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For almost thirty years, American soccer has been waiting for a savior. Freddy Adu was supposed to be him. So was Christian Pulisic. Every few years, a new teenager gets anointed as the one who’ll finally make the United States a real soccer country — and every few years, the story falls apart.
I sat down with Doug McIntyre, who’s covered the U.S. men’s national team for FOX Sports across five continents, to trace how a program that failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup — losing to Trinidad and Tobago on a night that by rights shouldn’t have gone wrong — became a team that looks nothing like the ones that came before it. The answer isn’t a superstar. It isn’t even Mauricio Pochettino, the most decorated coach the U.S. has ever hired. It’s something slower, quieter, and a lot less marketable than a chosen one.
The United States finally got good the moment it stopped needing someone to save it.
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Bio: Joon Lee is an independent sports journalist reporting on YouTube. He’s written op-eds for The New York Times and The Boston Globe and worked for ESPN, Bleacher Report and The Washington Post, where he’s interviewed and photographed sports & pop culture figures like Kylian Mbappe, Shohei Ohtani, David Ortiz, Mookie Betts and Action Bronson. He previously was a contributor to SportsCenter, Around the Horn and First Take. His work has been featured on The Best American Sportswriting series and recognized as a finalist for the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting.
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Well if ayso and the other youth leagues actually recruited and coached the best athletes US soccer would have changed many moons ago. The elephant in the room is what you currently see as the make up of the UMNT that has always been the answer to the problem but America didn't want to see that.
"We" all knew that was the answer as you say it only took 100 years for the US to say "ok fine".
Great video. Just discovered your channel today and subscribed.
Y’all kinda got it right about Adu. I’m from that area and was in the business around that time and there was this Jewish guy that “discovered” Freddy and started all the hype about him. Guy made his money off his discovery but it chewed up and spit out Freddy in the process.
And as far as the women’s team goes. What he’s trying to say in a politically friendly sort of way is the reason the US women’s team is so good is because other countries don’t care about women’s soccer. It’s like 6th graders playing against 3rd graders. And thanks to Rapinoe’s big mouth, WNBA energy and this thrilling performance by the men so far, we don’t really care about them much anymore either.
The usmnt is good, but the bench is non-existent. That's our problem. It'll be extremely difficult to win with 11 players that are VERY good, but not elite, supported by no bench whatsoever. Hope I'm wrong.
America has been very lucky to have drawn average footballing nations including Belgium.l believe you guys will play in quarter final, particularly as you are on home soil. The real test will be facing a true giant in the football world. On home soil you never know, but also keep in mind, America lost to Turkey which was the first nation to be eliminated from the world cup.
The narrative is always a slight on USMNT, and I know because I work with Brits and Mexicans, but the fact is that the US has advanced to the knock out stage in 6 of the last 9 World Cups. Not too shabby. That's more than Uruguay, Italy, and Mexico. When I tell my Brit friends that, I always get the raised eyebrow and "Seriously" comment. My Mexican friends say FU.
They’re playing like they belong, because they do. They finally started building the systems to get kids that are great athletes into the sport.
Paraguay beat Germany in the knockout though.
As soon as you said you dont take money from sports gambling I subscribed, my man.
“A real World Cup country makes the World Cup year after year”… Italy felt that…
Home advantage gives the hosts a good run.
I remember the Trinidad game like it was yesterday. I was in high school, I was so so mad I cried a little. Little did I know it was the best thing that could have happened to the usmnt. We are so much better now than before I could never have imagined the line ups were having in these world cups. Let’s go USA!
Instant subscribe when I heard that you don’t do gambling ads 🤝🤝
Pulisic landed as a reasonable player. Like a bang average player in a top league in europe. And you have half a team worth of players of this caliber.
Combine that with very well diciplined high press against somewhat middling opponents, the US have looked sick.
Belgium is the first test to whether this team is more than the sum of its parts. As they on paper have players good enough to deal with and punish high press, so this game can become a breakout game or a 1-7 moment.
Good video but I can't take US football seriously not due to the players but due to the arrogant rage baiters and agitators that are the fans and pundits. They clashed with the Aussies for no reason and the overall treatment of Iran has been terrible. They are a mickey mouse nation and will never succeed at football.
This does not mention the biggest reason for the strength of the core of this team. The US soccer residency program
The most shocking thing in this entire video is 9:23 – the first sports YouTube doc I’ve seen without a Draft Kings etc BS ad…. Props to you brotha, subscribed 👊
Very thoughtful and insightful! Having followed the USMNT for 30+ years you really captured the essence of our current state. Looking forward to more content!
Buen video, me hizo entender como sudamericano como ha mejorado USA en el fútbol 🙏🏻
Americans don't want a sport where you can't run commercials or promote anything.
Superstars are good to have, obviously. But football (soccer for you Americans) is the ultimate team sports, where everything more often than not makes or breaks by the entire team holding together. Just putting a ''Superstar'' into the team is more often than not, not going to transfer the team overnight for the better. It's all about the players knowing each other's plays, how they set each other up, and how the entire team works together in unison as ''one''. More often than not, it's not the ''Superstars'' who are the actual heroes on the teams, even if they get the credit because they are the ones who put the ball inside the goal. A lot of times the silent heroes on the teams are the midfielders or the defenders, midfielders doing good plays to get the ball forward and set it up for the strikers, and defenders managing to stop opponents, grab the ball back and play it out to their team mates.
Hong Myung-bo…. 🤬
bro they just entered top 16, like before in history, they still achived nothing extra
I guess Italy is not a soccer country…🤷🏽♂️
Believe it or not there were some people who saw this potentially unfolding with Poch as manager and the player quality. Especially in international play since last summer the signs were there. But yea if not really paying attention or watching closely or looking for a hot take on social media it may be very surprising
italy hasn't qualified and they're a soccer country
Btw you cut off the Alexi clip too early you gotta let the “FRAUD” fly