Has the program as a whole improved compared to when us Gen X'ers were playing at the local park or competitively? Absolutely. The problem that US Soccer is not getting their head around is the fact that this generation of fans now have something that other fans never did- expectations. US soccer fans expect the national team to be in the World Cup. There are kids in college that have never seen the national team not get to a World Cup.

Long, LONG, gone are the Alkis Panagoulias, Lothar Osiander, and Bob Gansler eras. For those of us that can barely remember those days in which expectations were microsopic indeed. So with those memories hidden deep within the pages of the US Soccer dark ages.

The expectations now are that they need to do something in these tournaments. Just getting there is not enough for the average American soccer fan and this is why people have all the right in the world to complain about the U-20's poor performance this weekend against an ordinary German side.
Stats lie...
If there was ever a match that proved once and for all that stats in football are to be taken with a grain of salt it was the Germany-US game on Saturday. Possession favored the US 52-48, but that stat sometimes does not tell the truth about what happened in the match. Possession as a stat is kinda like dating in a way. Imagine you went out with Kevin Walker's girl Pilar Ruiz. If you go out with her ten times and do nothing... well you did nothing. But if you go out with her once and you dance, drink, do crazy stuff (you fill in the blank here), and then wake up in the morning to breakfast in bed at her place...I guess you get my point.


That is what possession means in soccer. In soccer means having "the girl" and doing something with her. In this case it means scoring. Man I better stop there, for those of you with sick minds- I'll let you be. Possession is a complimentary stat. Yes, the US had the ball 52% of the time, but the results were: seven shots, two shots on goal, and zero goals scored. Germany on the other hand had 17 shots, six of them were on goal, and three of them hit the back of the net (one off a penalty).

So who did the most with Pilar?

The Reality
The US is definitely the nation of stats. That is why it is hard for soccer fans here to grasp the game without numbers. Some people were talking on several blogs about the fact that the US didn't get "dominated". Those who say that are absolutely right. Dominated is not the right word. They got schooled, the pun is somewhat intended.

When talking to Kartik Krishnaiyer, I always seemed to bring into the conversation the use of college players on this team. The Germany match showed how overmatched these kids are. Yes they can run like the wind, but their skills have eroded to such a degree in just two years after graduating high school, that they have regressed compared to other high end players in this category around the world. The gap is even drastic within the squad itself. The youngsters that are already professionals are light years ahead of their collegiate teammates.

Is it a knock on the players? Absolutely not. It is a knock on the collegiate system which I always thought was too Americanized using excessive substitution patterns much like basketball. College soccer games are like glorified AYSO games, because everyone plays or so it seems. So players are being shuffled in and out while the team acquires little to no rhythm at all. To be honest, that is not going to change because the NCAA gives a rat's ass about the the US national team. If they did, they would have already lifted the archaic and asinine regulations that they have in place since the time Herbert Hoover was president (or one of those old dudes). Let's get something straight, the "college style" of soccer (whatever that is) does not cut it outside of the collegiate level. This is what happens when the big fish from the little pond gets dumped into the big, blue ocean.

What happened at Hosni Mubarak Stadium on Saturday was a complete and utter disaster and it didn't happen by accident. This was supposed to happen. The US might as well bless their lucky stars that they did not lose by more because Germany did not look sharp at all. The US lack of identity in every phase of the game saw them pay dearly. Thomas Rongen saw his team get outclassed in ever sense of the word, the worst part of this all was the fact that he was powerless on that bench.

There was more shape in Jell-O than there was in the US formation. There were instances when they collectively looked like they met up at the pitch a few minutes before kickoff. No one outside of the US would have imagined that they had been through an infinite number of camps for the past few years. It was borderline embarrassing.

Who NOT To Blame?

Goalkeeper Brian Perk did what he could do by himself making some impressive saves, but there is only so much a 20-year-old can do all by himself. He can't be expected to cover for mistakes that were being made by his fullbacks in his own defensive third. He needed a pair of lozenges because his throat was sore from all the screaming he did at his backline.

Some might say that this is the same way the senior side started their incredible Confederations Cup run and yes there is still time to improve. There is only one problem, Cameroon are looking to lock up their spot in the second round. There is no doubt that they have to remain positive and look at the future, but that is So if you want to go back into history, please stop in the chapter titled "Remember Ghan-er". We all remember that match against Ghana in Nurmberg? If the team isn't careful, it could be that sequel.