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

[Box Cutta]

Something I'd like to throw out there that hasn't been touched ...and maybe because this attitude is kind of dying out a bit....but I remember growing up that soccer was viewed as somewhat of a "girls sport". It was viewed more similar to volleyball or something, obviously men and women can play, but the typical suburban family with 2 kids had a boy that played football and basketball and a girl that played soccer and volleyball.

Pretty sure that some of those little league teams are mixed-competition.....girls playing with boys....

^ I sometimes think that this hurt more than help soccer here. Like maybe it calcified the sport as something that is more female focused...forever. Maybe I'm just tripping....

To piggyback off that...I've not seen anyone really dive into the dichotomy between our womens team, and our mens team. Why is USWNT relatively successful while USMNT just average at best? Is there something that we can draw from this? I've heard it stated that the rest of the world generally couldn't give a fukk about womens soccer and that the US putting even a limited amount of resources into it is enough for us to be on par if not dominant. But I dunno. Is there anything more to glean?

 

[Trip]

AYSO is not the top youth league anymore. Since 2007 the best young soccer players play in the USSDA, which includes the academies affiliated with MLS clubs. They actually just finished their regular season and are holding their playoffs in Indiana next week.

Well thats good I guess. AYSO was so lame

 

[TTT]

Wrong. That is why the US does not have an elite soccer player because Americans think that they can train into players the "feel of the game". You learn that playing in the park, dusty roads for hours on end for fun with friends from the age of 4 to 10 before, you get real structure. There is an energy that one develops with the ball as a kid that carries into adulthood. Ghana was way more skilled, more technical, and had a better feel for the game. It was glaring. The USA is fortunate to have Tim Howard as a GK and they are good on set pieces which is how they scored the second goal. Klinsmann said years ago that the America's problem is the poorer youth does not care about futbol, which is where the best talent comes from. Most of Germany's team are not ethnically German. They have Poles, Turks, Africans, Spanish, etc. on their team in recent years. These kids came from immigrants communities. Klinsmann is doing a good job of snagging eligible American players who grew up in Europe. He already has 5 German players on the squad. Once Green gets PT at Bayern Munich, its a wrap, he will be the first elite US player, but I have always thought that Clint Dempsey is impressive and would not be out of place on a top 10 FIFA ranked team.

By the time some of these kids play organized youth football they have already clocked in hours and hours of play at leisure, growing up in Africa that was what we did during break time at school, kids would go eat outside and then play a game after lunch and go back to class. There wasn't a lot of structure in the initial phases of playing the game just a bunch of kids playing at their leisure. I watch someone like Ronaldinho or Maradona you can see that a lot of that is developed without that much structure. Even without a proper ball you will find kids with handmade ones made out of plastic like this

When they start playing professionally they have already played the game for thousands of hours and it is not as scheduled as it is in the US. What i described you will even see in many countries that are not as good at the world stage. If you look at the women's game in the US on the other hand you have a lot of participation at youth levels and a well established structure that you wont find in many other countries and hence the US goes to the Women's World Cup with the same stature Germany, Italy or Brazil has in the the world cup.

 

[Trip]

Our culture doesn't support the sport enough to produce "great soccer players".

This argument seems to have, as always, delved into this nature/nurture debate, with people seemingly siding with one or the other. I tend to think that it's likely a mixture of the two.

While athleticism may not be the defining factor in soccer....temperament is one of the most important aspects to any sport. Sure, maybe Lebron and Westbrook wouldn't have made it as soccer players, but I disagree with anyone that believes that Americans as a whole not viewing soccer as a worthy athletic pursuit, therefore, it's "most sporty" individuals not viewing it as such either, doesn't place a significant ceiling on our players. Maybe it's not football/basketball taking out "most athletic" people...maybe they are just taking our most competitive....

Skills are learned, sure. But the the willingness to dedicate so much of yourself to what is essentially a child's game may be an attribute that one is born with. And those people tend to look elsewhere in the US. A better way to put it might be to say that those people are being pushed elsewhere in the US.

I'm just saying that I do believe that there is a quantitative cap on ANY countries ability to produce top tier athletes. Even if we placed significantly more resources into soccer....there is eventually going to be diminishing returns if the people involved are stretched too thin.

There arent many American coaches willing to dedicate the necessary time either. If you're not playing soccer every day you'll probably never become good at it. I remember growing up I played soccer from like 5-12 years old, was a good enough athlete to be good at it....but when the Croatian kids moved into our town...it was like I had NO chance against them. But at that point I was focusing on football, basketball, baseball anwyays....where the coaching was more serious and focused.

Hell, lacrosse is growing faster probably than anything in the northeast....15 years ago it was a niche sport.

 

[beejus]

Don't worry breh's. I have a 9 month old son who is quiet strong for his age. Already trying to walk. By one I'll have him kicking a ball. I've got this.

 

[mastermind]

There arent many American coaches willing to dedicate the necessary time either.

in other countries, the youth coaches are the highest paid. (in the development cycle, not in the first team)

In the US, its the opposite. WE think the template that works for our other sports work for soccer, and it doesnt.

 

[Box Cutta]

There arent many American coaches willing to dedicate the necessary time either. If you're not playing soccer every day you'll probably never become good at it. I remember growing up I played soccer from like 5-12 years old, was a good enough athlete to be good at it....but when the Croatian kids moved into our town...it was like I had NO chance against them. But at that point I was focusing on football, basketball, baseball anwyays....where the coaching was more serious and focused.

Hell, lacrosse is growing faster probably than anything in the northeast....15 years ago it was a niche sport.

From what I understand, most of those little league coaches mostly only know one rule...."No toe balls"....

Be a soccer coach on the weekends, mailman on the weekdays, brehs....

Them Croations probably moved in like

 

[Trip]

From what I understand, most of those little league coaches mostly only know one rule...."No toe balls"....

Be a soccer coach on the weekends, mailman on the weekdays, brehs....

Them Croations probably moved in like

yeah the coaches were only concerned about who was providing the donut holes and the apple juice after the game and making sure little Johnny got at least 1 quarter of action.

 

[Loose]

I'll take 20+ years at this rate for us to even breed a great soccer star.

 

[king-laylow]

Nobody really cares about soccer like that in the U.S. the only time people really care is every four years. Once world cup is done its right back to square one.

most USA soccer fans only come out for the world cup or when they play Mexico.. then they go back to the bushes...

 

[kingofnyc]

Something I'd like to throw out there that hasn't been touched ...and maybe because this attitude is kind of dying out a bit....but I remember growing up that soccer was viewed as somewhat of a "girls sport". It was viewed more similar to volleyball or something, obviously men and women can play, but the typical suburban family with 2 kids had a boy that played football and basketball and a girl that played soccer and volleyball.

Pretty sure that some of those little league teams are mixed-competition.....girls playing with boys....

^ I sometimes think that this hurt more than help soccer here. Like maybe it calcified the sport as something that is more female focused...forever. Maybe I'm just tripping....

To piggyback off that...I've not seen anyone really dive into the dichotomy between our womens team, and our mens team. Why is USWNT relatively successful while USMNT just average at best? Is there something that we can draw from this? I've heard it stated that the rest of the world generally couldn't give a fukk about womens soccer and that the US putting even a limited amount of resources into it is enough for us to be on par if not dominant. But I dunno. Is there anything more to glean?

bingo... and we have a winner


i chose not to say the obvious.... to avoid the hate
al tho it took over 100 post
im glad u finally came up with the correct answer


fact is... home grown americans -looks at soccer as a sport for lil kids & females


PS
*call me the ugly arrogant mean american... all u want*
the world should be happy that american males dont care for the sport -cause if we did we would dominate... soccer is one of the last sports introduced to US & in such a short time our women team is ranked #1 in the world

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Women's_World_Rankings

 

[phillycavsfan]

Idiots...USA women are among the best because other countries don't spend money on women's sports. Our women don't just beat the opponents because they're better soccer players, it's because they're one of the few teams with the stamina to play at the same pace for 90 minutes. Most soccer players outside the USA don't have nearly the same facilities and time available. Women's international soccer is in the early, early stages around the world. USA Men don't get that same advantage.

 

[Trip]

Something I'd like to throw out there that hasn't been touched ...and maybe because this attitude is kind of dying out a bit....but I remember growing up that soccer was viewed as somewhat of a "girls sport". It was viewed more similar to volleyball or something, obviously men and women can play, but the typical suburban family with 2 kids had a boy that played football and basketball and a girl that played soccer and volleyball.

Pretty sure that some of those little league teams are mixed-competition.....girls playing with boys....

^ I sometimes think that this hurt more than help soccer here. Like maybe it calcified the sport as something that is more female focused...forever. Maybe I'm just tripping....

To piggyback off that...I've not seen anyone really dive into the dichotomy between our womens team, and our mens team. Why is USWNT relatively successful while USMNT just average at best? Is there something that we can draw from this? I've heard it stated that the rest of the world generally couldn't give a fukk about womens soccer and that the US putting even a limited amount of resources into it is enough for us to be on par if not dominant. But I dunno. Is there anything more to glean?

There is definitely a lot of truth to this. Honestly the only sport in this country that still allows coaches to run guys into the ground during practice is football. Double or triple sessions during the summer, year round weight training, spring camps and so forth. With that, the perception of seriousness is far greater with football than it is with soccer. Fact is, from middle school on the football team worked a hell of a lot harder than the soccer team did(and that's on the coaches) Soccer just doesnt have that and the travel leagues arent competitive. Kids play soccer until they're allowed to change sports(at least that's how it was when I was growing up) because they want to compete at a high level during contests that seem to be the real thing. Soccer just never had that feeling...if you lose, its an oh well type of thing.

 

[Trip]

Idiots...USA women are among the best because other countries don't spend money on women's sports. Our women don't just beat the opponents because they're better soccer players, it's because they're one of the few teams with the stamina to play at the same pace for 90 minutes. Most soccer players outside the USA don't have nearly the same facilities and time available. Women's international soccer is in the early, early stages around the world. USA Men don't get that same advantage.

yeah for sure. US got a huge head start with womens sports. Everyone blows the womens ice hockey team....but the only other country that knows how to play is Canada...and we lose to them every year

 

[TheNig]

I know our soccer infrastructure doesn't really develop players well, and that most of our athletic talent gets shifted into other sports by adolescence (i.e. everyone plays soccer as a kid, but it ends there), but it makes no sense that in a country of 300 million+ we can't churn out a single elite player. Soccer's not that unpopular here. It just doesn't make any sense.

Becuz all of the kids are STILL playing football and basketball.