What do David Beckham, the USA, the World Cup, and Lionel Messi have in common? If you’re Beckham, it’s the formula to winning a World Cup.
On this week’s Hot Ones Wings Challenge broadcast, David Beckham has shared his stunning prediction of USMNT winning the World Cup at some point. The global superstar has been a giant figure in US soccer since his mega transfer to LA Galaxy in 2007.
But, according to Becks, it was rather the influence of Lionel Messi that will be the driving force to inspire young American kids. “I want to inspire the next generation of young kids that are playing in this country because, at some point, the US will win the World Cup,” he remarked.
While he didn’t specify a time range, his statement seems far-fetched for multiple reasons.
Tough spell for the 2026 co-hosts
To begin with, recent performances and results by the US national teams haven’t been promising. On the home stage, USMNT failed to progress from the Copa America’s group stage.
Marko Mitrovic’s side managed to do that at the Olympics, but the quarter-final defeat to Morocco was embarrassing.
Meanwhile, the heartbreaking defeat to Mexico in the CONCACAF U20 final for US youngsters coached by Michael Nsien was disappointing.
USMNT’s World Cup history also speaks for itself. The last time they won a knockout stage game was in 2002. That’s also the only time the US has won multiple matches on the global stage apart from the first edition in 1930.
More recently, the USA failed to qualify for World Cup 2018, and only narrowly qualified for World Cup 2022 on goal difference.
Besides, staging the tournament hasn’t worked out well in terms of performance for three of the last four hosts. South Africa and Qatar were eliminated from the group stage, while record winners Brazil suffered their worst defeat to eventual champions Germany in 2014.
Pay-to-play is the biggest hindrance
But there is a bigger elephant in the room…
Author : Eskender Tamrat
Publish date : 2024-08-29 22:44:57
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Author : soccernews
Publish date : 2024-08-29 22:48:39
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.