Mail Online

HOW

harsh it was on the England players to say the 0-0 draw against the United States was a bad result and performance. It was an assessment based on outdated, lazy preconceptions about how you should always beat the USA. Did anyone

actually watch how that team played? They, along with

Japan, have been the real surprises of this tournament for me: a really good team, with skill and athleticism. A team from a ‘developing’ footballing country usually show naivety for long periods. They can have a good five minutes, then the naivety shows. Against England, the USA played like a nation with a footballing pedigree and when you start to analyse American soccer, you can see the emergence, which has looked like it might be happening for years. There is a huge immigration dimension to the USA from footballing countries, excellent college facilities, sports scholarships and the money they throw at it. Of course, there’s the challenge of the established sports but you also have to factor in their attitude to sport, the size of a country with 300 million people and the enormous Hispanic influence. When they host the World Cup in 2026, they could be a real force. We’re witnessing a broader competitive effect here in other ways, with Japan and Morocco emerging from the groups at Germany and Belgium’s expense, but the USA, with Japan, are the ones I’ve been mightily impressed by. Don’t be surprised if the USA beat Holland today and Japan do the same against Croatia on Monday.

World Cup 2022

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2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/283454965396460

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