Mexico Strike 'Oro' as the USMNT Live in the Shadow of Rapinoe and Co.
Sunday started and finished as many US citizens had predicted, their women's national team lifting their fourth World Cup and the men's team succumbing to their fiercest rivals.
As the USWNT confirmed the notion of being the world's best on Sunday afternoon, their counterparts confirmed they are not even the best in their own continent. The defeat to Mexico underlined, again, the recent failings of the men's team which has become the butt of jokes for soccer fans across the States. Their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a national disaster, and their exploits in the Gold Cup hardly convincing on the whole.
The USMNT's humbling at Soldier Field, Chicago in front of a heavily pro-Mexico crowd further disenfranchised their following, as their women continue to stride on. During his seven months at the helm of the USMNT Gregg Berhalter has slowly but surely began to rebuild a side that crashed out of World Cup Qualifying in spectacular fashion and faltered under Dave Sarachan. However, this defeat to an under-cooked Mexico side underlined how far they have to go before dethroning El Tri.
Mexico march on, undefeated on US soil since 2013, with the expansive Tata Martino as head coach and an exciting crop of domestic players hungrily waiting in the wings. Edson Alvarez, Jesus Gallardo and the silky-smooth Rodolfo Pizarro showing the talent that LigaMX can produce on the World Stage. Let's not forget, this is a squad without Chicarito Hernandez, Carlos Vela, Jesus Corona or Chucky Lozano.
The USMNT, on the other hand, find themselves in a position where the gap between experience and debutant is too wide. 150 cap Michael Bradley and 115 cap Jozy Altidore have surely played themselves out of the reckoning now, both players looking increasingly laboured and Bradley, full of mistakes. A new era of sorts was ushered in, with 14 cap Weston McKennie captaining in the final.
Berhalter also finds himself in a situation whereby the pool of talent is shockingly shallow in MLS, with young prospects such as Paul Arriola, Reggie Cannon and Cristian Roldan found wanting even at Gold Cup level. Worringly, Berhalter seems nailed to a formation that utilises technical quality and speed in wide areas, something that this crop lack outside of Pulisic. And it's startling to remember that he only has 31 caps to his name.
On a wider note, MLS is in the process of suffocating it's own growth as franchises rely on the quality of young South American's to turn quality in to quick profit. Young Americans are finding opportunities in the nations top-flight incredibly hard to come by as their spots are being filled by their neighbours from south of the border. A good example of this is Atlanta United, current MLS Champions, their squad of 30 senior players comprises of only 13 Americans. Only 4 have been capped, the last in 2017/18 - Darlington Nagbe. Their best players are from Venezuela, Argentina and Paraguay.
Whereas their fiercest rivals are building towards a bright future, and a record 9th Gold Cup win in 2021 with an exciting crop of players and a world-class manager the world's biggest superpower finds itself floundering. A league intent on expanding, but stunting the progress of its foundation.Coupled with a National Team reliant on talent from further afield struggling to build an identity under a coach who relies on energy and passion rather than technique and tactics. They are currently living in the shadow of Rapinoe and Co.
As the USWNT confirmed the notion of being the world's best on Sunday afternoon, their counterparts confirmed they are not even the best in their own continent. The defeat to Mexico underlined, again, the recent failings of the men's team which has become the butt of jokes for soccer fans across the States. Their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a national disaster, and their exploits in the Gold Cup hardly convincing on the whole.
The USMNT's humbling at Soldier Field, Chicago in front of a heavily pro-Mexico crowd further disenfranchised their following, as their women continue to stride on. During his seven months at the helm of the USMNT Gregg Berhalter has slowly but surely began to rebuild a side that crashed out of World Cup Qualifying in spectacular fashion and faltered under Dave Sarachan. However, this defeat to an under-cooked Mexico side underlined how far they have to go before dethroning El Tri.
The USMNT, on the other hand, find themselves in a position where the gap between experience and debutant is too wide. 150 cap Michael Bradley and 115 cap Jozy Altidore have surely played themselves out of the reckoning now, both players looking increasingly laboured and Bradley, full of mistakes. A new era of sorts was ushered in, with 14 cap Weston McKennie captaining in the final.
Berhalter also finds himself in a situation whereby the pool of talent is shockingly shallow in MLS, with young prospects such as Paul Arriola, Reggie Cannon and Cristian Roldan found wanting even at Gold Cup level. Worringly, Berhalter seems nailed to a formation that utilises technical quality and speed in wide areas, something that this crop lack outside of Pulisic. And it's startling to remember that he only has 31 caps to his name.
On a wider note, MLS is in the process of suffocating it's own growth as franchises rely on the quality of young South American's to turn quality in to quick profit. Young Americans are finding opportunities in the nations top-flight incredibly hard to come by as their spots are being filled by their neighbours from south of the border. A good example of this is Atlanta United, current MLS Champions, their squad of 30 senior players comprises of only 13 Americans. Only 4 have been capped, the last in 2017/18 - Darlington Nagbe. Their best players are from Venezuela, Argentina and Paraguay.
Whereas their fiercest rivals are building towards a bright future, and a record 9th Gold Cup win in 2021 with an exciting crop of players and a world-class manager the world's biggest superpower finds itself floundering. A league intent on expanding, but stunting the progress of its foundation.Coupled with a National Team reliant on talent from further afield struggling to build an identity under a coach who relies on energy and passion rather than technique and tactics. They are currently living in the shadow of Rapinoe and Co.
My memory of this MLS Champions was still fresh as I bet my ass out on my favorite online egames site!
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