When Spain beat South Africa, I heard Harkes say Spain has now won 15 in a row, unbeaten in last 35 matches. If the U.S. could break that streak, it would be right up their with the Portugal win in 2002.
When Spain beat South Africa, I heard Harkes say Spain has now won 15 in a row, unbeaten in last 35 matches. If the U.S. could break that streak, it would be right up their with the Portugal win in 2002.
Anything can happen. It has been a weird week for the US soccer team. Almost as weird as Alan Webb's career. If they beat Spain it will be their out of the blue 3:46 mile.
terps wrote:
When Spain beat South Africa, I heard Harkes say Spain has now won 15 in a row, unbeaten in last 35 matches. If the U.S. could break that streak, it would be right up their with the Portugal win in 2002.
If the US were to somehow beat Spain it wouldn't even be close to that Portugal match. Portugal in 2002 was good, but right now Spain is firing on all cylinders and is probably the best team in the world right now (you could argue Brazil has more talent, but they are not as consistant).
when is the match against spain/is it televised?
wednesday i think 2:30EST it will be on espn or espn2
curious.... wrote:
when is the match against spain/is it televised?
The US must win or it will be considered a failure!
America has nearly 10 times the population of Spain. There is absolutely no excuses anymore.
The US beating Egypt is hardly a miracle. The US is ranked 14th in the world to Egypt's 40th. Egypt beating Italy 1-0 is much more 'miraculous'. Damn Americans, never miss a chance to toot your own horns. Someone on the last page said "I never knew so many people gave a crap about soccer". It is the most popular sport in the world, you moron.
at this point population is not the answer. Soccer has always been about culture, passion for the sport and how the best players evolves by getting involved in playing in top clubs.
This I believe is the main weakness of the US team (playing in top clubs).
To play in the MLS is good but not good enough. A big adjustment is needed for MLS players when they have to play against players that are used to the level of big time league clubs.
There is a reason why few (I can't think of any but just to be safe) of the top international players from any positions play in MLS league. The only big players that do are usually at the end of their carrier and are either coming for the money or sitting on the bench in their respective clubs (Beckham comes to mind here).
I think a Key for the US growth to international level is somehow for the MLS league to be more involved with top foreign leagues on a regular basis.
Until then or until at least some US players become stars in big clubs it will be very difficult (but not impossible) to succeed internationally. The population advantage only takes you so far.
luck may take you to the semi final of the world cup but there is a reason why in so many years only a few teams have won the ultimate trophy.
I can't think of one team that have won and that didn't belong at the top and I can only think of 2 teams that never won and should at least have won once (Netherland and Spain).
Spain has finally figured it out and are deservingly #1.
It will be tough for the US team.
Brazil vs Spain would be an interesting match. 50/50.
Just my 2 cents.
Uruguay has won historically and isn't at the top in modern times, but all the other winners are still world powers.
I would add Hungary (yes, really) to the list of teams that should have won a Cup but haven't. From the late 30s to about 1960, they were insanely dominant, but never could win a World Cup (got 2nd twice.) WW2 putting a stop to sports didn't help them of course.
ALTHOUGH Hungary is sitting second in its WC qualifying group with 3 games to go...they could be coming back!
If you ever lived in one of these dominant countries you would realize why they are so good. Every single town has a football club. I don't care if the town has 1000 people in it, they have a team and they take it serious. At the very bottom level the guys are playing for nothing, but there are several levels of competition. It completely dwarfs the MLB farm system.
761 teams entered the FA Cup in England this year. That's 761 teams in an area about the size of Alabama.
Wyco Loco wrote:
If you ever lived in one of these dominant countries you would realize why they are so good. Every single town has a football club. I don't care if the town has 1000 people in it, they have a team and they take it serious. At the very bottom level the guys are playing for nothing, but there are several levels of competition. It completely dwarfs the MLB farm system.
A victory over Egypt is nothing to be proud of. Egypt has been beaten up on year after year after year in the World Cup, as a quadrennial representative of Africa. Granted that Egypt did great in its previous games here, the surprise was their previous showing, not this one. However, it was nice to see the U.S. wake up from its dogmatic slumber. I hope it carries over to a Spanish team that was once known for underperforming in big tournaments.
Brad ONeil - SR - Coe College wrote:
761 teams entered the FA Cup in England this year. That's 761 teams in an area about the size of Alabama.
Insane isn't it!
stupiderer wrote:
A victory over Egypt is nothing to be proud of. Egypt has been beaten up on year after year after year in the World Cup, as a quadrennial representative of Africa. Granted that Egypt did great in its previous games here, the surprise was their previous showing, not this one. However, it was nice to see the U.S. wake up from its dogmatic slumber. I hope it carries over to a Spanish team that was once known for underperforming in big tournaments.
Egypt actually almost never makes the World Cup, only qualifying in 1934 and 1990. They're a good team though, they often win African championships and are rated 40th by FIFA and 24th in ELO (which I think is usually more accurate.)
Any win, especially one so convincing against one the world's better teams, is something to be proud of in international play.
The other way to look at it is that we performed better over three games than Italy, who is ranked 4th or 6th depending on the table used. As shown by the fact we're in the semis, and they're not.
Of course, anyone who has watched much soccer knows ranking mean about nothing once the whistle is blown to start the game. See Korea and Turkey's run in 2002, Senegal that same year, Ukraine and Australia in 2006, and others.
Very true and believe me I do realize this....I am french and i grew up playing soccer until I moved to the at us at 16 about 25 years ago.
There are still some funny things about the way US approaches the youth development but that's another topic.
Playing soccer then in the US was even tougher (not many high schools with teams) so I moved to running.
But I can definitely see a change in the right direction to for the US. However, because of what you and I mentioned, it's not tomorrow that the US will win a world Cup?
less than an hour until game time. I think the US loses 2-1 but gives Spain a scare.
I want to be positive about the US' chances but Spain ahs been an absolutely dominating side in the past two years.
Anyone know of any free online streaming of this match? I can't get access to espn360...