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| photo by Lunchbox LP | via PhotoRee | ||
His brain addled by the steady stream of music from boy-band Big Time Rush that he's been grooving to on Pandora, Columnist Ed closes the book on farlieonfootie's recent musings on the US Mens National team:
I’ve heard some grumblings lately about this 2010 version of
the US Mens National Team, and how we miss players like Tab Ramos or Claudia Reyna,
or even John Harkes. I find this
position silly at best. This current US
team is our best in the modern era, and despite the fact that progress is still
slower than any of us want, our progress since the 1990’s has been
substantial.
Let’s first tackle what this 1994 team did to earn it’s reputation. In the World Cup in the United States,
this team upset Columbia 2 to 1, tied Switzerland, 1 to 1, lost to Romania 1 to
0 and lost to Brazil 1 to 0. You
may remember that record to be better; but that was it. Now it’s tough to beat these guys up,
as playing Brazil to a 1 to 0 game is an accomplishment, and this was by far a
new high water mark for a US team in the World Cup in the modern era. I will also grant this about the 1994
team: they played with heart, they
put US Soccer on the map, and they had a good run. Of note from this World Cup was the vicious elbow Tab Ramos
received against Brazil – literally breaking his skull and putting him in the
hospital for 3 months – as well as the murder of the Columbian goaltender at a
nightclub for an own goal against the US when he returned.
