Why isn't there a single great soccer player from the US?

[dennis roadman]

When football is finally outlawed in 2040, many of the US''s best athletes will be playing soccer, ushering in a new era of world sports domination.

Until then...

Imagine Russ, D-Rose, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, etc. as soccer players coming up through a structured farm system.

UNSTOPPABLE.

You can't tell me they wouldn't be some of the greatest soccer players playing right now.

i can tell you they would be pure garbage and be correct

maybe westbrook would make a serviceable winger

 

[VICVALLIN]

people are talking about athleticism not being everything in soccer and I understand as well as agree to a certain degree, but when i see messi basically crossover 3 defenders allen Iverson style, to score a goal, that takes some level of athleticism. I don't really watch a lot of soccer, but I've seen that dude and Ronaldo do shyt with a soccer ball I've never seen done before. I find it hard to believe that American athletes who's athleticism allow them to dominate football or basketball, the two most popular sports in America, at all levels couldn't have become great soccer players with the same proper coaching and training that athletes in other countries begin receiving at a young age all the way through adulthood.

 

[SirShaktus]

You're only going to be as good as the level of competition. How can China have 1 billion people, basketball be more popular there than even soccer, but an inner city kid form States mature in the sport much better?

That, and the fact that
A) China's reputation for working player down til they burnout is LEGENDARY. A dude I knew went for a training camp for one of the CBA club teams (I forget which). In a week and a half, he wanted to be sent back. The training he did was grueling, boring, never ending, and done every single day. He dawn near HATED basketball when he came back...
For every player China tries to send here, 100 better players said "fukk this, I'm out" and quit playing due to burnout. And

B) Over there, they pretty much only look for REALLY tall players. In China, height=good at basketball.
I played against one of their junior teams... The shortest person was 6'5" easily, and their starting PG was 6'8" .
They'll stiff arm the fukk outta Jeremy Lin to get some random cat from Xushou that's 6'10" and can walk and chew gum and the same time.

 

[The War Report]

In boxing, if you dont have a good chin then you wont be shyt. No matter how much you protect yourself, or how skilled you are. If you cannot take a punch, you wont be shyt.

In soccer, if you cannot kill any ball played to you with your first touch, then you will never be elite. Its that simple. Any ball that comes to you, you have to kill it. Dead.

To get to that point, you have to practice, practice, practice, practice, and practice. And do it from a very young age. Even still, you may not be able to kill every ball because some brehs just have that bit of extra.

US players arent built like that. We dont get that schooling, and we do other sports or have other activities. Thats the big reason why.

Then you have bad coaching, poor technical ability. At the very end is athleticism.

You mean stopping a ball coming at you 100mph with the delicate touch of your feet, or any other part of your body sans hands?

 

[#1 pick]

Do ya'll know how hard it is to be world class?

shyt, nikkas like prime Messi and Ronaldo are ten times your pro regular player and your regular pro player is ten times your regular college soccer player. It's like comparing someone to Lebron, Kobe, or Jordan.

 

[AITheAnswerAI]

meanwhile soccer players are making more money on average and have international fame. What's realer than that?

Incorrect:

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-nba-average-salary-2014-4

Soccer is more international than basketball but the salaries still aren't touching nba salaries.

 

[SuckFohh]

When football is finally outlawed in 2040, many of the US''s best athletes will be playing soccer, ushering in a new era of world sports domination.

Until then...

Imagine Russ, D-Rose, Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, etc. as soccer players coming up through a structured farm system.

UNSTOPPABLE.

You can't tell me they wouldn't be some of the greatest soccer players playing right now.

Trying to body Peterson on the sideline during a scramble for the ball
Trying to catch Johnson on a counter attack towards your goalie
Trying to box out Lebron from getting a header on a corner kick
These other countries lucky as fukk

 

[Captain Crunch]

That, and the fact that
A) China's reputation for working player down til they burnout is LEGENDARY. A dude I knew went for a training camp for one of the CBA club teams (I forget which). In a week and a half, he wanted to be sent back. The training he did was grueling, boring, never ending, and done every single day. He dawn near HATED basketball when he came back...
For every player China tries to send here, 100 better players said "fukk this, I'm out" and quit playing due to burnout. And

B) Over there, they pretty much only look for REALLY tall players. In China, height=good at basketball.
I played against one of their junior teams... The shortest person was 6'5" easily, and their starting PG was 6'8" .
They'll stiff arm the fukk outta Jeremy Lin to get some random cat from Xushou that's 6'10" and can walk and chew gum and the same time.

@joeychizzle This is true?

 

[joeychizzle]

@joeychizzle This is true?

If you're good at something we want, we will squeeze your juice until you're dry. And then run you into the ground. You don't get many holidays, you don't get many breaks, you don't get to contact your family much, and you spend your days honing whatever skill you possess. Such is life in mainland China for many athletes.
Look at all the damn child athletes in the Olympics - they were trained from the moment they could walk, for one purpose - serve your nation with pride and perfection.

It's not really as grim as some make it out to be but it's not a bed of roses either. We stay efficient or get cast the fukk out
Phew, thank god I live in Hong Kong where the government can't even make me pay bills BIATCHHH

 

[William Heavy]

In order to create great soccer players, they have to start playing very young, they have to love the game, and they have to play for thousands of hours as children. Our kids dabble in different sports up until High School when they choose one sport. You can't have kids playing a different sport every 3 months and expect them to be great soccer players. Soccer is like Boxing in sense that it looks easy, but it's very difficult to become elite. When you see great Boxers, they usually start when they are like 5-8 years old. You rarely see a great Boxer who picks up the sport late in life ( Sergio Martinez/ Ernie Shavers types are the exception). Same thing with Soccer. The USA's answer to sports is to "out athletic" your opponent. Soccer is all about skill. Look at Barcelona when they were whipping everyones ass. They Had/Have Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi. Three Dudes who if you saw walking down the street would look like everyday schmoes. They are short, Messi has some sort of dwarfism, yet are extremely skilled and dominate.

Youth development in the US is horrible. There are too many different youth organizations and they don't offer legit coaching. The USSF/MLS should develop a youth league and corner the market like little league did with baseball, and Pop Warner did with football. They could set up a curriculum for kids to follow in elementary and middle school. Horst Wein talks about children should play small sided games to develop ball skills. 3v3 up until 9 years old, 5v5 10 year olds, 7v7 11-12 year olds, 8v8 13 year olds, and finally playing 11v11 when they turn 14. They say that the reason Argentina and Brazil are so good is because they have their kids playing futsal before moving up to regular soccer. Real Madrid and Barcelona also have their youth teams play small sided games. When you develop the youth they learn to understand the game, and they learn to love the game. So you are creating future players and fans.

Once the kids reach High School they could be eligible for a youth academy. The MLS also needs to develop legit youth academies. Most Teams have an academy but I don't think they are professional. Our kids are taught to be good enough in their sport to possibly play college ball. Footballers from around the world start going to academies usually in their early teens and learning to be pros. to college ball.

The US also does a bad job of including kids from the inner city/low Income households *cough* black and latino kids *cough*. In this country Soccer is seen as a rich kid sport like ice skating, gymnastics, tennis. Usually you have to pay big bucks to play in a top local club. My sister played for a traveling team in middle school and the cost was crazy. Good thing they didn't charge my parents to play. Instead of having kids invest in the sport, the sport (USSF/MLS) should invest in the kids.

To me soccer is the best sport to get your kid into. It gets them in great shape, it's relatively safe, and you don't have to be tall (basketball) or big and strong (football) in order to play at the top levels. I think it's funny when parents invest their child's time in basketball and football, and they end up being 5'9'' 160 lbs. I could care less about baseball and hockey.

 

[TommyHilltrigga]

ah yes...why the the great US is not good at the elite level..some of ya'll have mentioned it..as someone who played soccer thru college and attempted to play pro in europe....it all starts with grassroots....first off, that notion of "our best athletes are not playing....imagine a lebron-eric berry-kobe midfield" yea that logic needs to be killed right there. not enough kids are getting elite training from a young age...talent is spread thin to baseball/football/basketball and hockey...the technical training from a young age is lacking...i played in the dallas cup when i was a kid.. we weren't shyt brehs compared to the south american and european kids...ability to have decent touch at 15-16, knowledge of dropping to receive diagonal passes as a defensive mid...or understanding how to make purposeful runs as a winger, along with a good touch and ball control is all imbedded from a young age..when i finished college i had trials with some second division lower eastern european teams and again wasn't shyt...wasn't even fair since many of theseplayers have been a an organized system since they were 9 or 10....meanwhile i was struggling to decide between Little league baseball and community basketball lmaoo...

we need to invest in grassroots....kids in soccer academies from age 6..put through a strict but not so tough regiment that gets tougher and more complicated as they age, weeding out the scrubs and not meant to be's.

 

[TommyHilltrigga]

also please remember soccer players are hella athletic...athleticism is not only brute strength or cheetah like speed....putting down 8-11 km a game is not for the faint of heart brehs, then u look at barca...might not seem athletic, but those boys are quick as fukk....trust...soccer seems slow when watching from tv, but when ur in the midst of it all, its a fast paced and physical and dirty game

 

[TommyHilltrigga]

Trying to body Peterson on the sideline during a scramble for the ball
Trying to catch Johnson on a counter attack towards your goalie
Trying to box out Lebron from getting a header on a corner kick
These other countries lucky as fukk

...if all players came thru the ranks..peterson would not be as big, lebron would be as scrawny as peter crouch as would larry johson..nnone would even be playing soccer as tall players rarely have coordination to play the game...few soccer players are good that are above 6"3...Giroud...Ibra...thats it. most big players 6"3+ end up being goalies

 

[#1 pick]

...if all players came thru the ranks..peterson would not be as big, lebron would be as scrawny as peter crouch as would larry johson..nnone would even be playing soccer as tall players rarely have coordination to play the game...few soccer players are good that are above 6"3...Giroud...Ibra...thats it. most big players 6"3+ end up being goalies

If Lebron did play soccer, he would still be a freak athlete. I don't think that's questionable.

The super freak American athlete might be the best in the world. I consider those to be Lebron, Randy Moss, and Russell Westbrook.

 

[The Blind Man]

Now that I think about it wasnt Tim Howard considered an elite/top 5 in the world goalkeeper at one point in time?
Can any of you diehard soccer fans comment on this?

He played for the club I support when he first came to the UK.

Never top 10 GK, in the world, but UK yes.

Good dude tho.