Nate Bukaty

Number one, this group of players was slapped with the label Golden Generation, which is almost like – it's almost like the Madden curse.

When a national team gets that, it's like, well, they're not living up to expectations.

Or like when you name when you nickname some young player, the baby Jordan or baby LeBron, it's like, well, that guy is not, you know, that it's like a curse, you know.

And so that's Belgium had this golden generation and they flopped two, three years in a row.

this this group i think it's pretty clear was overhyped when they were called the golden generation they were overhyped because for the first time ever we had a group of guys who were playing in all 11 players at one point were playing in top five european leagues and for the longest time american soccer fans were like if we just get if we can finally get our good players playing in the best leagues in europe we're going to take a huge step forward

And the results were no better, like if anything, maybe worse than the generation of players before them who were playing in Major League Soccer, a lot of them.

And so, and he's kind of the poster boy for it, right?

Like he was the best one of this golden generation.

Now look, that golden generation, they're in their prime now.

Like these guys are all in their mid to late 20s.

This should be the time they deliver.

But because they haven't done anything in a national team shirt other than have, get a red card in the Copa America and bounce out in disappointing fashion and things like that.

there's not this sense of optimism.

There's this kind of sense of, well, they've already been a bust, you know, like they've already, and, and he kind of, he kind of has to take the brunt of it, like you said.

And the other part is,

he decided not to go to a competition last year.

He was, he wanted to go for part of it, but not all of it because he felt like his body was beaten down and he was exhausted.

And it is a real problem in, in world soccer.

Now that this over congestion of games, but the global audience is,

And the former players were like, see, this is evidence to why the U.S.