Anyone paying attention to the current 2022 Womens European Championship cannot fail to notice that the quality of teams Europe is producing is exponentially better than at any time in the past two decades. England , France , Germany and Spain are now all very very serious threats to USA’s recent World Cup domination. Physically strong , technically sharp and tactically adept they all have players that play each week in leading, well funded, European Leagues. They are now well honed professionals that have raised their individual game to a level and consistency once only the USA players could claim. Europe is now embracing women’s soccer in the same way Americans always have. Huge crowds are now common as they are also elsewhere in the world. 91,000 to see Barcelona play Real Madrid and a sell out Wembley predicted for the Euros Final , should put everyone involved with the USA Womens Team Program on notice. The Europeans are coming and coming soon ! Would I bet against the USA raising their level again ? …No …but they are going to have to if they want to 3-peat in Australia next year.
Only one thing matters now !
The only thing that matters in the next 8 months , is not who the new coach is , not necessarily who the next President is , but how the USA maintains the impetus , goodwill and momentum it has in securing the rights to host the 2026 World Cup: nothing is more important at this time to the future of the game in the USA and we must not let the crushing loss in Trinidad to get in the way.
I was in Trinidad 28 years ago when Paul Caliguiri’s volley sent a bunch of College and Semi Pro kids to the Italia ’90 World Cup. There were about 50 USA fans there that day. Frankly, you could not compare the fight and mental strength of that team with what we all witnessed Tuesday night, Sadly it was a devastatingly poor and depressing display: with the impact on USA’ s soccer reputation, crushing.
In the USA the knives are out , the critics circling, and the US Soccer Team and Program under vitriolic scrutiny. Of course Bruce had to go , no manager withstands such a loss (he had the dignity to do it quickly and with frank honesty. He knows he failed, he knows his players let him down on the night) As for Sunil , he should suffer neither the praise for South Africa and Brazil , nor the full responsibility for our failure on Russia. Players win and lose games and should have beat a Trinidad 2nd Team.
The fact is the USA is not a particularly talented team and hasn’t been for a decade. It would take a brave man to say any team in that period was better than the 1994 or 2002 Teams. Qualifying out of the Hex has always been an easy formality and in fairness they have traditionally battled hard and punched above their weight in the Group stage, until the real pressure of the last 16 devours them. This time it came early!
Blame who you want , but I don’t remember Pulisic waiting around to be discovered , bemoaning poor coaching or complaining about not making a travel team. The best make it happen themselves , or die trying. The one’s that win you World Cups certainly do.
I still believe the future is bright , but big changes are needed. We have some great talent on playing fields and streets throughout the country. We have some of our brightest prospects playing all over Europe. We have a vibrant MLS and an increasingly impressive slate of 2nd Division teams. We have a soccer infrastructure in place that should allow us to have a brutally tough self examination period but come out the better for it. We all want the same thing: the USA to develop 16 super talented mentally tough soccer players that can help us win a World Cup. Frankly, I don’t care if that happens under the tutelage of FC Dallas , NYCFC, FC Shalke or Borussia Dortmund nor do the fans and neither should USA Soccer. (One things seems clear handing out 4m participation medals isn’t working ) A returning World Cup in 26 will go a long way to focusing on this.
Equally, lets make sure we appreciate how far soccer in the US has come in the past 30 years , lick our wounds and use it to “kick on” to the next level from a base infinitely stronger than we were in 1990 and let’s make sure the soccer voting world hears this.
Today , only securing the ’26 World Cup matters.
Gary
$1.45b “Talent Gap” that sank the USA in Brazil
You can’t put a price on the effort and heart of the USA Team in Brazil or indeed the never- say- die attitude that impressed and amazed the soccer world and excited millions of fans in the USA.
You can however put a number on WHY they lost: and it’s about $1.45 billion.
Why so sure ? Well that’s the difference in “talent” between the USA and the rest of the teams they faced in Brazil. How do we measure talent? In the only way the soccer world does: Transfer value. Of course some players aren’t worth what is spent on them but universally it’s the financial benchmark against which all players are measured.
So how did the USA Team stack up in the “talent stakes” ? And just how good was the escape from the “Group of Death”? The short answers to both are “not good” and “exceptional ” in that order.
Let’s take a look at transfer value of the starting line-ups for each of the USA Games
(source: transfermarket.co.uk)
On paper the Germans were 13 times better than the USA, (at times they played like it) , Portugal 6x and Belgium 7x . It gives you an idea of what the USA faced and explains why (at times) Howard stood alone. Ghana was dispatched early on: but at only 1.6x better they were easy “statistical prey”. Klinsmann got the very best out of a group of committed , willing and brave players, who produced results that belied their “perceived value” .
The above though only relates to the actual “starting” team: it is squads not teams that win World Cups. So how did the USA’s 23 squad match up with the rest?
When the game is not going your way you need “fresh legs”. The USA’s opponents were able to draw upon legs $1.45b more “talented” to change the game and squeeze out a result. Lukaku for Belgium did just that , and the USA were out.
Of course there is a ton of subjectivity around the premise that the most valuable teams (or squads) automatically win, Spain being the prime example. In reality however if they don’t the coach should go (and usually does) .
It’s fantastic for the game in the USA that the team gained the respect of the watching world and the hearts of the media and fans at home , but until we close the talent gap we have no chance of winning it.
However anyone questioning Klinsman as a coach needs to wake up !
Regards
Gary
Postscript.
The next decade will bring forward the most technically gifted, culturally diverse and physically capable generation of players this country has ever produced. We have the possibility of developing players worth $10s of millions
I have said this for years; there is more raw talent (and more of them) on our youth fields than almost any country in the World. Belgium (population 11.4m) was boringly average a decade ago perfecting the art of a 0-2 loss when it mattered most. They will however be one of the favorites at both the Euros in France and World Cup in Russia 2018. Why and How ?
England beat Germany 5-1 in a World Cup Qualifier 13 years ago . A blistering wake up call ! Germany’s reaction was to set fire to their manuals and start again. No need to explain what happened next!
Matches anyone !
SOCCER-BIZ-USA 