Agreed. I believe (somewhat contrary to this pod) that we do have solid talent on the side. It’s that belief that makes me a passionate fan that demands consistent effort and good tactics (if we just sucked then I’d not care so much – I think otherwise so I do care).

Talent should be the hardest element for the US to conjure (given competition for talent is so extreme from other sports). Our boys are, in my opinion, capable of good play. I’m a huge supporter of the team (very much including Dempsy) –which just makes me all the more un-accepting of anything less than maximum effort and very impatient with poor tactics/coaching (our boys just deserve better).

(Christopher thanks for posting my earlier comments – apologies for the momentary lapse referencing “shoes” rather than “boots” on my random nit comment…)

Mexico won the 1999 Confederations Cup AND they beat Brazil!! How did their 2002 run turn out? How about France in 2001?

The FIFA rankings are retarded. Remember when we were in the top 8 heading into the last World Cup?

It’s a false sense of reality caused by refusing to think and just follow the crowd.

Stand back for a moment and tell me how does beating Spain (which was in a way luck) and ALMOST beating Brazil in the Confed Cup say we’re WC contenders?

Did you guys forget our 3-1 loss to Italy? Don’t give me that 10 man crap either because we played with 9 men in the WC and got a draw out of them.

What about our 3-0 disaster against Brazil the first time around?

What about getting a lucky tie in El Salvador and having to rally twice at home to beat Honduras and El Salvador?

What about being lucky not to be behind against T&T before Rico scored his rocket?

How about taking the lead at Azteca and not getting a shot on goal the rest of the match?

What happened in Costa Rica? Mexico wiped them out at the Saprissa!!

Tell me how this team is a World Cup contender under Bob Bradley. Stupid tactics, dumb subtitutions, bunker ball, etc.

Do you even realize that with a loss in Honduras and a Costa Rica win against T&T we would have to play a virtual playoff at RFK to avoid playing a CONMEBOL team? We’re not out of the woods guys.

And by guys I mean fools like LLCJ posting dumb things like MLS being better than Argentina or England.

You say Landon Donovan is neither a top 20 nor top 100 player? Really? I guess you guys don’t remember long stretches of the games against Spain and Brazil when he was the best player on the field. Sorry, guys – Landon has been dominant of late on many levels and is the best, most feared player in the region.

The assertion that we lack the talent of teams past is another sticking point. Clamoring for Reyna and the one good year of John O’Brien I can understand, and yet Claudio was continuously hounded by the U.S. faithful for playing too negatively and never truly playing as a #10. I fully expect that some combo of German Jones, Bradley, and Feilhaber will have the middle in good shape by next year. And were Earnie Stewart and Joe-Max Moore better than some combination of Jozy, Dempsey, and Davies? More experienced? Yes. Better? doubtful. I miss Eddie Pope as much as anyone, but Gooch and DeMerit 09-10 should be better than Gooch-Pope 06 or Agoos-Pope 02. Spector is also a more complete backline player than earlier counterparts. And once again, Landon 09 is better than anyone we’ve ever had.

I believe Jamie Trekker hit on the biggest problem towards the end of the pod. Bob is too comfortable selecting ‘his’ guys and too conservative in his overall approach. This had led to certain players looking confused and certain others looking less than motivated. That had to be one of the worst performances I’ve seen out of Dempsey, yet I’ll bet he starts the next game. And Michael Bradley has looked inconsistent and worn down, and yet he (and Bocanegra) seem automatic for 90.

Finally, why even engage in comparing teams like Slovakia or Serbia or Northern Ireland to the U.S.? Just because the Serbs have Vidic and Stankovic and the Slovaks have a bunch of journeymen in the Bundesliga and EPL means very little to me. I hope we draw Serbia or Slovakia or Ivory Coast next summer — I hope we do. Because that’s the only place you settle these hypotheticals, on the pitch. And if ol’ Bob can somehow get everyone on the same page, well, I still hold out hope for some kind of run next year.

Anyway check my blog (Beemsville) for more on this and the occasional other quirky stuff. I think I fit Kartik’s profile of the rabidly loyal U.S. fan, and yet I’m trying to expand my knowledge and understanding of the overall soccer climate in this country.

and you bet we’d get beaten at windsor park.

Listening to your analysis for the T&T game and mostly I could not agree more. I actually thought Harks was very mild in his criticism during the broadcast. The effort put out by a few players was pathetic and SAMFEUL in my (admittedly rather ignorant) view.

In particular and most glaring for me was Clint Dempsey. He was embarrassingly lackizadical with the ball and for much of the game looked like he was mailing it in. To me that is largely an indictment of Bradley – he is failing to instill a sense of urgency into a few key players. Bradley should have pulled Dempsey at half time – if not sooner – if for no other reason than to send a clear message to the REST OF THE TEAM that this kind of attitude will NOT be tolerated.

I acknowledge that Clint started the series that led to the goal. Had he been pulled perhaps we would have left with only a point. Yet I still say it would have been better for the team all in the long run (though I realize that’s a dangerous game). To me Bradley isn’t demonstrating to the team that he demands high effort and commitment.

I want to point out a small thing that just SCREAMED out to me what was going on with Dempsey. Perhaps I am just not an astute enough student of the game yet to understand this small thing.,.. up until Altidore was pulled and Dempsey was moved up front… Clint’s had his socks pushed down to his shoes (the only player on the pitch adorned as such). For me it just emanated a “I don’t really care” attitude. I thought perhaps the guy was sick – maybe playing dazed such that he forgot to pull them up. But when he was moved up front he literally pulled up his socks at that very moment (while Altidore walked off) and was suddenly was a far more engaged player.

I believe this is a team that talent wise could annihilate T&T – the issue here is lack of effort (as well as tactics). Again, to me that is a coaching issue and its why I personally would favor Dom Kinear over Bradley – Dom’s team always takes the field with passion and commitment (in this way their teams seem to reflect the coach as a man). Yes I know Dom has no international experience – but are we really seeing some tactical advantage from Bradley’s experience? I’m skeptical…

I am a USMNT fan but come on people nobody in are entire player pool is a starter for a top club.

Serbia is only one place behind the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings

I also prefer these rankings because they are much fairer to non European and South American teams than the FIFA rankings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia_national_football_team