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The men’s national team should have qualified for the World Cup months ago, writes ESPN columnist Leander Schaerlaeckens. Instead, the team is “unconvincingly” limping in to the tournament in regional first place.
As Schaelaeckens puts it, U.S. media and fans should demand more from the team if they wish to field a team capable of competing on the world’s stage. Otherwise we’re doing them a disservice. “If the U.S. team is to truly outgrow its B-country status, as its current world ranking implies, its media and fans will have to hold it to a higher standard and evaluate it as such,” he writes.
“What’s more, if soccer is to shake off its stateside reputation of being boring once and for all, the U.S. men will have to muster some pizzazz, even in the most trivial of games. For these last two qualifiers, let’s demand progress, not mere qualification. Dominance, not subsistence.”
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