Soccer in America has never been the biggest sport nor the most popular, yet the Americans have not received the credit they’ve deserved. After a 40 year absence from the world famous soccer tournament, America qualified for the 1990 World cup in Italy and have reached every World Cup Finals since. This is an achievement in itself considering its only the nations fifth most popular sport. Not only have the US qualified for the last seven World Cups, but they have also reached beyond the group stages four times out of seven, which proves they have never lacked quality.
American Soccer Making a Statement to the Football World
Vast amounts of people gathered in Chicago today to watch USA’s World Cup group game against Germany, which symbolizes the step that the US has taken when it comes to the beautiful game, and its importance. Reaching the knock-out stages in two consecutive World Cups is huge for the growth and development of football in America. It is also demonstrative of the fact that American Soccer is underestimated. The Americans had the odds stacked against them when they were drawn in the group alongside previous winners, Germany, Portugal with players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Ghana previous quarter finalists. Yet, what many people seem to forget is that the American side contains many proven Premier League players, which is said to be the toughest league in world football. Being the underdogs has helped rather than hindered the US side, surprising the world with a win against Ghana and a draw against a favorable Portugal side. The Americans don’t just have quality within the squad, but also in their management team, Jurgen Klinsmann, the teams manager, has developed and embedded a determined and never-give-up ethos amongst the squad, which has clearly paid dividends.
Now that the Americans have progressed through the tournaments group stages, they have put the footballing nations of England, Spain, Portugal and Italy to shame who were all expected to reach the knock-outs. The USA are to meet Belgium in the last 16 of the tournament, which if you had asked many prior to the World Cup they would not have given America a chance, yet today its a whole different story, When it comes to 1st July, it will be a far more equal encounter. The biggest mistake that the Belgians can make is underestimating the USA, as if they do, they’ll be in for one serious shock and as we all know this World Cup has thrown up its fair share of surprises.
The game on Tuesday could prove to be one of the biggest games in American football history, as if they pass the test, the US could ruffle a fair few International footballing feathers, to say the least. For many of the footballing powers, they will not want another rival on the International scene and this is bound to happen if America were to progress to the latter stages of the competition. Watch this space.
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