The women, once again, are carrying the soccer banner for the USA. Our US Womens National Team will play for their 3rd World Cup title tomorrow in Germany. Their opponent is Japan - a team we have never lost to and have won 9 straight against, including 3 this year leading up to the cup. Much like they did in 1999, our ladies team is proving that soccer is healthy and alive in the good 'ol USA.
The mens game is another story altogether. Our full national squad is getting worse, not better. It's been a long time since the World Cup here in 1994 that was supposed to kick-start the game in this country. Anyone who has followed our team over the last few years knows we really haven't improved. In past CONCACAF games, the only question used to be whether it would be us or Mexico claiming the championships in the end. Sadly, Mexico has proven to be superior to us of late (witnessed by the 4-2 beating they put on us last month at the Rose Bowl). More disturbing, however, is that we are no longer a lock when facing teams like Costa Rica, Panama, or even Jamaica and Canada.
Our youth squads don't seem to be doing much better. The U-17 team was blasted out of the World Cup earlier this month in the quarter-final round by Germany 4-0, and it wasn't that close. We lost to Uzbekistan and tied New Zealand on the way. The problem is, and always has been, the lack of a true goal scorer in the US game. We have some great keepers and workable defenders. We can even put together a decent midfield on occasion, but when it comes to finding a quality finisher, the pantry seems bare. I don't want to hear about Landon Donovan - he's a good midfielder, nothing more. I'm talking about a Messi or Ronaldo (Portuguese or Brazilian) or even a guy like Mexico's Chicharito Hernandez that just finds the back of the net consistently.
There's even some cause for concern on the women's side. While our women are still ranked #1 in the world, I think most people would put Germany or Brazil ahead of us at this time. Whereas our women used to be about unbeatable, this squad has lost in the past year to England, Mexico and Sweden (twice) and haven't exactly been blowing teams away when they do win. We failed to win our group at the World Cup for the 1st time ever, and were VERY fortunate to score a LATE equalizer in the quarterfinals against Brazil to force a shoot-out. We were even being dominated by France before scoring two late goals to pull away in the semis. That said, the women are winning when it matters. The rest of the world may be catching up to our girls in the skill department, but Hope and the gals seem to be "willing" their way to a world title. The boys could learn a thing or two from them.
Most annoyingly to me is that I'm going to miss the final tomorrow because I'll be flying.
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