Nine-Year-Olds Are World's Daddy

The United States currently stinks at all professional competitions. And it's going to stay that way for a while, says World Cup coach Bruce Arena. How bad is it going to get? Endure this for the next 12 years, he says.

"Arena took over the struggling New York Red Bulls on Tuesday, but also predicted that his former squad -- the U.S. soccer team -- would not win consistently at the World Cup until 2018.
'Why did I say 2018? Because I know that it's not going to happen in 2010, 2014,' he said at his introductory news conference. 'We have a long way to go. To get there, you've got to know where you are. It's the same thing with this team. If I told you, we were going to compete for the MLS Cup right away, if I told you we were going to win a World Cup in 2010 ... who's going to believe that?'"

What that means is Arena must be scouting plenty a public playground from here to U.S. territories for the best soccer playing nine-year-olds we've ever seen. Frankly, who would be shocked at this point if Street and Smiths came out with a worldwide top 4th graders issue? Besides, we can get those visa papers working early and recruit the best of the bunch to come play for the United States when it really matters...in 2018.

Dan