re: USA --- Miracle on Ice Gold vs. 2014 World Cup Championship?

There's a reason no one ever focuses on the other games the us played, bc while they might have been good wins against good competition they were games the USA was expected to be competitive in. A much more apt comparison is greeces 2004 euro win, where they basically had three straight miracle on ice results. But no one stands out over the others bc there was no overarching political narrative and they were all equally huge

ETA: hyperbole???? Dude in the knockout stages alone, discounting the fact that our group is one of the toughest in WC history, we'd have to most likely beat, Belgium, Argentina, Spain, and Brazil at home in the finals. If anything saying 4 is underbole

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Also, we are ranked 13t.

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The difference as you scale up is exponential, not linear. I don´t think you´ll ever grasp this.

The miracle was a miracle, but because of political overtones. Take them out, and it´s one for the books, for all time (it was an absolutely amazing feat), but just another Olympic story for the annals....

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Dude, I have a fricking hockey player as my avatar.

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So the soccer forum doesnt have a soccer bias in general?

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I'm currently watching game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals.

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Cool, same. What does that matter?

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They call it the "Miracle On Ice" because of ONE game. Yes, we had to overcome insurmountable odds to win that game, but at the end of the day it is still one game.

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Well, see, it wasnt just one game to win the gold. Every team that group of college kids played they were underdogs.

Look, Im fine with folks thinking this and that but to completely discard the 1980 Hockey Gold Medal run as "Uncomparable" is exactly the bias Im talking about. Its comparable. Which side of the fence you fall on will depend I suppose but just dismissing it wholesale as "not comparable" is silly.

Folks are getting emotional about this including you. Thats a sign of defensiveness. Not sure why we all need to be defensive when we are just having a discussion among soccer fans.

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Were the US to win the WC, they would have pulled four miracle on ices......

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No..

They'd be great wins. Not miracles.

Why is everyone acting like the US doesn't have a professional soccer team?

Or a team that has never beaten anyone?

There is no Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Germany...etc...

Equal to the Soviets and the massive gulf between us and them and everyone else.

And we weren't expected to beat the other teams...we were projected to finish 5th or 6th...if we got hot.

Winning the WC would be a great and improbable achievement - but we have been training for this for the last two decades with professionals - who play against professionals.

Saying it would take "4 miracles" is absurd, lacking historical knowledge of hockey and really marginalizing the USA team.

Again...show me where the US soccer team is comprised of sophomore UCLA and Santa Barbara kids who have never played internationally...and show me the opponent who has dominated the world for 20 years in every major competition?

I'm waiting...show me that?

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Also, we are ranked 13t.

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You are assuming FIFA rankings are accurate. Also I can't emphasize the talent gap. We are ranked 13th according to the ELO rankings, but the teams above us, Italy and France, , are more talented and deeper, as are the teams below us, Belgium and Russia. There are other teams ranked below us, like Croatia, Ivory Coast, and Bosnia, who have much more talent than we do.

Why are you acting like those other teams in 1980 had professional teams?

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We're also not really 13. We're in a pack of like 11-20 where everyone is pretty even

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Yeah, the computer rankings are corny and the talent difference once you get to 6 or 7 most loaded teams is exponential.


Just for example, The USA #13 is arguably even with Ghana #37 and oddsmakers like Ghana more and Ghana has a lot more players at top professional clubs.

Both are massive underdogs against Germany along with 10 or so other teams. . .

I will say that perhaps the USA beating Russia in that single game was a bigger upset (though beating Brazil at home in a final would be arguably close).

However, there's just no comparison for the amount of consecutive huge upsets the USMNT would need to just reach the finals.

The "professional" vs "amateur" argument effaces the massive amount of professional soccer players there are and large gap between the quality of leagues they play in. Like USA-USSR the USA would likely not have a single field player in the best ten teams Brazil could pick.

This is like asking which is better, arse or titties?

The answer is, neither one is better than the other.









Especially on the SB.

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Will you just stop with this shite. Just because someone may disagree with you doesnt mean they dont "grasp" something.

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You don´t have to agree with me, but after understanding, I´d be suprised if you didn´t. Well, somewhat surprised.