As I mentioned following our horrid performance against Morocco the other night, I'm not feeling real optimistic about the U.S.'s chances in Germany. And this isn't helping. Claudio Reyna is not happy about the seeding process.
The 33-year-old Manchester City midfielder said: "FIFA claim their rankings are done by computer, that they have some sort of formula which takes into account each country's results, strength of opponent and the competitiveness of every fixture. Well, if that is the case, why didn't they use them for the draw?"
He added: "We have beaten Mexico eight times out of nine, we beat them in the last World Cup and we finished ahead of them in our qualifying group.
"No one, not even the Mexican media, could make a case for them being seeded above us, yet somehow it happened.
"It just raises the old question about what FIFA is doing. I am sure they want the US at the World Cup, but I think they look on Mexico as a big footballing nation, believe they should be seeded and then come up with a formula to satisfy their requirements. It is so frustrating and irritating."
Unless this quote was taken from ahile ago - like maybe in, oh, I don't know, December when the draw took place - I don't understand why Reyna is whining about this now. Granted, I agree with him. You would think that considering the U.S. won CONCACAF's qualifying stage ahead of Mexico and currently hold the Gold Cup (CONCACAF's championship) and beat Mexico in 2002, we'd be seeded ahead of our rivals to the South. The fact that we aren't makes no sense.
That said, it's ridiculous for Reyna to be complaing about this now with less than three weeks to go before the World Cup kicks off. Maybe he should worry about getting his hammy healed up or the poor performances by the U.S. against Germany and Morocco in our last two friendlies or the prospect of playing powers like Italy or the Czech Republic, not to mention a talented Ghana team.
Don't be an ugly American, Claudio. What's done is done and crying about it isn't going to help. Let's not forget the in-house bickering that took place with the 1998 team that embarrassed itself in France.
The U.S. plays Venezuela tonight in Cleveland in the second to last warmup before Germany.
