June 27, 2010

US Soccer Left Me Hanging

I should have known better…

That is the only thing that ran through my mind after the US was knocked out of the cup by Ghana. I knew this team had some major holes in the defense. I knew they lacked depth. I knew Bob Bradley didn’t know how to pick a solid Starting XI and stick with it. I knew all that, but I started to believe this team was beginning to put together something special with the ways they kept fighting back into games. Then Ghana scored in the 6th minute and I took off my happy goggles from the Algeria game. I knew that there was no way they would be able to fight back and play games with Lady Luck one more time.  So now I am left to wonder how  team squandered a perfect opportunity to earn some more respect on the world stage.

The next World Cup will be in 2014 and I have no idea how the team will look then. All I know is that we need an infusion of young talent ASAP.  The current core will be too old in 2014. Even Donovan and Dempsey will be at the end of their effective careers ( a la Wynalda, Balboa, Ramos, and the rest of the ‘94 guys in ‘98) and cannot be counted on to carry the team. I can only hope that guys like Adu and Torres will find a way to take their game to the next level because we will need the strong technical players to help us take the next step.

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