i understand what you are feeling. But unfortunatly USA still has about 10-15 years to becoming a well develped above average team. You did not provide evidence.
Any team can beat any team on any given day, that is part of the beauty of this game. But here in the states, the kids dont play street ball, they play basketball, they dont play soccer on thanksgiving, they go and emulate John Elway.
They might have endurance and strength, but no individual skill, no skill on the dribble, no finesse, no touch, nimbleness isnt present, and for sure attitude is wack. USA should continue to naturalise players from Africa and south america if they want to be a better team. that is bottum line, but that also takes the fun out of a world cup where you want to see players repping their countries on the team.
I want to respect USA as a soccer team, but until they fix their arrogance and bad attitudes and learn how to play then they dont get respect. Paraguay and Chile is also better than USA by the way.

Will you still consider the USA an average team if they beat Brasil to win the Confederations Cup. South Africa which is an average African team frustrated Brasil and prevented them from expressing themselves. Mexico and USA are not average teams. Mexico have beaten both Brasil and Argentina in competitive games. Mexico also reached the last 4 of the last Copa America. USA have beaten Spain, Egypt,drawn with Argentina and are in finals of a major competition on merit.

I doubt if there will ever be one unified qualifying group for the Americas as the respective federations have vested interests. However i do think that there should be a Pan American Cup between the top teams of North, South and Central America on a regular basis.This will lend weight to your claim that Concaf teams are average or give credence to my argument that they are not. The size of this competition can be streamlined to prevent meaningless games. So rather than have 4 groups of 4. Why not have 2 groups of 4 which will include the top 4 South American teams and top 3 Concaf teams with a place reserved for the hosts.

Until there is a competition like this there is no way of proving that Uruguay and Ecuador are better than the USA or Mexico. Its all just a matter of personal opinions. I have provided evidence that they are not but which you have overlooked.

The US have only won tournaments on their home soil. Never anywhere else. And only in their own federation. Against Island teams.

Ecuador played the games that they had to play, and advanced. In Germany. At sea level. Your excuse of ‘group of death” is pathetic. The group of death was the one with Argentina.

More and more excuses. Why can’t you just be happy that the US won, and leave it at that? They have to earn respect. They are doing so. You’re not helping.

Costa Rica are not a mickey mouse team They qualified for the WC in 2002 and 2006. They are very diificult to beat at home as their players seem inspired. USA may have lost to Costa Rica but they are stii second in their group. Costa Rica are top of the standings. The USA are also back to back Gold Cup champions. You may sneer at this fact but the truth is that Concaf games are competitive as the teams are at a similar level. Contrast with this Europe where major teams like England, Holland, Germany play teams like Andorra, San Marino, Luxemburg for points. These teams are on a lower level than the island nations you sneer at.

The USA lost 3-0 to Brasil so did Italy. Argentina lost 4-1 to Brasil in 2005, 3-0 in 2006 and 3-0 in 2007. Brasil also thrashed Portugal 6=2. USA flopped at the Copa America because they fielded an experimental team. This is a fact check the squad it was full of fringe players. The emphasis was on the Gold Cup. Mexico may have come 3rd but they are in decline as they have lost to Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. Anyway Mexico are invited to take part in the Copa for commercial rather than football reasons.

Ecuador did better than the USA at the World Cup because their group was weaker. USA was in the toughest group with Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic.

Ecuador have not won anything because they have not been good enough. Uruguay have a small poulation and they constantly reach the latter stages of Copa America. In the last Copa they were a penalty kick away from knocking out Brasil.

Prior to yesterday’s game everyone was waxing lyrical about how good the Spainish midfied and attack is. Spain have excellent players but the US defensive display was awesome. If Italy had defended like that there would be non stop praise about how they were masters of the art of defending. The Confederations Cup is for champions of continents. USA are there on merit and not for marketing reasons. They defeated the European champions and the No1 ranked team in the world. Please give credit where its due.

No one criticized the US — we were just talking about the facts. YOu can say that the US did this and that — but they also lost to Costa Rica 3-0, got spanked by Brazil 3-0, got their asses handed to them in that smae Copa America that Mexico placed 3rd.

The US played a great game, and I’m proud of them. But — in concacaf — they are the tallest pygmies in the village. This gives them an inflated ego, a sense of greatness that isn’t really justified, but that, when used well, gives them strength for games such as yesterday.

And about Ecuador — Ecuador, with a size and population not much bigger than the state of Virgina, did better than the US in the last world Cup. And I’d say that if the US were ever in a division with Brazil and Argentina, they probably would never have won anything either. It’s not that hard to look big against island nations.

The US and Spain have played each other 100 times, and Spain has won 99 of those times. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with coronating the US for anything. They deserved to win yesterday, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that they – as a team — are well behind what they can be.

Spain are the champions of Europe and are ranked No1 by FIFA. In the last couple of years they have beaten Argentina, England, Italy, Russia, Germany and Chile. They are an excellent team and the fact that they lost to USA does not change this fact. The USA was immense and deserves credit for a historic win instead of the sniping. The USA beat Egypt 3-0, there are those who might snigger about this victory but they should remember that Egypt are back to back African champions. Egypt also breached Brasil’s defence thrice which very few teams have done.They also defeated Italy who are the current WC champions.

USA are current Concaf champions and that is the reason they are competing in South Africa. They have also dislodged Mexico as the dominant team in that region. The same Mexico that won bronze at the Copa America. It is also incorrect to claim that Spain’s players are tired after a demanding season and that USA’S players are fresher. The vast majority of the USA players ply their trade in Europe and not in the MLS as claimed. Tim Howard plays for Everton, Spector plays for West Ham, De Merritt plays for Watford, Clint Dempsey plays for Fulham, Onyenwu plays for Standard Liege and Altidore plays for Villarel.

It is also incorrect to claim that Ecuador are better than the USA. Ecuador are not champions of their continent and what exactly have Ecuador done outside Quito. How many of Ecuador’s players have excelled in Europe and what scalp have they ever taken. So please stop hating and learn to appreciate. The USA is on the rise.