You’ve been ridiculed because you threw a collective hissy fit of epic proportions for what was essentially a 50/50, somehow blamed Newcastle for referring decisions and have, 4 weeks later, clearly still not got over it.
Of course you were ridiculed.
That depends, will Newcastle fans spend a week whinging about it?
Or will they dust themselves off, get on with it, and laugh at the fact they’ve rattled Arsenal so hard they’ve actually managed to generate posts like this in a game Arsenal aren’t even involved in?
(Clue: It’s the latter).
I agree, I didn’t say it was likely, just that if it were to happen, these countries would be my bet.
Yeah, but they don’t stick with it.
Yeah but the football system he grew up in, the sporting culture he grew up in, was Canadian, not American.
The other points aren’t really a big factor. Is Saudi Arabia so awesome that they wouldn’t be willing to move like every other footballer on the planet?
Is AlHilal so unique in their fanbase that unlike every other footballer on the planet they’d refuse to play for anyone else?
Well if anything it proves my point.
The current US squad and recent call ups is basically made up of three types of player:
Collegiate athletes come good.
Foreign players who aren’t quite good enough for their home/ancestral country so play for the US.
Players who grew up playing for local clubs and then youth academies (which is how it happens in Europe and South America).
Right now it’s a faily even balance between all three. This suggests collegiate athletes still play a big part in their system, but they are slowly but surely switching to a grassroots and academy system, but for now need to supplement with foreign talent.
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Well, Alphonso Davies is Canadian, and also from a family of immigrants from a country who are mad about football.
An outlier, and he isn’t even part if tbe US team because he’s Canadian.
Yeah, but none of those are. Not to the point that the money gets to anywhere useful to actually producing a team.
That’s not true. 3 of the current squad did.
But most of them weren’t even born or raised in the US. Which strengthens my point - American kids aren’t playing football like they play other sports.
Matt Turner, Miles Robinson, Tim Ream.
There are countries where it is still very hot and pay more.
If they had good players, you’d see them in the top leagues.
They might be culturally, but they aren’t actually.
And US will never compete so long as their kids choose other sports.
Only in the sense that winning any knockout competition requires an element of luck. But I think we can sensibly agree that countries can plan and intend to compete for these competitions with serious intent?
The problem with Ghana, Senegal, and Cameroon is the rampant corruption at all levels of government. It might seem irrelevant, but it’s not. That much corruption means investment suffers, especially as in those countries, there isn’t a lot of money to go around.
When you have people dying of preventable diseases, forgotten communities surviving on bushmeat and entire regions descending into open warfare, investing in the national football program is a low priority. Investing in football at youth level, which is equally as important, is non existent.
Costa Rica are just too small to overcome the lack of infrastructure.
USA will never be a serious threat so long as their best athletes choose other sports and their kids at 5-10 years old are playing with hockey sticks and basketballs instead of a football.
Tunisia was added to this list because they have invested heavily in their domestic football program but, upon reflection, I might actually remove them.
Already addressed it elsewhere, but no.
Their culture is ambilivent towards football at best, even now during a peak, their best athletes don’t play football and they still use the collegiate system to nurture talent, which might be great for domestic sports but doesn’t help and actually might even hinder the ability to be competitive at the top level.
The best US football players at 20 years old don’t want to be playing for a university, not if they actually want to achieve anything.
I know they are starting to move away from that because they recognise the global nature of football means the same system used in gridiron doesn’t translate well to football but, its a slow process and won’t be eradicated completely as it goes all the way to grassroots. In most communities, kids aren’t playing football at 5 years old like they are in Europe.
Eh.
The culture isn’t geared towards sporting prowess by and large. They have a few exceptions, but, as a culture, they emphasise other things. The oppressive system makes it hard for kids to break out of it and achieve. And it’s exactly in those places where those who are playing football will come from.
Sure, the government could throw billions at it if they want, but if kids aren’t rising to the top of the game and being supported by their nation, they aren’t going to compete. It would require a fundamental shift in how they approach sports as a whole.
Don’t forget, the limelight is on them right now but for all the press and all the attention, how many top level players can you name that are actually from Saudi Arabia that have made it in the Top leagues?
Your infrastructure in the game is fundamentally flawed because it follows the models of other more popular sports and relies on student athletes and foreign imports.
Your population is larger, but your best athletes aren’t playing football.
And 1 has a ceiling. It will never be anywhere close to the other major sports.
That’s not to say the US can’t be a competitive force, but, a fluke notwithstanding, they just don’t have the interest, skill or infrastructure required to be a serious threat.
Play in UEFA so would be regarded as European.
Finally, there is some sense among the Gooner fanbase. Shame it took so long scrolling to find it.
Newcastle fans (in general) have, until very, very, recently, had nothing but respect for Arsenal.