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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Olympics routinely shows that we have the best athletes. We don't have the best soccer players. That comes down to knowhow, culture, hunger, and system structure. A significant issue is the microwave society we live in. Everyone wants to win NOW. That results in picking big, fast kids - early developers usually. When those kids can no longer rely on their size and strength, they come what most who truly know the game recognized they would be all along - average. Nobody looked at Phil Foden or Kevin DeBruyne as kids and thought they were physically gifted or dominant as youth. They saw game IQ, potential, and dedication to excellence. In the US, those kids get put on the second team and forgotten in favor of the kid who is six inches taller and can score with raw size and few skills or smarts.  We're great at collecting U11 trophies and not much afterward. (See SYC.)[/quote]
What you are describing also happens in other sports. You don't think coaches are choosing the biggest and fastest basketball and football U11 kids in order to win NOW? They are but somehow we are still able to excel in other sports. Same microwave society works fine for all these other sports but not soccer?[/quote]
The difference being that there are plenty of 5'6" mens professional soccer players around the world. Same can't be said for the other sports. We push the smaller kids aside because they weren't big enough at age 12.  Lest we forget the game is played on the ground. I'd also argue that reentry to the game is easier in basketball and football than it is soccer. Once a kid gets pushed out or not advanced in club soccer, the kid and the parents really have to navigate the political beast that is youth club soccer. Coaches in other sports will look at a kid with open eyes if he fits the team. Not saying there aren't politics there as well, just not as much. There are also pathways through HS and AAU in basketball. Youth soccer is dominated by clubs that are political beasts. Not tall, not rich, and not connected - long hill to climb in US youth soccer. [/quote]

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