I was coaching at Iona College in New York during the spring of 1996 when US Soccer and Nike came out with its bold PROJECT 2010. We hosted a Nike Cup event on our campus, where members of Nike’s national marketing department announced this massive financial initiative (recorded at $50 million) that would put the US in a position TO WIN THE WORLD CUP BY 2010. Now, that mission statement was changed quickly after we were bounced out of the 1998 World Cup without a point to show for, and re-worded towards being ‘a legitimate contender in world soccer’. This program had a few important initiatives, including an under-17 national residency program that would house ‘the stars of tomorrow’.
As we are now a year away from World Cup 2010, I would say that where the United States have made great strides over the past 20 years (the US qualified for the 1990 World Cup in the fall of 1989), but we are still much closer to being a ‘3rd world country’ among soccer giants than ‘a legitimate contender in world soccer’. Our residency program has helped developed the likes of Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley, Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore; saying that, none of those players are world stars that compete at the level of the likes of the players participating in countries that ARE legitimate contenders in world soccer.
There are a number of nations that have had success at a world championship (like the US had in 2002, advancing to the quarterfinals) and had individuals who have stood out at the highest of levels of domestic football (Tim Howard and Brad Friedel are among the elite goalkeepers in the English Premier League, as well as the world). Saying that, to be a legitimate contender to win a World Championship needs a wealth of special players to build their team around (Howard is the only member of the current team that is a standout in one of the top leagues in the world; I would like to think that Bradley and Onyewu will get the chance to prove themselves in a similar arena soon). It also needs to sustain that over a period of time.
When Sepp Blatter pulls the ping pong balls out for his draw in the 2010 World Cup, he will do so with teams that are ‘seeded’, based on a combination of their world ranking and tradition of success. In a four team group that will play 3 matches in group play, I would say that the nations that are ‘legitimate contenders in world soccer’ are either a 1 or 2 seed. The US has probably earned being a 3rd seed, meaning that they would need to get results against higher seeded teams (which are normally traditional powers) to advance, as they had against Portugal and host South Korea in 2002.
Rather than talk about a marketing scheme that was not able to work (Project 2010), I would prefer to call ‘a spade a spade’, look at the incremental success our country has made over the past 10 years (of Project 2010), significant improvement over the past 20 years (since our 1990 qualification), and continue to see us make strides into becoming ‘more competitive in world soccer’ rather than worrying about turning ourselves into a ‘legitimate contender in world soccer’.
I am as passionate and patriotic as anyone when it comes to supporting the US National team, but I am also honest at assessing our country as a real footballing nation. Nothing would make me prouder and excited than to see our country advance out of the group stages…which is realistic expectations for probably 75% of the countries competing. Every country should aspire for their team to win the World Cup, but I am willing to take it incrementally…opposed to the Nike and US Soccer PR machine that puts unrealistic expectations on the players and coaches of our country.
As we are now a year away from World Cup 2010, I would say that where the United States have made great strides over the past 20 years (the US qualified for the 1990 World Cup in the fall of 1989), but we are still much closer to being a ‘3rd world country’ among soccer giants than ‘a legitimate contender in world soccer’. Our residency program has helped developed the likes of Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley, Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore; saying that, none of those players are world stars that compete at the level of the likes of the players participating in countries that ARE legitimate contenders in world soccer.
There are a number of nations that have had success at a world championship (like the US had in 2002, advancing to the quarterfinals) and had individuals who have stood out at the highest of levels of domestic football (Tim Howard and Brad Friedel are among the elite goalkeepers in the English Premier League, as well as the world). Saying that, to be a legitimate contender to win a World Championship needs a wealth of special players to build their team around (Howard is the only member of the current team that is a standout in one of the top leagues in the world; I would like to think that Bradley and Onyewu will get the chance to prove themselves in a similar arena soon). It also needs to sustain that over a period of time.
When Sepp Blatter pulls the ping pong balls out for his draw in the 2010 World Cup, he will do so with teams that are ‘seeded’, based on a combination of their world ranking and tradition of success. In a four team group that will play 3 matches in group play, I would say that the nations that are ‘legitimate contenders in world soccer’ are either a 1 or 2 seed. The US has probably earned being a 3rd seed, meaning that they would need to get results against higher seeded teams (which are normally traditional powers) to advance, as they had against Portugal and host South Korea in 2002.
Rather than talk about a marketing scheme that was not able to work (Project 2010), I would prefer to call ‘a spade a spade’, look at the incremental success our country has made over the past 10 years (of Project 2010), significant improvement over the past 20 years (since our 1990 qualification), and continue to see us make strides into becoming ‘more competitive in world soccer’ rather than worrying about turning ourselves into a ‘legitimate contender in world soccer’.
I am as passionate and patriotic as anyone when it comes to supporting the US National team, but I am also honest at assessing our country as a real footballing nation. Nothing would make me prouder and excited than to see our country advance out of the group stages…which is realistic expectations for probably 75% of the countries competing. Every country should aspire for their team to win the World Cup, but I am willing to take it incrementally…opposed to the Nike and US Soccer PR machine that puts unrealistic expectations on the players and coaches of our country.
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