How many of these teams made it to the knock-out rounds of the last 2 World Cups like the U.S.? Those results speak way more loudly than subjective opinions.
Perhaps based only on pure skill, the U.S. is not a Top-25 side (maybe). But, skill, while probably the most important, is one of many attributes that determine how good a team is (athleticism, conditioning, team cohesiveness, etc). There have been some amazingly skilled Ivy league teams in the NCAA tournaments of the past few years. How far have they gotten?
Perhaps based only on pure skill, the U.S. is not a Top-25 side (maybe). But, skill, while probably the most important, is one of many attributes that determine how good a team is (athleticism, conditioning, team cohesiveness, etc). There have been some amazingly skilled Ivy league teams in the NCAA tournaments of the past few years. How far have they gotten?
The US is so far behind the rest of the world don't be a delusional American soccer fan that thinks because the US is so outwardly successful in other sports that we are "close" in soccer. We simply arent. Theres a reason why the MLS is where Europeans go to retire i.e. Lampard, Villa, Kaka, Gerrard. The United States doesn't have the infrastructure to develop talent like Europe does. Are you familiar with the Soccer Academy structure? What these kids do at just age 8 is so far advanced from what we do in the states. So to answer your question can I think of 25 teams better than the US? Easily:
All of these teams are no question better than us:
Argentina
Germany
Belgium
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Brazil
Columbia
Portugal
England
Italy
France
Spain
Uruguay
Denmark
Belgium
Sweden
Wales
All of these teams slightly better:
Chile
Croatia
Ghana
Russia
Hungary
Austria
You can make an argument still for:
Ecuador
Mexico
Cameroon
Greece
Ivory Coast