How far will the USA men’s soccer team get in this summers world cup?
Can the USA go far in the World Cup tournament this summer, meaning, can they get as far as the semi-final, or can they win the whole thing?
Given that there are many Americans using this site, I know the “popular” answer will be they can do well, or even win the tournament. However, the realistic answer is that they are underdogs, and will struggle to compete with the top teams.
Of course, in a game of football anything can happen and sometimes unfancied teams can do well – Greece won the European Championships against all the odds, for example.
They have a tough group to qualify from – Italy have a strong team, and the Czech Republic are no pushovers. Ghana are obviously the weakest of the 4 teams, but as they play them last the pressure will probably be well and truly on for that match.
Basically, they need to get a win from their opening game against the Czechs, because the chances are Italy will be too strong for them to get anything from that game. This will mean they go into the game against Ghana pretty much knowing a win should take them through to the knockout stages. Should they fail in their opening game, by the time they face Ghana they will probably be playing only for pride.
Presuming they reach the qualifying rounds, there is a very good chance they will have to play Brazil next (the runners up in group E play the winners of group F).
Therefore, I would suggest that if USA manage to get to the last 16, and are then beaten by Brazil, they will have had a very good tournament and done as well as you can hope for. Anything over that will be a massive achievement for the team.
2002 World Cup Quarter Finals: Germany vs United States
