Talk:Team America (NASL)

Untitled
whew, this article is brutal. not to say it isn't true, but saying that they didn't deserve to win could be considered POV, eh?

I edited the comment on the U.S. national team. When I re-read it, I didn't convey what I meant. I was commenting less on the ability of the U.S. team and more on its credibility. This came from personal experience. I began following the national team in 1982 when I was 16. When Team America failed I used to get comments from the soccer skeptics along the lines of "If the U.S. national team can't beat pro teams, it's no wonder they can't win on the higher, international level." This was exactly the opposite of what USSF wanted to attain. They wanted to build support for the national team. Instead, they undermined it with the Team America concept. I rewrote that paragraph to clarify my meaning.--Mohrflies 15:28, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Not NPOV or Encyclopedic
This article is clearly not written in either an encyclopedic, factual style or a neutral POV. It needs serious work. I would like to work on improving it in the future, but don't really have the time right now. --Jhortman 21:01, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I wrote most of this article based on two things, my personal recollections of the 1983 NASL season and from the sources available on line today.  The claim is that this article is not factual.  There are no facts in this article that can be rebuted.  However, this now gets into more of a philosophical discussion of what is "neutral" and "encyclopedic".  Neutral is presenting information without personal bias.  It is not the failure to make legitimate judgements supported by evidence.  For example, the article on the .45 ACP, states,  [it] "would become one of the most successful cartridges of all times."  From David Beckham, "His parents were fanatical Manchester United supporters . . . He was part of an exceptionally talented group of young players".  From Saddam Hussein, "As president, Saddam maintained power through a combination of the skilful use of patronage and the employment of systematic state terror, aided by a pervasive security apparatus."  The point is that each of the highlighted words are judgements, not facts.  However, they are neutral because they accurately reflect reality.  So an article about Team America which does not express the facts as presented by the sources is neither neutral nor factual, no matter how high brow the result sounds.Mohrflies 22:44, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


 * From the New York Times: "Officials of the North American Soccer League were keeping officially mum on the response of players invited to try out for the league's newest franchise, Team America. If the reactions of the four Seattle Sounders on the invitation list are typical, silence is probably the best policy."


 * From the New York Times: "For the 1983 season, United States soccer officials and the North American Soccer League, in a rare burst of cooperation born of desperation, entered a national team in training as a league franchise. . . The goal was to cobble together the best American talent in preparation for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and for qualifying matches for the 1986 World Cup."


 * From The Soccer Archives: "The biggest disappointment was Team America. Many of the National team players were not convinced by Team America, and chose to remain with their respective NASL clubs. With a thin talent base to fill the roster, the USSF resorted to stocking the team with naturalized citizens who comprised nearly half of the roster.   the experiment was an embarrassing failure and the team was withdrawn from the league. . . . Panagoulias had assembled an impressive 16 man roster, but from that point, things went downhill rapidly.  By this time, Panagoulias was having second thoughts about the entire endeavor, disillusioned by the lack of cooperation from the NASL and support from the USSF.  Since so many of the top US players chose to remain with their NASL clubs the natural-born US citizens [on Team America] were mostly the [national team] second string, the first string players would be their opponents throughout the entire season. This effectively defeated the entire purpose of Team America.  The team limped through a lackluster season, finishing at 10-20, last in the eastern division, but doing respectably in attendance, averaging over 11,000 per game. Hardly the auspicious rebirth of the National team that the USSF had hoped for."


 * From Steve Moyers by John Holyrod: "Desperate to qualify for the 1986 World Cup, the U.S. National Team needed to play a regular schedule. This was necessary because most U.S. National Team players were, incredibly, not good enough to start for their NASL clubs.  As a result, the NASL placed a team in Washington called Team America, to be made up of U.S. National Team players.  Although Durgan jumped to Team America, most American starters--such as Moyers and Davis--stayed with their club teams.  As a result, Team America was a dismal failure, and one that caused hard feeling between the American players..


 * From USSoccerPlayers.com: "At the time, the US Soccer Federation was a borderline amateur organization lacking the kind of front office support one associates with its modern version. There wasn't even a full-time National Team coach, a slot that was filled on an as needed basis. . . Team America didn't exactly work out. In fairness, the 1983 season was close to being a disaster. Lack of interest, lack of support from available players, and a general mishandling of the concept resulted in a team that few cared about, and almost no one associated with the real US National Team. . . The US entered World Cup qualifying with a squad that hadn’t recovered from the embarrassment of Team America."

Alan Green
The Roster includes a note that flags should indicate FIFA nationality (as is the policy on every single soccer roster I've ever seen here). Alan Green played for the US National Team exclusively, being capped once in 1984. Per eligibilty rules, he's an American in regards to 'Soccer Nationality'. The Article has been changed to reflect this — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.96.87.102 (talk) 17:26, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I just figured if Green wasn't a U.S. citizen when he played for the team, then he shouldn't have an American flag next to his name. I'm not sure how this FIFA nationality works.  Green was eligible to play for the English national team up to November 1983.  That month, he became an American citizen and eligible to play for the United States national team.  Is FIFA nationality retroactive?    Mohrflies (talk) 19:25, 16 October 2011 (UTC)
 * They seem to be. Under current FIFA rules (Not sure about the rules in 1983, but I believe they are similiar) once you are capped for a team, you are 'Cap Tied' and are forever an Italian (Giuseppe Rossi) or El Salvadorian (Arturo Alvarez)12.96.87.102 (talk) 14:22, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Green is listed in the roster as a defender. If that is true, he was playing there after having spent his career up to then as a forward. And I don't recall such a change. Do we know his position is correct as written? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.41.78 (talk) 18:08, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Winston
This is a note to myself or anyone who is more proactive than I to add information to the article about the team's major sponsorship being through Winston. Can't make this stuff up. Musicandnintendo (talk) 14:29, 9 July 2014 (UTC)

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