Was the U.S. team overrated in the World Cup? Why or Why not...?

Answer 1

Nope, not in the least. What people seem to not realize is that the FIFA World Rankings are not ranking the teams by their likelihood of winning or their overall abillity. It is NOT a committy decision. It is a formula plugged into a computer, nothing more and nothing less. When you realize that you realize U.S. NOT getting a #1 seed bid (or pick) for the Group Drawings was accurate. They were not in a group of death seeing as Italy was the only trully strong team (when healthy, which they weren't). Oh by the way, Italy was ranked something like 14th or something in the Fifa Rankings! No one voted for the U.S. to be that highly ranked...it was a formula based off of certain things. The ONLY stat that was right was Brazil being a clear #1.
The only overating that could have been there is from our disrespectful loud mouth Landon Donovan and co. He has NEVER proven himself EVER on a big stage and never will. He hasn't score in almost an entire calendar year at an international level (mind you that we have easily one of the weakest qualifying groups...he hasn't scored in close to a year against the likes of Jamaica, Morrocco, Venezuela, Trinidad, Costa Rica, and the list goes on of teams that are far from good).
The only bit of overrated hype and belief came from ESPN, US media, and the U.S. team. Anyone that watches the game or is from another country KNEW, not wondered, but KNEW this outcome would happen. The fact we had a chance was a shock (a shock because Ghana has more international superstars than us and the only reason we had a chance was because we played a depleated Czech team and a VERY subpar Italy squad).

So no, we were not overrated to the world. We did what we were supposed to. However, the media here did there typical hype and exaggerations to get fans. Unfortunately it built the expectations way to high and soccer passion and the growth in the U.S. has taken a huge blow. We could feel this for quite some time.

Answer 2

Of course. The team will have a chance once Bruce Arena and so called captain Claudio Reyna are off the team. Those 2 do not have the leadership or skill to back the team.

Hell why did Bruce Arena even bring Casey Keller back on the squad, let that old fart go already. Stop living in the past and move onward.

US has a good number of young talent and hopefully they will grow into a stong squad but it will only happen once Bruce Arena is gone.

Sad but US will not be a world wide competor anytime soon. Till then they can be happy winning whatever games they can while they let the real teams play the beautiful game.

US over rated, they need to stop making comercial and work on fundamental skills.

Answer 3

We were overrated in fifa's ratings (which hardly ever make sense.) Mexico's rated higher than Argentina, but I don't think the Argentinians are as stressed about the upcoming match as the mexicans are.

I don't think you could say were seeded too highly in the tournament, because we didn't have a very high seed. On paper the expectation was that we would win between 0 and 1 matches, and that's what we did.

B-Money: It's amazing how many times I've had to remind people of the events of 4 years ago, but we made it to the quarterfinals and may have beaten Germany if they had any less of a goalie as Oliver Kahn. It's fair to say we've played very poorly in the last 3 european world cups we've participated in.

Answer 4

They are not overrated. I believe that as everyone here knows the ratings are made out of the results of the games the teams play over a period of time and according to coca cola and fifa are made like this:

Taken into consideration for the ranking are all international-A match results over a time span of the last eight years:

World Cup finals matches
World Cup preliminary matches
FIFA Confederations Cup matches
Continental championship final matches
Continental championship preliminary matches
Friendly matches
The ranking list is produced by a computer program which assigns a team points for every match, according to clearly defined criteria. The factors taken into consideration are:

Winning, drawing and losing
Number of goals
Home or away match
Importance of the match (multiplication factor)
Regional strength (multiplication factor)
For each team only the seven best results per year are given full weighting. Results from the past are given progressively less weighting year by year until after eight years they are dropped completely. In this way current success is rated more highly than past results.
At the end of each year, two awards are given. The "Team of the Year" goes to the team that notches up the seven matches of the year reaping the overall highest average number of points during the year. "Best Mover of the year" is the one that has made the most progress in the course of the previous twelve months.

Based on the above considerations, the total number of points credited to a team after a match will depend on the following criteria:

Points for winning, drawing or losing
Plus the points for goals scored in this game
Minus points for the goals conceded
Plus a bonus for the away team
Multiplied by the appropriate factor for the status of the match
Multiplied by the appropriate factor for regional strength
The number of points for a win, draw or loss, as well as for the number of goals scored or conceded is dependent on the strength of the opponent. In order not to punish a lack of success too severely, a negative points total is rounded up to 0.00.

Look here:http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html

NOW:

I believe that all the guys above me that are taking Mexico into account are just jealous that Mexico passed, i do not see what does Mexico has to do with this question, You asked if the US was overrated..... I do not think it was...

And if you are trying to make a point, then why don't you say CZECH REPUBLIC is rated NUMBER 2!! and they are also out... AND NIGERIA Is Number 11 and did not made it to the WC... and Italy is number 13 and is there and tied with the US that is number 5 and Mexico will probably loose against Argentina which is number 9.

SO I RECCOMEND THAT we should not go with the ranking and just enjoy the WORLD CUP.

Answer 5

The United States never seems to rise to the challenge in the World Cup. I think our nation's attitude about soccer is to blame. The players on the team just don't want to win as bad as other countries because the fan base is not there.

Answer 6

Not overrated. They just underperformed. For the talent they had on that team it should have done better. But the plus side is that it's a young team, and with 4 years more experience under their belts they *should* do better in 2010.

Answer 7

I've been puzzled for ages as to how FIFA rated them as 5th best in the world before the competition - they clearly were nowhere near that position - so yes they were overrated by FIFA, but probably not by many of the common man watching as a fan.

Answer 8

no they were right to put them as 4 but then again USA had some tough teams to beat. Like czech and Italy Usa did tie with Italy and ghana has always been good. They have been always a team to win or qualify in the African cup.

Answer 9

Yes, just like Mexico. In respect to their rankings neither team should have been in the top 10. In respect it's players no. They had enough talent to have pass on through the round of 16. It's Arena's playing schemes that did them in!

Answer 10

Do u really have to ask this question. I guess everybody knows what's the answer. The FIFA ranking is absolutely ridiculous and team USA are playing very badly. Need I say more?