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| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | Yanks, The Stars & Stripes The Red, White and Blue | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | United States Soccer Federation | ||
| Head coach | Bruce Arena, 1998- | ||
| Most caps | Cobi Jones (164) | ||
| Top scorer | Eric Wynalda (34) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
| Unofficial: USA 0 - 1 Canada (Newark, NJ, USA; November 28, 1885) Official: Sweden 2 - 3 USA (Stockholm, Sweden; August 20, 1916) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| USA 8 - 1 Cayman Islands (Mission Viejo, CA, USA; November 14, 1993) USA 7 - 0 El Salvador (Los Angeles, CA, USA; December 5, 1993) USA 7 - 0 Barbados (Foxborough, MA, USA; August 20, 2000) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| USA 0 - 10 England (New York, NY, USA; May 27, 1964) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 8 (first in 1930) | ||
| Best result | Semi-finals, 1930 | ||
| CONCACAF Gold Cup | |||
| Appearances | 8 (first in 1991) | ||
| Best result | Winners, 1991, 2002, 2005 | ||
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. The United States is currently the fifth ranked team in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings.
History
The United States is a side that enjoyed early competitive success. In the 1930 World Cup, the Americans won the first match in World Cup history, defeating Belgium 3-0 in Montevideo, Uruguay (occurring simultaneously with another "first game" across town where France defeated Mexico). In the next match, American Bert Patenaude possibly scored the first hat-trick in World Cup history as USA defeated Paraguay, again 3-0. Some sources, including FIFA, maintain 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 credit Patenaude with notching three. Other sources claim that it was an own goal by Paraguayan Ramon Gonzales.
In that first Cup, USA 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.
In the
, the U.S. team pulled off one of the greatest upsets in soccer history, handing England its first ever World Cup defeat 1-0, after England had recently beaten the rest of Europe 6-1 in an exhibition match. Some news agencies in England reported the match result as 10-1 to England, a result which would perhaps have been less surprising. However, the U.S. failed to advance from group play after losing to Spain. In 1988 the United States was awarded the
, even though it had not qualified for a World Cup since 1950. The U.S. did qualify 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 American soccer circles. Although they were eliminated from the 1990 World Cup without earning a point, the side rebounded to win the first ever CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1991.
A tie with Switzerland and a stunning 2-1 upset of Colombia put the U.S. in the knockout round of the 1994 World Cup, where they lost 1-0 to the eventual champions, Brazil.
In the
, the team struggled to an 0-3 record, 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 other players who were significant to qualifying. The team's best performance since 1930 came in the
, when the U.S. reached the quarterfinals. They were one of the major surprises at the 2002 event, stunning highly fancied Portugal 3-2 in group play, defeating continental rivals Mexico 2-0 in the second round, and narrowly losing to runners-up Germany in the quarterfinals 1-0.
The U.S. men are now considered a highly competitive side. In recent years, USA has become known for producing goalkeepers; three U.S. keepers started in the English Premier League in the 2003-04 season. Two of the three combined to win back-to-back Goalkeeper of the Year awards, as voted by the players, with Brad Friedel in 2002-03 and Tim Howard in 2003-04.
Since its recent successes, the team has been consistently ranked in the top 15 of the FIFA World Rankings; its highest-ever rank was 4th, first obtained in April 2006. More Americans 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.
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 World Cup, and will face Italy, Ghana, and the Czech Republic in the group stage. Because of the high FIFA ranking of the sides in Group E, it has been frequently called this Cup's group of death along with Group C (Netherlands, Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro, and Cote d'Ivoire.)
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 taken part as one of the invited teams 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
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|
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.
Alternates
After the promotions of Albright and Berhalter, the eleven remaining alternate players are:
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GK | Tony Meola | 21 February 1969 | 100 |  Red Bull New York
| |
| 1GK | Matt Reis | 28 March 1975 | 1 | New England Revolution
| |
| 2DF | Todd Dunivant | 26 December 1980 | 2 | Los Angeles Galaxy
| |
| 3MF | Chris Armas | 27 August 1972 | 65 | Chicago Fire
| |
| 3MF | Chris Klein | 4 January 1976 | 22 | Real Salt Lake
| |
| 3MF | Pat Noonan | 8 August 1980 | 12 | New England Revolution
| |
| 3MF | Steve Ralston | 14 June 1974 | 31 | New England Revolution
| |
| 3MF | Kerry Zavagnin | 2 July 1974 | 21 | Kansas City Wizards
| |
| 4FW | Conor Casey | 25 July 1981 | 7 |  FSV Mainz 05
| |
| 4FW | Chris Rolfe | 17 January 1983 | 4 | Chicago Fire
| |
| 4FW | Taylor Twellman | 29 February 1980 | 18 | New England Revolution
|
Famous past players
|
References/Notes
- "FIFA: USA - Paraguay match report". FIFA. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "CNN/Sports Illustrated - Bert Patenaude". CNN. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- "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.
- There was no official World Cup Third Place match in 1930; USA and Yugoslavia lost in the semi-finals.
- 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 British 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.
- "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) - "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-
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