re: United States of F#ck Yeah v. A Guy Named Ana | Gold Cup Group D | 9pm CT (FS1)

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USMNT attendance is at the lowest that it's been in quite some time, that's money left on the table.

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I imagine that tends to happen when you fail to qualify for the World Cup (and 600 days between official matches), and we haven't gained a ton of talent since then.

Easy fellas.

Generally you expect to see a better product in a competitive match vs a friendly, but I’m cautiously optimistic about that being the case tonight. In either case, I hear your point that a dose of temperance is in order, but I’m desperate for something to be hopeful about. “Let’s wait and see what GB can do” just isn’t doing it for me.

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Right now, progress is much more important than wins.

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You don't think wins = progress?

Please give me a scenario where we have an underwhelming Gold Cup but we still reach "progress"

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You don't think wins = progress?

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Not necessarily. We can continue looking better as a team and still draw or lose to a Panama.

I liked a lot of what I saw against Venezuela. So I hope to see continued improvement, fixing some of the mistakes (that were likely caused by unfamiliarity), plus the addition of some better players (Jozy, Bradley, Pulisic).

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We can continue looking better as a team and still draw or lose to a Panama.

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False. The only two teams it is acceptable to lose to are Mexico and Costa Rica. Even then Costa Rica is on the down side of their golden generation.

I will be very pissed if we don't get 9 points out of the group, unless we rest everyone in game 3.

How has the USMNT regressed so much in recent years when soccer has gained in popularity and more kids than ever are playing it in this country?

The sad truth is that our sports culture may never allow elite soccer talent to develop in large enough numbers. The allure of football baseball and basketball are still way too much. And then mix in lacrosse and hockey and even tri. Just in my limited experience as a parent of young kids I’ve seen several examples where a kid has some soccer potential but parents push them to another sport.

I used to think we were only a generation or 2 away. But now I see we are many generations away from being a legit soccer nation. And we may never get there. Hope I’m completely wrong about that.

I predict a 2-0 USA win, with plenty of stuff for y'all to bitch about.

I think we may pull one out 3-0 or 4-1.

Defense is the biggest question for this roster. The Euro talent being included here will make the diffe4ence, though.

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The sad truth is that our sports culture may never allow elite soccer talent to develop in large enough numbers.

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There are 350 million people living in the US plus a large portion of US citizens living abroad. We need 23 at any given time to be productive soccer players. It will happen sooner rather than later, in no small part because MLS academies are a thing now.