Landon Donovan was right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

Quincy Williams comes home with his gold medal for track to dominate high school football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

PP said pro. There are plenty of US soccer players who played other sports in high school and college, just like your list

These are NFL players. The top of their professional sport.
They focused heavily on another sport through high school and some through college and Still made it to the Top of their professional sport.

I would like you to put out a list of professional soccer players in the top 4 European leagues that doubled in different sports until 18 or 21

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

PP said pro. There are plenty of US soccer players who played other sports in high school and college, just like your list

These are NFL players. The top of their professional sport.
They focused heavily on another sport through high school and some through college and Still made it to the Top of their professional sport.

I would like you to put out a list of professional soccer players in the top 4 European leagues that doubled in different sports until 18 or 21

And there are MLS players who played other sports in high school in college. No one one your list played another sport professionally Europe doesn't have scholastic sports like the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

PP said pro. There are plenty of US soccer players who played other sports in high school and college, just like your list

These are NFL players. The top of their professional sport.
They focused heavily on another sport through high school and some through college and Still made it to the Top of their professional sport.

I would like you to put out a list of professional soccer players in the top 4 European leagues that doubled in different sports until 18 or 21

And there are MLS players who played other sports in high school in college. No one one your list played another sport professionally Europe doesn't have scholastic sports like the US.

😆 🤣
This goes back to the argument that soccer isn't specialized and any good athlete can do it at the highest level.
It was pointed out soccer is different.

However, there are no top soccer professionals (you are clowning with the MLS reference) that got to the top while focused on another sport whether amateur or professional.

Because you can't

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

This pretty much proves the opposite point from the one you're trying to make. The fact that these top athletes chose to play football and track simultaneously doesn't mean that they couldn't have played soccer at a high level, it shows that they chose not to. Because it's not a primary sport in America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

PP said pro. There are plenty of US soccer players who played other sports in high school and college, just like your list

These are NFL players. The top of their professional sport.
They focused heavily on another sport through high school and some through college and Still made it to the Top of their professional sport.

I would like you to put out a list of professional soccer players in the top 4 European leagues that doubled in different sports until 18 or 21

And there are MLS players who played other sports in high school in college. No one one your list played another sport professionally Europe doesn't have scholastic sports like the US.

😆 🤣
This goes back to the argument that soccer isn't specialized and any good athlete can do it at the highest level.
It was pointed out soccer is different.

However, there are no top soccer professionals (you are clowning with the MLS reference) that got to the top while focused on another sport whether amateur or professional.

Because you can't

If the NBA or NFL felt academies were economical, you'd have the same pathway here. Europe deciding 7 is a good age to specialize doesn't mean those kids couldn't easily do something on the side if their employer would let them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

PP said pro. There are plenty of US soccer players who played other sports in high school and college, just like your list

These are NFL players. The top of their professional sport.
They focused heavily on another sport through high school and some through college and Still made it to the Top of their professional sport.

I would like you to put out a list of professional soccer players in the top 4 European leagues that doubled in different sports until 18 or 21

And there are MLS players who played other sports in high school in college. No one one your list played another sport professionally Europe doesn't have scholastic sports like the US.

😆 🤣
This goes back to the argument that soccer isn't specialized and any good athlete can do it at the highest level.
It was pointed out soccer is different.

However, there are no top soccer professionals (you are clowning with the MLS reference) that got to the top while focused on another sport whether amateur or professional.

Because you can't

If the NBA or NFL felt academies were economical, you'd have the same pathway here. Europe deciding 7 is a good age to specialize doesn't mean those kids couldn't easily do something on the side if their employer would let them

You apparently have the European soccer development path to pro mixed up with China or USSR circa 1970's and 80's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

This pretty much proves the opposite point from the one you're trying to make. The fact that these top athletes chose to play football and track simultaneously doesn't mean that they couldn't have played soccer at a high level, it shows that they chose not to. Because it's not a primary sport in America.

No idiot.
It proves those sports are not specialized enough nor requires enough unique skills that they can't be both accomplished at the highest levels.

How da heck does it prove they could play soccer for Real Madrid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

+1000

I maybe need to go to Texas and Louisiana to see more kids on a Fall or Spring weekend playing football over soccer.

Because that sure ain't happening in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

I do see way more kids around here informally playing basketball and football than soccer. Every other driveway has a basketball hoop in it and kids play in the driveways after school on weekends. I see kids playing football at recess and at the schools on weekends. Again, these are informal pickup games. The only soccer I see being played is organized club games. Which is just supporting the case that basketball and football are part of the culture. Kids wear NFL jerseys, follow basketball players on socials. It's ingrained in the culture the way soccer is in Europe and South America. Is anyone making a case that soccer is part of the culture in the US in the way football and basketball or even baseball are?

Soccer jerseys are more popular in my kids schools.
So if we're going off non scientific personal observation

As for your kids playing informal football everywhere. Please make videos and post the links.

You must be living in some kind of weird soccer bubble. Even if that’s true, you must know that your experience is very exceptional in this country.

So one personal observation is more valid than another?

Everyone knows soccer is more popular in the US. All those stadiums filled with 75-100k people are watching soccer every week, not football. All those fantasy league drafts this week were for soccer, not football. Supermarkets have many chips & salsa & beer displays all over the place for the big soccer games starting this weekend. Lots of kids watch their high school soccer games, they don’t go to friday night football games. Walmart and Target have way more DC United team gear for sale than Commanders and Ravens and VT. But these observations could just be one perspective inside my soccer bubble.

What does any of that have to do with the observations of more soccer being played by kids on Saturday and Sunday around the DMV during Fall and Spring than football?

Because all the best talent goes towards the money and glory. Soccer is stuck with the leftovers and then we wonder why we can’t get better

Talk about an american bubble, wake up my dude soccer is the sport with the money and glory globally lmao!

This entire thread is about problems with soccer in the US. But you are only making my point. Outside the US, soccer is the sport with the money and the glory, which is why those countries will continue to dominate us in soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

It just demonstrates that having academies where professional clubs control kid's lives form the time they're spotted as an 8 year old until they either washout or get sold as teenagers limits a kid's ability to explore other interests

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

This pretty much proves the opposite point from the one you're trying to make. The fact that these top athletes chose to play football and track simultaneously doesn't mean that they couldn't have played soccer at a high level, it shows that they chose not to. Because it's not a primary sport in America.

No idiot.
It proves those sports are not specialized enough nor requires enough unique skills that they can't be both accomplished at the highest levels.

How da heck does it prove they could play soccer for Real Madrid?

[Anonymous]

Apparently the NFL guy is back trying to spew knowledge about soccer. Your grossly commercialized one country in the world sport with five second plays and fat guys pushing each other is about to go into regular season. Take your wisdom back over there.

[Anonymous]

yawn

[Anonymous]

He was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently the NFL guy is back trying to spew knowledge about soccer. Your grossly commercialized one country in the world sport with five second plays and fat guys pushing each other is about to go into regular season. Take your wisdom back over there.

Omaha!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every sport in USA is structured as hell, almost year-round play. There's no incentive to go out and play in the street when you have gaming inside and air conditioning. American youth is sucked up by four way more popular sports before a boy thinks of soccer after the age of 8. Girls gravitate to it because only basketball takes athletes away. Don't blame just the kids either... i see the sidelines heaving with heavy-set parents who very likey never usher their kids outside because they too sit on their phones all day.

i think everyone is trying to find fault when there is no fault. Soccer is just a fringe sport in America, it's just the way it is.

The facts are most boys would rather play basketball, baseball or football and it's likely because that's what one of their parents grew up playing or watched or whatever reason.

I agree with this. Our best athletes in the US are not choosing soccer. If we took our best athletes in the NBA and NFL and they played soccer throughout their lives, we would dominate.

It's not just that our best athletes are in the NBA and NFL. It's that all our best athletes are TRYING to be in the NBA and NFL. That 5'6'' kid whose body type would work great for soccer, but maybe not for basketball because they aren't very tall, is still playing basketball but their playing career ends in high school. Imagine if that 5'6'' kid didn't spend the first 15 years of their life trying to become a basketball player, and had started with soccer instead. Those are the players that we're missing out on because soccer isn't popular.

I call BS on this. More kids are playing organized soccer at some point than any other sport. The stats are over 3 million according to multiple sources - just above basketball. And twice as many as American football. The 5'6" kid gets pushed out of both sports and quits sports all together. His odds of going pro are slim in soccer, but they are microscopic in basketball. The problem is that at some point a short-sighted youth coach wanted to brag to his buddies about winning the U9 league and decided that the diminutive player didn't give him the best chance. This was Landon Donovan's whole point that started this thread.

We're also forgetting that most children can play high school baseball, basketball or football and still have a chance to play in college. The same can't be said for soccer, there is no free path to playing at the next level in soccer like there is in other sports.

So kids don't go from HS to college who play club soccer?

I think Pps point is that no one goes pro in soccer from college. A few do but that’s not the traditional path like it is for football and basketball

Not sure why people keep comparing the pathway to pro of soccer with other sports.
People have quit track & field as adults and transitioned to successful careers in the NFL.
People have doubled at being top performers in both baseball and football simultaneously.

That doesn't and can never exist in the soccer world.

Anyone doing that is displaying gross ignorance.

Neither have existed for years in football or baseball either. Deion Sanders was the last to make it work. I can't even think of the last track star to try and play wide reciever

Devon Allen
2 time Olympic Hurdler and Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver

Opinions aren't facts my friend

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleDe02.htm

Real great career there, really making it work. His entire NFL career was a kick return

So he didn't run hurdles and also play in the NFL?

Okay, how about
Marquise Brown
Lamar Jackson
Devin Duvernay
Stefon Diggs
Ja'Marr Chase
Marquise Goodwin
Denzel Ward
Tyreek Hill
Jalen Ramsey
Etc etc etc

This pretty much proves the opposite point from the one you're trying to make. The fact that these top athletes chose to play football and track simultaneously doesn't mean that they couldn't have played soccer at a high level, it shows that they chose not to. Because it's not a primary sport in America.

No idiot.
It proves those sports are not specialized enough nor requires enough unique skills that they can't be both accomplished at the highest levels.

How da heck does it prove they could play soccer for Real Madrid?

Name calling? Nice. It doesn't prove that those individuals could play for Real Madrid. It proves that the most athletic Americans choose sports other than soccer. You're right your sport is very special.