So, as expected, after demolishing Trinidad & Tobago, the US Mens's Team coasted to yet another World Cup appearance, and they remain one of the strong favorites to win the cup next year.
I remember as a kid, watching the 94 World Cup, where the US Men's Team shocked the world, and won a series of upset victories before losing to Brazil in the finals, and making strong showings in every cup since, even going as far as finally winning the last World Cup, beating Brazil in the finals, in an act of poetic justice, beating them on their home turf after they beat us in ours back in 94.
The MLS has exploded over the past 20 years, easily replacing Hockey in the US as one of our big 4 pro sports. There's talk of moving the cup host back to the USA for 2022. And this is just the men's team - the women's team, and the complete dominance they've shown, is a talk for another day.
My question is this though - is there anyway the US wouldn't have taken the soccer world by storm? Maybe it's just bias because the sport has been growing in the US every year I've been alive, but I've heard my uncles talk about when soccer was "a kid's game" here, and when the USA would never even make the cup, much less make a go at winning it. Seems odd to me, I mean, we dominate nearly every sport on Earth, and out of 350 million people, how hard can it be to find 20 who can win soccer games?
So what if the old days stayed, and the US still stunk at soccer?