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

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

AND the short attention span of fans of that culture that think the game must be wack if there are only a few goals

on top of this, most people don't appreciate the moves players make inbetween touches or understand the roles other players play

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

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.

I don't know man...if you add in that nature of black/latino culture in USA soccer, it'll be a wrap.

Imagine all these black kids with those innate dancing influenced moves out there shaking white dudes from the suburbs on the pitch

 

[Malta]

Basically, once black kids start taking this shyt seriously, its a wrap.

USA training resources are unmatched by most of the world.

Yeah, this is why I don't get it when people try to bring up African nations or Brazil when they question whether not African Americans would excel at soccer. They are neglecting one major difference between African Americans and black people from other parts of the world, most high schools in the US have weight rooms, even if it's crude ones.

These high flying dunkers and ridiculously fast kids in football got that way through natural ability yeah, but also using the weight room. America puts out heavier/bigger athletes that retain their speed & agility.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Yeah, this is why I don't get it when people try to bring up African nations or Brazil when they question whether not African Americans would excel at soccer. They are neglecting one major difference between African Americans and black people from other parts of the world, most high schools in the US have weight rooms, even if it's crude ones.

These high flying dunkers and ridiculously fast kids in football got that way through natural ability yeah, but also using the weight room. America puts out heavier/bigger athletes that retain their speed & agility.

Precisely.

US training resources, combined with the innate desire for showmanship in the black community, and a sport that showcase ultimate endurance? Mannnnn it'd be MURDER out here.

 

[Marvel]

at people acting like athletic ability isn't important when most of the best football players of all time combine athletic ability and great skill. Like Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, C. Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, etc were no amazing athletes known for pace/speed and quickness. Like Ronaldinho was not the most athletic and most skilled player on the field when he was in his prime. That '98 world cup and 2000 Euro french team was full of fast, big athletes with high level skill. Same with many of Brazil's team. You can tell who on this thread are not athletic by the way they shoot down the advantage that athleticism can bring to the game of football.

 

[kingofnyc]

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2014/06/18/soccer-not-a-level-playing-field-for-girls-in-brazil/

Still, you just have to look at the numbers to see that not all is well. According to a global survey by FIFA, women made up for less than 1% of the two million registered soccer players in Brazil in 2006—they don’t even appear to have done a more recent study on women’s participation in soccer. In comparison, almost 40% of the registered players in the U.S. were women. While in the U.S., the majority of the players were under age 18, in Brazil the opposite happened. The U.S. had six times more women’s soccer clubs in 2006.

How can Brazil, a country that lives and breathes soccer, shut out girls like this?

“The problem is purely cultural,” says Luciane Castro, a sports journalist and member of a commission formed by Brazil’s sports ministry in 2012 to find ways to improve the visibility of women’s soccer in the country.

“We live in a macho society, where not only men, but also women, including mothers, tell girls at a young age that soccer is a boy’s thing.” Ironically, Brazilian women made up 53% of the country’s viewership of the 2010 World Cup.

“The problem with women’s soccer in Brazil is lack of infrastructure and investment, not only at the national level, but also locally,” said Daiane Bagé, a member of Brazil’s national team, who saw many friends at Santos become unemployed overnight.



Even in a more developed country like England, women were banned from playing soccer until 1971.

aight breh... i stand corrected
u learn something every day


and not to throw salt on this but... to make analogy
just as the article states
Brazilian mothers tell their daughters soccer is a boy thing
home grown American fathers tell their sons soccer is a kid/girl thing

 

[Marvel]

Yeah, this is why I don't get it when people try to bring up African nations or Brazil when they question whether not African Americans would excel at soccer. They are neglecting one major difference between African Americans and black people from other parts of the world, most high schools in the US have weight rooms, even if it's crude ones.

These high flying dunkers and ridiculously fast kids in football got that way through natural ability yeah, but also using the weight room. America puts out heavier/bigger athletes that retain their speed & agility.

Exactly, give Ghana the US resources from the youth level and up and they will be a top 3 team every world cup. One thing with Ghana is that they play with pride for country. Nigerian players only care at the junior team level because they want to sign to a European club, once they are making it big time, they can give a damn about putting in work for the senior team. Even the Nigerian national team has a quota system based on ethnicity to prevent a certain ethnicity from dominating the team. Its a lot of politics behind the scene that people don't realize that hurts certain African teams.

 

[Carlos Huerta]

at people acting like athletic ability isn't important when most of the best football players of all time combine athletic ability and great skill. Like Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, C. Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, etc were no amazing athletes known for pace/speed and quickness. Like Ronaldinho was not the most athletic and most skilled player on the field when he was in his prime. That '98 world cup and 2000 Euro french team was full of fast, big athletes with high level skill. Same with many of Brazil's team. You can tell who on this thread are not athletic by the way they shoot down the advantage that athleticism can bring to the game of football.

nobody said that. Who are you arguing with?

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

More and more idiotic posts about "our best athletes play other sports :derp: ".

Have y'all seen any of the African teams? Some of these guys look like cornerbacks in the NFL, yet the continent of Africa has not had an African nation represented in the finals of the World Cup.

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ATHLETICISM. That rhetoric is an arrogant line of thinking, and coincides with the deep-rooted belief that the "strongest, fastest, biggest" are always best.

Spain, who dominated the international scene for the past 6 years barely have any speed, strength, or height. Literally, they have 2 guys that are taller than 6' (Busquets and Pique), yet they still have been dominant. The best player in the world in Messi is 5'7 on a good day.

IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ATHLETICISM.

Ok...Fine......Once we get the technique down at an early age, and you couple that with the athleticism.........Now whay yall gon do?

 

[TTT]

Athleticism is one facet of the game but for every great player who relied on pace/speed etc you can easily find other greats who were not fast at all. Zidane,Pirlo,Bergkamp,Xavi, Raul etc. There are players and teams that rely on athleticism and others that rely on ball possession and skill. Zidane at 34 shat all over Brazil with Ronaldinho,Kaka who were all faster than him, there are many French players who came after him but none ever came close to him.The Algerian coach rejected Zidane because he thought he was too slow. The fact that we are talking about a global game means there are different sub-cultures you can find in the game and different ways countries, clubs and regions approach the game. Ghana can be given monetary resources the US has but it will not match the organization of the German game or its football structures through the Bundesliga , the football education taking place in and against other top European teams will be better than what they get at home. I cannot remember the last European team to win a FIFA youth tournament or even gold at the Olympics and yet due to their strategy of development through their club teams can match whatever Brazil,Argentina and African countries that do well in those tournaments. Spain was somewhat fortuitous in that Barca's dominance coincided with the maturity and responsibility given to Xavi and Iniesta for the team and how that translated to the NT.

 

[Mikael Blowpiff]

america plays sports.

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

and I bet this school got an all black football team. we have a school like this in socal called notre dame and all they do is recruit inner city kids. how come they can't offer scholarships to the mexicans for soccer, is all Im sayin. mexicans are ALWAYS at the park playing soccer the way black kids are playing basketball. makes no sense. maybe all the scholarships are used on the inner city kids for basketball and football, I dunno.

If the soccer program generates positive revenue, then they should offer those Mexican kid schollies....But if it does not, then you have your answer

 

[storyteller]

It's improving...they've had some really solid performances over seas but nothing sustained (not counting Tim Howard whose put together a truly great career). Dempsey, Altidore and Bradley have all had some success overseas (not sure wtf happened to Altidore this year). If you count Green (really shouldn't though), he's got huge hype. I think it's coming though...Klinsmann is pushing for US players to play against top competition and US franchises are bringing over former stars, bringing back successful US players from Euro clubs and helping the sport grow on American soil. So with more interest and focus on the sport, some stars are gonna pop up.

That said, a lot of the teams I faced in college (including my own) put more focus on athleticism than tactics. It was more kick and chase than build up. With the mentality of focusing on physical ability over skills and intelligent play, I'm not surprised at all that the US doesn't have many really skillful star types.

 

[606onit]

We some beasts on the mic tho

 

[BLAZO da GAWD]

Ok...Fine......Once we get the technique down at an early age, and you couple that with the athleticism.........Now whay yall gon do?

Outside of watching Team USA on TV, what experiences do you have with the sport? (Serious question)