So here we go! The World Cup gets set to kick-off in just a couple of hours. The most watched event in the world… outside the United States. I’ve been counting the days for a couple of years and am excited to see how the American National team does this time around, since last time was an embarrassment.
It’s time to see if veteran players such as Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Oguchi Onyewu (amongst others) are ready to take this team to a place it’s never been before. Has their time playing in Europe’s top leagues paid off?
It’s also time to see how far we’ve come with our core of young players (Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Francisco Torres) and are these the kids to keep the U.S. afloat for the future? Do they have what it takes to demonstrate that the U.S. has arrived on football’s BIGGEST stage? It won’t be easy.
In my estimation, the U.S. should make it out of the group stage and has the players to get by the next round as well and get into the quarters. England is a tough draw for the first game, but not impossible. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know much about Slovenia or Algeria but I know they are NOT football powerhouses. There is absolutely no excuse for the U.S. not to get out of the group stage.
I’m also going to be watching Mexico as they have shown both promise and dysfunction. There is no doubt they have talent, but for one reason or another Mexican players tend to fold up in crunch time. They never seem to demonstrate the same confidence with which they normally thrash CONCACAF teams when they play higher echelon squads. They have the talent! They have very good young players, players who have won the World Cup at the younger levels, but nevertheless World Cups! The kids (Javier Hernandez, Giovanni Dos Santos and Carlos Vela), along with the veteran players such as Rafael Marquez and Carlos Salcedo, all of whom play in Europe’s top leagues, can definitely make some noise and take Mexico into the quarters as well. Mexico also features a first-rate coach in Javier Aguirre, a man with lots of experience, desire and a great motivator.
I’m expecting BIG things from both teams and I think they will prove me right!