Question---->

[Olympiakos F.C Forever!]

Do u think the U.S. has a shot in 2002 for the WC??

[Delija]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo
Are you kidding me
lol
Hey are you Greek or just American fan of the Olympiakos

[mirkwood]

What do you mean by a shot? If you mean qualify...yes.

[Olympiakos F.C Forever!]

Well Delija,

I live in America,but I also lived in Greece.As far as I am concerned I'm 100% GREEK!That is where my heart is!

[Luka]

Chris is that you? You came from Phantis, right :p :D :)
SLOVENIJA

[lilphenom]

yes the US will make the world cup and i can promise a much better showing than in 98 and next week will be a good measuring stick to see exactly where the US stands becasue of the Nike cup ya not the strongets teams in the world are going to be there but 2 teams that were in the 98 wc will be there and i dont know how mexico is ranked in the top ten but there will be a top 10 team there as weel as 20 ranked south africa abd 18th ranked USA and ireland so not the best competetion but as a respnse to the soccer is a culture i stongly believe that but on the flipside you cant build a culture over night it has to get there gradually just give us time thats all i am asking for

[moèvirnik]

I say football will become popular in the States only when your national team will achieve some big result on WC tournament. Lets say win or lose in final and even then it will be all over a month or two later cause its still national not club competion. And best club football is played in Europe and u Americans are just to big patriots to be interested in something else then your own leauge witch sux. I dont say that goes for all of u. There are manny "euro football" fans in USA but majority of sports fans arent.
P.S.: And maybe u should finally learn to name the game right!! Its football, ok? There is foot and a ball involved, ya? Who invented succha stupid word as soccer?!?!

[lilphenom]

look it makes no difference what the game is called. and if you are going to pick on little things like that then you have nothing else better to do as for the euro statment more and more americans are going abroad and and trust me we are getting better and better the talent of the 98 team could not compare to todays team we have much more talented players and those that were on the team have become much better. like i have already said in 2002 the US will shock the world !!!!! i am not saying we are goingto win but we will do better than anybody thought just wait and see

[moèvirnik]

Look, I simple dont buy it! Its true that more and more Americans come to play in Europe but they still dont play important role in their clubs. They are just subs. Except goalman of Raya Valecano(I forgot his name)
P.S.: Name of the game DOES matters! How would u feel if I would name basketball bound-poll or some other stupid name like soccer is.

[lilphenom]

onew player are you crazy take a look at cladio reyna at rangers joe maxmore at eveton and like you mentioned already keller at rayo also sanneh hejduk both play roles on there teams at at one pont max-moore was one of the hottest players in the epl his name was all over the mags as being quote "the yanks only hope " wich is not true becasue like i have already mentioned more and more americans are being bought by european clubs and if you are going to cry about the name of the game go ahead you are just sonding like a fool becasue it is called by differet names all over the world so why dont you cry to the itallians about it being called calico it is soccer it is futbol football calico what ever you wanna call it ya football is the most approite i will admit but we call it soccer so dont go trying to change things

[Mihajloviç]

lilphenom, keep dreamin!

[lilphenom]

look miha you seem to be a very knowledgeable person and along with you and a few other i respect very highly ( gambine juvefan omar tariq and a few others0 but i have to say that in in wc 98 yugo had a tough time against a soul broken US squad that was not playing therer 1st team and may i recall that a win would have guarentted a trip to the 2nd round so i mean we are not at your level but we are not as far behind as the rest of the world thinks but its ok let the world think we cant play it wont hurt us when we pull off an upset in 2002 just wait and see and good luck in euro 2000

[moèvirnik]

Just to let u know. I watched Hejduk twice this season cause Bayer played with Maribor in CL and he doesnt play an important role in Bayer. Once he was sub, and on second game he was pulled out in second period..

[lilphenom]

movernik, if you saw him play only two games you cant conclude his ability take for instance some of the best plyers in the world Lopez in the recent CL final if you had never seen him or heard of him and watched him and that game you would conclude that he is not that good of a player the same can go for kluivert in his 2 matches against valencia in the semis and a numerous others

[moèvirnik]

Yea, I know. Hejduk certanly is a good player, bad one cant play in Bayer its just that he doesnt play an important role, thats all.

[Mihajloviç]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by lilphenom:
...we are not at your level but we are not as far behind as the rest of the world...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, thx for the respect lilphenom.
I quoted this part because I thought about it for a minute and I kind of agreed, and a little disagreement. Most of the people here, say a country (team) sucks...that's basically not that it sucks, it's because they do not like the country, it may be the politics or something else they hate about the country. See, the U.S. in soccer does not suck , but it is not very good at it either. What I am trying to say is, that they are at the level with countries like Iran and lower countries, but in the last few years they certainly have developed, they went from NOWHERE to a solid team, that is capable of upsetting big teams, such names as Germany and some others. As much as I hate the U.S. politics, I have to admit that they are not a bad team, they are a team that is in development....and NO, they do not deserve to be in the top 20's on the Fifa World Rankings.

[lilphenom]

ok look i think you misunderstood the quote just alittle bit i was trying to get the point out that we are behind no doubt we are not 50 years behind but we are not within 5 years of being a world class team lke someone already said and i 100% agree with them soccer/football/futbl is a cultre which it is and like any cultre it takes time to develop , its weaknesses and strong points for instances the european game is much more long balls down the sideline consevative crosses type of play and in south america it is more dribbling and individual talents lots of short quick short passes both ways work but i see us the US developing a game sdomewhere in the middle right now we dont have one player that sticks out in either extreme very bad or world class yet. and i will be honest i know we are hated for many reasons but we can play and there is no doubt in the next 5-10 years the youth coming out of the states will really surprsie the world i am amercian and like many people in here i support my national team proudly and finishing 32nd out of 32 is very disapointing for any team but especially for a team that is susposed to be going fowards not backwards and 98 is in the past and ever since then we have played 1000 times better so all i am asking for is respect because we can play with you south americans and europeans and i respect you very highly and we deserve some respect that all a little respect

[Mihajloviç]

You as a person have my respect
:D
I do not think I can respect the U.S.

[lilphenom]

thanx for you respect miha but to be honest i would rather you respect my team rather than me because wether i get the point across we can play and wheather or not anyone believes me i am going to keep saying it becase like i have said over and over and i promise it we will shock the world in 2002 i am not saying we are going to win but we are going to shock the world an we will be on the world map as a soccer team and I RESPECT YOU VERY HIGHLY AS WELL

[lilphenom]

thanx for you respect miha but to be honest i would rather you respect my team rather than me because wether i get the point across we can play and wheather or not anyone believes me i am going to keep saying it becase like i have said over and over and i promise it we will shock the world in 2002 i am not saying we are going to win but we are going to shock the world an we will be on the world map as a soccer team and I
RESPECT YOU VERY HIGHLY AS WELL


USA 2002

[Mihajloviç]

Well, when you respect a national team, then you kind of respect the country too, so it's kinda hard to do that right now.

[lilphenom]

i understand , i really unerstand