I know but still some progress. And Toast, Correction: Italy *is* overated. Still some progress for the American National team
Big whup. Boasting about it only shows how much of an ass the American football team is. Also, Portugal could beat Italy anyday.
Correction, it is futbol. Well the Americans aren't known for soccer and I don't think so. Plus this is the first time the US has beaten Italy.
Oh and Italy would beat Portugal. And I never boasted about anything, I am really happy for the men's team.
If I wanted to say the country Italy, I would have said "is". Seeing as it's the national football team, I use "are". Portugal's national football team is, at the moment, shit. The Italians are far better at the moment. Portugal used to be good. Now it's Germany that has replaced Portugal. Spain will always retain the best spot though, along with Brazil. The Argentinian team has always been at the top along with them. Portugal is sub-par compared to these teams and they aren't notable anymore.
Spain has only been good since 07/08, they didn't come out of nowhere to win that Euro, but before that France and Italy were the kings of Europe (with Britain sometimes playing up to that level). Portugal hasn't really been relevant since the 04 euro and when Figo left. Especially now that Germany and the Dutch have come on so strong. It's amazing to see how far Italy has fallen since the 06 final (France too really). It's interesting also the direction US soccer is going considering they were the first team to beat Spain in like 2 years at the CONCAF, and were up 2-0 on Brazil before they realized that they were Brazil. The Americans have shown they can play with just about anybody when they play their best, but they've yet to demonstrate the consistency that the other top teams have
Italy still has a lot of players that are way too old or way too young, and really haven't been too good after they won the championship (which doesn't say a lot anymore, anyone remember 2004?). The US really doesn't have bad players, and the sport seems to be getting more and more attention. The surprising thing is that the players I know of that play in Europe don't really play in the top teams (Altidore at AZ in the Netherlands, Donovan played for Bayer Leverkusen and Everton, I believe, and Dempsey playing for Fulham). As for other teams, I doubt Christiano Ronaldo alone can carry Portugal. Messi can't carry Argentina on his own, and these teams show that you can't rely on a single player. The Dutch team did show you can rely on several players last WC, but right now, only Van Persie seems to be in a good rhythm, and I don't really expect anything of them in the EC. Brazil hasn't been as good as they were either, though. Right now, Spain and Germany are by far the top teams, and will be the favourites for the next EC title. England and France really have to get their acts together, though. They have plenty of great players, but when they're all together, it's just one big mess. Especially France, who were so dominant for such a long period have fallen a long way.
Of course you realized, this is somewhat of a sarcastic comment. Every time the World Cup is on, I know Portugal is going to fall somewhere, and when they do, I just go on to watch Brazil. Also, I'm sick of these Messi vs Ronaldo arguments, what a bullshit thing to spew around.
Who's still arguing that? I'm a Madrid and big Ronaldo fan but even I haven't tried to make that argument since Ronaldo left MU
I hear it all of the time. I don't know whether or not there are a lot of Argentineans in Toronto, but there sure is a lot of arguments regarding whether or not Messi and Ronaldo are better than each other.
England are a real disappointment. Their team are all caught up around scandals surrounding adultery and racism, there's absolutely no solidarity in the team and most certainly no camaraderie. It'll be a long time before they can be considered real contenders if they don't sort themselves out soon. Even Rooney wants to be the England captain. It's silly. You certainly can't doubt France's strength with great players like Ribery and Malouda. They just need to pull their shit together. Germany is the only team to really impress me. I expect to see even better from them in one or two years because their squad are composed of so many young players. Who can forget the WC 2010 German team? Schweinstylin
This is good news, but hardly groundbreaking. Italy simply used the opportunity to test out new players. That's not to say it wasn't still an upset, but then again USA have proven that they are capable of pulling one off from time to time. Remember back in 2009 when Spain were the best team in the world, but had a two and a half year win-streak ended 2-0 by USA in a Confederations Cup semi-final? I agree, not only are they a very effective team, they are very entertaining to watch. They remind me of the all conquering Brazil side of 2002. Can definitely see them seriously challenging Spain for the status as the best football team in the world in the not too distant future.
I agree. I think the Germans have the best team in the world, and Uruguay is coming back to the way it was.
Oo We have been strong since like 2002, with the EC in Portugal beeing the exception. (WC 2002: 2nd; WC 2006: 3rd; EC 2008: 2nd; WC 2010: 3rd)
I must say that you guys are mostly right about italy and the rest of europe but you dont know that the best football team in south america is uruguay just look at the fifa world rankings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings) the situation is like this: 1 Spain 2 Holland 3 Germany 4 Uruguay anyway about italy our champions are old and tired they re not hungry for victory anymore while the rest of the team (mostly young people) lack of experience, give us a couple of years and we ll back on top i know that for sure.
