Is USA the third best football team in the world? of course not.. there's are many more such as germany, italy, holland, england, argentina, france, etc..\n\nWhy are they ranked third? Is it all linked to politics...???
128615
they are definitely not the 4th best soccer nation in the world. the ranking has never been so far from the actual quality of soccer' nation for as long as I have been following it (about 10 years!), they really need to fix it for it to reflect better the actual ranking in between nations or just stop with this non sense that they call ranking, teams don't even play against the same quality of opponents to start with so................
592308
i can not tell you whether USA is best in the NFL or NBA because NFL or NBA is played in USA only. you need to compare with some other countries in order to know who is the best. after i catched several year of NFL and NBA, i decided to leave it because it is sport games played and enjoy by one country only. \n\nwhat i can tell you about USA football team is they will not able to stand among elite team of football in near future according to perfomance of USA team in FIFA Football World Cup 2006 in Germany. \n\nthe big college scholarships and the dream of big money in NFL or NBA is only little compare to huge sum of money involve in football worldwide. there are more than billion people play football and it involve multi-billion dollar each year globally. \n\nin order to not make you confuse what i wrote here, football i mean here is the sport games played with leg and not hand.
514622
Future is looking good and bright. The team has reched its lowest that it can not go any further down from here. Hence, it can look forward to a better performance from here on. If you remember even prior to start of  the last world cup, we were at the lowest and in our first few matches against low placed teams like Holland we won with difficulty, but after that we reached the finals and lost.\n\nHence, its good that we have not peaked at the wrong time, but we should now start gethering momentum to peak at world cup. Hopefully, by that time we will have few changes in our team for better.
568950
TeamUSA plays all over the world.\n\nI coach American football here in Germany and I know it's played in Italy, Spain, Austria, and France for sure...maybe even other countries...\n\nIt's not as popular as it is in America for a number of reasons: \n\nWork Ethic is number one...American football takes practice and dedication...daily....Europeans aren't into that at all...they want a sport they can do quick and easy without a lot of fuss.\n\nAggression and guts are number two: no one in the world has the kind of aggression and intestinal fortitude that can match an American.\n\nMoney: American football, like other sports in America, started cheaply and without a lot of pay to the players...thats preposterous in Europe - where graf and payola and bet hedging are practically commonplace. It's all about money over here.\n\nLastly it's all about physical education and sports programs in school. In Europe, Phys Ed in school is organized grab ass, soccer, dodge ball, and badminton if you have a really advanced program....the legal age to play contact football in Europe starts at 16!!!
561550
the fifth ranking is based on fifa system for ranking, that is their performance in past world cups and their record in other competitions.\n\nthey had a brilliant world cup 4 years ago. that helped with their 5th ranking. but what hurts the european teams in the rankings is that they play strong opponents (european cup has spain, england, italy, sweden, france, etc.) whereas US plays Mexico and thats about it.\n\ntheir rankings are over inflated and don't project realistically on the true rank of different teams.
589183
Hell Yeah!!FORZA ITALIA!!!they are already 3-time world cup winners and they are the best overall team behind Brazil, stated in an issue of Four-Four-Two magazine!!!
259015
I have no idea if that is true or not cause I have not heard it.  But that is a pretty foolish bet if it is true.  In my opinion the US is head and shoulders above Venezuela in terms of teams.  One we have a higher world ranking, and while that really doesn't matter, we are also in the World Cup.  Try and name 5 Venezuelians playing in a league in Europe, hell try and name 1, I can't.  Also the US played a poor game against Morroco, with such players as Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley just not on top of their games.  They will look to this upcoming friendly as a way to gain momentum for the World Cup, and also factor in this is a home game and I feel the USA will come out hard and get a 2-0 win.
596439
Simple. USA's status has been over-rated for a few years. Last World Cup, the players from the bigger domestic leagues suffered as they had less of a break compared to players from countries such as USA and South Korea (I commend these countries for being smart enough to realise this). This has been rectified this time, with FIFA imposing a compulsory break for all major leagues.\n\nNot to discount their effort 4 years ago completely, as they did play well and they did beat Portugal and Mexico (both top teams). I believe they also peaked during that tournament, and good players such as Brad Friedel, have since retired.\n\nFurthermore, they played one of the best teams in the world. Czech Republic is ranked 2 in the world (although I do not agree entirely with the ranking system) and they are, in my opinion, favourites to win the group ahead of Italy.\n\nI feel, to be a good team, USA should have more of their players play in the top European leagues, where you have a better consistant competition, better coaching (although Bruce Arena is good, some of the Major League coaches aren't) and players are constantly challenged for their places in the team.\n\nIf you look at the Czech Republic, they have players playing for top clubs in:\nEngland\nHolland\nRussia\nItaly\nGermany\nFrance\nAustria\nCzech Republic, and,\nTurkey.\n\nMeanwhile, USA has more then 1/2 their team playing in the domestic leagues, with the remaining playing for mediocre Engllish or German clubs.\n\nHope you appreciate that I am being honest rather then diplomatic.
573558
over rated team... portugal...every year people come out screaming for them but no results..france also just this years team...under rated team....Ecuador...2 wins and dont see many week spots... over rated player...  del piero from italy...just dosent seem to impress me and under rated player kaka from brazil... teams defence have troble with brazil because of amazing stikers and midfielders including kaka who scored and amazing goal and just does what he has to do every game and you also never see him have a bad game...cheers
627044
Wow! So, are we not allowed to be excited about what is quite possibly the best team we've ever had? \n\nI have no illusions about how our team matches up to the rest of the world but they are still my team and I'll support them and cheer just as loudly when they are losing as when they are winning. I can't stand fair-weather fans who only support their team when they are winning.\n\nAnd, you are right, America needs to make some major changes to its soccer program if we want to be competitive with the rest of the world. I believe that it will happen and that it is happening right now. MLS is on the rise and as soon as it's popularity increases enough that the salaries become more respectable there is no reason we can't have the best team in the world. Look at the talent playing American Football, Basketball and Baseball? If the young talent in this country chose soccer over our more "traditional" sports there is no reason we couldn't dominate.
620575
There are 243 intities considered to be "countries".  Out of that 32 made it to World Cup - one of which was the US and undoubtedly you can bet that out of the other 211 there are a considerable number where soccer is more popular and supported than in the US.  Having said that I just feel honored that our team made it and was a part of it at all and not the least bit shocked that we didn't fair better.  But it doesn't mean that I won't be hoping for a better showing next time.
563607
1. Despite the FIFA World Rankings there's no way the U.S. is the 5th best team in the world.  Being ranked that high has probably upped expectations beyond where they should be.  In a group with Italy and the Czech Republic it would be an upset for the U.S. to go through to the next round.\n\n2. As for the rest of your question, unfortunately what many pro sports stars in the U.S. have in abundance, selfishness and arrogance, doesn't lend itself to success in team sports.  So it's no wonder they've done so poorly in international competitions lately.
613474
No, I don't think so. I mean, in 2002, they got to the Quarter Finals, so they're pretty  good. Even though they've never won, can you blame them? In America, soccer ( football ) is not the biggest sport played. It is Baseball, Football, and Basketball. The US soccer league ( MLS ) is not as big and rich as the NBA, or the NFL or the MLB, so you can't really get much fame off of it. In my opinion, USA should keep on trying and may eventually get to the finals.
612413
Soccer didn't pick up in the US becouse our history tried to issolate ourselve from Europe, we tried to remove Europrian culture and influince in the US. We have begun to reverce our views and join Europe, but it's a slow process. The key reason is there is little Major leage Soccer attation, outside the World Cup, people know little about US professianl soccer. We have Football or "American Soccer" as europe would call it translated, we have Baseball while they have Rugby and Cricket.
664910
because people think that the usa does not know how to play soccer.   TO THESE PEOPLE I SAY LOOK AT LAST YEAR!!!! we made it so far for our standerds. no one thought we would be able to get out of group stages.\nWE WILL SHOW THOSE DANG EUROPEANS!!!!
576664
In the USA, football (soccer) isn't one of their major sports - it's a shame cos if it was they would be brilliant at it as they are a huge nation.  It is getting more popular though, so in time who knows.
631852
http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/rank/procedures/0,2540,3,00.html\n\nThe FIFA ranking system was introduced in 1993 and is supposed to be a reliable measure for comparing national teams, but if you look at the previous World Cup in 2002, and prior to that in 1998 you would discover that it is not reliable.\n\nIf you look at the ranking system in May prior to those World Cup's starting, and then at the outcome of the World Cup, you'd find that out of 8 teams: Winners, Second, Third, Fourth, then the 4 Quarter Finalists, only two were ranked in the top 8, and you don't have to be a genius to believe Brazil are the top team.\n\nFrance won the World Cup in 1998 yet were ranked 18th, even Egypt and Morroco were ahead of them.\n\nBrazil won the World Cup in 2002 and were ranked 3rd, France were ranked 1st yet had a terrible tournament.\n\nIf you want to bet on the World Cup don't use the ranking system, it is not an indicator of World Cup performance.