USA world cup futures

[megladon3]

I noticed futures have fallen from 65 to 50 for the us to win the world cup after their impressive showing at the concacaf. I'm feeling real strong about the US team right now. Bruce Arena has us playing at a very high level. We finally have talent at almost all points on the field. Landon is phenominal for such a young player. Beasly is fast and very talented as well. These guys, Reyna, Mathis, Stewart, Keller, Mcbride and Hejduk are proven rock solid rveterans. Mastroeni, Bocanegra and gibbs on D looks good to me. Eddie Lewis setting up the offense is really working well. Joe max Moore, Eddie Pope, and Vanney still have gas left in the tank. How about Tim Howard signing with Manchester United? That says he has talent. The icing on the cake will be 14 year old phenom Freddy Adu coming into his own at the time the world cup begins. They can still be had at some books in the U.K.for 150 to 1. That is some damn good value. I say chew on that.
CHOMP CHOMP

 

[BoZZi]

there is NO WAY IN HELL THAT IS GONNA HAPPEN, i will give u 500 to 1.

 

[thegodfather]

 

[megladon3]

bozzi i'd put $100 on it but I doubt you'd pay me the fifty thousand if I won. The US is ranked 9th in the world and coming on strong. You need to recognize.
CHOMP CHOMP

 

[Duckstabber]

Megladon3,

Please don't tell me that you take the FIFA World Ranking seriously... No way the US are better than England, Czech Republic, Denmark, Cameroon, Italy, Portugal etc.

Ranking as of 30 July 2003:

1 Brazil 848
2 France 824
3 Spain 755
4 Netherlands 750
5 Mexico 749
6 Argentina 746
7 Turkey 738
8 Germany 736
9 United States 731
10 England 726
11 Czech Republic 711
12 Denmark 709
12 Cameroon 709
14 Italy 708
15 Ireland Republic 702
16 Portugal 686
17 Costa Rica 684
18 Belgium 670
19 Sweden 662
20 Paraguay 651

Maria/Dick will be sorry to see that Liechtenstein have moved down from #146 to #147

 

[WildBill]

I seem to remember some score saying USA 3, Portugal 2...hmm, fuzzy memory I guess. Maybe they are better, maybe they are not. One thing is for sure on a neutral field the US can play with any of the mentioned teams. At 150-1 its a good value. I would say 50-1 is about right. The US, if healthy, will have an even better squad in 2006 than they had in 2002 as a lot of young talent now will be in their prime and there are 4 or 5 guys that were too young to be in Korea that will be ready to go then. The talent upgrade is tremendous, I remember how poor a team we had in 1994 and 1998. This team bears no resemblance to those editions and those that insist on thinking the US squad is equal to those is kidding themselves. The old team had almost no speed and did nothing but play defense. This team attacks and can at times control the flow of the game. What the US lacks compared to the Europeans is depth. Once you get past the top 15 players the talent drop off is big, something that getting players to Europe and having players go straight to the MLS instead of college first is trying to address. I would say in 5-10 years the team will be at the level that it can be a true threat to win the WC because more European squads are showing a willingness to bring American players into their system at a young age and give them a chance to compete against the best from age 16-18 instead of now where they have to be a proven player before they will bring them on.

 

[Duckstabber]

WildBill,

I agree that the current US team is a lot better than just a few years ago. No doubt about that.

But on a neutral field the US would/should be the dog against any of the mentioned teams. No doubt about that either...

 

[WildBill]

Public opinion would of course say they are the dog, but I don't know if that would be correct. I think people greatly underestimate how good the goalkeepers are and how much speed the US has. And unlike most teams where the coach is mostly a politician that has to make the stars happy, the US has a coach that will play the lineup he thinks has the best shot against the style of opponent they face, even if it means benching some regular starters. And he sure has good experience at it because I don't think the best 11 have ever been on the field together, even in the WC last year injuries kept us from having the best possible squad, especially our best defender who missed the tournament. Since then Arena hasn't come close to putting a true top team on the field so the results have been somewhat disappointing, but I agree with him in that there is a real need to develop some depth and for that reason I don't think you will see a really strong 11 until the last round of WC qualifying in 2005 and therefore the results might continue to be less encouraging.

Of the teams on this list I think England and Italy would be deserved favorites although it wouldn't be quite the mismatch some think; Denmark, Cameroon and Portugal slight favorites or even matches and I think the US has a better squad at the moment than the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, CR, and Paraguay. Until the US develops a strong central defender to solidify the backline they won't be a serious threat, but I think that is only a matter of time. That has always been our weakest link and there still are no real good candidates in the pipeline that I am aware of. That really is the only glaring weak spot. Of course if we had one Kaka never would have put that tying score in last week and we would have played in Mexico. That end of game disorganization is something that always keeps the US in danger up to the final whistle and keeps us from getting much higher than that 7 or 8 spot on the rankings.

 

[MariaSharapova]

we go down in the ranking,even after we
finally scored a goal and won a fixture
against the kingdom of Saud.pure rubbish
just curious, where were Faroe Islands
in that international table???

Turkey favoured over Italy?? where can
i back the fabios???

Also this tim howard fellow,i heard
he suffers from tourettes' syndrome.has
anyone seen him being interviewed???
Could be worth a giggle

 

[Duckstabber]

Dick,

Faroe Islands are #115 in the table - waaaay ahead of Liechtenstein

 

[WildBill]

Tim Howard does tick a bit during interviews, but not terribly like Kenyon Martin can at times. Still do you really get a kick or a laugh out of that???

 

[MariaSharapova]

If he only ticks a bit,not worth waiting
for the postgame interviews,but if he had
the full blown tourette's, replete with
compulsive cursing,that would be "must see tv".
I was imagining something along the lines
"those phucking dicks from arsenal can lick
me arsehole," then recovering he would add
"but they still are an excellent squad."

I know,I know, were not suppose to laugh at
such circumstances,but often that is what makes it truly hilarious.
As for the implied rebuke associated with
your query,don't waste your time.Your a very
knowledgeable gent,but your "Now listen up
class" schoolmarm tone to your posts is a bit
wearying.
Ciao

 

[areeff]

USA had at least 1 fluke goal against portugal and then folded after being up 3-0.

 

[DonMarco]

I don't really care if they have a chance or not. Regardless the odds, I would never tie up my money at any sportsbook for such a long period of time.

 

[-Slim-]

US has about as much a chance as Costa Rica or Honduras.....

For now, its dumb to bet on them to win the World Cup, really dumb.

FIFA rankings are a joke...

 

[WildBill]

The current team is better than those two teams, CR and Honduras haven't had a good goalie in a decade. If I had to pick a comparable team I think they have as much chance as Sweden, Senegal, or Paraguay. Which basically is saying they don't have much chance but then again going in I figure maybe 5 or 6 teams have a legitimate chance to win it.

 

[JackDee]

"FIFA rankings are a joke..."

and a bad one too.

"If I had to pick a comparable team I think they have as much chance as Sweden, Senegal, or Paraguay."

i d give these countries at least a 15% - 25% more chance of winning the world cup relative to the u.s. for a number of reasons. In bullet form, a. better players b. more experienced players playing in top europian squads (e.g. accuna at valencia, gamara in inter (defenders) santa cruz in bayern for paraguay it's laughable to compare such players with u.s. defenders john smith and jack jackson say.) c. some great players in their teams too (for example there is no comparison in the u.s. team for players with the talent of roque santa cruz (bayern's attacker) in paraguay or henrik larsen say of sweden.) These players are the ones who usually win world cups by their sheer quality. etc. etc.

 

[megladon3]

looks like man u is negotiating a deal to land 14 year old phenom Freddie Adu after his brilliant play in his first two under 17 matches for the US. His play has been compared to a young Pele. This is going to be real interesting, Will he take the cash and join their junior team and play with the best talent in the world, or will he continue to hone his skills on an inferior junior US national team? I hope he goes to England and learns from the best. You guys got watch for this kid, he's something real special for American soccer.
CHOMP CHOMP

 

[WildBill]

He won't go until he is 16 or 17 they say, parental decision. Who knows, maybe they find a way to get his parents on board but for now they want him at home. Besides think back to when you were 14, would you have gladly gone to a foreign place to finish off high school? Hell no. I think as long as he gets good coaching and just continues to work on the basic skills, maybe goes to a top flight European camp or two over summers, he will progress well at this age and then once he gets a few more years he can make the jump to the European youth teams. Its not news that Man U is talking to him, he got inquiries from them months ago (supposedly) as well as from teams all over Europe. You can't say he was just discovered considering he already had a million dollar shoe contract before the U17 tournament! Bruce Arena said he would get him into the national team camp sometime before 2006 to see if he could contribute in the next WC, but he said no big hurry if the kid develops into the player they say he will he will be a fixture on the squad for more than a few WCs. A couple of other coaches said what is great about Freddie is not only that he gets this attention, but it gives other players on the team the exposure to scouts for all their games, exposure they might not have gotten without his presence. Word is maybe 4 kids right now get into Europe teams within 2 or 3 years and Freddie might be the one who got them signed. The future of the team is very bright and having the national team's THIRD keeper starting for the world's most popular team certainly says a lot about how much better the talent is now than it was just 5 years ago.

 

[MariaSharapova]

is this kid really fourteen??looks like
he can already legally drink and drive,..not
at the same time of course.
Ciao