USA has long way to becoming Int'l soccer contenders

[MadSquabbles500]

USA has long way to go before becoming even a blip on the international soccer scene.

That is probably obvious to most people, but I just need to get this off my chest.

I am watching U20 USA against U20 Ecuador. Now at the end USA did tie it 3-3, but just watching them play, they looked lost. They got their goals on lucky passes when Ecuador fell asleep. They cannot generate offense. And this is the U20 team. This is the future of USA soccer.

When they get the ball even in midfield they end up passing it back to defense instead of pushing forward. They cannot beat anyone mano y mano. If they do move forward, they have to pass it immediately instead of driving it themselves for a bit. Ecuador got so bored they fell asleep and just allowed three goals.

And Ecuador is like the bottom feeder of Conmebol. I dont know what USA Soccer is doing. What the hell is that academy in Bradenton doing? These kids have no ball skills.

 

[Da Speeit]

Wow, thanks for that insight. I'm going to walk to the Casino and ask if I can get my 10 grand bet on the US winning the world cup back. I thought 400/1 were pretty good odds, too!

Thanks TS, how would we know anything without you?

 

[Gus Fring]

Careful, TS. America as a whole truly cares about soccerball. Don't run around offending the nation with the most aircraft carriers.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

This fact keeps me up at night.

 

[Cro Cop Is Back]

Wow, thanks for that insight. I'm going to walk to the Casino and ask if I can get my 10 grand bet on the US winning the world cup back. I thought 400/1 were pretty good odds, too!

Thanks TS, how would we know anything without you?

 

[HunterSdVa29]

well ya no shit

our women team is good b/c nobody cares about women's sports here, IOW they aren't losing money by choosing soccer over another sport like the WNBA for instance (negating any height requirement obviously).

For men it's the opposite, so until a single person gives a shit about soccer here, it'll always be the shitty athletes and cans that get cut from other sports that pursue it (or small people that can't play other sports)

the fact that we even make the world cup is kind of astonishing, soccer is a literal way of life for most of the world, we could not care less

 

[Revolver]

Maybe if the US was a 3rd world country like most of the rest of the world, we would care more about it.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

And Ecuador is like the bottom feeder of Conmebol. I dont know what USA Soccer is doing. What the hell is that academy in Bradenton doing? These kids have no ball skills.

You're right about the rest of your post except this. Ecuador is kinda mid-table in South America, not bottom feeders.

But yeah, it's pretty shocking the low amount of skill from US players. The "no one plays soccer" argument would be valid if this was 1970 but not now. Just about every high school has a team and there's enough interest to have a league that's top 10 in the world in attendance.

Christian Pulisic looks pretty legit but that's ONE dude. A mammoth country with unending resources like the US should be able to produce at least 2-3 of these every decade or so.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

well ya no shit

our women team is good b/c nobody cares about women's sports here, IOW they aren't losing money by choosing soccer over another sport like the WNBA for instance (negating any height requirement obviously).

For men it's the opposite, so until a single person gives a shit about soccer here, it'll always be the shitty athletes and cans that get cut from other sports that pursue it (or small people that can't play other sports)

the fact that we even make the world cup is kind of astonishing, soccer is a literal way of life for most of the world, we could not care less

Thing is by now we really do have a lot of soccer players. Parents since the 80s have been taking their kids away from concussion riddled football, and putting them into soccer. For basketball you have to over 6'6" for playing to matter, so lots are turning away from that too.

We should at least have some of the basic skills by now like dribbling but we dont. USA soccer is not putting an emphasis on that. Do we even have a futsal team? More school leagues and children rec leagues need to add futsal. they can play that in the winter indoors on a basketball court.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

You're right about the rest of your post except this. Ecuador is kinda mid-table in South America, not bottom feeders.

But yeah, it's pretty shocking the low amount of skill from US players. The "no one plays soccer" argument would be valid if this was 1970 but not now. Just about every high school has a team and there's enough interest to have a league that's top 10 in the world in attendance.

Christian Pulisic looks pretty legit but that's ONE dude. A mammoth country with unending resources like the US should be able to produce at least 2-3 of these every decade or so.

Exactly.

On the goals we did score, it was out running and getting into right space. That we have. We dont have individual skills yet though, and it has been decades. How can USA Soccer not figure this out? This is all USA soccer's fault. They cannot see the writing on the wall.

 

[HunterSdVa29]

Thing is by now we really do have a lot of soccer players. Parents since the 80s have been taking their kids away from concussion riddled football, and putting them into soccer. For basketball you have to over 6'6" for playing to matter, so lots are turning away from that too.

We should at least have some of the basic skills by now like dribbling but we dont. USA soccer is not putting an emphasis on that. Do we even have a futsal team? More school leagues and children rec leagues need to add futsal. they can play that in the winter indoors on a basketball court.

i disagree

nobody in HS really cares about soccer barring certain subsections of the country, like say wrestling is. i moved around my entire life as a military dependent, and never saw any place where the best athlete (or even one of the best ten or twenty athletes at a school) focused on soccer, unless they were a short hispanic person or something.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

i disagree

nobody in HS really cares about soccer barring certain subsections of the country, like say wrestling is. i moved around my entire life as a military dependent, and never saw any place where the best athlete (or even one of the best ten or twenty athletes at a school) focused on soccer, unless they were a short hispanic person or something.

From my experience, the best athletes in school dont even bother with school team unless they are recruited to a private school with a powerhouse program in said sport.

 

[faustian]

If the US were to simply ban real sports then we'd take the world soccerball strap with ~12-18 mos prep time

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Exactly.

On the goals we did score, it was out running and getting into right space. That we have. We dont have individual skills yet though, and it has been decades. How can USA Soccer not figure this out? This is all USA soccer's fault. They cannot see the writing on the wall.

US Soccer has definitely noticed this, they just can't dictate something like this. No single organization can. It's like saying, the NBA should start producing players that play the half court, post-up game more instead of 3-point shooters. Trends like this are way too broad.

But you'd think that an American badass would turn up just out of chance.

Germany- which is much smaller than the US- doesn't care about basketball yet they produced a multiple all-star in Detlef Schrempf and one a former MVP and future Hall of Famer in Dirk Nowitzki. Pulisic will be a nice player but he won't even get close to what Nowitki did in basketball.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

US Soccer has definitely noticed this, they just can't dictate something like this. No single organization can. It's like saying, the NBA should start producing players that play the half court, post-up game more instead of 3-point shooters. Trends like this are way too broad.

But you'd think that an American badass would turn up just out of chance.

Germany- which is much smaller than the US- doesn't care about basketball yet they produced a multiple all-star in Detlef Schrempf and one a former MVP and future Hall of Famer in Dirk Nowitzki. Pulisic will be a nice player but he won't even get close to what Nowitki did in basketball.

Actually if USA soccer started forcing more futsal, they can force that development. Or make their youth coaches focus on mano y mano drills, or make their kids play on smaller surfaces, those kids will automatically learn the mano y mano skills.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Actually if USA soccer started forcing more futsal, they can force that development. Or make their youth coaches focus on mano y mano drills, or make their kids play on smaller surfaces, those kids will automatically learn the mano y mano skills.

Yeah, that might help a little but it's very long-term.

In other countries, these skills are learned informally, on the street and in neighborhoods. The US barely has that sort of environment for basketball but it's almost non-existent for soccer. There is a sort of "movement" to just let kids play instead of making them run drills but it's very hard to get all or most coaches in the country to follow it.

Whenever I go out to the parks by my house I still see coaches making little 6 year olds run cone drills. It's like wtf.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Yeah, that might help a little but it's very long-term.

In other countries, these skills are learned informally, on the street and in neighborhoods. The US barely has that sort of environment for basketball but it's almost non-existent for soccer. There is a sort of "movement" to just let kids play instead of making them run drills but it's very hard to get all or most coaches in the country to follow it.

Whenever I go out to the parks by my house I still see coaches making little 6 year olds run cone drills. It's like wtf.

well, I mean more mano y mano drills. Like in youth hockey practice, there is goalie, one defender, and attacker has to get past defender and deke goalie. Or you dump puck into corner two guys go fight for it. That should of drill can be done in soccer too, and will go a long way in developing one on one skills. Or they can just let kids play keep away.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

USA has long way to go before becoming even a blip on the international soccer scene.

That is probably obvious to most people, but I just need to get this off my chest.

I am watching U20 USA against U20 Ecuador. Now at the end USA did tie it 3-3, but just watching them play, they looked lost. They got their goals on lucky passes when Ecuador fell asleep. They cannot generate offense. And this is the U20 team. This is the future of USA soccer.

When they get the ball even in midfield they end up passing it back to defense instead of pushing forward. They cannot beat anyone mano y mano. If they do move forward, they have to pass it immediately instead of driving it themselves for a bit. Ecuador got so bored they fell asleep and just allowed three goals.

And Ecuador is like the bottom feeder of Conmebol. I dont know what USA Soccer is doing. What the hell is that academy in Bradenton doing? These kids have no ball skills.

 

[gspieler]

Even after factoring fussball is a fring top 10 sport in the states, we should still relevant on a global level. We have a pop of 330mil(with a large Hispanic subset) and wealth. Our 3rd tier athletes should able to compete against Euro/SA nations with pops of 20mil.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

well, I mean more mano y mano drills.

How would hand to hand drills help with soccer?