| Revision as of 15:44, 16 June 2006 editBatman2005 (talk | contribs)4,684 edits my bad, rv to this version, its fact, there's no reason it shouldn't be included← Previous edit | Revision as of 15:54, 16 June 2006 edit undoPanairjdde~enwiki (talk | contribs)11,980 edits rv. this is better, under any point of view.Next edit → | ||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
| The '''United States men's national soccer team''' is the national ] team of the ] and is controlled by the ]. | The '''United States men's national soccer team''' is the national ] team of the ] and is controlled by the ]. | ||
| After failing to qualify for nine straight tournaments beginning in ], the team has now qualified for five consecutive ] finals since ] |
After failing to qualify for nine straight tournaments beginning in ], the team has now qualified for five consecutive ] finals since ]. | ||
| Since its recent successes, the team has been consistently ranked in the top |
Since its recent successes, the team has been consistently ranked in the top fifteen of the ]; its highest-ever rank was 4th, first obtained in ]. Going into the {{wc|2006}}, the United States was the 5th ranked team in the world. More members of the national team than ever now have successful careers in ] leagues,<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2004-01-22-howard_x.htm#list</ref> and the country's youth team is strong, as shown by the under-19s winning the 2005 ]. The USA has had more men reach 100 ] (international appearances) than any other country, with nine to date. | ||
| == History == | == History == | ||
Revision as of 15:54, 16 June 2006
First 
The United States men's national soccer team is the national association football team of the United States and is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation.
After failing to qualify for nine straight tournaments beginning in 1954, the team has now qualified for five consecutive FIFA World Cup finals since 1990 edition.
Since its recent successes, the team has been consistently ranked in the top fifteen of the FIFA World Rankings; its highest-ever rank was 4th, first obtained in April 2006. Going into the
, the United States was the 5th ranked team in the world. More members of the national team than ever now have successful careers in European leagues, and the country's youth team is strong, as shown by the under-19s winning the 2005 Milk Cup. The USA has had more men reach 100 caps (international appearances) than any other country, with nine to date.
History
First international outside Britain
In 1885, the U.S. and Canada played the first unofficial international match held outside of Great Britain. The Canadians defeated the homestanding Americans 1-0 in Newark, New Jersey. The American side had their revenge the following year, in 1886, when they beat the Canadians 3-2, also in Newark. These two matches were the only internationals played outside of the United Kingdom in the 19th century. Thirty years later, the Americans would play their first official international match by travelling to Stockholm, Sweden to face the Swedes. In that matchup, the USA won 3-2.
1930: The first World Cup
First win ever
In the
, the USA won the first match in World Cup history, defeating Belgium 3-0 at Estadio Gran Parque Central in Montevideo, Uruguay. The match occurred simultaneously with another "first game" across town where France defeated Mexico. FIFA has commemorated the American victory as the first World Cup match on two occasions, in 1987 and 2005.
First hat-trick ever?
Controversy has ensued for seven decades over the next match, when American Bert Patenaude may have scored the first hat-trick in World Cup history as USA defeated Paraguay, again 3-0. FIFA has generally maintained that Patenaude scored only two goals, the second of the three goals being credited to teammate Tom Florie, but his teammates and the U.S. Soccer Federation among other sources credited Patenaude with notching three. Other sources claimed that it was an own goal by Paraguayan Ramon Gonzales. In some instances, FIFA itself has referred to Patenaude as scoring the first hat-trick in World Cup history but this information has not been confirmed and may be a misprint or mistake, as neither the official FIFA boxscore nor the FIFA list of World Cup hat-tricks has recognized Patenaude's 1930 game against Paraguay.
Semi-finalists
In that first World Cup, the American side advanced to the semi-finals. This is still the all-time best World Cup performance by the men's team. No third place match was played. Some British football historians have claimed that the U.S. team at that competition was loaded with non-native players from British professional leagues, but the facts do not support that assertion.
1950: A shocking victory
The
is memorable in the English-speaking world for the U.S. team pulling off one of the greatest upsets in soccer history, handing England a devastating result in its first ever World Cup loss, 1-0, after England had recently beaten the rest of Europe 6-1 in an exhibition match. Like England, the U.S. failed to advance from group play after losing to Spain. It would be four decades before the USA would again make a splash on the highest international level.
1990s: Back on the scene
"Shot Heard Round The World"
USA qualified for the
on a dramatic 1-0 road win over Trinidad and Tobago on a goal from Paul Caligiuri, termed the "Shot Heard Round The World" in some circles as it qualified the United States side for the first time in 40 years. However, they were eliminated from Italy without earning a point before the side rebounded to win the first ever CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1991.
1994 World Cup hosts
The United States was awarded the
, despite soccer being relatively unpopular in the country compared to its more established sports such as American football, basketball, and baseball. The U.S.-hosted 1994 tournament still holds the World Cup record for attendance at nearly 70,000 per match and has been considered among the most successful
World Cups in history. This set the backdrop for the home team to play to a tie with Switzerland and accomplish a 2-1 upset of Colombia (aided by an own goal by Andrés Escobar who was later gunned down in his home country for the mistake). The USA made it to the knockout round for the first time since 1930, but there they lost 1-0 to the eventual champions, Brazil.
Disappointment in France
In the
, the team lost all three group matches, including a disappointing loss to Iran, and a last-place finish. Head coach Steve Sampson received much of the blame for the performance, after abruptly cutting team captain John Harkes and several other players who were significant to the qualifying effort.
2000s: Highly competitive
Korea and Japan darkhorse
The team won the 2002 Gold Cup to set up the team's best performance since 1930 in the
, when the U.S. reached the quarterfinals. They were one of the major stories in Korea and Japan, surprising Luís Figo's "Golden Generation" of highly favored Portugal 3-2 and tying eventual fourth place finisher South Korea 1-1 to advance from the group stages.
This set the stage for an exciting Round 2 face-off with familiar continental rivals Mexico. The Americans put together perhaps their best game of the tournament against the Mexicans and emerged victorious in the first World Cup showdown between the two old adversaries, 2-0. This sparked the hopes and imaginations of USA soccer fans for the first time in generations, before the team were beaten 1-0 to eventual runners-up Germany in the quarterfinals.
Germany: Group of death
 | This article documents a current sporting event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. Please feel free to improve this article (but note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed) or discuss changes on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
USA won its second Gold Cup of the last three with the 2005 Gold Cup. On September 3, 2005, they qualified for their 8th World Cup by beating Mexico 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio. The United States was drawn for Group E in the
and because of the high FIFA ranking of the sides in the group, it was frequently called this World Cup's group of death along with Group C (Netherlands, Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro, and Cote d'Ivoire) in the lead-up to the Cup.
The USA opened with a loss to #2 FIFA ranked Czech Republic in which they were soundly beaten by the Czechs, 3-0. Highlights of the match included a near-miss by Claudio Reyna in the first half and two narrowly missed opportunities by substitute Eddie Johnson in the second half.
The team will next face Italy on Saturday, June 17 at 2:55 PM EST and Ghana on Thursday, June 22 at 9:55 AM EST. After going winless in Italy '34, Italy '90, and France '98, the U.S. is still looking for its first victory in a World Cup held on European soil.
USA will attempt to avoid a repeat of the 1990 event in Italy when it drew nearly the same grouping, losing 5-1 to the Czechs in the first match and losing 1-0 to Italy in the next. If the team does not pull off a win, or at the very least draw against the Italians, it is unlikely they will progress into the knockout rounds.
World Cup record
- 1930 - Semi-finals (lost to Argentina)
- 1934 - Round 1
- 1938 - Withdrew
- 1950 - Round 1
- 1954 to 1986 - Did not qualify
- 1990 - Round 1
- 1994 - Round 2 (lost to Brazil)
- 1998 - Round 1
- 2002 - Quarterfinals (lost to Germany)
- 2006 - Qualified
Gold Cup record
- 1991 - Champions
- 1993 - Second place
- 1996 - Third place
- 1998 - Second place
- 2000 - Quarterfinals
- 2002 - Champions
- 2003 - Third place
- 2005 - Champions
Copa América record
Starting from 1993, CONMEBOL has invited teams from other confederations to participate in their confederation championship, Copa América. USA has been invited every time since, but due to MLS scheduling conflicts, has taken part only twice, in 1993 and 1995.
- 1993 - Round 1
- 1995 - Fourth place
- 1997 to 2004 - Was invited but turned down due to MLS season schedule conflict
Head coaches
|
|
2006 World Cup roster
Head coach: Bruce Arena
Chris Albright was announced on 4 May as a replacement for Frankie Hejduk, who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee.
Gregg Berhalter, who will join German club 1860 Munich next season, was announced on 25 May as a replacement for Cory Gibbs, who re-injured his right knee in a 1-0 loss to Morocco on 23 May.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1GK | Tim Howard | 6 March 1979 | 16 |  Everton (on loan from Manchester United)
|
| 2 | 2DF | Chris Albright | 14 January 1979 | 20 |  Los Angeles Galaxy
|
| 3 | 2DF | Carlos Bocanegra | 25 May 1979 | 40 | Fulham
|
| 4 | 3MF | Pablo Mastroeni | 26 August 1976 | 49 | Colorado Rapids
|
| 5 | 3MF | John O'Brien | 29 August 1977 | 32 | Chivas USA
|
| 6 | 2DF | Steve Cherundolo | 19 February 1979 | 36 |  Hannover
|
| 7 | 3MF | Eddie Lewis | 17 May 1974 | 71 | Leeds United
|
| 8 | 3MF | Clint Dempsey | 9 March 1983 | 21 | New England Revolution
|
| 9 | 4FW | Eddie Johnson | 31 March 1984 | 19 | Kansas City Wizards
|
| 10 | 3MF | Claudio Reyna (Captain) | 20 July 1973 | 110 | Manchester City
|
| 11 | 4FW | Brian Ching | 24 May 1978 | 20 | Houston Dynamo
|
| 12 | 2DF | Gregg Berhalter | 1 August 1973 | 44 | Energie Cottbus
|
| 13 | 2DF | Jimmy Conrad | 12 February 1977 | 15 | Kansas City Wizards
|
| 14 | 3MF | Ben Olsen | 3 May 1977 | 34 | D.C. United
|
| 15 | 3MF | Bobby Convey | 27 May 1983 | 39 | Reading
|
| 16 | 4FW | Josh Wolff | 25 February 1977 | 48 | Kansas City Wizards
|
| 17 | 3MF | DaMarcus Beasley | 24 May 1982 | 59 |  PSV Eindhoven
|
| 18 | 1GK | Kasey Keller | 29 November 1969 | 94 | Borussia Mönchengladbach
|
| 19 | 1GK | Marcus Hahnemann | 15 June 1972 | 6 | Reading
|
| 20 | 4FW | Brian McBride | 19 June 1972 | 93 | Fulham
|
| 21 | 4FW | Landon Donovan | 4 March 1982 | 82 | Los Angeles Galaxy
|
| 22 | 2DF | Oguchi Onyewu | 13 May 1982 | 15 |  Standard Liège
|
| 23 | 2DF | Eddie Pope | 24 December 1973 | 81 | Real Salt Lake
|
Famous past players
|
References/Notes
- http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2004-01-22-howard_x.htm#list
- As the U.S.-Canada match was unofficial, the first official match outside Britain was held in 1901 between Argentina and Uruguay.
- http://www.rsssf.com/tables/30full.html
- "FIFA: USA - Paraguay match report". FIFA. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "CNN/Sports Illustrated - Bert Patenaude". CNN. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "Planet World Cup - World Cup Trivia". PlanetWorldCup.com. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - "The Football Association 20 World Cup Facts". The FA. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "RSSSF - THE FIRST WORLD CUP HAT TRICK". RSSSF. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "FIFA/Yahoo! Official Site discusses 1930 World Cup". 2006 FIFA World Cup Official Site. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- There was no official Third Place match in 1930; USA and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals but did not face each other.
- There were six British-born players on the 1930 team, all of whom played every minute of the team's three World Cup matches. However, at the time of the 1930 World Cup, the combined experience of those six players in English professional leagues was two games, both by a single player in the English Third Division (equivalent to today's Football League One). Four of the six had come to the United States as teenagers or younger. Three of the six never played professionally in Britain; their pro careers were entirely in North America. In the 1920s, there was a thriving professional league in the United States, and the league survived into the mid-1930s. Two of the six did have significant professional careers in Britain, but not until after 1930. All 16 members of the 1930 World Cup team were living in the United States by 1928. For more details on this issue, see this article.
- http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1994/wc94story.html
- http://www.ussoccer.com/history/host/fwc94.jsp.html
- "Sampson destroyed U.S. unity with late changes to lineup". SoccerTimes.com. Retrieved June 8.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/soccer/specials/world_cup/2006/06/14/rongen.notebook/index.html
- "Albright Replaces Injured Hejduk on U.S. FIFA World Cup Roster". ussoccer.com. Retrieved May 6.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)
External links
- Official Website
- USA world cup
- Archive of U.S. national team results 1885-1979
- Archive of U.S. national team results 1980-
- Pronunciation Guide for Names of Players on 2006 U.S. National Team
| Soccer in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Women's |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By city | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other topics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| World (FIFA) |  | |
| Asia (AFC) | ||
| Africa (CAF) | ||
| North America (CONCACAF) | ||
| South America (CONMEBOL) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
| Europe (UEFA) | ||
| Inter-Continental |
| |
| Non-FIFA | ||
| National and regional football teams of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) | |
|---|---|
| North America | |
| Central America | |
| Caribbean |
|
| Defunct | |
| |
| 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists | |
|---|---|
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| Round of 16 | |
| Group stage | |
