“The Nightmare in the Parc,” which we chronicle in the June 29 issue of Soccer America, makes laughable the notion that the United States will be in a position to win the World Cup in the year 2010, let alone win it. ItÆs easy to make the role of, in this case, the Tuesday-morning quarterback, and second-guess Steve SampsonÆs tactics. Was the 3-6-1 formation the answer for the United States? No. Did Sampson err in not making changes in personnel once the game began so badly? Probably. All the talk about formations and lineup changes misses the point. The United States simply doesnÆt have the players to compete with the top teams in the World Cup. One of the points that Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese coach consulting U.S. Soccer on Project 2010, has made about the U.S. situation is that itÆs not good enough to take one or two steps forward to catch up with the rest of the world over the next decade. Three or four steps forward will be necessary as other countries themselves progress. All you have to do is watch the African teams to see the progress that is being made. Nigeria got hammered in its warmups leading up the finals, yet it beat Spain, one of the top teams in Europe. Cameroon discovered Pierre Njanka at a tryout camp and six weeks later he scores an incredible goal in the World Cup. For however good Claudio Reyna is, he alone is not going to get the United States past a team like Germany, and it showed at the Parc des Princes. The United States lacks the dominant individual player — perhaps not a Ronaldo but certainly a Njanka — and it will need more than a $50 million development plan to one day challenge for the World Cup title.