Originally posted by howardgee The Australian team have got many players playing in arguably the best club league in the world. (English Premiership - our 4 teams all topped their leagues in the European Cup today).
At the time of the last world cup, they included: Schwarzer, Viduka, Cahill and Kewell. Any team with players of that quality at the spine of the team will always have a chance of winning.
This year a record 9 Americans will play in the English Premier League.
If Man U is fortunate enough to sign the "best young player in the world," Freddie Adu, that will make 10.
Kasey Keller moves from the EPL to join 4 other Americans in the German league.
We also have one each in Denmark, the Netherlands, and France.
The explosion of US born players onto the world soccer scene is surely one of the developing stories of the second millenium.
Originally posted by howardgee Yes, I have heard about him, is he really that good?
In some ways he still hasn't lived up to the hype. But, everyone keeps saying he is the real deal.
After denying it twice, Man U finally admitted that they had Adu over for a trial at the end of last month.
He'll sign some where when he turns 18.
Right now, he is the youngest person ever to play professionally in any sport in the US. He signed with DC United at 14 and played in his first pro game at the same age.
its just not going to happen sorry; the us will never win the world cup because there just isnt enough interest in the sport to receive enough funding to train players up from an early age; their three big sports will always dominate and so football (soccer) will always be in the shadows... whats worse, even if by a mighty fluke they did win the world cup, no american will really care anyway - the world cup should never have been held there either....
Originally posted by Palynka That's pretty meaningless. Will Jurgen be facing pressure if he doesn't win? If he makes it to the finals? Semi-finals? Quarter-finals? Last 16?
Like I said, nobody plays to lose. If you make it to the last 16 will be already a good result, depending on your group.
Four years ago we made it to the final 8.
You guys are living in the past and have a complete misconception of what soccer is like in the US.
Originally posted by Palynka That's pretty meaningless. Will Jurgen be facing pressure if he doesn't win? If he makes it to the finals? Semi-finals? Quarter-finals? Last 16?
Like I said, nobody plays to lose. If you make it to the last 16 will be already a good result, depending on your group.
Watching the English self-destruct this year, I don't know that I can entirely agree with your premise.
Originally posted by Red Night Four years ago we made it to the final 8.
You guys are living in the past and have a complete misconception of what soccer is like in the US.
I'm not living in the past. 8 years ago you beat us. Do you think I forgot it? Like I said, the US has a respectable team and are no pushovers. But let's not get our horses ahead of the cart here, it's still not World Cup winning material as you need to do it consistently to better teams than your own.
Final 8 is and was a great achievement for the US' football team. You're undermining it by claiming you should do a lot more. Heck, semi-finals was a great achievement for the Portuguese national team and we're better than you guys by miles.
Originally posted by Red Night Never should have come down to penalties.
Right now, portugal has a good team. Made a great run.
In 4 more years we'll see.
I think the sting of last summer's dissapointing result will spur us on in the near term.
Watch out! 10 years ago we weren't supposed to be where we are now.
I hope you're right actually. I think China will also develop very quickly. Their interest in the sport has been growing exponentially and with a population that size getting very interested in a sport, great talents are sure to emerge.
The more good footballing nations are out there, the better it is for the sport. We'll see in 4 years. 🙂 That's why the WC is such a big event. 4 years of anticipation...
Originally posted by Palynka I hope you're right actually. I think China will also develop very quickly. Their interest in the sport has been growing exponentially and with a population that size getting very interested in a sport, great talents are sure to emerge.
The more good footballing nations are out there, the better it is for the sport. We'll see in 4 years. 🙂 That's why the WC is such a big event. 4 years of anticipation...
Yeah, I agree on china. Look how fast some of the other asian nations developed.
There are also a bunch of good african teams.
I love the World Cup, but I was a little dissapointed in this last one. Other than France, I didn't think there was a team that really stood out. I'm not sure if that is because the top teams got worse or because the average teams got better.
But, there is no question that 2010 will be a lot of fun.
Baseball is the greatest excuse for a sport for people who want to avoid real physical confrontations, like cricket. If someone wants to play a real sport come to anywhere in the soth of Ireland and watch the greatest sport ever created, played by amateur men, players wear helmets to save themselves from having a stick smashed over their head in front of every local man, woman and child that can make it to the game. This is passion and all just to lift the Liam McCarty Cup in front of 80000 people in the GAA's HQ-Croke Park. Wembly only can hold 10000 more people but the GAA is an amateur sporting body. Same for all you Americans out their. Also you don't see huge crowd fights to often in GAA, your more likely to see rival fans chatting about the game afterwards.
Originally posted by john91 Baseball is the greatest excuse for a sport for people who want to avoid real physical confrontations, like cricket. If someone wants to play a real sport come to anywhere in the soth of Ireland and watch the greatest sport ever created, played by amateur men, players wear helmets to save themselves from having a stick smashed over their head in front of ever ...[text shortened]... fights to often in GAA, your more likely to see rival fans chatting about the game afterwards.
are the americans just missing the point..?
07 Dec '06 02:201 edit
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