gp543 wrote:northbank123 wrote:gp543 wrote: It's high time the rest of the world started to respect the USA as a footballing nation.
Based on what? You basically get a free passage into every World Cup by beating a few part-timers, the standard of the qualifying group is woeful. The US would be battling for play-off places in the European section. Although some of the stereotypes about fans probably don't ring so true but the attendances at MLS games are pretty dire for a huge population that apparently is increasingly crazy about soccer.
Hang on. Let's look at the facts here.
1. The final qualifying group for The USA was made up of the following teams: USA, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The argument that it's 4 spots out of six would factor in if the USA finished 3rd or 4th. They didn't. They topped the group by 4 points. A group with 2 other nations who also made it to the round of 16 in this World Cup.
Meanwhile England's group was Ukraine, Poland, Montenegro, Moldova, San Marino and England. Who really had the free pass?
Not to mention that qualification in CONCACAF is made extremely more difficult by the arduous travel and playing conditions. I'd had loved to see how England would have performed at the Azteca.
2. The MLS attendances aren't huge, but neither are the stadiums. The average capacity at each ground is about 20,000. I bet the rate of sellouts will grow dramatically after this World Cup. We also have 4 other major sports so a comparison of attendances with England probably isn't logical.
Yeah, small stadiums that don't sell out
Look at the size of the NY/NJ metropolitan area and the crowds that the Red Bulls as one of the league's flagship clubs get, it's laughable. And the fact that there are 4 bigger sports in the country is pretty fundamental to how the USA is perceived in footballing circles, can't just ignore it because it doesn't suit you. If football grounds in the Premier League were emptying because people were going to watch rugby, lawn bowls or whatever instead I'd say that's pretty relevant to the country as a footballing nation.
The WC qualifiers for any established country are generally not really challenging. That England group was a straightforward one - but the USA would have a big challenge topping it to qualify and they could well end up missing out on play-offs behind Ukraine and Poland in that group. England are shit when major tournaments roll around but when it comes to rolling through the qualifiers they know how to do it and people take it for granted.
By contrast, the USA's route involved having to finish above two of Jamaica, Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda, then basically having to finish above any two of Jamaica, Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras with top 3 qualifying automatically and 4th guaranteed to coast past New Zealand in play-offs. Fucking hell even Wales or Scotland would get through that. Do half of those countries even have football associations???
The US have a lot more to be proud about than England after this World Cup but the whole demanding respect while dishing out these militant anti-England sentiments are a bit on the Alex Salmond side.
