OT: USMNT ranked #10 in the world
I know there's some soccer fans that read this blog who may care; Coming off CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup wins, FIFA has the USA as as the #10 best soccer team in the world.
FIFA's rankings are purely objective, based on who you played, who you beat, etc, but they can be a little wonky (I don't think anyone believes we're a better team than the Netherlands, Colombia or Germany right now), but still a good indicator that the team is on the right track and starting to turn talent into results.
FIFA rankings: https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men?dateId=id13372
ESPN article: https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4452127/usmntmexico-in-fifa-world-ranking-top-10-after-gold-cup-success
August 12th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
Definitely not a top ten team lol, but definitely looking better and better! Excited for the future of American soccer.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:00 PM ^
Yeah, was very happy with the Gold Cup and building the depth of the team. I'm still worried abt who's going to be THE Striker, but hopefully someone emerges soon.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
I still think Sargent can be that guy, just hope he can get some quality experience at Norwich to season him before 2022.
August 12th, 2021 at 5:39 PM ^
Happy to see Sargent get out of Werder Bremen, what a dumpster fire that season was for them.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^
Hoppe
August 12th, 2021 at 8:03 PM ^
I totally disagree. They have several legit players all around the $30-60M transfer market value. Not many teams with that kind of quality. Can they put it all together? Good question. But the talent is there
August 12th, 2021 at 8:40 PM ^
I hope you're right. Right now I see a 1st Tier of your elites (France, Spain, Brazil, England, Belgium, etc), a 2nd tier of Good teams (Uruguay, Croatia, Colombia, Switzerland, etc.) where it's not a surprise if they make a run in a tournament, and then the US is in a 3rd tier, and need to push to establish that as their baseline. Pulisic is the heart of the team now and he may be getting pushed out of playing time at Chelsea, so we still have someways to go IMHO.
August 13th, 2021 at 12:55 AM ^
As a Spanish fan, I’m not sure you can put Spain in that tier tbh
August 13th, 2021 at 1:40 AM ^
Spain actually looked pretty decent in the Euros, only losing on pens to the champions. I think they were just missing a true #9 to bury all those great chances they were setting up. They just need to have striker come on or have Morata/Moreno stay in good form (both kept trying to do their best Timo Werner impersonation)
August 12th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
While our team may not be better than Colombia, I think it's unlikely an American player would be assassinated by a narco for scoring on his own goal. So we've got that going for us...
August 12th, 2021 at 4:41 PM ^
An American doing assassinations in Colombia, on the other hand. . .
August 12th, 2021 at 4:48 PM ^
We have a school for that
August 12th, 2021 at 10:52 PM ^
The School of the Americas...
August 12th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^
Things were different back in '94...
August 12th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
Very, very much different. FYI, I am a huge lover of Colombians (both figuratively and Biblically), so this comment was tongue-in-cheek, not an attempt to perpetuate stereotypes ?
August 13th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
No disclaimer necessary.
August 12th, 2021 at 5:09 PM ^
On the contrary, he would probably be celebrated by the woke crowd.
August 12th, 2021 at 7:35 PM ^
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make here. Why would the woke celebrate an own goal?
August 12th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
Because being woke IS an own goal.
August 12th, 2021 at 10:54 PM ^
[Insert blindly inaccurate if not completely false remark about critical race theory!]
August 12th, 2021 at 5:10 PM ^
Where the hell have you been? I've missed you
August 12th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
FIFA rankings are absolutely pointless. We were also a top 10 team before the 2006 World Cup...
This ranking also has us above Denmark, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, & Colombia who I would definitely not pick the US to beat coming off their Euro and Copa America performances and taking a look at the talent on those rosters.
We're definitely getting better and stronger but we're not one of the 10 best teams in the world lol
August 12th, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
They're not really pointless, since they're used in seeding draws. Inaccurate, sure, but not pointless.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:53 PM ^
This. When it comes to drawing groups for the world cup, don't they divide teams by FIFA rankings? You end up with groups of death because you have a country that is traditional really good in a down period and their ranking reflects it. You dont get a group of death because the 1, 4 and 9th ranked teams were all drawn into the same group.
August 12th, 2021 at 11:29 PM ^
Also, the higher your national team is ranked, the easier it is to get UK and EU work permits. As a top-10 team, a player only has to appear in 30% of our national team's games to qualify for a work permit, which is huge. The lower the ranking the higher percentage of games you have to appear in. This is anything but pointless.
August 12th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
FIFA rankings are absolutely pointless. We were also a top 10 team before the 2006 World Cup...
Not just top 10, but top 5! We peaked at #4 earlier that year, and were #5 when the World Cup seeding was done. And how'd we do in 2006? We came in dead last in our group, with a whopping 1 point.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
El Tri at #9?
Our B/C squad laughs.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
what happens first --- UM wins a national championship or the USMNT wins the world cup? UM beats OSU or the USMNT makes a word cup final?
August 12th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
depends if they excited the CFP. UM would have to beat OSU to win a national championship. If they expand, there is still a chance ( unless a covid forfeiture somehow counts this year). Great soccer nation's don't win the world cup for decades
August 12th, 2021 at 4:24 PM ^
Let's maybe start with just qualifying for the World Cup first.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
National Championship...I know I'm in the minority, but I believe football can turn this around and get to that level in a 2-3 years with some luck. World Cup is an uphill battle, in a low scoring sport (i.e. prone to freak occurrences) and would be hard to bet on, even if we were undoubtedly a Top 5 team.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:27 PM ^
Exactly. England & Spain with all the talent they've had have only ever won 1 world cup. Imagining the US getting to that level sooner than Michigan winning a national title seems very unlikely. It's much more likely a 1997 type season happens where everything falls in place and breaks our way perfectly. There's also just the numbers game of only 1 WC every 4 years vs. CFP every year.
August 13th, 2021 at 12:20 PM ^
This. In a sport where the better team often loses, don't hold your breath about winning it all. But we do seem to be putting an exciting team together, with the emergence of a new generation of fine players. I'll take it.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:29 PM ^
The US will win the World cup 20 years after the NFL disbands/dissolves due to general liability lawsuits, CTE, etc. and a huge chunk of our best athletes get put in the soccer talent pool.
In other words, I doubt I will live to see it.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:40 PM ^
the answer is neither, we'll all be cooked or drowning by 2060 lol nothing matters
August 12th, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
2040
August 12th, 2021 at 4:54 PM ^
UM beating OSU (or winning a national championship) for sure happens first. For one thing, Michigan gets a chance every year vs. having to wait four years, and for another, even countries with truly great teams have to wait years, often decades, before they can hoist a World Cup trophy. England hasn't won in I think sixty years. I think up until 2010, Spain had never won. USMNT, right now, can't hold a candle to those guys. Has the Netherlands ever won? I don't think they have, either?
Secondly, all Michigan needs to do, at least to make it to the playoffs, is to stop getting in its own way. It has all the resources and financial support it needs to compete with an OSU or Alabama right now, but the right coach needs to be in place. That is easier to overcome than the challenges facing USMNT.
For the USMNT, I may not follow soccer very well, especially compared to some on this board, but I imagine it'll be years, maybe even decades or several generations, before it is truly in a position where it can seriously challenge for a World Cup title. Where it can go against Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, etc. and reasonably expect that it can win that game. The talent level, while getting better, isn't there right now. I also don't think the emphasis on the sport, as a nation, is there. Most kids (specifically, boys) right now would rather play football, baseball or basketball. You go abroad, and kids anywhere and everywhere only want to play one sport from the moment they come out of the womb.
I do think interest is growing, but not really at a monumental pace. The US divides too much of its interest over multiple sports, whereas your soccer world superpowers are largely that way because the populace only cares about and wants to play that one sport.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:08 PM ^
The thing is our children aren't playing a lot of youth football or baseball anymore. A lot of the talent pool is moving in the soccer direction.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:23 PM ^
Generally agree, but I don't think US having multiple sports is a detriment. Just from a numbers perspective, the US has ~328M people, while Spain (~47), Italy (~60) and France (~67) have at least 6 times less people. Even if the interest is split, there's still enough of a population base to be able to field a good team. Not to mention some of the body types (NBA centers, NFL lineman) for those other sports aren't conducive to soccer anyway.
You are right in that soccer is treated more like a "participation" sport here, and it needs to be more skill development and training at the youth levels and not just "throw the ball out there and let them run around for 90 minutes".
August 12th, 2021 at 5:10 PM ^
We are beating OSU this year.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:05 PM ^
USMNT actually has talent.
August 12th, 2021 at 4:52 PM ^
Seems odd that Italy is ranked below three European countries (including England!) after having won the Euro. Is the consensus that Italy got a bit lucky? All I heard is that England got an easy draw but I know precious little about soccer so ??♂️
August 12th, 2021 at 5:02 PM ^
The FIFA ranking algorithm is a bit like the World Golf Rankings ---- it has its quirks and because both those algorithms have older results that will "roll out" as new results "roll in", there will be some weird things that show up from time to time.
I vaguely recall Tiger Woods once winning a major, but dropping to #2 in the Rankings because that win simply replaced his win in that major 2 years prior in the algorithm, whereas whoever had been ranked #2 (and moved to #1) replaced his 45th place finish in that major 2 years prior with a new 10th place finish.
Overall, it's a decent directional tool. But not gospel.
August 12th, 2021 at 11:33 PM ^
Exactly -- it's an algorithm based on games played.
At least this way there's no writers from LOLMICHIGANSUXGOGREEN dot com voting "mysteriously" to spite Michigan fans.
or in this case jajajaEEUUsuxVamosMEX dot com.
August 12th, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
Italy didn't qualify for the last world cup and is viewed as a very aging team with some under the radar upstarts. Several of those players got decent contracts from middling Euro clubs after the tournament. I don't expect them to make a world cup splash but then again, nobody expected them to win the Euro 2020.
August 12th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
What would people consider the most fluky/Cinderella run to the World Cup semis/final? Is a fluky run to finals more or less likely in the 12 team CFP than a World Cup final?
I think 2002 Korea has to be up there in the pantheon of fluky runs (with a lot of grumbling from Spanish fans about the refs).
August 12th, 2021 at 6:00 PM ^
10/10 post. A simple, informative title, a general summary with some analysis, and workable links. A picture of this post should appear on the screen as an example of what to shoot for when anyone attempts to post. Well done!
August 12th, 2021 at 6:06 PM ^
Yet we can't qualify for the Olympics... sigh.
August 12th, 2021 at 11:34 PM ^
THE OLYMPICS DONT MATTER IN THE MENS GAME ITS A YOUTH TOURNAMENT
I swear to god...
I'm sure this was a troll post (I hope, anyway) but I couldn't let it go just in case.
August 13th, 2021 at 10:51 AM ^
Not a troll trufer, so don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm commenting more on the state of soccer in the US. There is no way we shouldn't be able to qualify a team for the Olympics, youth or otherwise. While we may not be as soccer-centric as most countries, our facilities, coaching, training, etc. should allow us to put together a team that at least gets to the dance.