Ive been reading about all of your predictions about our chances in the world cup and how disappointed and embarrassed you are in the team. I want to take the time to put the USMNT in prospective. What we are doing in our group is the equivilant of Duke basketball playing against teams like the Dallas mavericks or the San Antonio Spurs...We are the best team in a weaker region but we cannot compete with the class of these soccer giants...

The US has its best team ever but it is also playing the toughest opponents it has ever played. Ive read about how many of yall think we are going to win the group and make it to the semi finals and I think it is entirely impossible but opinons are opinons. The one thing Im worried aobut is that you are trivializing what the US has to over come. For example lets take the top three players from the U.S.

Claudio Reyna - starts for a middle of the road premiership team
Brian McBride - Starts for a bad premiership team
Kasey Keller - starts for a middle of the road bundesliga team

And look at what they are playing against
Pavel Nedved - Star player on the best Italian team
Tomas Rosicky - Just moved as a huge transfer to Arsenal after being a star in the bundesliga
Jan Koller - Great German Team and a star in the bundesliga
Petr Chech - number one goalkeeper of the new york yankees of soccer and widely regared as the best keeper on the planet except for maybe buffon who we play next

To say that our team is an embarrassment or a failure is to say that they had a chance of winning this game...THEY DIDNT!!! they are totally out classed physically skillwise and mentally (the mls does not provide a huge mental challenge)

So stomp your feet and complain about how we suck but these guys arent the best in the world, at best they are top 10 top 15, but the czechs and the italians are top 5. If they win celebrate the miracle that it truely is (like last world cup), if they lose then realize it was bound to happen.

I, for one, have never said we had world-class talent. We don't. Yet that fact is all you have proven with your player-by-player listing.

Many of us didn't honestly expect a win yesterday, but we rightly expected much better than the half-assed performance we saw from the Americans. Our team has done well in the past because they've been fitter than other teams and played well together. But none of that showed yesterday, and THAT is why most of us are upset.

I think it is all of the hype. Every analyst on ESPN and every other channel covering the tourney made the average, once every four year soccer fan believe that we could and should be able to play with these guys. Your point Ag@Rice was proven yesterday it looked like the JV #2's taking on the Varsity #1's. The over-hype and quit in our guys is what bent me out of shape.

Screw the press. Don't listen to a network that has soccer on 1/1000th of their broadcast time and then come on here and profess your intelligence and familiarity with international soccer. Half of the people on here were predicting us to get to the second round and some that we would win the group. Get some good information first before you decide to hype yourself up. For many of us 4-6 would be a great result with us most likely earning 1 or 3 points, this was no surprise to anyone outside of the US.

Also, I'm pretty sure that AG@RICE is dissappointed also that the team didn't play to their ability or with the intensity they should have. I'm pretty sure he's pointing out the same thing you are tool, that we don't have the athletes and everyone expected too much. Obviously if you didn't expect a win then you were in the same boat with us, and its not sinking (although I don't know if we have a paddle).

[This message has been edited by riley290 (edited 6/13/2006 3:46p).]

I kinda believe that the hype and the effort are related...

1994 World cup in the US the americans over acheive

1998 World cup in France, everyone expects big things from the americans, they have a professional league they advanced the year before and they fall flat on thier face.

2002 World cup in South Korea, Everyone is talking about the americans disappointment the year before and underestimating them...they do great

Two quick conclusions from the last three world cups...we perform poorly in europe and when the hype is over realistic expectations.

So during the czech game the americans are full of this we are just as good as everyone else in this world cup feeling and they come out and in the 5th min they get a taste of how far they have to come and it takes the wind out of their sails...Im not saying that its acceptable but you can definitely see where it came from. That was shock on the faces of those players after koller pounded on that ball...apparently none of them were ready for the reality of the situation....

I think we will see more effort during the Italian game but dont be surprise if we get beat badly again