Ot - usmnt

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by echappist

There may be superficial similarities (in that the U.S. won the Gold Cup during a year when they were trying to qualify), but the similarities end there.

The most talented ever seen? Really? Perhaps true at the time, but how many were at the time (as opposed to had been during some part of their careers) starter/impact subs on Champions League caliber teams?

Brooks played for Hertha Berlin (perennial underachiever) and Wolfsburg (who did jack all and was almost relegated after De Bruyne left, until this past year, that is); Pulisic was the only player with bona fides. Jones had played on Schalke's CL squads but was 3-4 years past his prime. Dempsey was an MLSer (can't remember if he has ever played in the Champions League, though he did drag Fulham into the Europa League final some eight years earlier). A lot of past-it players playing with a bunch of MLSers and players on midtable (if not lower teams). Howard was past his prime.

Now evaluate the following.

-----------------------Steffen--------------------
Dest/Cannon---Brooks-----Richards---Robinson/Dest
----------McKennie-------Adams------
----------Pulisic--------Reyna--------Weah
---------------------Hoppe/Siebatcheu-------------

In terms of current players playing at a Champions League caliber.

Dest plays for this club that mes que un club.
Brooks (a mainstay of Wolfsburg) qualified for the CL.
Richards has played in the CL; he is loaned out to a midtable Bundesliga team.
McKennie starts for Vecchia Signora.
Adams plays for for Rasenball; even scored a goal against Atletico and helping his team to the 2019-2020 UCL semifinal.
Pulisic, well if you don't know, then we shouldn't be talking about soccer.
Reyna plays for BvB.
Weah helped his team dethrone PSG and become French champions. That means UCL for the upcoming season.

So that's eight out of the first-choice eleven who have had or will have significant UCL experience.

Steffen actually played in a few UCL matches, but those were meaningless.

Which leaves us with Cannon, Robinson, and Siebatcheu. Cannon plays on a midtable Portuguese side; Robinson was headed to AC Milan until he failed a physical and was one of the few bright spots on Fulham. Hoppe was one of the few bright spots on Schalke, and Siebatcheu plays for the Swiss champion (likely to have at least EL minutes).

And don't forget Musa (Valencia) and Aaronsen (Austrian champion, will see at least EL minutes, if not UCL minutes ). Horvath has also played in UCL group stages.

You could basically fill that entire first 11 with players who are seeing significant minutes in the top-5 European Leagues. And the best part is that most of the players are under the age of 25 and will improve.

And lastly, let's not forget, the MNT team yesterday was at best a B-squad. The El Tri squad included three starters with UCL experiences and one sub with UCL experience. El Tri played at a venue that was at least neutral, if not favoring Mexico. And they still couldn't capitalize.

And the guy they hired to run the whole thing's most notable achievement is some decent years with the Columbus Crew. As talented as the kids may be, I have very little faith in the nepotism hire seeing this group through when the chips are really down.

Jurgen was not a perfect manager by any stretch, but one thing he got right and we're seeing the fruits of now is getting these kids outta the MLS system as soon as possible, and into actual top flight European leagues.