You think the U.S. was overrated going into the World Cup?

Question

I was very disappointed with the performance of the U.S. Soccer team this year. I was sooo hyped for them to go far, but the played terribly. opinions?

Huge round of applause to Pancho this guy nailed it. Dont worry Pancho, Im from Colombia so to me Colombia come before U.S. any day.

Answer 1

Absolutely. However lets get something straight here. There are three variables to consider;
world rankings
world outlook
fan and media outlook

The fans and media in the US most definetely overrated their team. They actually thought they were better than every teeam. In fact Landon Donovan was quoted as saying "We are here to win the whole thing and we are not even imagining anything else"
That guy needs to get a life. He performed absolutely horrible. And he could not even play in a second division in a mediocre European lague. For gods sake he was sent packing from Germany in a month or two.
So this covers how the fans, media and players overrated the team. The newspapers were putting US to finish first from the group and Chech Republic second and Italy as an underdog. PLEASE!

World rankings: US plays bunch of horrible teams all year round. When the US competing against Canada, Honduras, Barbados, Jamaica, teams in Europe are trying to qualify against each other Germany, England, France etc. In Europe alone I would say the following teams are hands down better than the US any given day. (And please dont tell me about Portugal game last world cup where the US scored 2 offfside goals although they are cryiung about the referee in this world cup, Portugal would beat teh US 99 out of a 100 times)
England, Denmark, Turkey, Spain,Portugal, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Chech Republic, Ireland, France - there are 17 teams here alone. We havent even counted the Souyth American teams and I know I missed a few Europeans that can take on US easily any day of the week.
I am sorry you seem to be an intelligent fan that is just trying to support his/her team but it is a fact. US media just hypes things up and the expectations are really reallyt high when the product on the field is not even close.
Also something else to look at is the failure of US sports teams in general in almost every field in recent years.
The sports that the US has traditionally been so proud of for a long time. Baseball, Hockey, Basketball - if you notice they have lost in all of those categories. Maybe they need to address something. Other countries players in every sport play the sport for the love of the flag, for the spirit and in international competitions they still play with a college team attitude, like amateur, the US has made everything about MONEY!!!! MOney, money, money, and for this reason its players have no heart. good luck next time.

one last addition to pennywise: The US lost to Mexico in baseball and got eliminated. I dont recall them ever being a powerhouse in this sport. England invented football (soccer) and they havent won a thing in 50 years, US invented baseball and they had a horrible start in the world stage. Doesnt mean it will last by any means. After all lthere are a lot of players that choose to play for the US side because they put cash before their own country pride, like Alex Rodriguez. And the US can afford to pay them, like France does with African born players in football. I guess that is todays global world.

Answer 2

I certainly do. People get over excited about them because they have always been the anomaly nation (the one whjch doesn't really understand football) and as soon as they have a little bit if success it is seen as their great breakthrough, rather than the false dawn it usually is.

This was the case going into the 2014 World Cup. They had a good result against Ghana (motivated by recent history) but leaked a last minute goal to Portugal. And though they played well against Germany, they still lost.

Then we come to the Belgium game, and though they played well, the performance was still overrated. Belgium got behind their defence plenty of times (especially the left back) and had it not been for Tim Howard, the USA would have lost about 5-0.

Answer 3

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 4

Out coached definately. Overrated no I don't think so, we have alot of very talented footballers, Dempsey, Donovan, McBride, Lewis, Reyna and our strength and conditioning training is 2nd to none ( the current rage in the Euro club teams is to hire U.S. trainers) But Bruce Arena made some of the dumbest coaching decisions ever. I think they played a "Don't get beat" menatlity when the should've been playing to win.


***********Late Note***************
Le'ts not forget our "TOP Tier " atletes are not playing soccer. They play footbal, baseball, hockey, and basketball. In every other country on Earth, their best athletes are playing soccer 1st. It's like having an (american) Football tournment and france putting Zindane at QB with Henry at WR. Great athletes but not their best sport. Anyhow good point on the other sports we are suppossed to dominate, my answer is "the sun shines on a dog's butt every once in a while" Japan and cuba have always been powerhouses in the baseball world so that was no surprise. The U.S. just overestimates it's opponents and were beat. One day that will happen in the soccer world and we will be there smiling, because don't forget "the sun shine's on a dog's butt every once in a while"

i think Keller SUCKS that dog's butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

FIFA just improved their rating system. Although the U.S. ranked 5th in the "old" FIFA ranking system, it was not one of the eight seeded teams for the tournament. (Hense, two of FIFA's seeded teams are now in the final.)

Problem with the U.S. is most of its players aren't creative. In my opinion, Keller is the only reason why the U.S. made it so far in World CUp 2002.

The U.S. needs to reorganize itself, scout for youthful talent and find a better coach. Maybe even a foreign coach.

Answer 6

I think they were a bit overrated, but at the same time, they didn't seem like they were ready to play and didn't play to their potential except against Italy. If they had played the way they played against Italy, against the Czech Republic and Ghana, there's no telling where the US could be right now. They tied Italy, and actually could have won that game, and now Italy is playing for the championship.

Answer 7

I've never expected much from the us in terms of soccer since this sport has quite less popularity and emphasis as opposed to other american sports. Fans and support go a long way in generating team spirit and motivation to win.

Answer 8

i think they PROVED they were overrated. #6 in the world? 1 goal scored? The U.S. make a mockery of the sport.

Answer 9

Absolutely

Answer 10

They have been overrated for a long time.