Four Things U.S. Soccer Can Learn from The 2010 World Cup!

Posted by By Sports Session at 28 June, at 06 : 01 AM Print

The United States soccer team was eliminated by Ghana on Saturday, and although everyone is a bit disappointed at the result.  If an objective look was taken at everything, it is very easy to see that the United States was destined to lose that game.  To many early goals given up, and too many historic late game comebacks did them in when it really counted.

Despite the exit on Saturday, it was a great showing for the team, and if U.S. Soccer can learn from this then this team may go farther in the next world cup.  Here are four things the U.S. Soccer team can take from South Africa, to improve their chances in the next World Cup.

The U.S. still lacks a star striker

The biggest hole of them all, the lack of quality strikers, still needs to be addressed by the establishment. No one playing striker has scored a World Cup for the United States since 2002. Teams without a world class frontrunner can and do tiptoe into the elimination rounds, but they’ll rarely be a threat to move beyond quarterfinal stage.

Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley are young players, and may yet grow into elite strikers over the next four years.  But the U.S. Soccer team cannot just sit by and hope that happens, they need to continue seeking and developing world class strikers going forward.

Landon Donovan showed up big

The United States doesn’t make the second round in South Africa without Donovan. His ideas and speed of play weren’t consistently tip-top, but they were always lurking. And truly, the United States’ attack was frequently an empty calorie exercise otherwise. His two magic moments alone, the critical goals against Slovenia and Algeria (never mind keeping his nerve on Saturday’s penalty kick), should be enough to quash any lingering anti-Donovan sentiment.

He’s now the country’s all-time leader in scoring, World Cup scoring and World Cup appearances. And he’s probably got one more tournament to go.  Donovan is the team leader, and if the United States is to do anything significant in 2014 then he will have to be an integral part of the team.

The U.S. talent pool continues to grow

There is talent in the waiting. The likes of big L.A. Galaxy center back Omar Gonzalez and fresh, young attackers like Andy Najar will be Donovan’s support cast going forward. Otherwise, Edu, Feilhaber, Findley, Holden, Jose Torres, Jozy Altidore, Jonathan Bornstein, Michael Bradley, Brad Guzan and Jonathan Spector will still be under 30 as teams land in Brazil in the summer of 2014.

So will Robbie Rogers, Sacha Kljestan, Chad Marshall and others who were paddling around in the shallow end of the player pool during qualifying. There are promising young players that we know about who may be key parts on this team by the time the next World Cup arrives in 2014.

The U.S. found it’s Heart

The team found a way to be in every game, and come back and win or tie most of them.   Even against Ghana the team brought the game to a draw in regulation time.  What doomed the U.S. team is not heart and mettle at the end of the game, but getting off to a good start and having a sustained effort for 90 minutes from the start of the match.

The performance by U.S. Soccer at the world cup has proven just how much resilience this team has, and how valuable a never say quit attitude can be.  If they can just find a way to not have to rely on that resilience and ability to come back in the end, then they can make a serious run in four years.

Front Page Features International Sports 2010 World Cup, 2014 World Cup, algeria, critical goals, elimination rounds, ghana, Jozy Altidore, L.A. Galaxy, landon donovan, Michael Bradley, robbie findley, Slovenia, soccer team, South Africa, star striker, strikers, U.S. Soccer, United States, USA, world cup