Quote:
Originally Posted by bhlloy
One other thing that strikes me is that historically the USMNT has got an elevated sense of where it really is by getting good results ahead of big tournaments in friendlies, and while there's not a ton of value in travelling to Belize to win 7-0 there is something to be said about a grueling competitive qualification schedule to build team spirit and lead into the actual tournament. I do think there's a danger that by fast tracking the US and Mexico into the hex you are missing out on some competitive games and the chance to build a squad greater than the sum of it's parts over a full qualifying process.
It's worth noting that Europe and South America don't do any separating of the wheat from the chaff - admittedly there aren't any shitty teams in South America but you don't generally see European teams complaining about having to play in Azerbaijan on a Tuesday night.
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Actually there are shitty teams in South America, they just let them play in CONCACAF for whatever reason.
I've never really seen over confidence due to friendly results in the World Cup - 10-40 are just very fluid, especially if you had a good GK like the US basically always does, and I'd say 2002/2010/2014 they performed above or at least to expectations - even 2006 they were in a really tough group & lost a winner take all game vs a Ghana side led by Stephen Appiah & Michael Essien. The 2018 embarrassment has a bunch of things we can blame it on, but it wasn't like the US in those years was getting good results in friendlies either - it was a bad cycle of players in their primes combined with atrocious management. And even if you thought more games would be better for team chemistry (I doubt it, though it would certainly be more fair for other teams) with half the good players of every decent team in Europe it also does make a longer schedule with more games more difficult than the geographically tighter UEFA (especially if you discount the couple massive outliers in the East.)
I will add that I'm excited to see how this Nations League stuff plays out, and support any increased collaboration with CONMEBOL or inclusion of the US/Mexico in every Copa America.