Landon Donovan was right

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:All of the points people are making here are interesting, but I don't think they are realistic or constructive. Soccer and youth sports in the US are different than the rest of the world. That's a strength ! We should lean into our strengths and not try to imitate something we are not and will never be. The US formula can work in other sports. It works fairly well in women's soccer. Focus on what we can be great at and design our strategy, development, and rosters based on those strengths. Differentiate based on strengths, not a watered down version of somebody else.

Women's soccer works because of title ix. Now that pro leagues are starting to gain traction in europe, I doubt the US keeps its edge on the women's side

Who cares about an edge? That is not girls soccer in the US. It is about college not pro. Most do not care if we have some national edge. The product here is different.

What product is different? How?

Women's soccer in the US is built on collegiate soccer being the end goal, if you have ever watched a college soccer match you would see that it is night and day different than what is needed to play internationally. Nobody cares about the national team. This will change however with all of these new rules coming out for collegiate sports.

Nobody cares about the national team? Hook me up with whatever cocktail you are taking to cloud reality, please.

You must be new around here, most parents on this board don't care about the successes of the national team, only if their kid can get into college.

What kind of low-brow board is this not to care about the national team?

You'll be surprised. You should dig into some of the old threads where people debate how collegiate soccer needs to change. It is the one part of the pyramid that doesn't make sense and doesn't prepare players for the international level or the pro level really. Collegiate soccer does not line up with FIFA, and when discussing the NT you're basically referencing a fraction of a percent of players, so most don't care. But to be competitive on a world stage, the game must be taught to be played the right way and players need to be developed in that manner, the way it is currently is geared toward collegiate play.

If you don't care about the national team, then you really don't care about soccer.

ok. Most incluidng those playing do not care about soccer.

Which is true when your goal is college soccer

+1

You can tell how serious a player is about going pro by whether they watch professional soccer and whether they enjoy doing that. If you’re not watching/studying, college is the goal

Not even about going Pro

If you don't really like the sport outside the social aspect, why put in so much effort?

No one said the kids don't like the sport. They love it. But the goals are to play to have fun or to paly in college. They watch the national teams but college is the end goal -- as it should be. Only an idiot would play women's pro soccer. same is true on the men's side except there is some money to be made. Neither like NFL, MLB, NBA, or even NHL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

I would argue they care more about the Olympics than soccer. Also Olympics more than Hockey.

But I have a question -- why should people care? The goal for most is a fun kid game that all kids can do. A subset of this group takes it a little more seriously and does travel. A subset of that group tries to move up in travel and play in top leagues. A subset of that group makes it to ECNL or MLSNext or GA. A subset of that group plays in college. And a small small subset of that group plus a few that opt out of college or go pro early go pro and/or play on the national team.

How is the national team relevant? Fun to watch and talk about, sure but why would people care beyond that?

There are people in Europe and South America that don't care about their national soccer teams much.

But, they ain't gonna be spending thousands of dollars and driving/flying miles every year for soccer

They ain't got the income of the people in the US spending that money. On the girls side it is a rich girl sport. Not a hardship. And it helps with college and is fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

That is why parents with serious players who do want to go pro aren’t on this forum or don’t listen to what is on this forum.

They just focus on their kids development and keep them in clubs where they are improving and learning, getting plenty of playing time, and competing against hopefully high level of competition.

And their kids are not on social media because they know the ability to withstand the grind and become resilient comes from the kid’s desire and work ethic, and not from the likes or exposure or wins, etc.

Or the parents of kids who actually are serious come here for a good laugh once in a while

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

I would argue they care more about the Olympics than soccer. Also Olympics more than Hockey.

But I have a question -- why should people care? The goal for most is a fun kid game that all kids can do. A subset of this group takes it a little more seriously and does travel. A subset of that group tries to move up in travel and play in top leagues. A subset of that group makes it to ECNL or MLSNext or GA. A subset of that group plays in college. And a small small subset of that group plus a few that opt out of college or go pro early go pro and/or play on the national team.

How is the national team relevant? Fun to watch and talk about, sure but why would people care beyond that?

There are people in Europe and South America that don't care about their national soccer teams much.

But, they ain't gonna be spending thousands of dollars and driving/flying miles every year for soccer

They ain't got the income of the people in the US spending that money. On the girls side it is a rich girl sport. Not a hardship. And it helps with college and is fun.

So it costs them less/nothing and they still aren't gonna be doing all the traveling etc if they don't love soccer

btw... why do rich girls need soccer to go to college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

I would argue they care more about the Olympics than soccer. Also Olympics more than Hockey.

But I have a question -- why should people care? The goal for most is a fun kid game that all kids can do. A subset of this group takes it a little more seriously and does travel. A subset of that group tries to move up in travel and play in top leagues. A subset of that group makes it to ECNL or MLSNext or GA. A subset of that group plays in college. And a small small subset of that group plus a few that opt out of college or go pro early go pro and/or play on the national team.

How is the national team relevant? Fun to watch and talk about, sure but why would people care beyond that?

There are people in Europe and South America that don't care about their national soccer teams much.

But, they ain't gonna be spending thousands of dollars and driving/flying miles every year for soccer

They ain't got the income of the people in the US spending that money. On the girls side it is a rich girl sport. Not a hardship. And it helps with college and is fun.

You think only people in America have income/money? 😂🤣😆

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

That is why parents with serious players who do want to go pro aren’t on this forum or don’t listen to what is on this forum.

They just focus on their kids development and keep them in clubs where they are improving and learning, getting plenty of playing time, and competing against hopefully high level of competition.

And their kids are not on social media because they know the ability to withstand the grind and become resilient comes from the kid’s desire and work ethic, and not from the likes or exposure or wins, etc.

ok -- I will engage. parents with kids that want to go pro? So you are talking about a few hundred kids across the whole country? With maybe 10 in this area? They can go overseas or they play ECNL or MLSNext. Those are the only options. The clubs you mention do not turn kids pro. They certainly are not going against the top talent unless they are ECNL or MLSNext. And it is those kids that I have seen that are heavily on social media. Lot at the girls youth national teams -- all have large social media footprints because that is how you get the endorsement deals.

I posted the above but was not the one who mentioned any clubs. And I’m only referring to boys. But to your point, I don’t disagree. If your DS can’t get on an MLSNext/ECNL team with substantial playing time (or maybe an adult semi pro+ team) by a certain age, I would crush that pro dream.

FWIW, I’m not opining on which league has the better players. MLSNExt is a more productive path in that assuming DS gets playing them, they will have a more opportunities to compete against academy teams and gauge whether they are competitive. Plus the local MLS academies scout MLSNext teams more.

But if you have great coaching on an ECNL team and you are a baller, I think that’s a solid path as well.

The “serious” players we know of who have realistic pro potential have very little social media presence (if any).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

That is why parents with serious players who do want to go pro aren’t on this forum or don’t listen to what is on this forum.

They just focus on their kids development and keep them in clubs where they are improving and learning, getting plenty of playing time, and competing against hopefully high level of competition.

And their kids are not on social media because they know the ability to withstand the grind and become resilient comes from the kid’s desire and work ethic, and not from the likes or exposure or wins, etc.

Or the parents of kids who actually are serious come here for a good laugh once in a while

Word

[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:All of the points people are making here are interesting, but I don't think they are realistic or constructive. Soccer and youth sports in the US are different than the rest of the world. That's a strength ! We should lean into our strengths and not try to imitate something we are not and will never be. The US formula can work in other sports. It works fairly well in women's soccer. Focus on what we can be great at and design our strategy, development, and rosters based on those strengths. Differentiate based on strengths, not a watered down version of somebody else.

Women's soccer works because of title ix. Now that pro leagues are starting to gain traction in europe, I doubt the US keeps its edge on the women's side

Who cares about an edge? That is not girls soccer in the US. It is about college not pro. Most do not care if we have some national edge. The product here is different.

What product is different? How?

Women's soccer in the US is built on collegiate soccer being the end goal, if you have ever watched a college soccer match you would see that it is night and day different than what is needed to play internationally. Nobody cares about the national team. This will change however with all of these new rules coming out for collegiate sports.

Nobody cares about the national team? Hook me up with whatever cocktail you are taking to cloud reality, please.

You must be new around here, most parents on this board don't care about the successes of the national team, only if their kid can get into college.

What kind of low-brow board is this not to care about the national team?

You'll be surprised. You should dig into some of the old threads where people debate how collegiate soccer needs to change. It is the one part of the pyramid that doesn't make sense and doesn't prepare players for the international level or the pro level really. Collegiate soccer does not line up with FIFA, and when discussing the NT you're basically referencing a fraction of a percent of players, so most don't care. But to be competitive on a world stage, the game must be taught to be played the right way and players need to be developed in that manner, the way it is currently is geared toward collegiate play.

If you don't care about the national team, then you really don't care about soccer.

ok. Most incluidng those playing do not care about soccer.

Which is true when your goal is college soccer

+1

You can tell how serious a player is about going pro by whether they watch professional soccer and whether they enjoy doing that. If you’re not watching/studying, college is the goal

Not even about going Pro

If you don't really like the sport outside the social aspect, why put in so much effort?

No one said the kids don't like the sport. They love it. But the goals are to play to have fun or to paly in college. They watch the national teams but college is the end goal -- as it should be. Only an idiot would play women's pro soccer. same is true on the men's side except there is some money to be made. Neither like NFL, MLB, NBA, or even NHL.

What kind of dollar bills did you grow up sucking on?

Only an idiot would do something they love that brings them joy and satisfaction because it may not have a top 10% income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

That is why parents with serious players who do want to go pro aren’t on this forum or don’t listen to what is on this forum.

They just focus on their kids development and keep them in clubs where they are improving and learning, getting plenty of playing time, and competing against hopefully high level of competition.

And their kids are not on social media because they know the ability to withstand the grind and become resilient comes from the kid’s desire and work ethic, and not from the likes or exposure or wins, etc.

Or the parents of kids who actually are serious come here for a good laugh once in a while

or to toll a little bit because the work day gets boring at times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

I would argue they care more about the Olympics than soccer. Also Olympics more than Hockey.

But I have a question -- why should people care? The goal for most is a fun kid game that all kids can do. A subset of this group takes it a little more seriously and does travel. A subset of that group tries to move up in travel and play in top leagues. A subset of that group makes it to ECNL or MLSNext or GA. A subset of that group plays in college. And a small small subset of that group plus a few that opt out of college or go pro early go pro and/or play on the national team.

How is the national team relevant? Fun to watch and talk about, sure but why would people care beyond that?

There are people in Europe and South America that don't care about their national soccer teams much.

But, they ain't gonna be spending thousands of dollars and driving/flying miles every year for soccer

There are a lot of things besides soccer we in the US spend thousands of dollars on that people would be surprised. I don't want to say how much I've spent doing to Disney World 2 times. It's the American way. If you got it spend it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is the reality that makes the true soccer people so mad. The reality is that soccer just isn't that important to most people in this country. The youth and college structures reflect that. Most parents are perfectly happy with the way things are and will continue to pay to play all the way to college. They don't care about the soccer national team any more than they care about how many medals the swimmers win in the olympics.

I would argue they care more about the Olympics than soccer. Also Olympics more than Hockey.

But I have a question -- why should people care? The goal for most is a fun kid game that all kids can do. A subset of this group takes it a little more seriously and does travel. A subset of that group tries to move up in travel and play in top leagues. A subset of that group makes it to ECNL or MLSNext or GA. A subset of that group plays in college. And a small small subset of that group plus a few that opt out of college or go pro early go pro and/or play on the national team.

How is the national team relevant? Fun to watch and talk about, sure but why would people care beyond that?

There are people in Europe and South America that don't care about their national soccer teams much.

But, they ain't gonna be spending thousands of dollars and driving/flying miles every year for soccer

There are a lot of things besides soccer we in the US spend thousands of dollars on that people would be surprised. I don't want to say how much I've spent doing to Disney World 2 times. It's the American way. If you got it spend it.

Actually, the American way is spend what you ain't got, while pretending you do.

Hence most are in debt and majority are 2 paychecks away from homelessness and most can't afford a medical emergency.

[Anonymous]

What's so funny about the love for American Football being the greatest and most popular sport, are all the studies and research that proves in over a 3hr 30min game, there is only 11-17 minutes of action with the ball.

ELEVEN minutes of scripted plays in 3 1/2 hrs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's so funny about the love for American Football being the greatest and most popular sport, are all the studies and research that proves in over a 3hr 30min game, there is only 11-17 minutes of action with the ball.

ELEVEN minutes of scripted plays in 3 1/2 hrs

you know how much commercial you can put between plays, so soccer sucks, totally not American sport. I even cannot buy beer or food they just play and play, I hate that. Still I go and buy something a few time per half I cannot just watch without eating and drinking i am not a dump European. And people really enjoy watching me going back and forth more than that stupid game without long pauses.

[Anonymous]

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.

That’s your problem right there…you think it’s all about just being an athlete….anyhow the USA is huge…we still dwarf other countries for kids who participate in soccer believe it or not…we lose against Panama despite having so many more soccer players to choose from…you Americans make me laugh

[Anonymous]

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.

That’s your problem right there…you think it’s all about just being an athlete….anyhow the USA is huge…we still dwarf other countries for kids who participate in soccer believe it or not…we lose against Panama despite having so many more soccer players to choose from…you Americans make me laugh

The USA is at a disadvantage.

We don't have the money and facilities to compete with the rest of the world