Reply to US 23 fail to qualify for Olympics

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why is it assumed that the US should have a competitive international soccer team? Soccer is probably a third tier sport in this country (at least on the men’s side). That’s why it is pay to play. No money in it. That’s why top US athletes choose to play other sports. That’s why there’s no money in it. You see it’s a circle that is unlikely to change. [/quote]

Stop with the top athletes choose other sports nonsense. We are just not a good soccer nation. It is just that simple. [/quote]

I mean, they’re related points, right? [/quote]

No they are not. Our kids are introduced to the game very late. Our kids don't watch high level soccer. People like you continue to believe soccer is like any other America sport that requires sheer athleticism. Our biggest problem with competing Internationally is we are soccer illiterate and ignorant as a nation.

Soccer requires all players with the tactical knowledge and IQ of a Quarterback and we keep believing we need nothing more than our best running backs to play.

So many of our sports put the decision making process in the hands of a few and the rest are simply expected to execute. Soccer requires individuals to make the correct decision for the moment. And there are many, many decisions a player makes in a given match. No matter how technical, fast, strong or skilled if your collective players make more bad decisions than the other team you will lose every time.

Youth coaches who collect young fast kids and limit their tactical awareness by simplifying the game and reducing it to a couple of fast players will never learn to make the best decisions more consistently when under pressure. U9-U14 success can be exploited by nothing more than coaching the team to ultimately "get the ball to the fast kid".

We don't have teams that play patiently, methodically move the ball into the final third and control and possess there. Instead most teams get the ball to mid field and are happy to send a ball for a track meet between a forward and a outside back, and hope for a goal or a cross. Reset and do it again.

Well what happens when every player on the field is just as fast? What happens when they are also just as skilled? That is when you need actual thinking players who understand the game to excel. As a nation we lack the patience at the youth level to take lumps in order to learn the game. We also have a misguided belief that at U9-U12 kids should focus on the the skill/technical part of the game. That the tactical can wait until later. Well, everywhere else in the world kids by 9 years old have the technical skills and they are learning tactics by that age. They have watched quality soccer and are learning the proper tactics in order to advance. Even by 9 years old our kids are woefully behind many nations. [/quote]

I fully agree with this.  In fact, when the US has done well in international competitions, it's because they knew they could not compete the way the above poster describes.  They must play a more "American" way and that is OK.  They play solid defense with counter attacking football and a few great athletes.  If USA thinks it's going to roll into the next World Cup with Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, et al and just ping it around like Man City then, they are sadly mistaken.  I'm afraid coach Gregg will put them in a poor position to win though from what I've seen so far.[/quote]

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