(06-19-2018 12:06 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(06-19-2018 11:36 AM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(06-19-2018 09:52 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(06-18-2018 03:33 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(06-18-2018 03:29 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  It is a recurring theme on the few occasions soccer is discussed on sports radio in town, although they do not talk much about soccer because most of their listeners do not care. And in this very thread the “ignorant” notion was employed.

Nevertheless, I was disturbed when I saw America did not earn a WC spot. I hate seeing my country fail in anything - especially when Iceland (!!) can do it.

You keep mentioning Iceland. Iceland is a good team and just tied Argentina. Heck, if the US did make it to the WC I'd bet on Iceland to beat us.

Iceland’s population is less than Wichita, KS. If they can make it to the WC, then the USA (a weathy, diverse, and 3rd most populated country in the world) should make it too. The USA, despite proclamations we are turning into a soccer loving nation, is actually regressing on the international stage. Our best athletes and best coaching minds go into other sports. The main root cause is most Americans do not care about soccer. I do not understand the difficulty in acknowledging it.

Despite lots of resources and a great history Memphis hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament since 2014 but St. Mary's has made it at large. You would think that Memphis with all its money (top 15 budget-wise), all its fans, and all its resources would be able to get a bid in a 68-team tournament. St. Mary's is a small school, not a lot of fans, bad facilities.

OR maybe, just maybe the field is competitive enough that even the elite programs aren't shoo-ins. Maybe the field is competitive enough that--if you have aging stars, a bad game at the wrong time, and a coaching issue--anyone can miss out.

Tiger fans and administration knew it was an unacceptable situation so we pushed out one coach and fired another. Similarly, it unacceptable for the USA not to qualify for the WC. I do not like soccer, but detest seeing our country humiliated.

And soccer has done the same thing. Fired two coaches and have a new USSF president. It's not like nothing is being done.

Just like Mexico had to do last cycle and just like Italy and The Netherlands are doing now, there's soul searching and there are resources being spent.

The next go round I expect to see us in and doing well. We'll have several players on the team who will be hardened vets in the top domestic comps in the world at age 24-ish.