Jamaica vs USMNT in DC last night...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

No. Why stop telling the truth? Your crap is just that. Crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

No. Why stop telling the truth? Your crap is just that. Crap.

Facts:
There are over 40 million people in American who were born in a foreign country.

"By region of birth, immigrants from South and East Asia combined accounted for 27% of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe/Canada (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (4%)."

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/

Mexico, the Caribbean, Central & South America, the Mid East, and sub-Saharan Africa, are all soccer first regions. 57% of our immigrants come from there, which is well over 20 million. That doesn't count Europeans and those Asian countries where soccer is most popular (b/c the data didn't differentiate b/n Europe & Canada, or from Korea vs India, for example).

Also, those stats are only for people living here who were born in foreign countries. It doesn't count their kids who were born here, but still grow up in a soccer-first culture.

Add those #s to the # of native-born Americans who have adopted the sport as their #1, and the numbers start to add up.

Does it compare to England, Argentina, Spain, France, or Germany? No, but it dwarfs the total number of people in countries like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium.

So blaming our lack of success in men's international soccer and player production on a lack of popularity or interest in this country is actually what's crap. And the reason that matters is it continues to give US Soccer a pass for its piss-poor leadership. Until people realize that we can and should be doing much, much better than we are, nothing will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

No. Why stop telling the truth? Your crap is just that. Crap.

Facts:
There are over 40 million people in American who were born in a foreign country.

"By region of birth, immigrants from South and East Asia combined accounted for 27% of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe/Canada (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (4%)."

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/

Mexico, the Caribbean, Central & South America, the Mid East, and sub-Saharan Africa, are all soccer first regions. 57% of our immigrants come from there, which is well over 20 million. That doesn't count Europeans and those Asian countries where soccer is most popular (b/c the data didn't differentiate b/n Europe & Canada, or from Korea vs India, for example).

Also, those stats are only for people living here who were born in foreign countries. It doesn't count their kids who were born here, but still grow up in a soccer-first culture.

Add those #s to the # of native-born Americans who have adopted the sport as their #1, and the numbers start to add up.

Does it compare to England, Argentina, Spain, France, or Germany? No, but it dwarfs the total number of people in countries like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium.

So blaming our lack of success in men's international soccer and player production on a lack of popularity or interest in this country is actually what's crap. And the reason that matters is it continues to give US Soccer a pass for its piss-poor leadership. Until people realize that we can and should be doing much, much better than we are, nothing will change.

This proves an earlier point made in this thread. It is not about sheer numbers. It is about the ELITE atheletes and competitors not sticking with and playing soccer at the older ages. On the men’s side, most don’t. They have too many other, more lucrative options. That money is driven by a culture in the US that watches and pays more to go to college and pro football, b-ball, and baseball games. That culture is changing slowly,but there is a long way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

No. Why stop telling the truth? Your crap is just that. Crap.

Facts:
There are over 40 million people in American who were born in a foreign country.

"By region of birth, immigrants from South and East Asia combined accounted for 27% of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe/Canada (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (4%)."

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/

Mexico, the Caribbean, Central & South America, the Mid East, and sub-Saharan Africa, are all soccer first regions. 57% of our immigrants come from there, which is well over 20 million. That doesn't count Europeans and those Asian countries where soccer is most popular (b/c the data didn't differentiate b/n Europe & Canada, or from Korea vs India, for example).

Also, those stats are only for people living here who were born in foreign countries. It doesn't count their kids who were born here, but still grow up in a soccer-first culture.

Add those #s to the # of native-born Americans who have adopted the sport as their #1, and the numbers start to add up.

Does it compare to England, Argentina, Spain, France, or Germany? No, but it dwarfs the total number of people in countries like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium.

So blaming our lack of success in men's international soccer and player production on a lack of popularity or interest in this country is actually what's crap. And the reason that matters is it continues to give US Soccer a pass for its piss-poor leadership. Until people realize that we can and should be doing much, much better than we are, nothing will change.

This proves an earlier point made in this thread. It is not about sheer numbers. It is about the ELITE atheletes and competitors not sticking with and playing soccer at the older ages. On the men’s side, most don’t. They have too many other, more lucrative options. That money is driven by a culture in the US that watches and pays more to go to college and pro football, b-ball, and baseball games. That culture is changing slowly,but there is a long way to go.

IF soccer was about having the best athletes, Jamaica would be winning the WC. How athletic are Inesta, Xavi, Pirlo, Busquets, Moudric? What would be their 40 yard dash time or vertical jump number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Please. Just. Stop. Your nonsensical snark is only making you look like a fool.

We have more immigrants from Europe and South America here right now than Uruguay has people. If you don't believe they are just as passionate about soccer now as they were at home, you live in a bubble.

That alone could be enough, but there's more where they came from...

No. Why stop telling the truth? Your crap is just that. Crap.

Facts:
There are over 40 million people in American who were born in a foreign country.

"By region of birth, immigrants from South and East Asia combined accounted for 27% of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe/Canada (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (4%)."

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/

Mexico, the Caribbean, Central & South America, the Mid East, and sub-Saharan Africa, are all soccer first regions. 57% of our immigrants come from there, which is well over 20 million. That doesn't count Europeans and those Asian countries where soccer is most popular (b/c the data didn't differentiate b/n Europe & Canada, or from Korea vs India, for example).

Also, those stats are only for people living here who were born in foreign countries. It doesn't count their kids who were born here, but still grow up in a soccer-first culture.

Add those #s to the # of native-born Americans who have adopted the sport as their #1, and the numbers start to add up.

Does it compare to England, Argentina, Spain, France, or Germany? No, but it dwarfs the total number of people in countries like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium.

So blaming our lack of success in men's international soccer and player production on a lack of popularity or interest in this country is actually what's crap. And the reason that matters is it continues to give US Soccer a pass for its piss-poor leadership. Until people realize that we can and should be doing much, much better than we are, nothing will change.

This proves an earlier point made in this thread. It is not about sheer numbers. It is about the ELITE atheletes and competitors not sticking with and playing soccer at the older ages. On the men’s side, most don’t. They have too many other, more lucrative options. That money is driven by a culture in the US that watches and pays more to go to college and pro football, b-ball, and baseball games. That culture is changing slowly,but there is a long way to go.

Exactly. The culture isn’t there yet. No matter the population of x y and z who join the melting pot American culture

[Anonymous]

What does an elite soccer player have as a better option? By the time they are good enough to be in DAs and top college programs, what is their alternative? Learning how to be a point guard or a pitcher? Don't get what other options you are talking about at older ages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does an elite soccer player have as a better option? By the time they are good enough to be in DAs and top college programs, what is their alternative? Learning how to be a point guard or a pitcher? Don't get what other options you are talking about at older ages

Being an engineer or a doctor.