OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026

[Fat Koko]

The academies are the only way. Not sure of their model but travel youth sports are a racket. They have no incentive to identify the best talent, weed out the others, and focus on development of those who remain. Their model is the opposite. What will help USA Soccer tremendously is their new facility in Georgia. It's arguably the best in the world. Best thing is the intelligence and information focus. It's a central meeting spot for all things USA soccer. From there we will start to see a concerted effort and focus on an American style of play and the development that goes towards it. Spain is the blueprint. When the country understands what it takes to play on the national team, all development will go towards that style of play. Instead, we change with every new coach we have now. Getting away from that will be paramount.

Blame the parents.

My daughter is on a gymnastics team that travels to competitions every year in Florida, always in the winter and always in South Florida near the beach. It is more about the moms getting their nails done poolside than gymnastics. Plenty of good competitions exists in the Northeast that are day trips or two day driving trips.

The dads put up with it but don't attend the Florida competitions. When I ask my daughter what her favorite part of the trip was, it is always the meal the team ate at whatever fast food place is popular on TikTok that week.

 

[Caliknight]

Then why are you allowing her to do it?

 

[Fat Koko]

I pick my battles. Daughter leaves the gym with a huge smile on her face every time. Plus, I only pay for her gym fees, not the travel.

 

[RUChet]

An advantage a smaller geography country has is geographically keeping talent closer at youth levels

since our higher talent per capita is so much less than the top teams, we have to build a team of kids to develop together from such a wide area

this is why we must do what USA hockey does to have a US dev team program

USA hockey is by far the most effective national youth program

 

[tico brown]

Until the US adapts the European/ South American youth sports model of having pro teams run organizations from U10s, U12s, U18s… whatever instead of having the pay for play AAU/ LL/ PW model where parents of kids with garbage skills pay $10K+ / year to play for the Ironbound Rage, the Secaucus Pop Tart Rifflers, Cherry Hill Smog Warriors. You got the organizations like Man City, Man U, Barca, Boca, etc properly train their youth players how to play the game the right way instead of blowing everyone out 11-0 3 times a day to get the Coaches that’s getting all of those payments the Big Trophies

Need more of like this Manchester City Academies that’s popping up in North Texas in ALL SPORTS instead of the North Elizabeth 10U Silver Truckers that’s run by some guy who never cracked the starting lineup at NJCU…

Knicks, Giants, Yankees, etc… You’re on the clock.

https://www.mancity.com/football-programs/usa/dallas/

 

[seansherm]

The Athletic ranked this world cup the 10 best ever

All 23 World Cups ranked: Ronaldo’s redemption, Maradona’s mastery and underdogs Italy

While many have called the 2026 edition the best ever, it's impossible to judge without first working out where the previous 22 stand

www.nytimes.com

 

[RUChet]

The Athletic ranked this world cup the 10 best ever

All 23 World Cups ranked: Ronaldo’s redemption, Maradona’s mastery and underdogs Italy

While many have called the 2026 edition the best ever, it's impossible to judge without first working out where the previous 22 stand

www.nytimes.com

Idiots

the largest and best attended games filled with upsets by teams like Cape Verde and others earning their first WC points

 

[seansherm]

Idiots

the largest and best attended games filled with upsets by teams like Cape Verde and others earning their first WC points

Didn't really read the reasoning yet, but not sure attendance was part of their criteria. Teams like Cape Verde win matches in many world cups. They weren't one of the extra additions to the tournament, they were in any year. Maybe a top 10/15 upset w their draw but not near unheard of.

 

[RUChet]

Didn't really read the reasoning yet, but not sure attendance was part of their criteria. Teams like Cape Verde win matches in many world cups. They weren't one of the extra additions to the tournament, they were in any year. Maybe a top 10/15 upset w their draw but not near unheard of.

Cape Verde has 500K people and played Argentina tough in a knockout game

Not sure they get in with only 32 teams though - Africa got more teams in

But counter point - the final sucked - Argentina was completely dominated and only their GK kept it from 4-0

 

[Caliknight]

This was by far the most lucrative and watched WC in history. Both in person and tv. By any objective measure this was the most successful WC in history. Much like when America hosted in 94. It won’t be surpassed. Until we host again.

 

[RUChet]

This was by far the most lucrative and watched WC in history. Both in person and tv. By any objective measure this was the most successful WC in history. Much like when America hosted in 94. It won’t be surpassed. Until we host again.

Plus semis were very good even if the final sucked. Many great knockout games

 

[seansherm]

Cape Verde has 500K people and played Argentina tough in a knockout game

Not sure they get in with only 32 teams though - Africa got more teams in

But counter point - the final sucked - Argentina was completely dominated and only their GK kept it from 4-0

Cape Verde was in, 32 teams or 48. They won their African Group ahead of Cameroon. It's not 100% but these are the teams that probably qualified only because of the expanded tournament. Tunisia, Türkiye, Jordan, Haiti, South Korea, Qatar, Scotland, Curaçao, Iran, New Zealand, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Panama, and Czech Republic.

Final sucked, and really the match of the tournament that everyone was looking forward to, Spain/France, sucked too as it was lopsided.

 

[tico brown]

Need more of like this Manchester City Academies that’s popping up in North Texas in ALL SPORTS instead of the North Elizabeth 10U Silver Truckers that’s run by some guy who never cracked the starting lineup at NJCU…

Knicks, Giants, Yankees, etc… You’re on the clock.

https://www.mancity.com/football-programs/usa/dallas/

If these kids were in the United States, half the them in this video wouldn’t be able to afford the $4000 it takes to be a part of a youth game between the Harrisburg Thunder Horses U12 vs the Ironbound Toxic Dwellers U12.

iamSteaks (@steakstakes) on Threads

La Masia isn’t just producing great players. They’re developing kids who already understand football like adults. Watch Hugo Galdeano (#8). Watch what he does every time it reaches him. The weight of his touch, the timing, the decisions. Levels off his age.

www.threads.com

 

[seansherm]

If these kids were in the United States, half the them in this video wouldn’t be able to afford the $4000 it takes to be a part of a youth game between the Harrisburg Thunder Horses U12 vs the Ironbound Toxic Dwellers U12.

iamSteaks (@steakstakes) on Threads

La Masia isn’t just producing great players. They’re developing kids who already understand football like adults. Watch Hugo Galdeano (#8). Watch what he does every time it reaches him. The weight of his touch, the timing, the decisions. Levels off his age.

www.threads.com

And then you have situations like my buddies who wasn't allowed to cut a kid on his state champ U8 team because of who his daddy was. Pay $4K but team doesn't even necessarily have the best players - even the good teams.

 

[tico brown]

And then you have situations like my buddies who wasn't allowed to cut a kid on his state champ U8 team because of who his daddy was. Pay $4K but team doesn't even necessarily have the best players - even the good teams.

Exactly. For all youth sports.

 

[RUChet]

Cape Verde was in, 32 teams or 48. They won their African Group ahead of Cameroon. It's not 100% but these are the teams that probably qualified only because of the expanded tournament. Tunisia, Türkiye, Jordan, Haiti, South Korea, Qatar, Scotland, Curaçao, Iran, New Zealand, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Panama, and Czech Republic.

Final sucked, and really the match of the tournament that everyone was looking forward to, Spain/France, sucked too as it was lopsided.

Score was lopsided but game wasn’t. Possession, shots, shots on goal were pretty even not like the final

other semi was good too I think

 

[seansherm]

Score was lopsided but game wasn’t. Possession, shots, shots on goal were pretty even not like the final

other semi was good too I think

If you don't think Spain France wasn't lopsided you don't know the sport. Spain completely outclassed and out schemed them and France didn't get a dangerous shot off until like the 88th minute. France was never in it.

 

[RUChet]

If you don't think Spain France wasn't lopsided you don't know the sport. Spain completely outclassed and out schemed them and France didn't get a dangerous shot off until like the 88th minute. France was never in it.

Spain dominated Argentina and made them look like a non-knockout round team it was that bad. USA may have put up a better fight if the Paraguay match team showed up

Spain only had 2 shots on goal vs France so I wouldn’t say it was a domination

Spain was the best team but France was probably 2nd best

Look back at a a lock of semis and I think you’ll find a lot looked like that game

 

[seansherm]

Spain dominated Argentina and made them look like a non-knockout round team it was that bad. USA may have put up a better fight if the Paraguay match team showed up

Spain only had 2 shots on goal vs France so I wouldn’t say it was a domination

Spain was the best team but France was probably 2nd best

Look back at a a lock of semis and I think you’ll find a lot looked like that game

The xg for Spain France was like 1.63 v .31. France was never close, only slightly less so than the finals of 1.9 v .2

 

[RUChet]

The xg for Spain France was like 1.63 v .31. France was never close, only slightly less so than the finals of 1.9 v .2

Xg can be garbage info too

 

[seansherm]

Xg can be garbage info too

I agree, but in these instances they match up with what we watched on the field. Excellent world cup overall though, think we agree on that.

 

[tico brown]

And then you have situations like my buddies who wasn't allowed to cut a kid on his state champ U8 team because of who his daddy was. Pay $4K but team doesn't even necessarily have the best players - even the good teams.

Speaking of the state of youth sports, would you rather have a professional organization like the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers ,etc run the U12 baseball leagues? Or would you rather have these jerks run the local youth programs like theirs balls are too big to be handled? Every adult in this video is telling the kid the exact opposite of what the others are saying. If you think you his helps kids, you’re in this video.

 

[seansherm]

Speaking of the state of youth sports, would you rather have a professional organization like the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers ,etc run the U12 baseball leagues? Or would you rather have these jerks run the local youth programs like theirs balls are too big to be handled? Every adult in this video is telling the kid the exact opposite of what the others are saying. If you think you his helps kids, you’re in this video.

Yeah, that's pretty fuc...

 

[Erial_Lion]

We just finished off our group stage in the u20 CONCACAF Championship. The tournament means two things moving forward...the top 4 teams qualify for the 2027 u20 World Cup, and the best non-US team qualifies for the 2028 Olympics.

We went 3-0-0, beating Haiti (3-0), El Salvador (3-0), and Cuba tonight (5-0).

I wasn't overly excited about this tournament because it's not the strongest US squad (it's a good news/bad news...bad news is that several players that we would have liked to have there were denied by their clubs...good news is that they were denied because they're good enough that the clubs weren't willing to release them). Warren Barton mentioned that 20 years ago, the US took whoever they wanted to these types of tournaments because most of the players were in college, and the ones that were pros were just starting their career and clubs were fine with them getting minutes. But we've got a lot of guys in this generation (MLS and in Europe) that are making meaningful contributions while at the u20 level.

Level of competition wasn't great. The US could have scored 8-9 tonight while completely dominating the game. We'll learn more in the next week. Next game is Tuesday night in the quarters, and that's the one that will really matter...winner makes the u20 World Cup, loser is done. By my calculations, we will play either Guatemala (if there is a winner in tomorrow night's Honduras/Panama game), or Cuba again (if that game ends in a tie).

Disappointing part is that arguably our best player, Nimfasha Berchimas, was injured in the 2nd game and flew back to the US for evaluation and treatment, ending his tournament.

 

[Zak57]

Poch officially back.

 

[RUChet]

Enormous news! He has a full cycle now to work with this team. And retained his staff

can’t wait to see what they can do and I’m sure he’s going to compete every spot so nobody should assume they are in for 2030

 

[Caliknight]

4 years is an eternity. Would be shocked if he’s still the coach in the next cycle.

 

[RUChet]

4 years is an eternity. Would be shocked if he’s still the coach in the next cycle.

He’s signed up so you think he breaks contract and bolts or we fire him like Berhalter? I mean if we don’t win the gold cup and nations league then do they stick with him?

 

[Caliknight]

He’s signed up so you think he breaks contract and bolts or we fire him like Berhalter? I mean if we don’t win the gold cup and nations league then do they stick with him?

I think he will move to a club in Europe. Probably would take an offer from one of the bigger clubs, but that's still the holy grail in soccer coaching. Not saying this isn't a good thing that he signed on. Tells you the federation is serious. If they could get it done, it's a no brainer, so good on em. You take that risk even if it's higher that he would leave as compared to someone else.

 

[RUChet]

I think he will move to a club in Europe. Probably would take an offer from one of the bigger clubs, but that's still the holy grail in soccer coaching. Not saying this isn't a good thing that he signed on. Tells you the federation is serious. If they could get it done, it's a no brainer, so good on em. You take that risk even if it's higher that he would leave as compared to someone else.

Better have huge buyout/walkout amount and I mean huge as leaving early could screw us

but if we are paying a lot this is a cushy job for him. Not so many matches, less pressure than a top club

he gets to influence the whole us soccer system and make a mark

Really wonder what he does roster wise as we have some guys coming up that could be ready in 4 years - hall, gozo, Sullivan, banks, mehmeti (so?) for a youth movement intermixed with vets

He didn’t really have time for this cycle to fit guys to his style

but he must find a better goalie and some other CBs besides Richards and Freeman

 

[AreYouNUTS]

@Caliknight our very good mutual friend, who played both lax and soccer, got a really good laugh out of your 2-point line for international soccer idea

 

[Caliknight]

@Caliknight our very good mutual friend, who played both lax and soccer, got a really good laugh out of your 2-point line for international soccer idea

That’s cool. My other friend who played his entire career in Europe loves it.

 

[tico brown]

 

[RUChet]

That’s cool. My other friend who played his entire career in Europe loves it.

Only if you make the Carli Lloyd WC magician goal from midfield worth 3 goals. That’s still one of the amazing spots seats in a major competition I’ve ever seen - and it was one of ours!!!!

 

[Caliknight]

Should have been worth 2 points.

 

[RUChet]

I am not convinced this is our top problem. There is this argument that if super athletic nba and nfl guys played soccer we’d be so much better - most nba players are too tall except guards - most nfl players to talk and big

Messi is want 5-6? Mbaope isn’t that big nor is Neymar, Robaldinho, Pele. Haaland is the exception , even Kane who is tall but I wouldn’t say he’s super athletic

we lack guys who are married to the ball and it comes from how we develop talent - instead of games we should have dribbling completions and the like

We have enough speed and height to win - Spain was not a tall or incredibly fast team, same with Argentina

we need a 10% skill improvement in first touch, dribbling, things like that - and with that we can go from round of 16 to 8 or 4.

 

[Caliknight]

Depends on the position. Prime Shaq in goal? Allen Iverson as a forward having a ball on his feel his whole life? Football players train for football. If they trained for soccer, their bodies would be soccer bodies. Take some of those fleet footed wr's. Give them a soccer ball when they are 4 instead of a football and we'd have produced a number of Messi's. JJ Watt as a defenseman in soccer? Dude would be insane. Randy Moss? Saquan Barkley as a forward? So many examples. For numerous reasons the American athlete is just much better than those others in the world. America has over 3,000 Olympic medals. No other country comes close which is proof of that. We churn out athletes like crazy.

Put America's best athletes in soccer or even our second or third best, and we'd have won world cups by now. We are competing with arguably our fourth best athlete type. It's not even close to the potential of what our tier 1 athletes could do.

 

[RUChet]

Depends on the position. Prime Shaq in goal? Allen Iverson as a forward having a ball on his feel his whole life? Football players train for football. If they trained for soccer, their bodies would be soccer bodies. Take some of those fleet footed wr's. Give them a soccer ball when they are 4 instead of a football and we'd have produced a number of Messi's. JJ Watt as a defenseman in soccer? Dude would be insane. Randy Moss? Saquan Barkley as a forward? So many examples. For numerous reasons the American athlete is just much better than those others in the world. America has over 3,000 Olympic medals. No other country comes close which is proof of that. We churn out athletes like crazy.

Put America's best athletes in soccer or even our second or third best, and we'd have won world cups by now. We are competing with arguably our fourth best athlete type. It's not even close to the potential of what our tier 1 athletes could do.

You can’t compare number of medals - due it per capita. We have 330 million people or even more - you have to be fair

and when Soviet Union competed they got more medals than we in summer games

 

[Caliknight]

You can’t compare number of medals - due it per capita. We have 330 million people or even more - you have to be fair

and when Soviet Union competed they got more medals than we in summer games

We crush their overall medal count. Population tells very little of the story. If it did, we'd be getting crushed by China and India. Other countries even near our pop ballpark don't even come close.

America simply produces better athletes across the board. It's a simple fact.

 

[tico brown]

I am not convinced this is our top problem. There is this argument that if super athletic nba and nfl guys played soccer we’d be so much better - most nba players are too tall except guards - most nfl players to talk and big

Messi is want 5-6? Mbaope isn’t that big nor is Neymar, Robaldinho, Pele. Haaland is the exception , even Kane who is tall but I wouldn’t say he’s super athletic

we lack guys who are married to the ball and it comes from how we develop talent - instead of games we should have dribbling completions and the like

We have enough speed and height to win - Spain was not a tall or incredibly fast team, same with Argentina

we need a 10% skill improvement in first touch, dribbling, things like that - and with that we can go from round of 16 to 8 or 4.

You can have players who’s 5-9 to 6-1 playing soccer instead of baseball. But until the best 4- 5 star players possible have the option to playing soccer instead of third base, DB, or shooting threes, it’s going to be the SOS. Esp when you still have the current pay for play system where only the kids with money are able to pay the $5000 + to play in those fraud leagues and tournaments while the legit players can’t afford crap.

Still be better off with the European/ South American Youth Academy system but that will never happen in the US.