There’s nothing like waving the white flag before your team has even taken the pitch in Brazil. Or maybe you could look at USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as a realist when he says that his team is just not at the championship level yet. This being said, you might want to avoid betting on the USMNT to win much this summer. And if you were dead set on heavily betting on USA in this year’s World Cup, I suggest that you pick up a different gambling activity and check out this Bovada poker review.
As for Klinsmann, he’s not shying away from the perception that the 2014 World Cup is mainly a learning experience for his young team. “We cannot win this World Cup, because we are not at that level yet,” Klinsmann told the New York Times. “For us, we have to play the game of our lives seven times to win the tournament. Realistically, it is not possible.”
A few die-hard American football purists might be annoyed at the German’s perception of his team – especially those who also keep an 8×10 glossy photo of Landon Donovan by their bedside table. However, the likely truth is that Klinsmann is just letting USMNT fans know that the bar is set low in Brazil.
Of course, it’s not so low that USA can’t at least make some noise before they exit the cup. After all, this team won the CONCACAF qualifying group and they’re ranked 14th by FIFA. But few really think that USA has a realistic chance of making a run to the final. They might not even make it out of group play since they’re lumped in with Germany, Portugal and Ghana, three teams that won’t be offering any leeway.
One positive spin on what Klinsmann said is that he hints of better days to come for USMNT. Developing young talent seems to be Klinsmann’s goal at the 2014 World Cup, seeing as how he brought youngsters like DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks, Tim Chandler and Julian Green, the latter of which is just 18. The German also cut Donovan in an unpopular move that helped clear space for the youth movement.
For Klinsmann, the time to win isn’t now, but rather tomorrow. And this isn’t such a bad idea for him, given that he has a guaranteed contract on through the 2018 World Cup in Russia.