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USA Soccer is Regressing
Posted on 7/8/26 at 3:39 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 3:39 am
quote:
If anything, this group was a regression, lacking the obvious heart of past teams led by Claudio Reyna, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and others. This one was more talented but somehow even further behind.
quote:
Perhaps not coincidentally, this World Cup was very much in the travel-soccer style for the Americans -- they shined when they had the talent advantage and got to bask in premature adulation only to wilt when confronted by a real opponent.
And this piece is pretty much spot-on why:
World Cup Losses Will Continue Until America Fixes Its Youth Soccer System
If you look at the 23rd-ranked 1994 team, it tied #8 Switzerland, beat #18 Columbia, and lost to #10 Romania, before losing 1-0 to #1 (and eventual champion) Brazil. FIFA Rankings May 1994
In 2026, the 17th-ranked US beat #41 Paraguay, #27 Australia, and #64 Bosnia but lost to # 22 Turkey and got embarrassed by #9 Belgium. In 32 years, despite tons of money and massive growth for the sport, the USMNT has arguably gone backwards.
9
Posted on 7/8/26 at 5:58 am to RockChalkTiger
I don’t disagree about the regression and need to fix the youth system. However I’d point out losing to Turkey was meaningless, we had already won the group. Yes we should have won but we had to sit guys that would have played if we needed a result
Posted on 7/8/26 at 6:50 am to RockChalkTiger
World cup losses will continue no matter what you do.
Brazil loses world cup games, same with France, same with Germany.
Come back to reality.
Oh and the best player in the world plays in the MLS. MLS hadn't started yet in 1994. That's how far we've come.
Brazil loses world cup games, same with France, same with Germany.
Come back to reality.
Oh and the best player in the world plays in the MLS. MLS hadn't started yet in 1994. That's how far we've come.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 6:56 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 7:04 am to RockChalkTiger
I wouldn't say regressing, but stagnating. I don't follow soccer outside of my niece in high school and the World Cup, but the USMNT seems to scratch the surface of a top 15-20 team and just can't break through to a top 10 or 12 team with a real shot at competing with those teams. Other countries invest more into soccer at every level of the game from money to time and attention.
If US elementary, middle school and high school kids played soccer at recess and outside with friends everyday, the US would improve over the course of a generation and would be on par with top 10 countries. The kids in the US are usually playing basketball or football with their play time which delays development and limits our pool of athletes interested in soccer from a young age.
The top 10 teams and those that are competitive with them look like they all know what their teammate is thinking and work together as a team as if they've done it since they were 7 years old. It's just more natural/organic vs forced development with average players starting at some positions that wouldn't even make a top 10 team's roster.
If US elementary, middle school and high school kids played soccer at recess and outside with friends everyday, the US would improve over the course of a generation and would be on par with top 10 countries. The kids in the US are usually playing basketball or football with their play time which delays development and limits our pool of athletes interested in soccer from a young age.
The top 10 teams and those that are competitive with them look like they all know what their teammate is thinking and work together as a team as if they've done it since they were 7 years old. It's just more natural/organic vs forced development with average players starting at some positions that wouldn't even make a top 10 team's roster.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:56 am to RockChalkTiger
Only a dumbass would say USMNT has regressed since 1994.
It was a terrible showing in 1 game. The Paraguay team that they stomped ended up taking France to the wire, yielding a 70th min goal in a 1-0 loss and had qualifying wins over Brazil and Argentina and gave up 10 goals in 18 games. To act as if they played nobody with a pulse is hilarious.
It was a terrible showing in 1 game. The Paraguay team that they stomped ended up taking France to the wire, yielding a 70th min goal in a 1-0 loss and had qualifying wins over Brazil and Argentina and gave up 10 goals in 18 games. To act as if they played nobody with a pulse is hilarious.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:01 am to RockChalkTiger
Teams around the world fluctuate too. Today's Germany prob. beats 2002 version.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:51 am to RockChalkTiger
You can always expect these sorts of articles after a World Cup crash out. Consistently, however, they all lack practical solutions to the problems they present.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:52 am to RockChalkTiger
quote:
USA Soccer is Regressing
I dont think people realize how hard it is to win the World Cup. England only has one. Spain only has one.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:53 am to The Third Leg
quote:
It was a terrible showing in 1 game. The Paraguay team that they stomped ended up taking France to the wire, yielding a 70th min goal in a 1-0 loss and had qualifying wins over Brazil and Argentina and gave up 10 goals in 18 games. To act as if they played nobody with a pulse is hilarious.
all of this.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:58 am to RollTide4Ever
Our style of play and technical skills have improved compared to the bunker down and counter attack style of the 90’s which was good enough to keep games close and pull an occasional upset but not conducive to sustained success.
We are improving but still lack the talent the top 10 teams have. Losing in the round of 16 is a pretty accurate standing of where we are at. A Top 20 team but still not able to break into that top 10 to make a serious Championship run. This team could have used some of the physicality of those old teams as well. We had some stretches where we played beautiful football, we just couldn’t do it against a team like Belgium with more talent. I think with an improved team make-up in 2030 we can take a big step up. We have some legitimate pieces to build on.
It could be much worse, look at Italy; a traditional powerhouse that has not qualified for two consecutive world cups! We are just so used to winning everything all the time. We are without a doubt making progress.
We are improving but still lack the talent the top 10 teams have. Losing in the round of 16 is a pretty accurate standing of where we are at. A Top 20 team but still not able to break into that top 10 to make a serious Championship run. This team could have used some of the physicality of those old teams as well. We had some stretches where we played beautiful football, we just couldn’t do it against a team like Belgium with more talent. I think with an improved team make-up in 2030 we can take a big step up. We have some legitimate pieces to build on.
It could be much worse, look at Italy; a traditional powerhouse that has not qualified for two consecutive world cups! We are just so used to winning everything all the time. We are without a doubt making progress.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 11:08 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 11:11 am to Musashi
Attacking depth will always hold the team back. You can live with giving up some goals, and I wish our CBs were better and younger (Ream), but bringing on Berhalter & Reyna chasing a goal is just never going to net you results in the long run.
Belgium had Lukaku, KDB, and Doku waiting in the wings. All former or currently world class players. I'd argue you've got 1 even in the conversation of that (Balogun and on his best days Puli) where Belgium and other top level teams have 4, 5 and sometimes 6 (even if you wanted to call them a level just below world class or even as far as just really good)
Belgium had Lukaku, KDB, and Doku waiting in the wings. All former or currently world class players. I'd argue you've got 1 even in the conversation of that (Balogun and on his best days Puli) where Belgium and other top level teams have 4, 5 and sometimes 6 (even if you wanted to call them a level just below world class or even as far as just really good)
Posted on 7/8/26 at 11:42 am to RockChalkTiger
We won three WC games this year, which equals the amount of games we won in the last three WCs combined, and scored 11 goals, which is two less than we’ve scored at the last three WCs combined.
Old US teams basically played a version of soccer similar to Paraguay, which can keep games close against elite teams but you’ll almost never actually win consistently and also struggle to beat mediocre and bad teams (which is the biggest difference, previous US teams were outplayed or played to a draw by Iran/Algeria/Slovenia/Wales/Romania/Poland).
This year we tried to actually take the game to Belgium and for a combination of reasons we had a stinker of a performance.
Also there isn’t a single non-European team in the QFs that beat a European team to get there. So we aren’t doing anything worse than Brazil/colombia/japan/South Korea/mexico/nigeria/ghana/etc. No one is consistently beating elite Western European teams in the past 15-20 years ever since they started incorporating better athletes into their elite academy setups (and yes better athletes is a euphemism) except Argentina, who has the greatest player of all time and is still often holding on for dear life and winning on penalties.
Old US teams basically played a version of soccer similar to Paraguay, which can keep games close against elite teams but you’ll almost never actually win consistently and also struggle to beat mediocre and bad teams (which is the biggest difference, previous US teams were outplayed or played to a draw by Iran/Algeria/Slovenia/Wales/Romania/Poland).
This year we tried to actually take the game to Belgium and for a combination of reasons we had a stinker of a performance.
Also there isn’t a single non-European team in the QFs that beat a European team to get there. So we aren’t doing anything worse than Brazil/colombia/japan/South Korea/mexico/nigeria/ghana/etc. No one is consistently beating elite Western European teams in the past 15-20 years ever since they started incorporating better athletes into their elite academy setups (and yes better athletes is a euphemism) except Argentina, who has the greatest player of all time and is still often holding on for dear life and winning on penalties.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 11:53 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 11:56 am to RockChalkTiger
quote:This is absolutely complete horseshite and so out of touch it doesn’t deserve a rebuttal
USA Soccer is Regressing
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