USA now the biggest soccer powerhouse

[englishmike]

england did not even QUALIFY for the last world cup, but are in fifa top ten

yea, right

Do you specialize in inaccuracies or does it just come naturally?

http://www.football.co.uk/worldcup/england.shtml

They're in the FIFA top ten because they very rarely lose.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/worldcup2010/standings/

[KingRevolver]

Uh oh. You guys got Mike started.

[wtf]

sorry maybe i am thinking about the last euro cup, yes or no

[englishmike]

No, not 2002 either, nor 1998 but you could be refering to the European Championships.

[aszzzbrokerman]

More players like Altidore...or maybe some football rejects...put pac man and michael vick on a soccer field

[wtf]

yes i am looking at the EURO 2008 results, which is only confined to europeans, cause it is called EURO, instead of WORLD cup.

i looked at all the participating teams and i dont see a team from england, unless they changed their names for this tourney, since it is confined to teams FROM EUROPE ONLY

[englishmike]

You edited post 38 after you saw my reply, the one where you asked about previous world cups, hence my mentioning of 1998 and 2002. You're a fukkin idiot and not even worth wasting time on.

[rezkoness69]

I think the team might surprise in '10. They could get streaky I feel, or they might not even get out of qualifiers. The midfield plays well, the D gets beat when they play against the world-classers though.

[Deuce]

No way at all US are ranked higher than Scotland. The Scots would wreck the US in soccer.

[Dark Horse]

Spain
Brazil
Argentina
England
Italy
Germany
Netherlands
Russia
France
Portugal

Thats 10 teams, you cannot think that the States are above the teams I posted. The US, while good, are not better than any of these. So you must be the idiot who lives under the rock.

The following teams are also better or at worst, similar to the US

Mexico
Czech
Sweden
Switzerland

I feel like I'm missing out on some teams. Anyway this isn't an anti-US post, I just had to prove a point to a d-bag who has no clue what he's talking about.

Denmark
Romania
Nigeria
Cameroon
Ivory Coast
Turkey
Poland
Ireland
Belgium

All better than the US. That doesn't mean they would have done as well in the 'very important' Confederations Cup, where the US ran up the stunning record of 2 wins and 3 losses. The fact is that the US beat Spain with plenty of luck, after luckily qualifying for the semis. If anybody thinks that such a qualification (win by 3, while Italy must lose by 3) would happen in a real tournament, say high to the fairies for me. Their luck ran out against Brazil, although Brazil still had to score four times to get three goals on the board. For a sense of reality, Americans may want to re-watch the US game from a few weeks ago in Costa Rica. Have a safe landing... (one reason they look so bad is that they can't sit back and pounce on mistakes, but as 'the better team' are expected to initiate play, which is much harder).

The best the US will ever be is a dangerous outsider. That is the highest attainable, and can happen if everything goes right. That will result in an occasional shock result, but it will not win international prizes.

(I keep getting images of bandwagons. Weird.)

[dwest718]

Spain
Netherlands
Germany
Italy
Brazil
England
Argentina
Croatia
Russia
France
Portugal
Paraguay


Turkey
Chile
Switzerland
Ukraine
Serbia
Denmark
Costa Rica
Ireland
Ghana
Ivory Coast

1st tier is teams that are definitely better than us. 2nd tier is teams that are equally good or possibly slightly better. Mentions of Mexico, Czech Republic, and Sweden are a joke. The US has a solid squad but we aren't confident enough on the ball and we don't have the strikers (yet) to be elite. Jozy could come into his own... but we can't blow his head up like we did GAM (Eddie Johnson).

I don't really understand the point of this thread though... I think the initial post was made sarcastically but some of the other posts don't seem sarcastic and seem utterly ignorant... but thus is the MO of the American football fan.

[dwest718]

Dark Horse... are you from Poland? We haven't lost to Poland for like 7 years... and they're not good anymore. Kind of like saying the Czech Republic is still a good European team... they're not. Romania had one good run but the team is playing really, really poorly right now and I don't know if they'll get it back. Belgium is young and has proven nothing... don't know where you're coming from there. And Cameroon is over the hill. Still have talent but nowhere close to the other three African teams you listed.

EDIT: 3-0-1 against Poland with 1-1 draw in Poland in 2003/04 since the 3-1 loss in 2002 WC.

[tacomax]

england did not even QUALIFY for the last world cup, but are in fifa top ten

yea, right

If they didn't qualify for the last World Cup then how did they manage to lose to Portugal in the quarter finals of the last World Cup in 2006? Please enlighten me.

[Dark Horse]

Dark Horse... are you from Poland? We haven't lost to Poland for like 7 years... and they're not good anymore. Kind of like saying the Czech Republic is still a good European team... they're not. Romania had one good run but the team is playing really, really poorly right now and I don't know if they'll get it back. Belgium is young and has proven nothing... don't know where you're coming from there. And Cameroon is over the hill. Still have talent but nowhere close to the other three African teams you listed.

EDIT: 3-0-1 against Poland with 1-1 draw in Poland in 2003/04 since the 3-1 loss in 2002 WC.

All teams go through ups and downs. I'll do power rankings when it matters for the Euro and World Cups, but in between rely on a broader picture than the present form. It doesn't matter at this point that some of those teams are rebuilding. That goes with the territory. Their best level is much better than the best level of the US. And national teams tend to 'find' a certain level of play, meaning that they will get back there with successive generations. They may not regain the absolute peaks, but they do stabilize close to those, and then may drop down for some time while rebuilding. That also means that the US is not getting closer to the world top. Their best, in the modern era, was the 1994 team. And so far that is still the US peak. To illustrate this point, the present team only began to fight after two players from the 1994 team publicly challenged the spirit of the players... And then, out of nowhere, they began to play in that exact same style. Go figure.

That team was fifteen years ago. lol And now we have bandwagoneers with visions of the US as a world power in 8 years. Let me know when a book posts the odds.

I'm not from Poland. lol.

[tacomax]

You edited post 38 after you saw my reply, the one where you asked about previous world cups, hence my mentioning of 1998 and 2002. You're a fukkin idiot and not even worth wasting time on.

wtf owns his OWN business in China which he started on his OWN. It's a construction firm:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1196064/Tumbling-tower-China-Amazing-pictures-13-storey-block-flats-toppled-over.html

[reno cool]

I'm not impressed with Russia's play, but I'd take less than even money they beat the US. Watching the US play, it just doesn't look like they have an abundance of skill. They're not particularly quick or creative, kind of like Russia actually, lets get this game on.

[RogueJuror]

Russia has a master at the head though, Guus Hiddink.

[jayc88]

usa surviving the group stage in south africa would certainly be a huge success,
but honestly i doubt they're going to achieve that

[vega007]

No way at all US are ranked higher than Scotland. The Scots would wreck the US in soccer.

No man. The USA are a far better team from top to bottom than Scotland, Wales, the North of Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

[jayc88]

No way at all US are ranked higher than Scotland. The Scots would wreck the US in soccer.

No man. The USA are a far better team from top to bottom than Scotland, Wales, the North of Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.

[Bill Dozer]

durito I would love to say it was a reverse jinx but I cannot take credit for that.

I was obviously using sarcasm about being a world power, and just trying to get some people fired up lol. I had no money on the match.

I agree with Bill's comment that USA will be a powerhouse in the next decade or so. We aren't quite there, it was very obvious in the 2nd half of the Brazil game. Brazil just had bigger, faster athletes on the field. But with the influx of mexicans and other immigrants, and the more airtime the games get like today's game on ESPN, the more kids will want to play the game. It is a very fun sport to play although not nearly as fun to watch.

I played soccer (along with football, baseball, basketball, and tennis) for many years as a kid and actually was pretty good. I always led my team in goals. I averaged about 3 goals a game and went a few games where I had 6 goals. But that was little league and I never played high school. By then I was on to other sports like most everyone else. So I know the gist of the game and somewhat enjoy watching it on TV. One rule I would like to see removed that would make the game sooo much more popular is the offside rule. It ruins the game.

Right, there was always little league and most high schools had soccer. Now there is big money club soccer everywhere. Travel and touney teams are out there starting with 7 year olds. Some of the bigger clubs are affiliated with the name teams overseas.

[Vincepcion]

Re: the talk about England, they are a borderline top 5 team in the world

[DwightShrute]

Where's Canada in that top 10 list ?

[TurkzZ]

USA will get there, last 10 years has shown massive improvment, next 10 will show more IMO. 2022 in USA, by then USA will be a big power in soccer

[Vincepcion]

Where's Canada in that top 10 list ?

Too busy playing curling

[pavyracer]

USA will get there, last 10 years has shown massive improvment, next 10 will show more IMO. 2022 in USA, by then USA will be a big power in soccer

Not going to happen. There has never been a soccer power with a pee wee league. Unless MLS becomes as heavily invensted as NFL, NBA or MLB they will never advance more than last 16 in WC. No money no honey.

[dwest718]

Not going to happen. There has never been a soccer power with a pee wee league. Unless MLS becomes as heavily invensted as NFL, NBA or MLB they will never advance more than last 16 in WC. No money no honey.

Remind me again what happened in 2002? Hand balls on the goal line seem to ring a bell for me.

[Dark Horse]

Re: the talk about England, they are a borderline top 5 team in the world

They like to think so. But are barely top ten. They've never even reached a final of a major tournament, since they hosted the World Cup in 1966. A standard pre-tournament fade for me.

[aneurysm00]

England suffered under some serious mismanagement over the last few years. The team they had for the period between 2005-2008 was every good as bit as anyone else (Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, Ferdinand, Beckham at their peak). However, bad management doesn't win you games at the International level despite talent. First Ericsson and his passive management style which gave too much power to England's senior players and then McClaren who was basically just clueluess.

Capello is an excellent manager and he has shown it so far as they're about one win/draw away from WC2010 qualification and unbeaten in competitive matches. However, those players that would have been at their peak in 2005-2008 are slowly fading and Rooney aside, there is no world class talent in the foward line. In fact, Rooney and Gerrard probably remain the only two English players that would walk straight into any team in the world.

But of course come 2010, the english media bandwagon will be in full flow and 'Capello's Lions' will be the greatest team on earth. As always, you'll get fantastic value on odds for their opponents as the UK bookies try to reel in the mug punters.

[aneurysm00]

Where's Canada in that top 10 list ?

Too busy playing curling

And the Scots even beat us at that!

[Karayilan9]

Aneurysm00
Capello is an excellent manager and he has shown it so far as they're about one win/draw away from WC2010 qualification and unbeaten in competitive matches. However, those players that would have been at their peak in 2005-2008 are slowly fading and Rooney aside, there is no world class talent in the foward line. In fact, Rooney and Gerrard probably remain the only two English players that would walk straight into any team in the world.

But of course come 2010, the english media bandwagon will be in full flow and 'Capello's Lions' will be the greatest team on earth. As always, you'll get fantastic value on odds for their opponents as the UK bookies try to reel in the mug punters.

This is spot on.

There is so much money to be made in international football competitions in England, the other teams get ignored and its like the odds compilers go to sleep because they know 90% of the money is going to go on England games.

[pozzy]

They will never be a powerhouse..

[pozzy]

We are ranked 14th in the world right now..

[pozzy]

The best we have ever done in the world cup is 3rd...

[DwightShrute]

the did move up a couple spots to #12

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html