Me-First player who doesn’t listen to his coach’s orders and thinks he’s special.

a real distraction.

That’s not my point at all; the point is that no tactical mastery can overcome a lack of those qualities.

But that’s my point, I don’t care how much tactical mastery of the game of soccer you have: If you don’t have grit, you don’t have shit™.

So it’s just a separate set of intangibles that you like better? Because I take Lalas’ comments to mean, “this team isn’t doing its best because it lacks focus, leadership, determination. That’s manifested in the form of old players being relied upon too much, young players not stepping up, and people like Bradley not…

But if you have skill and talent and not those three qualities, you ALSO lose a lot. And if you’re the US, with medium-good skill and talent, and you don’t have those qualities, you lose to Costa Fucking Rica.

Jozy is by far one of the worst starting forwards for any decent national team. It’s mind boggling that we can’t start anybody else. Dude is a genuine garbage player that can’t even keep upright if he tries to make a shot. And Michael Bradley for a playmaker has such a slow mind now that we’re going to remain garbage…

I asked what teams have ever won shit WITHOUT having those qualities.

He was the leader of the `94 team that made the final-16 solely upon their grit and determination. He was the first American to play Serie A.

Well, no soccer team has ever won shit without those three qualities and I will argue that it was those three qualities that propelled his `94 team to the final-16.

[“if you think that’s overly dramatic and unlikely...”]

Like shutting off all cars in a geographic area that is planning say a protest against the government

Think about a hypothetical scenario in the near-future when a government or corporation can remotely restrict the range of a car due to one reason or other. Or if you think that’s overly dramatic and unlikely, how about if your car’s manufacturer goes bankrupt or is bought up by some other company that either decides…

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: police union spokesmen are the worst people in America.

Furthermore, American players can’t even go to Europe under 18 anymore unless their parents can get a job and prove it isn’t just to bring a young player to Europe. Xui Xui at Ajax had this problem. Agudelo couldn’t get a work permit for England when he went. We can’t rely on Europe to develop our players anymore.

But…

In the last World Cup, three of four CONCACAF teams made it to the knockout rounds and Coasta Rica made it to the quarterfinals. All three had a chance to knock out pre-tournament dark horses. Meanwhile the AFC and CAF teams sucked yet again, so relatively speaking CONCACAF aren’t that shitty.

CONCACAF teams in the knockout stage of WC 2014: 3/4

Not powerhouse Chile!!!! Haven’t made it past round of 16 since ‘62, was disqualified in ‘90, banned in ‘94, didn’t qualify in ‘02 when the US was in the quarterfinals, didn’t qualify in ‘06.

Mediocre ≠ good