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: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?

[Anonymous]

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

Basketball is a national path through a very few handful of high schools (who recruit kids from club). Most recruiting is through showcase tournaments and through EYBL and other top leagues. I.e. just like soccer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fund the top-level academies, as MLS clubs are doing now. Solicit sponsors to fund clubs in non-MLS areas. Turn ODP into a program that ensures kids in Idaho and Wyoming have a chance to make it.

(No, promotion/relegation won't magically mean a bunch of clubs pop up out of nowhere in the hopes that they'll produce three Christian Pulisics so they can pay the bills in an effort to advance from USL League Two to play MLS games in their crap high school stadium.)

Slash senior national team salaries, which are higher than our peer countries, to fund academies.

Keep rec soccer cheap.

Cut out everything else.

NCSL? EDP? Go completely rec. Don't pay coaches to prance around on the sidelines, looking to hop to another club as soon as they get the opportunity.

Hire *trainers* within clubs, sure. Let them work with as many kids as possible. Assemble All-Star teams twice a season to play in tournaments that are currently populated by "travel" teams. Other than that, let parents coach.

That's how you get rid of "pay to play."

That's how you avoid cutting kids at age 8 because their parents can't pay $3,000/year or because they hit a growth spurt just in time to look clumsy at a cattle-call U9 tryout. (I know a kid who had a growth spurt like that and didn't make "travel" at a big club at U9. He's signed to play D1 now. So what was the point of that tryout?)

Otherwise, Landon's just spitting into the wind. I don't blame him -- he's just now getting a first-hand view of the system from a parent's perspective. But it's going to take a major structural change to make anything happen.

in what word does US soccer have the power to dictate what private leagues can and cannot exist?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people really arguing that soccer is somehow different than the other sports, more complicated, harder to master, and that's why dynamics that work fine in this country for football and basketball and baseball and tennis and golf and hockey and lacrosse and gymnastics and all the other sports we are competitive against the rest of the world, but those same dynamics don't work in soccer because it's harder to master and complicated? Same parents, same money culture, same winning mentality, it works for everything except soccer and that's the reason?

I think some of those sports aren’t relevant to the conversation but yes, it’s a factor among many factors.

Would also add that the global bar is raised much higher by others' singular focus on soccer. Most European and South American kids grow up knowing one sport and one sport only. They don't dabble in other sports - competitively at least. We have the variety and some would argue luxury to have a boatload of choices. The US sports landscape produces great athletes...not pure masters of soccer. You don't have to be a freak athlete to play soccer at the highest level. Look at the guys on Barcelona and other clubs. Athletic in a fitness and skills sense. But none of those guys are winning a decathlon.

Guess you didn't see all those athletes from the countries you say only play one sport at the Olympics not playing soccer

Kids, this is what an idiotic douche looks like. Don't be like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people really arguing that soccer is somehow different than the other sports, more complicated, harder to master, and that's why dynamics that work fine in this country for football and basketball and baseball and tennis and golf and hockey and lacrosse and gymnastics and all the other sports we are competitive against the rest of the world, but those same dynamics don't work in soccer because it's harder to master and complicated? Same parents, same money culture, same winning mentality, it works for everything except soccer and that's the reason?

I think some of those sports aren’t relevant to the conversation but yes, it’s a factor among many factors.

Would also add that the global bar is raised much higher by others' singular focus on soccer. Most European and South American kids grow up knowing one sport and one sport only. They don't dabble in other sports - competitively at least. We have the variety and some would argue luxury to have a boatload of choices. The US sports landscape produces great athletes...not pure masters of soccer. You don't have to be a freak athlete to play soccer at the highest level. Look at the guys on Barcelona and other clubs. Athletic in a fitness and skills sense. But none of those guys are winning a decathlon.

Guess you didn't see all those athletes from the countries you say only play one sport at the Olympics not playing soccer

I don't think anyone ever said that soccer is going to dominate the sports landscape. Believe it or not, gynmastics, swimming, track and field, etc. will continue to exist and highlight their own unique set of skills. All of those athletes trained for over a decade daily to get to the Olympics. The same singular focus is required to be a high level pro in soccer.

[Anonymous]

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

[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: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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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

[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: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

[Anonymous]

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

Basketball is a national path through a very few handful of high schools (who recruit kids from club). Most recruiting is through showcase tournaments and through EYBL and other top leagues. I.e. just like soccer

28 million American kids are registered to play basketball every year. 2nd place at the Olympics went to France with 750,000. The US might have won, but it's not because of some sort of magical training system. It's numbers. Which is basically the same approach that US Soccer takes. We're not looking for quality. We're letting anyone train and hoping enough kids "survive" to make it big.

The pay to play model is there for all sports in the US. It works for some (swimming) and doesn't for others (Soccer). At this point though, I don't think that you could point to a sport where the US does it better than everyone. American football? Maybe if anyone else played it. Swimming? Australia crushes it on a per capita basis.

As for soccer, the landscape is absolute trash as Landon says. The objective is and always has been to extract value out of families rather than invest in the future. Parents pay for an experience.

[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

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

[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.

+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!

[Anonymous]

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

Basketball is a national path through a very few handful of high schools (who recruit kids from club). Most recruiting is through showcase tournaments and through EYBL and other top leagues. I.e. just like soccer

28 million American kids are registered to play basketball every year. 2nd place at the Olympics went to France with 750,000. The US might have won, but it's not because of some sort of magical training system. It's numbers. Which is basically the same approach that US Soccer takes. We're not looking for quality. We're letting anyone train and hoping enough kids "survive" to make it big.

The pay to play model is there for all sports in the US. It works for some (swimming) and doesn't for others (Soccer). At this point though, I don't think that you could point to a sport where the US does it better than everyone. American football? Maybe if anyone else played it. Swimming? Australia crushes it on a per capita basis.

As for soccer, the landscape is absolute trash as Landon says. The objective is and always has been to extract value out of families rather than invest in the future. Parents pay for an experience.

It is so ridiculous when people say this. The number of families who care about the USMNT and creating a pipeline for them to be competitive is approaching zero. Families want their own kids to have a good experience, making the US landscape better for the one kid who may come out of their region every decade is not their concern