Will the United States of America ever win the World Cup?

[universalchiro]

No. Football, Baseball and basketball get the country's best athletes.

[macbone]

I voted "No," because I really don't follow association football, even as my friends were making plans to get together to watch the opening game at 6 am here.

Then I did a little reading. In 2002, the US team made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and in 2009, they made it to the finals of the FIFA Confederations cup before losing to Brazil 3-2. Yeah, it's definitely possible, especially as soccer becomes more and more popular in the US.

Has the United States become a soccer nation? Absolutely, and here's how it happened.

And I assume you're talking about men's soccer. The women's team has won the World Cup twice, with one second-place finish and three third-place finishes.

Here's an article that talks about why the US men's team isn't better. One key difference may be a lack of experience at the highest level:

Klinsmann has stressed the importance of American players securing loans in Europe, to place themselves in the center of the game’s most fiercely competitive, innovative battleground. And he’s also taken steps to rid the U.S. of its traditional playing style, adopting tactics more emulative of the possession-based scheme that correlates best with winning. The Klinsmann experiment is not a slight adjustment to American soccer — it’s a total overhaul.

Viewed this way, perhaps the United States isn’t underachieving at all, even after taking into account its economic resources. American soccer is making its way down an evolutionary path that other countries traversed decades earlier. The early growing pains of the U.S. men’s program under Klinsmann are part of a long process, one that someday may produce a team capable of legitimately competing for a World Cup.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why ... at-soccer/

[universalchiro]

Interesting. Yes we are talking soccer for men. Women don't play football, nor hockey, nor baseball. So the best athletes in the United States for women are available to participate on the US soccer team and that makes sense why they won, they had the best athletes. But for men, the best athletes are choosing football, baseball, basketball and hockey over soccer. For some reason the sport hasn't taken off like other sports. Even baseball which was Americas sport, has been replaced by football.

[KoolBak]

Perhaps a poll of "who cares" would be more appropriate.....

[oVo]

Interesting. Yes we are talking soccer for men. Women don't play football, nor hockey, nor baseball. So the best athletes in the United States for women are available to participate on the US soccer team and that makes sense why they won, they had the best athletes. But for men, the best athletes are choosing football, baseball, basketball and hockey over soccer. For some reason the sport hasn't taken off like other sports. Even baseball which was Americas sport, has been replaced by football.

I do think the USA Team might win a WC someday,
but it won't be this year.

USA women do play Hockey, Soccer and Baseball... but it's fast pitch softball and they were so dominate in the Summer Olympics that Softball was dropped from the competition. In women's Olympic Hockey it's been all Canada/USA period, with the Canadian women owning the most Gold Metals.

[macbone]

Yep, women's softball is pretty popular, at least in the Southeast US. Title IX opened the door for a lot of women's sports, but unfortunately, some men's sports lost out, like men's gymnastics.

[Gillipig]

The reason Football hasn't caught on in the US is because there are not enough commercial breaks in the games.
Only at halftime is it possible to do a commercial break, in American Football it's every fifth minute, or perhaps every fifth second?

[notyou2]

When hell freezes over, which apparently is soon.

[mrswdk]

No. Football, Baseball and basketball get the country's best athletes.

If that were true then they would probably be capable of winning the World Cup.

[notyou2]

Not sure about the US but in Canada, soccer/football enrollment passed (ice) hockey enrollment several years ago, so it's just a matter of time before Canada makes the world cup.

BTW we just got robbed by a bad call in a rugby game versus Scotland that we would have won.

[InkL0sed]

The US winning the World Cup some day is pretty much an inevitability. There's a reason why we win so many medals at the Olympics – we're one of the most populous nations in the world, and we're the richest. The only reason why we've been historically poor at soccer is because of its low popularity here, but that's becoming less and less true. Nowadays we already have a decent squad. It's only a matter of time before we become a powerhouse.

[notyou2]

The US winning the World Cup some day is pretty much an inevitability. There's a reason why we win so many medals at the Olympics – we're one of the most populous nations in the world, and we're the richest. The only reason why we've been historically poor at soccer is because of its low popularity here, but that's becoming less and less true. Nowadays we already have a decent squad. It's only a matter of time before we become a powerhouse.

Yeah, that's what I said.....soon.

[oVo]

The US winning the World Cup some day is pretty much an inevitability.

Inevitable? Ha ha! Nothing is inevitable with the exception
of death and taxes.

[JBlombier]

I'll be damned if the USA wins the World Cup before The Netherlands gets his first.

[Serbia]

I'll be damned if the USA wins the World Cup before The Netherlands gets his first.

Guaranteed.

Bollocks.

[betiko]

lol, this has nothing to do with "who gets the best athletes". People can be good at many sports, but not excel at every sport...
Your physical specificities and your mental training can make you become one of the best at something, but not at everything.
genetics+epigenetics.

The US team overperforms compared to their actual player-by-player level. This means they can work well as a team but they are pretty much at their max in terms of quality. You have very few players playing in decent leagues; it's a sport where you guys need to export yourselves to be good unlike american football, basketball or baseball...

To ever win a world cup you guys have really a lot to catch up. The MLS will never be really competitive, and there are very few young talent that come on this side of the pond, when they learn the basics.

[Steiner75]

...The US team overperforms compared to their actual player-by-player level. This means they can work well as a team but they are pretty much at their max in terms of quality. You have very few players playing in decent leagues; it's a sport where you guys need to export yourselves to be good unlike american football, basketball or baseball...

Not so sure about that, there are even some american coaches gainig first experiences abroad, and "ever" is indeed a very long time, so I voted "yes":

[betiko]

Haha! Nice video!

"How many countries are there in this country??"

[denominator]

Women don't play football, nor hockey, nor baseball.

Wow, you really are completely ignorant of everything.

[Timminz]

Yes, someday. It will likely happen sooner if the NCAA stops playing by their own set of rules, and plays like the rest of the world. The substitution rules are ridiculous, and don't allow players in their prime developmental years to become as good as they could be at the professional/international game.

[muy_thaiguy]

Yes, someday. It will likely happen sooner if the NCAA stops playing by their own set of rules, and plays like the rest of the world. The substitution rules are ridiculous, and don't allow players in their prime developmental years to become as good as they could be at the professional/international game.

The NCAA is messed up, no doubt, but so are the Big 10 (who will soon have 14 teams), the Big 12 (who has 10 teams), the PAC 12 (elitest snobs), the SEC (der, what are reading?), the ACC (slightly smarter version of SEC, except UNC, but not by much), and the AAC (who will soon be C-USA 1.5 and a has been).