"the most prestigious annual men’s event conducted by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The tournament, which was born in 1992, prior to the U.S. hosting their first World Cup, is usually staged as a four‑team, six‑game international tournament. The U.S. has won three tournament crowns, including the inaugural edition in 1992, while the team’s arch-rivals Mexico have also won three titles. In seven past tournaments, the U.S. has compiled a lifetime record of 9-7-4 against Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, England, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal and South Africa."
The 2000 Nike U.S. Cup returned to its normal round-robin competition, after the 1999 tournament was played as two doubleheaders. The 2000 U.S. Cup was played across five dates, which included a doubleheader on the final day of tournament play. After a convincing 4-0 shutout of South Africa in the opening game, the USA managed a 1-1 draw with Ireland, who were coming off a come-from-behind 2-2 tie with Mexico. With Mexico downing South Africa 4-2 in their second match, that left a showdown with the U.S. on the final day of competition. In their first-ever international game at Giants Stadium, the crowd of 45,008 saw the USA end Mexico’s run of three straight Nike U.S. Cup titles with a 3-0 blanking. The victory was the first for the U.S. over Mexico since June, 1995.
Ben - where did you plagiarize this from? Just curious - give credit where credit is due. It's obviously not your writing.
Don't take this as picking a fight, either, because its not meant to be like that at all....
#1 Stunna - as for the games that I was using for the U.S.'s record vs. Mexico, I was using the information that UxSxAxfooty had mentioned earlier in the post, about how the U.S. was over .500 in the past 10 games versus Mexico. My bad - I should've been more specific.
And as far as Mexico and Brazil being equals, well, we all know that's bull and for obvious reasons. Just like the U.S. shouldn't be considered better than Mexico... just a little bit more of an equal.
To get back to what theworldgame said about the U.S. having a more realistic target of 2020 (even though that isn't a World Cup year...), the U.S. actually created this goal in 1998, I believe, of aiming to win the World Cup in 2010. This is why they have Project-40, they have the Soccer Academy in Florida, etc. Their youth teams are starting to make noise in international tournaments because the U.S. Soccer Federation is putting its resources where it feels it needs to. Instead of worrying about how we do now, they're more concerned about the future - if we do good now, GREAT! If not, that's ok. Also, don't consider the U.S. as being a small nation - if you need any reassurance on the size, check a map. Its big. Big tends to equal lots of people, which usually tends to equal a larger player pool, which usually tends to equal a better team. For Math majors, the formula looks like this:
Big land = big player pool = better team
But the keyword is USUALLY. Doesn't always happen... I don't see China blowing out the likes of Brazil, right?
So here's the thing - we've got tons of money, tons of talent. Its just a matter of harvesting the talent, getting the people trained and experienced, and building a winning tradition. It'll happen. I'm a firm believer in the fact that by 2010 the U.S. will have a legitimate shot at winning the World Cup, not just because I'm an American, but because I'm looking at it with a realistic view. We just have much more resources than so many other nations.
As a sidebar, watch out for a defender to be jumping on the scene for U.S. soccer - Pat Phelan. He went to my high school for a year here in Connecticut (I graduated the year before he was a freshman), then transfered to Loomis and joined the National Youth team. He's been awarded the Gold Ball by Nike for one of their tournaments as MVP (AND HE'S A MARKING BACK. A FREAKIN' MARKING BACK!) He was also one of the most sought after freshmen for the upcoming class in college, and signed with Wake Forest over Stanford, UConn, and Duke (plenty more wanted him). He's known for putting a 60-yard lob onto an attacker's foot, as well as creating all the attacks for his team from the back - his passes always have the intention of getting the team one step closer to scoring, not just to relieve pressure. He'll be an unbelieveable player, as long as the concussions don't catch up to him. Its players like Pat that are up and coming that will help take U.S. soccer to another level.
