Yes, I stand by my opinion that Gregggg is a horrible coach. Sure glad we can beat a bad mexico team, but we suck vs actual good teams.
USMNT Talk
- Thread starter MyBoyVilla
- Start date
I would actually say the opposite. Quite often it is frustrating to watch the US against teams that are clearly inferior, the Honduras, Iran and Bolivia-level teams, because the talent gap is not as wide as we would like to think, and the US in general is not creative enough to break down a capably bunkered team that is not truly naive and subpar. However, when the US can comfortably setup in a compact defensive posture against a superior team (say, England) it can look quite good, especially if they don't try to play from the back and beat the press every time. The problem is with the fans who expect the US to be at the level of the top 15 teams in the world. Money don't lie, and those teams are worth a lot more.
i think this is a fair statement, except for the part that we are top 15 in the world according to fifa. at the moment, the US is ranked #13.
Yeah, maybe it should be 10. My point is that there are a bunch of teams that are clearly heavy-hitters and are the ones that consistently get to WC and Euros and CopaAmerica finals and semifinals, plus other teams that fly truly high for a while like Croatia and Belgium in the last 10-15 years. Below them there is a wide band of maybe 30 teams that are widely at a similar level. And only below you get the clearly weaker ones, and even then the US has a hard time getting away wins in Concacaf.
I don't think anybody could say that the US, even with this golden generation, is clearly better than Morocco, Japan, Norway (with Odegaard and Haaland), Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Nigeria, etc.
Look who decided to play active aggressive defense. I wonder what inspired him to do that?
Our golden generation of talent has a decided lack of quality scoring forwards. Here is a complete list of USA players currently in the Top 20 goal leader tables for the Big 5 Leagues:
Christian Pulisic, ranked 17th in Serie A.
That's 1 out of 100. None in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, or Ligue 1. Plus, Pulisic is probably in the bottom fifth of those 100, unless Serie A has considerably better scoring talent than the other 4 leagues, which I severely doubt. You need scorers. It's the single most important thing. The World Cup had 32 teams. We don't even have 1 player whose club stats justify ranking him among the best 50 goal scorers in the world. Not even best 60 or 70. And behind Pulisic, there's a gap.
There are strong over-estimations of the team talent and expectations to match.
Christian Pulisic, ranked 17th in Serie A.
That's 1 out of 100. None in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, or Ligue 1. Plus, Pulisic is probably in the bottom fifth of those 100, unless Serie A has considerably better scoring talent than the other 4 leagues, which I severely doubt. You need scorers. It's the single most important thing. The World Cup had 32 teams. We don't even have 1 player whose club stats justify ranking him among the best 50 goal scorers in the world. Not even best 60 or 70. And behind Pulisic, there's a gap.
There are strong over-estimations of the team talent and expectations to match.
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The things is that we are so much better than we were 10-20 years ago, but I don’t think many people realized how far we still had to go. I sure didn’t.
Yes, we’ve got multiple guys playing at top clubs in Europe for the first time. But the real elites have so many of those guys that they can pick and choose between them.
Yes, we’ve got multiple guys playing at top clubs in Europe for the first time. But the real elites have so many of those guys that they can pick and choose between them.
Yeah, some countries enjoy an embarrassment of riches. But the fact remains, we do have more players in Europe than ever before. Pulisic is having a banger of a campaign in Serie A, and Gio is talented enough to become elite if he gets the chance (please, my fellow Americans of the footy persuasion, do not go to England).
Over on Big Soccer a couple years ago, I pegged Reyna as our best player even though he was only, like, 19 or 20 at the time. And I was calling Josh Sargent's number as our most talented striker. I caught more than a little flak for it -- which is fine, it's part of the fun -- especially since Sargent was out of form at the time.
But he turned his game around after the birth of his daughter and he's been really good since, at least when he's healthy. And, of course, Gio is Gio. It's clear now how good he really is.
I won't lie, though: I wish both had stayed in die Bundesliga and piled up the starts and first-team minutes, although I totally understand the lure of Prem money. Pro athletes get old young, especially in soccer, so it only makes sense to take the big money if you can get it. I'm just being super selfish and partisan.
Having a really hard time seeing all of this as positive. Cavan Sullivan has a German passport which would allow him to train at any academy in Europe and he decides to sign with Man City which, due to brexit, keeps him ineligble from training in the UK until he's 18. He has now decided to continue to train at the Philadelphia Union and play in MLS until he's 18.
WHY WOULD HE DO THIS?
He could have signed with Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, and joined any other greater European youth development program before he turns 18 years old and gotten the full Pulisic-like treatment. In my opinion he's basically resigning his opportunity to become a world class player just to sign with a decorated club.
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