The United States men’s national soccer team won their first World Cup qualification match against St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1 in Kingstown, St. Vincent Thursday, Oct 7th, 2017 in what can be described as an easy victory over the island nation in their group of six that also includes Trinidad & Tobago, St. Kitts & Nevis, Puerto Rico, and Guatemala who was defeated by the USMNT 2-0 Saturday night at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, OH last week on Sep 1st.
What made the US successful in 1930?
FC Groning is a Dutch football club that currently plays in the Eredivisie. The club was founded as GVAV in 1902 and became FC Groningen in 1965.
The United States Men’s National Soccer Team has been looking for their best performance at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and some are seeking to emulate what their predecessors did.
It is the case of FC Groningen, which had its best participation in 1930 when the first edition of the FIFA World Cup was played.
That year, only 13 teams participated in the tournament but FC Groningen made it all the way to the semi-finals where they lost against Uruguay by just one goal.
This inspired the Netherlands Football Association to ask FC Groningen if they would compete again in 1934 with more countries competing this time.
They accepted and advanced from the group stage before losing again against Hungary by three goals.
In 1938, with more nations participating this time, FC Groningen once again got eliminated from the group stage after winning only two games out of four matches.
However, the next time an edition of the FIFA World Cup was held (1950), there were 24 teams participating so FC Groningen had no chance since they weren’t considered big enough back then.
But times have changed and nowadays any country can be competitive thanks to international tournaments such as Copa America or Africa Cup of Nations.
FC Groningen could be one of those teams that might surprise us on the Qatar 2022 World Cup and make it all the way to glory, just like their predecessor did back in 1930.
What made them successful? Well, FC Groningen was dominant at home during the tournament and had the strongest offense during it. Their goalkeeper Jan van Beveren also led them to victory against Austria in 1930.
He ended up being awarded best goalkeeper of the competition by Brazilian journalist Melitao Pereira Filho, who won two consecutive FIFA prizes himself in 1950s for his reporting of different world cups.
Nowadays, Van Beveren still resides in his native city as well as coach Gilbert Gorsselink.
The latter has always said he will never stop believing FC Groningen can achieve something special: We know we’re not a top team now, he said years ago about the 2014-2015 season but we want to become better.
How can the current team replicate that success?
FC Groning’s U-19 squad has done well so far this season, with a 14-1-0 record, good enough for first place in their league and an 11 point lead over second place.
Recently they qualified for the quarterfinals of the UEFA Youth League on April 15th, 2018 with an 8-0 win over Club Brugge.
In 1930, when the first edition of the tournament was held in Uruguay, the Stars and Stripes played against teams from Sweden, Yugoslavia, and Chile.
What were some key factors that contributed to this success? It would be hard not to notice the four players in FC Groningen who have been called up by Jurgen Klinsmann: Jeremy Toljan, John Anthony Brooks, Bobby Wood, and Julian Green.
With these players becoming more accustomed to playing together under Klinsmann’s regime, it is not unreasonable to believe that this could translate into better performances on the international level.
One other factor is David Wagner.
The current head coach at FC Groningen has had a lot of success while coaching Borussia Dortmund II which helps illustrate how he might have success at a larger scale with club as well as country:
A) He is also blessed with two very talented goalkeepers between Timo Horn (No. 1) and Koen Casteels (No. 2), both of whom are destined for greatness.His backups still show promise and can contribute with limited time on the pitch.
B) In defense, FC Groning showcases Matthias Ginter (No. 3), Ömer Toprak (No. 4), Nico Elvedi (No. 5), Jonas Hector (No. 6), Philipp Max (No. 7) and Antonio Rüdiger (No. 8).
C) Up top, FC Groning boasts four exceptional strikers including Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Mike van der Hoorn, Martin Hinteregger and Luc Castaignos who could each provide a different dimension to the attack.
D) And finally you cannot forget about Marcel Ndjeng (No. 10). The Cameroonian midfielder is often injured but when healthy he provides midfield stability alongside Kevin Strootman and Steven Berghuis while controlling possession through his excellent passing range.
Conclusion
The FC Groning team is the best in the world and their participation in the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be one for the books.
The players on this winning squad are looking at a chance to make their mark on history, just like what happened back in 1930.
The United States men’s national soccer team has always been good, but they haven’t had a lot of success outside of CONCACAF.
They’ve been very successful within that region, so they hope that they can replicate their success from one generation to the next.
The stars and stripes only made it out of group play once, when they hosted it themselves back in 1994. At this point in time, it looks as if the Stars and Stripes might finally have a shot at making some noise outside of CONCACAF.
The FC Groning team will be participating in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which means that they’ll have four years to prepare for it as opposed to two.
With more time to get better individually as well as collectively, there’s no telling how well these guys could do.
It would probably take some help from other countries not being dominant forces internationally (we’re looking at you France) for there to be any potential issues with them doing well enough in 2022 to emulate 1930.