The Soccer Thread (Version 7.0)

Forget the hex. We've got to make the Cup. If we don't qualify, I think the entire staff - back office and technical staff included - will be gone.

 

By WHOM?

And what is "the world stage"?

 

We are playing a team which has nothing to play for, which has never made a Gold Cup (much less a World Cup), which is ranked 95th in the world and which has never previously made even the semi-final round of World Cup qualification.

If we can't blow them out with our 3rd team, much less a team with a couple of starters missing, then we don't deserve to go to 2014.

 

I'll repeat what I said earlier. For 2002 qualifying, the USA nearly didn't make it out of the semifinal round. In the last game at Barbados, the USA had to win to make it the hex. With 25 minutes left or so, the score was 0-0.

If I'm not mistaken, the USA finished third in the hex for 2002 qualifying, a distant third behind Costa Rica and level with Mexico. That World Cup turned out pretty well still for the USA.

 

Exactly.

All this talk about "respect on the world stage" and a failure to qualify meaning U.S. soccer "takes three steps back" . . . they've struggled to qualify before. A lot of nations all over the world struggle to qualify, every time. The CONCACAF region is not easy. They lost one they shouldn't have. It happens.

Regardless, the U.S. will NEVER gain more respect on the world stage than it already has. If it fails to qualify this time, the sport will not die in this country. The U.S. will not suddenly be laughed at, even in some fans' precious England. Life will continue.

 

Read at Soccer America that Antigua still believes they can qualify for the hex, which in theory is correct if they win their last two games. However, to do that, I would like to believe that they'll open things up tonight. I don't. I think they'll pack it in and play conservative. I think they'll be just as happy with a 0-0 tie as anything.

 

Really good stuff from the excellent Roger Bennett:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/352?cc=5901

 

That was a great read. For all the current worries, it's easy to forget just how far the USMNT has come.

 

No doubt. I attended a 1990 World Cup qualifier in St. Louis (in front of maybe 4,000 fans) against Jamaica. Speaking of hand wringing ... it was a home-and-home series to determine who went to the final round of qualifiers. After tying 0-0 in Jamaica, the game in St. Louis was tied 1-1 with about 25 minutes left which meant Jamaica was in the driver's seat based on away goals. US won 5-1, but the Yanks came frighteningly close to not even making the final round.

I don't remember who scored that day aside from the game-winning PK from ... Hugo Perez.

 

World Cup qualifiers in junior college stadiums just 25 years ago. I think most of the greedier fans are the ones who discovered the game in the wake of 2002. At least, I hope so.

The sport has come so far in this country in a short time.

 

Read the other day that San Marino are the heaviest underdogs in the history of the sport for tonight's game against England, longer than the odds on the Loch Ness Monster being found this year. I'm not sure they'd be favored against Wembley FC, let alone England.

 

And it showed, 5-0 to England.