***Official USMNT Thread***
- Thread starter ianoconnor
- Start date
The olympics are the second most important international tournament. The US should be qualifying PERIOD. There’s a reason we’re a joke in the soccer world and it’s because people don’t think these international tournaments are important.
I understand what you are getting at, but how many basketball players/teams do they have? how many football players/teams do they have? Our best athletes go into basketball or football. We really don't stand a chance until soccer gets remotely as popular in high school as basketball or football.
This is kind of an outdated argument. The US isn't outmatched athletically in these games. We simply don't have enough skilled players.
I never said it did. My point is simply that my son's favorite sport to play is soccer, he's almost 11, and the last time the USMNT played a meaningful game was when he was 4 years old. I struggle to get him to watch it. For fans like me, who keep getting told that a quality team is right around the corner, results like this make me scratch my head and just wonder how much kool aid is flowing.
Then let me be the first to tell you a quality team isn’t right around the corner. We’re back at square one right now and I bet we struggle pretty hard to qualify for the next WC.
Agreed that old argument is an excuse Americans use. I tried that on a friend of mine from England more than a decade ago. He scoffed at me. We have so many players that just don't get developed or are forgotten about. I'll always look at Des Moines as an example. The suburbs all have professional or professional-ish coaches available starting at U9. There are parent coaches that are along with them but there are still pros available. Des Moines does not. They have parent coaches. Could those kids come play in the burbs? Yeah, sure. Can they afford it? Nope. There are some scholarships available but not enough. Also, how would the kids get to training sessions?
Things need to change, the are players out there, we just don't know it/them.
How many more elite athletes is our population able to support? This argument also doesn't take into account that not all football and basketball players would even qualify to see the field.
Example the United States dominates in international swimming. I am guessing Warren Sapp doesn't have the ideal physiology to be an elite swimmer. There are enough athletes to be dominant in soccer.
The "pro coach" model in the United States is NOT about identification and development of soccer players. It is about identifying rich parents that will pay to think their kid is getting developed. It is garbage.
Doesn’t matter. The rest of the world plays soccer. We play a little bit of everything and soccer, like golf, isn’t a game that you just fit in to a “season” along with basketball, football, track, baseball, etc.
Kids in soccer countries live the life from a very very young age. They don’t do anything else. It’s a lifestyle that very few in the US live. Suburbs, Urban areas, whatever.
Nailed it. Just because you are getting trained by a “professional” coach doesn’t mean you have a future as a professional soccer player. It just means you have parents who are willing to shell out $5,000 plus dollars a year for you to be part of a team. It’s a huge challenge because so many youth clubs are just concerned with the fiefdom they’ve created and how they keep the money rolling in. It’s not impossible for elite players to develop in these scenarios, but it’s highly inefficient.
We need to figure out how to move our development model to a European style where professional clubs are running youth programs in their local communities at no/little cost to families. Let young kids play, enjoy the game, and then identify those that are truly talented, not just the ones who have parents who can pay. Get those kids on an elite development track and then let the chips fall.
MLS clubs have gotten much better with their academies, but we need to figure out how we can support USL clubs in this endeavor as well. Imagine if just in the Midwest we had the Menace, Union Omaha, Forward Madison, etc. all developing local players along with MLS clubs at no cost to families. You’d see a vastly different pool of kids playing at elite youth levels and they’d be much more talented as well. This is why it’s important to support your local team even if it’s not at the MLS level.
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I did not say that was a good thing at all. I am saying that is causing a lot of kids to get missed because they just won't play as they think it is expensive. Say West Des Moines 11 year olds played Des Moines 11 year olds multiple times and won every game 10-0. Do you think those Des Moines kids want to keep playing the game? Just because those West Des Moines kids are 'good' now does that mean they will continue to develop into some sort of star? Most likely no.
I'd prefer if MLS teams partnered up with like 4-5 different metros across the country with some financial, coaching and admin support. Player identification would get much better if kids did not have to shell out a ton of cash to be part of this.
I can assure in CBus that players are being identified and brought in to the Crew academy and they don’t pay if they can’t pay. MLS teams have a huge incentive to bring home grown players up through the ranks, both monetary and performance-wise.
I started playing year round in the burbs of chicago 30 years ago. There are plenty that have and do play. It is laughable to sit where we do. Kids specialize in nearly every sport. Multi-sport athletes are the rarity anymore.
I think this just has a LOT more to do with it. On my son's club soccer team, literally almost every parent played college soccer or is from a different country. The good kids have good parents who grew up with it.
Again, this is the model in every sport. Basketball and baseball are incredibly expensive. Much more expensive than the club soccer team my son plays on. Honestly the cheapest sport to play is football.
Pulisic scored Chelsea’s goal today in their 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.
Arguably Chelsea’s best player today. Taken off at half most likely to save him for league play. I think Chelsea could’ve taken the away leg if Tuchel kept him on.
Pulisic also set one up for Werner that was almost unmissable but he hit it middle goal and allowed Courtois to get a foot on the ball and keep it out. The second half was pretty cagey and it didn’t seem like there was much there in terms of scoring chances.
An interesting factoid I just saw, that’s the 5th time Tuchel has faced Real Madrid (2 times as head at Dortmund and twice at PSG) and he has yet to lose a match against them. Chelsea isn’t playing the wide open attacking soccer that Lampard seemed to favor, but man Tuchel has made them a tough squad to break down.
Justin Che, another FC Dallas academy product, is drawing interest from Bayern Munich. He’s been with them in Germany on a short term loan and has made 7 appearances for their reserve team. He’s 17 years old and was just added to the USMNT roster for the Switzerland friendly before the Nations League semis and final. Che spent last season with North Texas in USL League One as a 16 year old and earned Team of the Season honors.
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