US Soccer

[Docsauce]

Keeping in line with all the other sports stuff on the forum? What are your thoughts on the state of US soccer in general? Anything from the youth programs, high school vs club, college vs club, MLS, national team, national team players etc.

My biggest frustration for one is the youth system. Plenty of young, athletic types but no real skill development. The USMNT always prides itself on being touch and scrappy, but that's about all they have going for them. I'm happy to see some of our players playing in the EPL (Dempsey, Holden, Jones, Howard) but in order for the team to be competitive we need to have most if not all of our players up to a level of at least holding a roster spot and getting some minutes on middle of the pack teams in the major European leagues. Not the Danish/Belgian/Finnish league that some of our players play in. This is a long, long way off. But hopefully we'll be able to see some progress while I'm still young.

[kckttk]

My thoughts on American soccer. Growing up players, teaching them soccer inside-out are stuff the American system is good at. Only thing the American team lacks is
players who compete on the bigger leagues and tournaments. Playing in an European League ( English,French,Spanish,Italian,German, Turkish, Greek, ) the leagues i listed
are way better compared to MLS and European players also play in European Competitions such as Champions League and Europa League which includes pretty much the top4 teams of every country in 1 tournament. Sadly MLS and the national team wont be enough for American teams to compete against any major European team or any national squad. Because experiences are everything in football. I hope you understood what i tried to say ^^.

[Fuzzzie]

If it became more popular in university/college circles it might fair better on the professional level.

[Valeron]

If it became more popular in university/college circles it might fair better on the professional level.

NCAA rules really hamper development of players in the US. Youth players, Under 18 and younger, actually do pretty well in the international competitions. But the 18-22 age players really drop off. Why? Well in the US the college system is fully entrenched and everywhere else it is the pro system that is in place.

[kckttk]

NCAA rules really hamper development of players in the US. Youth players, Under 18 and younger, actually do pretty well in the international competitions. But the 18-22 age players really drop off. Why? Well in the US the college system is fully entrenched and everywhere else it is the pro system that is in place.

the age of 17-22 in Europe is the age group when the good/skilled play for pro clubs and usually stop education most likely.

[Deleted]

Thought 1: This.

Thought 2: It seems to me that the interest for it has gone up in the recent years and it's actually being acknowledged as a real sport. When the US clubs start getting enough talent to do well in intenational context, they will also attract bigger players, which will in turn raise the attention the sport gets.
But for now, any US team would get absolutely creamed by a decent eurpean club, and vice versa in basket ball or baseball.
It's just a culture thing - european kids grow up kicking a ball around, and american kids grow up playing hand-egg/basket ball/baseball.

Thought 3: Running for 45 mins .. and then ANOTHER 45 mins is hard

[netherflame]

Honestly as much as I'd love to say the men's game has a future here I don't feel that is the way to really go. If we really look at where all the top players are in the sport they are across the pond not in the US, if your a serious player your over there not playing at home. In reality we need to look at what I believe will really push that sport and that is the women's team, since some of the best female players in the world come here to play why not push the league. The MLS has a very similar problem to the KHL, Russian Professional Hockey League, because most of the good players from Russia come over to North America to play in the NHL. Where in the MLS the problem is that the good players leave to go play elsewhere, by pushing the game with the women you would gain a few advantages over using the men.

First it would push the sport with the number one ranked national team in the world, which will continue to be a powerhouse for many years to come. Secondly it will push more young girls to notice the sport and start breaking the mold that all girls can do is cheerleading or poms which more often then not is pushed by the males in the society. Lastly this is a play on sex sells and I'm not afraid to admit it but you should get more young boys wanting the watch the girls in short shorts run around.

So in short we really have two options as I see it, either we start keeping american male players in the US to play in the MLS or we start to push the Womens game in hopes that it overflows into the male side of the sport.

PS: Its to bad the National Handegg League got their stuff figured out, I would've been ecstatic to see it crumble.

[Vankrin]

Thought 1: This.

Thought 2: It seems to me that the interest for it has gone up in the recent years and it's actually being acknowledged as a real sport. When the US clubs start getting enough talent to do well in intenational context, they will also attract bigger players, which will in turn raise the attention the sport gets.
But for now, any US team would get absolutely creamed by a decent eurpean club, and vice versa in basket ball or baseball.
It's just a culture thing - european kids grow up kicking a ball around, and american kids grow up playing hand-egg/basket ball/baseball.

Thought 3: Running for 45 mins .. and then ANOTHER 45 mins is hard

You do realize the U.S gets destroyed by Japan in international baseball all the time, right?

[netherflame]

You do realize the U.S gets destroyed by Japan in international baseball all the time, right?

He brings up a good point, if its not in the Olympics odds are its not important seeing as the Olympics are the biggest showcase of national sporting ability. Duces Baseball, Handegg, and MMA, glad to see your gone and finally shown how unimportant you are.

[koodledrum]

In my opinion the worst thing to happen to US soccer was in the 70's when it basically became the last big paycheque for footballers at the end of their career, it's undeniable it improved exposure to the game, but to be honest it gave a false positive for the sport. Unlike the major US sports (baseball, american football, basketball) it's just not engrained within youth the same way it is around the world - you go to South America or Europe and you'll find kids in public parks playing footie, it's just what we do here. It's kinda like the Southern Hemisphere guys with rugby, it's life's natural progression for boys - you learn to walk, you go to school & you play football, the only ones who don't are the more academic types who generally have little interest in sports anyway.

The US believe it or not, punches above it's weight in world football, hardly any emphasis is placed on the game, it's not widely popular amongst ordinary Americans and at very best it's a poor 7th or 8th sport for you guys behind stuff like athletics & lacrosse

[AndreaD1]

True! They should do that with Rugby too! I was on the womens rugby team at purdue= and couldn't do anything with it afterwards

---------- Post added 2011-08-11 at 11:59 AM ----------

stinks! Anyone else feel the same way? I just graduated - am I too old compared to all of you>? cant tell

[xile]

American soccer isn't on par with other countries for tons of reasons, the biggest is that there's not really much development (if there's really any at the young ages) after kids hit out of elementary school. Football becomes the "manly" sport and everyone stops playing soccer, and they either go play baseball, basketball, or football. If soccer were as popular as football in this country, the U.S. would be a much more formidable soccer playing nation.

---------- Post added 2011-08-11 at 06:00 PM ----------

You do realize the U.S gets destroyed by Japan in international baseball all the time, right?

Yes, but take a look at how the U.S. is, we are arguably the most well rounded country in the world in terms of sports. It's not like we really are the absolutely best at everything, we are very good at some sports, but for the most part we're at least decent at just about everything. The only people that came close to beating the U.S. at least int he last games were the chinese, who not only hosted the games but have roughly 5 times the amount of people, imagine what would happen if we had all of our lebron james, peyton mannings, and derek jeters playing soccer instead of all their other sports, the competitive scene of soccer would be entirely different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-tim...es_medal_table

[Panicked]

Isn't MLS more popular than NHL now?
It's growing and will continue to.

[fangless]

You do realize the U.S gets destroyed by Japan in international baseball all the time, right?

He did say European :P



Soccer just isn't popular amongst the younger sports crowd here. Kids grow up, and they want to play basketball, football, or baseball. That translate down the line when those same kids go off and become Lebron James or Peyton Manning instead of your international soccer star.

It's starting to pick up, so maybe in 5-10 years, we'll have a better team, maybe not.

[drhay53]

U.S. players are severely lacking in the technical skills displayed by the best players in the world. With the exception of Dempsey / Donovan / Bradley they lack players with solid first touch and ball control skills.

This is why I'm so high on Juan Agudelo. He shows flashes of creativity and ball control that are on the level of world class. In the friendly against Mexico he made an extremely nifty play to get Rogers in behind the defense. Rogers was dragged down in what should have been a red card (but was only a yellow). Agudelo is a product of the US youth academy so if we keep putting out players like him, we will be fine.

[Deleted]

Off topic but kinda wondering, why is it called football in america when its more of a direct take from rugby?
On topic, the interest just isn't there in america and you are decades behind the top spanish/english leagues and outside of retiring europeans who go to america to get paids stupid amounts of money players wont go to america since they dont feel you are competitive in world standings so it makes buying good players difficult. Its like trying to buy a premiership player and asking him to play at league 1. thats my opinion anyway.

[timbli]

yeah... soccer players needs an US goal, like NBA for basketball players.

once a team from my coutnry, Universidad Católica, played against DC United, from Washington (Copa Sudamericana). The Press from my country said they played against a "baseball team" and that's the reason why they won the match. (DC United played really well BTW)

you don't have a GOOD league, a premier league, a Calcio, a Liga Española. you need a good league to keep young ones interested like basketball ones.

[conscript]

yeah... soccer players needs an US goal, like NBA for basketball players.

once a team from my coutnry, Universidad Católica, played against DC United, from Washington (Copa Sudamericana). The Press from my country said they played against a "baseball team" and that's the reason why they won the match. (DC United played really well BTW)

you don't have a GOOD league, a premier league, a Calcio, a Liga Española. you need a good league to keep young ones interested like basketball ones.

There is no motivation for a premier league in the US due to the lack of an interested television audience. The MLS has been an abject failure in essentially every market in the US. If viewers can't support that it will be incredibly difficult to support a PL. Unless the NFL evaporates, there is simply no room in the US for a major television-centric soccer league.

---------- Post added 2011-08-16 at 03:15 PM ----------

It will never amount to anything, ever. Right now we have 3 main sports where players get all the big bucks and attention. NFL, MLB, and NBA. And to a lesser degree PGA. I dont count Hockey sorry. Any kid growing up is going to start playing any of those sports. Also we arent raised to watch soccer like they are in Europe or South America which is why no one wants to either play or watch it.

Well you should count Hockey because the NHL is rapidly overtaking the NBA and MLB for television ratings. If things stay on course the NHL could easily be the third largest sports league in the US and second if MLB continues its downward spiral of slacking attendance and slacking ratings. I am borderline insulted that you consider the PGA a sport over hockey lol. What a total joke. The PGA has one popular player. One. Without Tiger, ratings are cut in half for the PGA. Without his dominance and popularity over the last 15 years, there is a very real possibility the PGA folded or at least drastically shrunk.

[kckttk]

America will be able to compete against Europe and countries like Brazil, Argentina and Mexico
if your league has the same quality as the European ones OR 90% of the national team plays outside the States
other then that there wont be anyways to compete.

[Fuzzzie]

Going to close.

There is no purpose in pitting one sport against another. Everyone has their tastes.