Can Team USA win the World Cup?

By LEONNARD OJWANG
Published June 17, 2010

Last year, Team USA was the runner-up to Brazil, at the FIFA Confederations Cup held in South Africa. The competition – a mirror image of this year’s World Cup, – paired some of the great teams participating in the 2010 edition. But have they really matured to carry the World Cup this year?

In a recent argument, a friend commented that, Team USA has performed poorly in the World Cup tournament, since its maiden appearance in 1930. Remember, I said 1930! That prompted my question: Can Team USA win the 2010 World Cup? My answer is a reverberating NO.

I have facts to back this. Even though most Americans know that their team, commonly referred to as The Red, White, and Blue lads, is in South Africa, only a handful cares about the outcome. In fact, United States has never come near winning the cup before, even in 1994 when they hosted the tournament. The disappointing show lessened the hopes of many youngsters, and diminished soccer enthusiasm in America.

Things have gone from bad, to worse, for the US men’s national team, since 1994. Unlike their women counterparts– accustomed to thrashing their opponents at the world stage– the men’s team failed to win a single game at the 2006 World Cup edition. It is portentous that, they may not even advance out of round one this year. Even though they have a huge name, and are ranked 14 by FIFA, they look like a team that will hand others victory, instead of administering merciless thrashing, which they are capable of.

Pundits in the US will be quick to criticize this view, but they know the opening match for Team USA against England, ended in a lucky draw, thanks to poor goalkeeping, or fluke. It’s too early to celebrate yet, because this could be followed quickly, by a loss to the little known Slovenia on June 18, and Algeria might put the final nail on the USA lads, five days later.

In the World Cup history, Team USA has advanced from the first round only three times: 1930 when it finished third overall, 1994, when it hosted the tournament, and 2002, when it was bundled out at the quarterfinals. Otherwise, Team USA’s performance has been abysmal.

Alexi Lalas, a member of the 1994 and 1998 U.S. World Cup squad, believes that Team USA has all it needs to advance to the second round. But, this year, the only big names in the American squad include Everton’s star Tim Howard– the goalkeeper– who was extremely sensational in the draw against England, this weekend; others are; Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra (captain) and the Nigerian descent Oguchi Onyewu in the defense. The team’s top scorer Landon Donovan, who plays for Everton on loan, leads the offense, while at the same time roaming the midfield. Clint Dempsey, whose lucky goal forced the tie against England, is a determined forward in the Fulham Club, and will continue assisting Donovan in launching attacks. The duo is closely supported by Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, two youngsters who are sheer gifts to the US squad. And that’s as far as the list can go. Compared to Argentina, England, Brazil and Germany whose squads are collections of incredible talents from the English, Spanish, Brazilian and Italian Soccer Leagues, Team USA stands no chance beyond the second round.

Lalas sees the recent draw with England as a chance for Team USA to make the big splash on the soccer world stage. But he forgets that the same team failed to capitalize on its 2002 World Cup lessons. Incidentally, the US has more registered soccer players than Brazil, Germany, Argentina and England combined. For much of the decade, the team soccer has never taken advantage of this pool of players.

Even though US Soccer Federation is aware of many talented Hispanic soccer players, the federation has not developed these athletes. Sigi Schmid– who coached both Los Angeles and Columbus soccer teams, to major league soccer titles, says “there remains fundamental flaws in the US system: not enough technical emphasis, development academies don’t give young players enough opportunities to play top competition, and players are not placed into proper positions earlier enough.”

Indeed, Team USA had rightfully cruised to top five FIFA world rankings after the 2002 World Cup success. However, the success painted a surreal picture of the team’s might, and they were eliminated in the 2006 World Cup winless. Donovan agrees, “We probably got a little carried away by expectations, and what we thought we were.”

Donovan shares the same view as does their soccer fans, who critics say, also made the mistake of misunderstanding the 2002 World Cup success, and their ultimate FIFA rankings. The big question is: can Team USA win the World Cup? Soccer is like pregnancy – the madness stays with you.

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