Travel soccer parents - you’re the reason US soccer is failing

[Anonymous]

^ yes. The pp insisting on current ranking is delusional.

[Anonymous]

Dominance by any country in a sport will eventually diminish as more people around the world participate. Look at baseball and basketball which used to be US dominated but now draw significant players from other countries. Women’s soccer should be no different. Interestingly men’s soccer is the reverse. More US players going to play in Europe is inevitable. Just like the NBA and MLB are still the premier leagues, but there are more non-US players in these leagues, so too European soccer leagues will always be the top where US players can aspire. Nothing wrong with being a feeder system for other countries the way other countries have done in sports that are more niche in their own countries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dominance by any country in a sport will eventually diminish as more people around the world participate. Look at baseball and basketball which used to be US dominated but now draw significant players from other countries. Women’s soccer should be no different. Interestingly men’s soccer is the reverse. More US players going to play in Europe is inevitable. Just like the NBA and MLB are still the premier leagues, but there are more non-US players in these leagues, so too European soccer leagues will always be the top where US players can aspire. Nothing wrong with being a feeder system for other countries the way other countries have done in sports that are more niche in their own countries

Exactly--thank you for making an intelligent contribution to this bizarre thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dominance by any country in a sport will eventually diminish as more people around the world participate. Look at baseball and basketball which used to be US dominated but now draw significant players from other countries. Women’s soccer should be no different. Interestingly men’s soccer is the reverse. More US players going to play in Europe is inevitable. Just like the NBA and MLB are still the premier leagues, but there are more non-US players in these leagues, so too European soccer leagues will always be the top where US players can aspire. Nothing wrong with being a feeder system for other countries the way other countries have done in sports that are more niche in their own countries

Exactly--thank you for making an intelligent contribution to this bizarre thread.

Yes. But most Americans don’t have a foreign passport or means to train and play in Europe during the critical years so they rely on aUS soccer to develop them and that’s where we fail.

The American males succeeding have dual citizenship and are being raised in Europe or go over to play by at least 16.

[Anonymous]

Folks, it is easy. Seek out clubs with a connection to Europe or European trainers. There is a club from France that has an operation in MoCo. They do a fantastic job training and all of the trainers are European, i.e grew up in that system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dominance by any country in a sport will eventually diminish as more people around the world participate. Look at baseball and basketball which used to be US dominated but now draw significant players from other countries. Women’s soccer should be no different. Interestingly men’s soccer is the reverse. More US players going to play in Europe is inevitable. Just like the NBA and MLB are still the premier leagues, but there are more non-US players in these leagues, so too European soccer leagues will always be the top where US players can aspire. Nothing wrong with being a feeder system for other countries the way other countries have done in sports that are more niche in their own countries

Exactly--thank you for making an intelligent contribution to this bizarre thread.

Yes. But most Americans don’t have a foreign passport or means to train and play in Europe during the critical years so they rely on aUS soccer to develop them and that’s where we fail.

The American males succeeding have dual citizenship and are being raised in Europe or go over to play by at least 16.

You can't go over to play in Europe if you are 16 and have no European passport. You have to wait until you are at least 18 unless your parents are working in Europe and can exploit one of the very narrow FIFA loopholes.

For all the claims on this thread about how American soccer fails every single kid, because allegedly every single American travel soccer coach only picks big, athletic kids and never cares anything about skill, tactics, or any other sings of soccer intelligence, that's by no means the reality in the DC area or elsewhere. There are more boys who are 18 plus heading over to Europe (or to other pro opportunities) every year. A lot of posters here have a lot of passion and soccer knowledge, but not a very clear picture of what's happening at the higher levels of boys' soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American married to Johan Cruyff’s daughter who runs the prestigious TOVO academy in Barcelona. He predicted Spain ranked 20th eclipsing US women. US women have more registered female soccer players than the entire planet combined. California alone has more players than Spain...and it’s happened.

As he said US women’s “fragile advantage in athleticism will wilt in the face of intelligence”.

We still have people denying anything is wrong. With those shocking numbers—our absolute glut of female soccer players compared to the rest of the entire World—it’s a crying shame. Same losers are running the women’s program and they have the numbers the men don’t have because they aren’t competing with Football, Baseball, Basketball. What is the women’s excuse?!?!?!!!

Oh yea, let’s blame it on the parents.

F@ck you Youth Soccer Federation. YOU are the problem, not parents. You built this myth and preyed on people unfamiliar with the sport.

I always knew you were a piece of sh@t because I grew up in a soccer household trained by the Dutch. I don’t put my kids in the system. They also trained privately for a good portion of youth until now as teens as we turned our back on the shitty travel system. But, how is your average American supposed to know you are selling a bag of lies?

I am writing my letter to the author of that article now. How dare you blame parents..and f@ck you too Hope Solo. You whiny loser, bad sport saying Sweden didn’t play pretty like you after your loss to them in the Olympics. Go beat down your nephew again.

I think you think that soccer is more important in the US than it actually is.

Soccer is a little kids sport in the US.

It is for parents of toddlers and preschoolers that want pictures to post on social media.

It is for elementary kids whose parents want to say they are on a travel team.

Soccer is a recreational sport in the US, targeted towards kids. Period.

Soccer is not a sport for older kids or a sport that people are interested in watching at the pro level.

Soccer fills an important niche as a kids sport.

That is fine PP.

Soccer is a sport you move on from as you get older, not a sport you move into or stick with.

Y’all are high. Soccer is for life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American married to Johan Cruyff’s daughter who runs the prestigious TOVO academy in Barcelona. He predicted Spain ranked 20th eclipsing US women. US women have more registered female soccer players than the entire planet combined. California alone has more players than Spain...and it’s happened.

As he said US women’s “fragile advantage in athleticism will wilt in the face of intelligence”.

We still have people denying anything is wrong. With those shocking numbers—our absolute glut of female soccer players compared to the rest of the entire World—it’s a crying shame. Same losers are running the women’s program and they have the numbers the men don’t have because they aren’t competing with Football, Baseball, Basketball. What is the women’s excuse?!?!?!!!

Oh yea, let’s blame it on the parents.

F@ck you Youth Soccer Federation. YOU are the problem, not parents. You built this myth and preyed on people unfamiliar with the sport.

I always knew you were a piece of sh@t because I grew up in a soccer household trained by the Dutch. I don’t put my kids in the system. They also trained privately for a good portion of youth until now as teens as we turned our back on the shitty travel system. But, how is your average American supposed to know you are selling a bag of lies?

I am writing my letter to the author of that article now. How dare you blame parents..and f@ck you too Hope Solo. You whiny loser, bad sport saying Sweden didn’t play pretty like you after your loss to them in the Olympics. Go beat down your nephew again.

I think you think that soccer is more important in the US than it actually is.

Soccer is a little kids sport in the US.

It is for parents of toddlers and preschoolers that want pictures to post on social media.

It is for elementary kids whose parents want to say they are on a travel team.

Soccer is a recreational sport in the US, targeted towards kids. Period.

Soccer is not a sport for older kids or a sport that people are interested in watching at the pro level.

Soccer fills an important niche as a kids sport.

That is fine PP.

Soccer is a sport you move on from as you get older, not a sport you move into or stick with.

Y’all are high. Soccer is for life

That maybe true everywhere else in the world, but not for Americans.
BTW: I don't why people think that soccer is so special, there are plenty of sports in the world that the US isn't the best at,
and we've been trying to be the best for a lot longer that we've really cared about soccer.

For example,

Hockey
Most Winter Olympic Sports
Long Distance Running

Those are just a few that come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Madonna moved to Portugal so her about to turn 13-year old soccer fanatic son, David, who wants to play professionally could train there. She is quoted as saying that the level of soccer in America is much lower than in the rest of the world. They are in Lisbon.

Damn, even Madonna has it figured out.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madonna moved to Portugal so her about to turn 13-year old soccer fanatic son, David, who wants to play professionally could train there. She is quoted as saying that the level of soccer in America is much lower than in the rest of the world. They are in Lisbon.

Damn, even Madonna has it figured out.

So the secret to U.S. soccer development isn't reaching out to underserved communities. Instead, it's to be wealthy beyond imagination so you can live wherever you want?

Yes. Because it’s pay-to-play here and it’s never going to change. So, barring having a Croatian passport like Pulisic—get a rich superstar parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madonna moved to Portugal so her about to turn 13-year old soccer fanatic son, David, who wants to play professionally could train there. She is quoted as saying that the level of soccer in America is much lower than in the rest of the world. They are in Lisbon.

Damn, even Madonna has it figured out.

So the secret to U.S. soccer development isn't reaching out to underserved communities. Instead, it's to be wealthy beyond imagination so you can live wherever you want?

Yes. Because it’s pay-to-play here and it’s never going to change. So, barring having a Croatian passport like Pulisic—get a rich superstar parent.

The point is that even Madonna thinks the quality of US soccer sucks. Madonna-ha!

[Anonymous]

He joined Benfica’s Academy.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madonna moved to Portugal so her about to turn 13-year old soccer fanatic son, David, who wants to play professionally could train there. She is quoted as saying that the level of soccer in America is much lower than in the rest of the world. They are in Lisbon.

Damn, even Madonna has it figured out.

So the secret to U.S. soccer development isn't reaching out to underserved communities. Instead, it's to be wealthy beyond imagination so you can live wherever you want?

Hit the nail on the head with reaching out to underserved communities. That's exactly what needs to happen.
Change is in the air:
https://ussoccerfoundation.org/blog/post/something-is-changing-in-soccer--something-for-the-better-
The point missed in the USF blog post is that the future world-class US players will likely come from this pool of underserved communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madonna moved to Portugal so her about to turn 13-year old soccer fanatic son, David, who wants to play professionally could train there. She is quoted as saying that the level of soccer in America is much lower than in the rest of the world. They are in Lisbon.

Damn, even Madonna has it figured out.

So the secret to U.S. soccer development isn't reaching out to underserved communities. Instead, it's to be wealthy beyond imagination so you can live wherever you want?

Hit the nail on the head with reaching out to underserved communities. That's exactly what needs to happen.
Change is in the air:
https://ussoccerfoundation.org/blog/post/something-is-changing-in-soccer--something-for-the-better-
The point missed in the USF blog post is that the future world-class US players will likely come from this pool of underserved communities.

It's funny the article also talks about how kids aren't having fun, but I'm sure gearing the system towards
finding, developing, and funneling kids who will yield a fantastic national team down the road will remedy that.

[Anonymous]

Has there been any proof whatsoever that underserved communities will have this wealth of untapped talent that will lift US soccer out of this hole? I keep seeing these analyses but what are they based on? Yes, generally widening your talent pool helps bring more talent out but that's just a theory. Is the next Nemar living in DC? I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong, US soccer should widen the pool to underserved communities as much as possible but it sounds like analysts are hanging their hat on this saving US soccer and there is much more to our lack of talent IMO.