Please allow me to provide a little background. I’m nearly 40 years old and I grew up in the Detroit area. Presently, I pretty much only watch soccer and football (UM basketball too atm), but I’ve been a fan of hockey, baseball, and basketball over the years as well.
In my lifetime the Red Wings have won several Stanley Cups, Michigan has won one national championship (shared – I know), and the Pistons have won one NBA title (I was too young to really remember the Bad Boys).
I’m certainly not predicting the USMNT is about to win a World Cup, but I don’t think there’s any question that they are going to be a better team than they have ever been.
I’ve been a devoted USMNT fan since the mid 2000s. The process started for me, as it did for many, with the 2002 World Cup. That team is the high water mark for the US and had some good fortune along with good performances to get as far as it did. Any team needs a little good luck once the knock out rounds hit, but the group stage is assumed for the big boys. I think the USMNT will be a young, exciting team in 2022 and a “this tournament starts in the knockouts” team in 2026.
Any Evidence for this?
Level of Competition
The level of competition our players are facing has improved. Here are the teams the players in our starting lineup were playing for in 2002:
- Blackburn
- FC Nurnberg
- DC United
- Crystal Palace
- Sunderland
- Colorado
- San Jose
- Ajax
- Fulham
- Chicago
- Columbus
And here are the teams the current “assumed” starting lineup play for:
- Manchester City
- Fulham
- Hoffenheim
- Wolfsburg
- Barcelona
- RB Leipzig
- Juventus
- Valencia
- Chelsea
- Borussia Dortmund
- Werder Bremen
I’m sure there will be some disagreement on the exact lineup, but that’s gonna be pretty close. We currently have a player making the bench regularly for Barcelona that doesn’t even feature in some depth chart articles. Konrad would’ve been written in ink on lineups in 2007. In the year of our Lord 2021, he’s a depth piece that might get some Olympic time.
We used to see quotes like this one from Matt Besler frequently, “With the national team, everything is raised. The expectations, the pressure, the speed of play, the mental side of the game.” (from a 2014 LA Times article)
I don’t think players that have been playing in the top five leagues in Europe are going to share that sentiment. When Weston McKennie loses a game at Juventus it’s a massive blow to their title hopes and half the Italian press wants to fire Pirlo. If there’s a difference at all, you’d think the level of play will be a step down for most of these guys, especially given the average CONCACAF team (I’m aware that CONCACAF has it’s own weird challenges).
Actual Depth
In 2014, the USMNT went down a goal and then a second against Belgium in the round of 16 at the World Cup. Our bench options for that game were: Yedlin, Green, Wondolowski, Beckerman, Brooks, Davis, Chandler, and Diskerud (Altidore and Johansson were injured). Green did come on and score, but none of those players are people you are expecting to change a game off the bench. In the Nation’s League in 2019, our attacking sub towards the end of the game was Daniel Lovitz…
Possible subs now could include: Weah, Morris, Altidore, Lletget, Arriola, Reynolds, Llanez, Konrad, and Dike. Those are just the attacking options. There’s depth developing all over the place by the month. How many of you knew who Andres Perea was six months ago? To get into the USMNT now you have to be better than a pretty dang good player.
With all that preamble here’s the advice that I’d like to give (if I can be so arrogant):
Enjoy the Moments Along the Way
It’s a strange thing. The ultimate winning of a championship leaves one feeling a little empty. The Red Wings hadn’t won a Stanley Cup in four decades. My mom, dad, brothers, and I watched every game for years. We saw them get swept in the finals by the Devils playing the “neutral zone trap.” (Clutching and holding talented players off the puck for you non-hockey people *winks at @nwblackmon*) When they finally beat the Flyers to win the Cup – it was a really fun night…and then the next day nothing was different. They just had to try to do it again, I guess.
Not to go all “the real treasure is the friends you make along the way,” but the journey to winning is the real pleasure of being a fan. The nights I spent yelling at Keith Primeau and Tim Cheveldae with my family ended up being the best part. Seeing Michigan destroy Colorado in 1997 and realizing this might be a really good team is my favorite memory of that U of M team.
So who knows what the best part of watching the USMNT is going to be? Maybe we’ll beat Costa Rica 3-1 in San Jose or down Mexico 2-0 in Columbus again. I don’t know, but I’m hoping that being cognizant of the process will help me savor it. So let’s enjoy yelling at the players/coach on Twitter and basking in the glow of coming victories together as well. The good times are coming y’all.
So true. Gotta enjoy the little moments! It’s going to be a strange feeling to get actually ‘nervous’ or ‘anxious’ in the run up to a match. I don’t think we’ve felt that as a national team fan base since, what, the Gold Cup Final 2019? I think the next time we will feel that is the first Olympic qualifier against Costa Rica. Meaningful matches after a nearly 2 year lay-off where a TON has happened off the field? Should be a fun summer.