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Originally Posted by devo22
simply not true at all. Their national team has made big progress over the last few years and they had a pretty good WC last year. They put up a great fight vs Germany and losing after extra time vs Belgium (one of the best teams too, very young and loads of talent ... should be a contender over the next few tournaments) is nothing to be ashamed of either. No, they are not there yet to compete with the absolute best, but that needs time and I'd say they have done a pretty good job in recent years.
sorry, but you base this on what exactly?
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They had a pretty good tournament because of one guy...Tim Howard. They were significantly outplayed for the bulk of their time on the pitch. They were close to Belgium because Howard set a World Cup record with 16 saves in a single game (as an example). A good goaltender can be a big asset and for the US it was. If Tim Howard was not playing out his mind, the US gets embarrassed in a couple of games.
I think while they are certainly in a second tier of teams that they just won't be ready to truly compete for a significant amount of time yet. It takes quite a bit to build a team up to a level and then keep them there. US is still a long ways away on the building up part yet.