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re: Why isn't US men's soccer better than it is?
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:15 am to crazy4lsu
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:15 am to crazy4lsu
quote:
No. The best body profile for soccer wouldn't even be playing in the NFL or NBA.
Fournette? I see what you are saying, but him dropping a few pounds would put him at a similar size to Lukaku. Just wonder how good some of these guys could be if they started playing at a really young age.
Hell LSU has a player right now, Drake Davis, that was pretty good at soccer.
This post was edited on 7/12/18 at 11:17 am
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Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:20 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
You could go on and on...the most naturally gifted American athletes play basketball and football.
The most naturally gifted athletes in Croatia play basketball or handball.
Croatia's better at soccer than the US because they have a better infrastructure to develop players than the US (some leftover from Yugoslavia), and they're not afraid to let their best players leave their home league to play in better ones abroad.
The US, on the other hand, has a terrible soccer infrastructure and the USSF is more focused on building the MLS (which makes our CONCACAF rivals better) than having a better national team. And I say this as someone who supports the MLS.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:30 am to High C
I dont follow soccer much outside of MLS, which I sparingly watch when I see it on TV. Wouldnt call myself a true fan.
Soccer needs to be truly taken serious on a wider scale for it to grow. In almost any US neighborhood, if you drove through you could probably find some kids tossing the football around, or shooting some hoops. You would be extremely hard pressed to find some kids kicking the soccer ball around. If you did, I'd be willing to bet those were Mexican or African kids, from another country.
I played soccer for a few years growing up. I did it for fun mainly as I thought it was a good way to stay in shape for football. I never took the game completely serious. Same for my teammates. The only guys who took the game seriously, had parents who were born outside of America. I rarely touched a soccer ball during the year outside of practice/games. Not to mention none of my coaches knew much about soccer themselves. Our coaches did a great job of making sure we were in shape, but when it actually came time for practice we basically were on our own.. I did not get a legit coach until my senior year, when our school hired a teacher who played in the MLS for a couple years.
Soccer doesnt need to replace football or basketball in the US at all. But there needs to be some level of interest in the U.S. for the 5-8 year old kids to want to be the next great soccer star. As of now, that does not exist, at all for American kids.
Soccer needs to be truly taken serious on a wider scale for it to grow. In almost any US neighborhood, if you drove through you could probably find some kids tossing the football around, or shooting some hoops. You would be extremely hard pressed to find some kids kicking the soccer ball around. If you did, I'd be willing to bet those were Mexican or African kids, from another country.
I played soccer for a few years growing up. I did it for fun mainly as I thought it was a good way to stay in shape for football. I never took the game completely serious. Same for my teammates. The only guys who took the game seriously, had parents who were born outside of America. I rarely touched a soccer ball during the year outside of practice/games. Not to mention none of my coaches knew much about soccer themselves. Our coaches did a great job of making sure we were in shape, but when it actually came time for practice we basically were on our own.. I did not get a legit coach until my senior year, when our school hired a teacher who played in the MLS for a couple years.
Soccer doesnt need to replace football or basketball in the US at all. But there needs to be some level of interest in the U.S. for the 5-8 year old kids to want to be the next great soccer star. As of now, that does not exist, at all for American kids.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:31 am to QJenk
quote:
As of now, that does not exist, at all for American kids
I would strongly disagree with that.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:33 am to TutHillTiger
quote:
Soccer is the most expensive sport to play in America, and it has become a suburban wasp sport. (I have coached almost all youth sports and don’t give me shite about football or baseball costing more. Soccer cost the parents the most with 600-1500 bucks to play then the travel etc. We estimated it cost 6000k a year to play for my son. The only thing close is baseball travel teams but then they have scholarships. Not to mention us picking up all the expenses for the African kids. (Not African Americans but families delivered from conflicts in Africa by the church.)
This is spot on. We have it backwards. Soccer is the easiest sport to play, the hardest to play well.
Brazilians would just wrap a shirt around a coconut and play with that. You just need something round and you can play soccer.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:35 am to QJenk
quote:
But there needs to be some level of interest in the U.S. for the 5-8 year old kids to want to be the next great soccer star. As of now, that does not exist, at all for American kids.
I'd have to disagree with that.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 12:36 pm to dgnx6
quote:
Brazilians would just wrap a shirt around a coconut and play with that. You just need something round and you can play soccer.
Let's not romanticize how other countries do this to this extent. Yes streetball in Brazil and Paris and all over the world is far more common than here in America, but Brazil also has an extremely capitalistic and ruthless youth development system run by its clubs for profit. They invest years of coaching and development into them so they can then be sold abroad to the highest bidder
Posted on 7/12/18 at 3:04 pm to High C
A few reasons
1) No playing identity. The Dutch have a style, The Germans, The Spanish, The Brazilians, The Italians. We don't have an identity.
2) Poor youth system. Most youth coaches and systems are just to pass time instead of actually develop.
3) Soccer is still a "suburban" game in the US, and not urban enough. I'll let you make of that what you will
4) No world stars to influence the youth. There's no national superstar.
5) The MLS is awful. Retirement league for stars. Terrible template. No relegation structure. No urgency or incentive to be better.
1) No playing identity. The Dutch have a style, The Germans, The Spanish, The Brazilians, The Italians. We don't have an identity.
2) Poor youth system. Most youth coaches and systems are just to pass time instead of actually develop.
3) Soccer is still a "suburban" game in the US, and not urban enough. I'll let you make of that what you will
4) No world stars to influence the youth. There's no national superstar.
5) The MLS is awful. Retirement league for stars. Terrible template. No relegation structure. No urgency or incentive to be better.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 3:46 pm to etm512
quote:
Let's not romanticize how other countries do this to this extent. Yes streetball in Brazil and Paris and all over the world is far more common than here in America, but Brazil also has an extremely capitalistic and ruthless youth development system run by its clubs for profit. They invest years of coaching and development into them so they can then be sold abroad to the highest bidder
I was just agreeing that it cost a lot to be on a good team with an actual coach, not just someone's dad who never played before trying to figure the game out.
A lot of stars, especially in South America, grew up with nothing. How the hell would that work out here?
Clint Dempsey quit soccer because his parents couldn't afford it for both of their sons. When his brother died, he dedicated his career to him because that's the only reason his parents could afford to send him to a better club.
This post was edited on 7/12/18 at 3:50 pm
Posted on 7/12/18 at 3:52 pm to dgnx6
Sister. His sister died. Just FYI
Posted on 7/12/18 at 3:56 pm to Senora Ramos
Yeah it was his sister, she played tennis I think? I just remembered watching something on him years ago.
Either way, he quit for financial reasons.
Either way, he quit for financial reasons.
This post was edited on 7/12/18 at 3:58 pm
Posted on 7/12/18 at 4:06 pm to QJenk
quote:
But there needs to be some level of interest in the U.S. for the 5-8 year old kids to want to be the next great soccer star. As of now, that does not exist, at all for American kids.
Do you know a lot of kids at that age?
I would say tons of kids in America put Messi/CR7 ahead of MLB, NFL, or NBA athletes. Soccer is a big deal with kids.
Now in the HD Streaming ERA (kids can watch any game on a tablet) and Xbox/PS4/Switch/iOS with FIFA, kids more now than ever are aspiring to be great soccer players.
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