. they take there championships seriosly, why can't the concacaf? all it would take would be for us to send our full-strength team once, after we beat countries 5 or 6 to nil, the other countries would follow suit too.
That doesn't matter if we can't turn it into results at international tournaments. Competiting in the Copa America is a great chance to turn it into results. We were actually pretty competitive in 1995, so we'd be even more competitive now - perhaps even a contender? Copa America is an international tournament and a good one. To be honest, I'd love to see the USA enter CONMEBOL. We might miss qualifying now and then, but it'd be worth it up our game.
We are too far from Europe to fly all of our overseas players home for every game that isn't essential to our World Cup qualifying process. Check out the news stories about how many European club coaches and players were complaining about the CAF Nations Cup earlier this year
But if the US wants to become an 'elite' soccer nation like england, italy, brazil, argentina, etc. they will have to do much more than play in very hostile environments. Euro and SA teams play in very hostile environments too, but their competition is much more difficult. For example, I would much rather play Costa Rica in Saprissa than having to travel to Turkey for a WCQ. I think if you really wanna see some good competition for the US invite England or Italy to the next gold cup instead of a team like South Africa. They will put butts in the seats, bring in big revenues and media attention, and are in their off season so we could see some great players. But thats just my idea...
They tried that already: it was called the Nike U.S. Cup. It deserves a revival -- I'd have made sure to have invited Brazil, Mexico, and Spain.
Granted it would be hard to fly all our best players in consistently but at least give the effort. Play in Copa, send the best team in that is possible, and try to win the damn thing. Schedule some European POWERS more than once every 4 years. Poland is good but not a power whatsoever. Please, PLEASE dont tell me that CONCACAF opponents are the toughest road games in the world again. They are tough yes, but not the toughest road games in the world.
Hmmm. As a group, the road games in the hex are tougher than your typical group in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Europe. Dunno about CONMEBOL...just having to go on the road against great squads like Brazil and Argentina, and then a mile high against Bolivia, and against good teams like the Guays and Chile, that's probably the toughest collection of road games in qualifying. But the hex is 2nd.
Good point ... but CONMEBOL is only one big round. Everyone is in, regardless. In the Hex, the teams are already battle-tested from a semifinal round. There are no weak links in CONCACAF's hexagonal.
Well... Panama was a bit of a pushover. Someone like that always gets through at the expense of a complacent better team. This time it was Jamaica. That would have made it a damn tough hex.
The problem is that unless things change, the Copa America is no more competitive than the Confederations Cup. They are, mostly, glorified friendlies. Now if that changes, if the copa America truly becomes a tournament like the Euros where everybody is bringing everything they have to try and win it, well then I think it becomes imperative we get involved in some way. The problem is that it hasn't been that way in a while.
You guys put too much stock in Copa America. Brazil and Argentina don't even send their top teams to it...
last time i remember a discussion on this from a long time ago...the arguments of many of the people who wanted to keep the US team from playing Copa America went something like this: -"we have to focus our energies on tourneys that capture the imagination of the American public, like the WC and the Olympics" Of course, we went on to NOT qualify to the Olympics last time.. - "MLS is developing and we ought to let it keep their stars.. " You/anyone be the judge on whether taking 10-14 players from their MLS clubs really affect that long regular season where teams at times seem too lackadaisical to care....just like their coaches.... -"COpa America participants send their B teams, it's not not good enough for the US" Struggled in the Confederations CUp in 03.... And we struggled vs. Jamaica a week ago..... won the last GC at home vs. almighty Panama on PKs..... lost to England's B team.... and if two out of the 3 CA groups have Argentina or Brazil's B teams (i recall Argies came over not long ago and beat the US handily with that 'B' team, same with Brazil's U-23 team)..then by all means we should meet them even in that situation (ie not the best squads) , and i believe the players in the US would learn a thing or two about playing in intimidating atmospheres.... certainly do not want to see another GErmany-type debacle.... where people seem too intimidated and lacking in concentration (perhaps as a result?) and a strong argument to play CA is also the HIspanic audience....IIRC, some MLS honcho had said that a large % of MLS fandom (at least compared to the genral population, don't remember all that accurately) is HIspanic...SO what better way to show our best MLS players to those HIspanics in the US that do not watch MLS Soccer Saturdays..... or do not ever think of purchasing DIrect KIck, than by having the US (and hence, many of the current American MLS stars) playing against the nations they follow back in their native countries? Sort of the same reason i think MLS is doing the right thing having a club play in SUdamericana.....
It's not just a matter of playing in major tournaments, it's also the qualification process for those tournaments. Euro teams go through near non-stop meaningful games (EURO quals start in August). That is invaluable experience. If I had a magic wand, I'd merge the Gold Cup and Copa America, play it every four years (in non-WC even numbered years), and have a fairly grueling qualification process to get the field down to 8 teams. If you assume four qualification groups (top two advance) with us, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina top seeds in those groups, you still set up some pretty impressive and meaningful games. Play it all on FIFA dates, and Bob's your uncle. It'll never happen, of course.
We should have lost in the semifinal round at Panama City, but we got help from a mud puddle, Cobi Jones, and a referee's assistant who went to the Peter Predergast School of Officiating.
That's because there are two football federations in the Western Hemisphere. There is only one in field hockey, which results in pain and suffering when one-half of the globe only sends one team to major international competitions.
Bob's your uncle. It's an expression that means something like 'and there you go' or 'you're all set'. Point being? I said it would never happen, and I'm not saying merge the federations, but merge their championship tournaments (not WC qualifying). Rather than having weak competition plus a couple invited nations which may or may not give a rat's as (is the Brazilian nation really captivated when they send a team to the Gold Cup?), why not have a qualification process that would involve tough, meaningful matches followed by a very strong field in the final tournament? Again, it'll never happen.
I'd always thought we need a World Cup every 2 years...but since UEFA have their own private money maker on Off World Cup even # years....they would not come. So why doesn't the US just Host a tourney during the European Championships...and invite the best 64 non-uefa teams based on FIFA rank....no qualifying nonsense...straight knockout tourney...NCAA style? Just thinkin out loud?