The United States team provided fans with excitement throughout their World Cup campaign. The excitement built around this year's USMNT World Cup campaign was something that our nation has never seen. While the the success of getting out of the "Group of Death" is still fresh, it is now time to take the next step and expectations will be extremely high for the 2018 team. Here are some players fans should look out for in the 2018 World Cup cycle.
World Cups aren't won on a whim, especially not by Germans. They require a plan, a long-term vision. Unlike club football, where your favorite Russian Oligarch can acquire an expensive squad of galacticos at the drop of an oil barrel, successful national teams rely – broadly speaking – on homegrown talent, consistently nurtured in a style of play that serves both clubs and country. While Joachim Low has been Germany’s Head Coach for the last eight years, Sunday’s victory against Argentina was in no small part due to the foundations laid by Jurgen Klinsmann.
As well as the USMNT played in this World Cup they still have never reached the promised land and won that elusive trophy. The US Women’s National team, on the other hand, have been ranked no. 1 in the world for six years running and are looking for their third World Cup title in 2015. Yesterday also marked the fifteen-year anniversary of their most recent title.
For World Cup 2014, ESPN engaged Brazilian artist and graphic designer Cristiano Siqueira to create a series of posters, one for each of the 32 nations playing in the tournament. For our money, Siqueira nailed it. We'd love to have every one of these hanging on the walls of The18 headquarters. The posters blur the line between graphic art and street art.