(10-11-2017 12:28 PM)Seahawkhoops Wrote: What have we won? My position is backed by years and years of really winning nothing on the world stage. It's pretty strong when the evidence backs it.
If your unrealistic standard is winning the whole thing over the European and South American powerhouses who put soccer over everything and spend hundreds of millions dollars on developing 15-19 year olds, then yeah, I can see why you say we "stink".
But that's not the actual standard for whether a program "stinks" or not. Only 8 different countries have won the World Cup: Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), Argentina (2), Uruguay (2), England (1), Spain (1), France (1). If you say we "stink" because we're not in that group, that's pretty unfair.
We made the Round of 8 in 2002. We reached the knockout phase (final 16) in 2010 and 2014. Those are solid results for a nation that puts soccer 4th or 5th.
Our best athletes don't play soccer. Not even close. They do in Brazil, Italy, Argentina, England, Uruguay, Spain and France. So while there's no excuse for us to miss the WC entirely out of our region, I'd say we've proven to be a valuable member of the international soccer community over the last 15 years.