🇺🇸 USA vs Belgium 🇧🇪
- Thread starter 1vagamecock
- Start date
Yep. We have a LONG way to go to have the king of quality as the top teams.
Realistically we weren't getting by Spain anyway.
I could stomach a loss so much easier had we not played so badly. They are a good team, better than us overall, but we also made so many mistakes.
Can't remember the announcer, but it was college football and I think he was referring to teams that played Alabama when they were near/at their peak under Saban, but he commented that a lot of teams make mistakes against really, really good teams.
All the little things that make a team really good in the NFL is what makes Belgium better than us.
You saw talent on our side but talent alone doesn't make the best team.
I get that notion. In this case, imo, their talent didnt force a bad play by our goalie for the third goal. Without that, its at least a one point game for most of it, and more interesting. I think that bungle was just too much.
I also saw unforced errors a lot. But I am admittedly biased.
I at least take a little comfort that a couple of the expert analysts said the same. Belgium is a better team, but we had a chance if we played well. We played the opposite.
Oh well.
We exceeded expectations by getting to the Round of 16 and then reality set in.
Take comfort in the fact ''IT'S ONLY SOCCER''!
Take comfort in the fact ''IT'S ONLY SOCCER''!
We exceeded expectations by getting to the Round of 16 and then reality set in.
Take comfort in the fact ''IT'S ONLY SOCCER''!
I don't know about US soccer. To date, our best showing ever at the WC was in the very first one ever held in 1930 where we finished 3rd. I guess we've grown in that we are expected to make the WC most years and we play fairly competitively. But every 4 years we go through the same song and dance about soccer in America.
Couple things. First of all there were only 13 teams (i believe) that made the 1st world cup. 2nd like I said earlier we won't compete with the top country's until we take soccer seriously. Our athletes are as good as Spain or France but we lag way behind those countries in training and commitment.
I'm not watching soccer when the Gamecocks are playing (or the Buccaneers or Dolphins) but I'm watching soccer instead of the NBA all day, and maybe baseball.
Yes, I did not want to diminish our greatest WC showing by noting that most of Europe passed.
We'll never close the gap in a meaningful way until we revamp youth soccer. In Europe, as I understand it, professional clubs are involved with funding youth soccer and developing talent. Youth clubs are rewarded financially when their players go pro. Here it's just pay-to-play.
We'll never get that infrastructure like Europe has for youth development. Here youth soccer is just a business focused on maximizing profit.
We'll never get that infrastructure like Europe has for youth development. Here youth soccer is just a business focused on maximizing profit.
Thank God it's over. Now we can stop pretending soccer is something the US cares about.
It's just not important enough here. I know we have some soccer fans and bunches of kids play youth soccer, but hardly any of them are playing with the hopes of developing into a professional player. It's just an activity...swim, soccer, cheer, etc. In Europe, the whole system is built to develop professional players. There's a cultural difference we simply cannot overcome.
You are a bigger idiot than I thought if you really believe this.
"bunches of kids play youth soccer, but hardly any of them are playing with the hopes of developing into a professional player".
It's obviously true in the context of what I have posted here about youth soccer in Europe vs America. In Europe the intent of youth soccer is to develop talent. That's just not the case here. Professional clubs heavily fund youth soccer in Europe.
This is not earth-shattering. European countries simply take soccer WAY more seriously than we ever will.
But that's in large part b/c we also have football, baseball and basketball. They've got soccer.
I don't know why you take it so personally. I'm not saying soccer is stupid or soccer fans are stupid. I'm just acknowledging reality. America, on the whole, simply does not prioritize soccer like European countries do. And we never will.
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I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The kids that are out there playing youth soccer on the bigger scale like travel soccer most certainly have collegiate and professional aspirations, but that's just not a huge number of kids. Soccer will never be important enough, culturally, for the US to compete with Europe and South America. That's just cold truth.
Everyone has what they like. No need to bash the sport because you don't care. It's odd to me that a 4-1 score is considered a blowout, but that's just soccer I guess. Not my thing, but no animus toward the sport itself.
This is one thing where you and I agree. This doesn't happen often. You are not bashing the sport. You just recognize that in the American Sports hierarchy, soccer still has a long way to go. As a parent, I never said to my son, "let's go out and kick the soccer ball around". ...and I don't think that is just a me thing. I think this can still be said for a majority of American parents.
''Satire Alert''
babylonbee.com
U.S. Back In World Cup After Trump Deports Belgian Team
U.S. — The United States Men's National Team was officially placed back in the World Cup after President Donald Trump ordered the deportation of the entire Belgian team.
babylonbee.com
It really is just a cultural things.
In other countries, kids play pickup soccer games in the streets. In my entire life, I've never seen that in America. I see plenty of kids playing pickup football. All the time. Soccer just permeates those cultures in a way that it never will here.
That's not a bad. Or a good thing. It's just how it is. We have pockets of people in America who love soccer. But for most of those other countries, the entire country loves soccer.
I don't think making it to the Round of 16 is exceeding expectations. We made it to the round of 16 in 2022, 2014, and 2010.We exceeded expectations by getting to the Round of 16 and then reality set in.
Take comfort in the fact ''IT'S ONLY SOCCER''!
I was going to be very satisfied if we win just one more game.
I could have tolerated this loss had we just played well.
As it is, this tournament leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I have seen this at the park a few times. However, it usually involves immigrants that come from Mexico, Colombia, etc.