CULTURE OF SOCCER.

People in other countries speak soccer the way people here speak football or baseball. There's no need to teach the equivalent of U9 parents in other countries the offside rule, they all already know it. Etc.

Giant professional men’s professional clubs are now fielding women’s teams. You all cry about pay for okay but don’t have a solution.

Anonymous wrote:Why does pay to play exist in the US but not Europe? It’s because in Europe there is a ton of money from the professional systems, because of the money available to athletes and marketing, TV. In the US that money is in American football, basketball, even baseball. That dynamic isn’t changing any time soon.

In Germany, the Federation invests significant amounts of money in youth soccer at grass roots level. We are talking about 150-200 euro per year per player in out of pocket costs for the parents, which covers coaching, facilities, uniforms, etc. The USSF is sitting on a big surplus and does nothing to make the grassroots soccer more affordable. Of course, Germany also has hundreds of professional clubs that run free to play academies for talented kids, but soccer is very affordable for less talented kids or late bloomers.

They have a developmental system and scouts. Poor kids from nothing have a chance. For the richer European countries, they still have scouts and kids that can’t afford to play can still play and be considered. Coaching is a legitimate full-time profession over there with years of training required. There are leagues like the minor leagues in baseball. For most of these countries, soccer is their National sport. They live and breathe it and even kids with no formal training have high technical ability, can juggle seamlessly and understand tactically because this is what families and kids play and watch.

With respect to women, I started playing soccer in this area in 1975 at 5-years old. I played travel/WAGs in the 80s, HS, college. The rest of the world did NOT have women playing. It was a men only sport. The S.American countries were machismo and women were not allowed to play soccer. In England, etc., it was a male only thing. I was at a ManU game at Old Trafford recently and 95% of the stadium was male. Nobody was in the women’s Bathroom.

The US women had a 30–year head start. The US women also were always very athletic, sports encouraged—basketball, soccer, softball, etc.

Those other countries KNOW how to develop soccer players. They are now applying their methods to the women which is why they are making serious headway. The technical/tactical training is much, much better. The system with youth academies is better. I saw the England women’s National team in residence at St. George’s. It was an amazing facility. US definitely has the edge in the women player pool, time will tell if that remains enough. I don’t like that the US women have started to copy the unsuccessful US Men’s model. They were better off having more avenues instead of DA crap and no HS/other sports.

Why does pay to play exist in the US but not Europe? It’s because in Europe there is a ton of money from the professional systems, because of the money available to athletes and marketing, TV. In the US that money is in American football, basketball, even baseball. That dynamic isn’t changing any time soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"In Europe, they have a system with professional clubs, which have professionally run youth academies."

this. The pay-to-play system here in America weed out a lot of raw talent early.

Yes this.

The child actually has to have a talent and it can’t just be the parents believing they are talented but actual professionals.

Also higher education in other countries is low cost so parents don’t need to think about scholarships

And it allows earlier child involvement. I had to start my kids in travel rather late purely because of the money end.

Anonymous wrote:"In Europe, they have a system with professional clubs, which have professionally run youth academies."

this. The pay-to-play system here in America weed out a lot of raw talent early.

Yes this.

The child actually has to have a talent and it can’t just be the parents believing they are talented but actual professionals.

Also higher education in other countries is low cost so parents don’t need to think about scholarships

There isn’t something necessarily the US is doing wrong. There are talented athletes all over the world. US was first to have huge interest in women’s game. Rest of the world is catching up. Just like men’s basketball where US once dominated but as it became popular worldwide other countries caught up. In soccer, where the rest of the world has cultural interest and history in soccer as an advantage, it’s reasonable to expect the women’s game outside the US will also surpass.

Anonymous wrote:In Europe, they have a system with professional clubs, which have professionally run youth academies. Each country has several hundred of such independent clubs. In recent years, they started to incorporate women players although on a much smaller scale. We still have advantage in the absolute number of girls playing the game, but it terms of developing technical skills we are already behind.

This. And other countries are catching on too. Mexico now has a women's league with 15 clubs - a women's counterpart for every male club they have. So if you take a club like Man City or PSG that already does soccer better than us and then they have a women's side, they will infuse the women's side with that same skill set.

Anonymous wrote:I watched the NWSL final last week and noticed that the best player was a Brazilian not named Marta. In the World Cup this past summer, the USWNT had a dominant performance but it was clear that many other countries were not only on our level but surpassing us as it relates to technical abilities. France, the UK, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Germany, etc, are clearly in strong positions. I have traveled to these countries for business and I don't know that they have a youth soccer program any where near the size of what we have here. Parents in those countries are not dedicating Saturday mornings to soccer games for their kids. Does anyone know what they are doing to develop world class players that can come to the US and win MVP in the final in the US pro league which features the country's best talent? I am certain parents are not forking out $5,000+ a year for travel soccer and yet, if you review the rosters of any elite college team, you will see that a quarter to a third of the players are international. Please, help me understand.

Please Megan Rapinoe is the best female soccer player ever! As long as the USA has her we will dominate.

"In Europe, they have a system with professional clubs, which have professionally run youth academies."

this. The pay-to-play system here in America weed out a lot of raw talent early.

A lot of those young women play college soccer in the US.

In Europe, they have a system with professional clubs, which have professionally run youth academies. Each country has several hundred of such independent clubs. In recent years, they started to incorporate women players although on a much smaller scale. We still have advantage in the absolute number of girls playing the game, but it terms of developing technical skills we are already behind.

Anonymous wrote:I watched the NWSL final last week and noticed that the best player was a Brazilian not named Marta. In the World Cup this past summer, the USWNT had a dominant performance but it was clear that many other countries were not only on our level but surpassing us as it relates to technical abilities. France, the UK, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Germany, etc, are clearly in strong positions. I have traveled to these countries for business and I don't know that they have a youth soccer program any where near the size of what we have here. Parents in those countries are not dedicating Saturday mornings to soccer games for their kids. Does anyone know what they are doing to develop world class players that can come to the US and win MVP in the final in the US pro league which features the country's best talent? I am certain parents are not forking out $5,000+ a year for travel soccer and yet, if you review the rosters of any elite college team, you will see that a quarter to a third of the players are international. Please, help me understand.

Gender reassignment

I watched the NWSL final last week and noticed that the best player was a Brazilian not named Marta. In the World Cup this past summer, the USWNT had a dominant performance but it was clear that many other countries were not only on our level but surpassing us as it relates to technical abilities. France, the UK, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Germany, etc, are clearly in strong positions. I have traveled to these countries for business and I don't know that they have a youth soccer program any where near the size of what we have here. Parents in those countries are not dedicating Saturday mornings to soccer games for their kids. Does anyone know what they are doing to develop world class players that can come to the US and win MVP in the final in the US pro league which features the country's best talent? I am certain parents are not forking out $5,000+ a year for travel soccer and yet, if you review the rosters of any elite college team, you will see that a quarter to a third of the players are international. Please, help me understand.