“United States dominates the 2024 Olympics but USMNT hasn’t won a FIFA World Cup!”
By Shane Stay
The US is still the leader all-time in Olympic medals. Yet, the USMNT, as valiant as it might be, has never won the FIFA World Cup or a men’s Gold medal. Let’s focus on the men not winning a FIFA World Cup, the more valuable of the two. But why is it that America is the leader in all sports except soccer?
This is the part where I send you to Why American Soccer Isn’t There Yet. Really? “You’re promoting your book?” you might ask. How dare you think that? Do you think I have no morals? Essentially, in the beginning of Why American Soccer Isn’t There Yet, we learn little lessons as to why we’ve been failing with men’s soccer and how we can win the whole World Cup, once and for all!
Some people said I was crazy to write that. Some people said it would never get published. Some people still mock it. I like those people. They remind me how wrong they’ve been all along.
You must remember that we’ve always had good athletes on the USMNT, yet something “has not” clicked with winning FIFA World Cups. It’s very interesting, isn’t it?
Imagine that: America, the worldwide dominator in the Olympics, can’t win a FIFA World Cup for the USMNT. It’s our one sport that fails…still…failing. Look: it’s on paper: the USMNT has not gotten to a semi-final of a World Cup in the modern era. Astounding. Yet the media, and its talking heads, seem to have all the answers. Yet, you know and I know it: They can’t ignore this anymore. Their talking points, their ideas, their predictions, have been dead wrong. And they know it. So why does it continue? I don’t know. I really don’t. I do but I don’t. But let’s just say: I really don’t. All right. Someone once said it: They should put me as coach. That would fix it. Happy? All right, let’s end this sentence, and, hence, this thought that is far out of reach, much like the ambitions of a lost team.
And one last time: The United States leads the world in Olympic medals but the USMNT hasn’t won a FIFA World Cup. Wow!
Shane Stay is a bestselling author; his most recent book is This is Our City. He has also written The Euro 2020 Book, European Soccer Leagues 2019, Major League Soccer 2019, The Women’s World Cup 2019 Book, The World Cup 2018 Book, Why American Soccer Isn’t There Yet, and The Cairo Project. In 2008, he played professional soccer with St. Louis Illusion. During his career as a soccer player, he earned a Missouri club state championship with Busch Soccer Club and a Holland Cup championship with a Metro East team. In 1999, he founded the first online Current Events Game (CE Game). He has appeared on TV and has featured on numerous radio broadcasts including ESPN and NPR.