Anonymous wrote:Maybe but in a country that prioritizes other sports over soccer, he may have never played soccer in the first place.

I have always thought this debate was a poor one. Top athletes play football, basketball, and baseball before soccer.

If the top 100 players alone in either football or basketball grew up playing soccer instead, we would have a dynasty. Imagine Lebron James in goal and Tyreek Hill as an attacking CM. Oh hell…NFL edition is soccer was top sport in US.

GK - AJ Brown
CB - Micah Parsons
CB- Travis Kelce
LB - Christian Mcaffrey
RB - Antoine Winfield Jr
HCM - Lamar Jackson or Mahomes
ACM - Tyreek Hill
LW - Ceedee Lamb
RW - Deebo Samual
ST - Justin Jefferson
ST - Devante Adams

A dunce argument that's only entertaining and entertained by people who don't know it takes Soccer skills to be good at soccer.

I mean, Freddy Adu knows a lot about ruining talent.

Colleges are moving focus to work rate above all else over the past couple years. Not only that, they are putting work rate over size, speed and IQ. You are not going to see that yet at the older groups but it’s coming.

The problem from what I am seeing is that IQ is now totally pushed down to last.

What USYNT and Colleges are currently looking for:
1. Work Rate
2. Speed
3. Technical Ability
4. Size
5. Endurance
6. IQ and creativity

Obviously P4 schools can weed through the players and find size and speed. Our USYNT have been taking smaller players at younger ages like I said. It’s unknown if it will carry on to U18 and up. This is both girls and boys U17 and younger I am referring to.

Anonymous wrote:I really do not know why people think soccer is for small players. Sure there are some but most professional soccer player in the big 5 leagues are average to above average in terms of height. 75-85% of the roster is 5’10” or taller. If you are a smaller player 5’9” and below you have to be very quick and fast for a professional.

People are missing what Adu is saying. He is not
talking about size. He is talking about technical skills. The US system would not know what to do with Messi because he is a very technical player with a very high speed of play(and he was incredibly fast and quick).

Maximizing that type of player requires other technically skilled players and a system that is centered around speed of play. You have to have other technical players to push you. That is not the US system. The selection and training of players is different.

100%. This is what kills me about this board. It's one thing to gripe about the technical aspects and pace of the game and this being where US is behind and lacking, but this obsession with players' heights/size here in US soccer seems to be a bit much, and definitely misses the mark. I saw a graphic, not sure how old, of the average heights of premier league teams and it ranged from about 5'10" to about 6'1". Even where defenders skew these numbers, soccer is not a sport for short people on average. So, the obsession with youth soccer in the US only caring about height/size just falls flat. I am also wondering, since everyone seems to know what the problem is with youth soccer, what is anyone here on this board trying to do, apart from complain about everything wrong, to help get on the path to changing it?

Anonymous wrote:I really do not know why people think soccer is for small players. Sure there are some but most professional soccer player in the big 5 leagues are average to above average in terms of height. 75-85% of the roster is 5’10” or taller. If you are a smaller player 5’9” and below you have to be very quick and fast for a professional.

People are missing what Adu is saying. He is not
talking about size. He is talking about technical skills. The US system would not know what to do with Messi because he is a very technical player with a very high speed of play(and he was incredibly fast and quick).

Maximizing that type of player requires other technically skilled players and a system that is centered around speed of play. You have to have other technical players to push you. That is not the US system. The selection and training of players is different.

Spot on. You're going to see OP flip though. I suspect OP is the DCUM poster obsessed with player size. He takes any opportunity to post about how being of smaller stature doesn't limit a player at all in any circumstance.

Haaland, Crouch, Mueller, Busquets, Lukaku, Pogba all players who advanced because of size and paid off.

I really do not know why people think soccer is for small players. Sure there are some but most professional soccer player in the big 5 leagues are average to above average in terms of height. 75-85% of the roster is 5’10” or taller. If you are a smaller player 5’9” and below you have to be very quick and fast for a professional.

People are missing what Adu is saying. He is not
talking about size. He is talking about technical skills. The US system would not know what to do with Messi because he is a very technical player with a very high speed of play(and he was incredibly fast and quick).

Maximizing that type of player requires other technically skilled players and a system that is centered around speed of play. You have to have other technical players to push you. That is not the US system. The selection and training of players is different.

I have a strange feeling that Messi wouldn't have been as good as he ended up without HGH.

Maybe we should just give HGH to the big early developers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe but in a country that prioritizes other sports over soccer, he may have never played soccer in the first place.

I have always thought this debate was a poor one. Top athletes play football, basketball, and baseball before soccer.

If the top 100 players alone in either football or basketball grew up playing soccer instead, we would have a dynasty. Imagine Lebron James in goal and Tyreek Hill as an attacking CM. Oh hell…NFL edition is soccer was top sport in US.

GK - AJ Brown
CB - Micah Parsons
CB- Travis Kelce
LB - Christian Mcaffrey
RB - Antoine Winfield Jr
HCM - Lamar Jackson or Mahomes
ACM - Tyreek Hill
LW - Ceedee Lamb
RW - Deebo Samual
ST - Justin Jefferson
ST - Devante Adams

Stop, just stop. You are everything that is wrong with American soccer...thinking that 6'6" 260 lbs guys are going to dominate against Messi, di Maria and others is just embarrassing yourself.

Tell me you know nothing about the NFL without telling me.


They all aren’t 6’6”. I think Kelce is the only one that is that tall. Everyone else is 6’2 or less except Mahomes. I picked these on purpose for that very reason alone genius.

Who is the one of the most respected CBs in the game?

Van Dyk. 6’5” to Kelce 6’6. Kelce would win every time in a foot race and in physically.

Ronaldo 6’2 to Jefferson at 6’1”.

Just some examples.

If these NFL players would have played soccer from a young age, we would be dominant just like in Basketball. It’s not rocket science.

You, sir, are an idiot.

Chickens for KFC! Yeah, Justin Jefferson is not as athletic or as smart as Ronaldo and Tyreek Hill or Christian Mcaffrey are too dumb to be similar to Messi. If either of those two would have played soccer instead of American football, it would have been game over.

Are you going to argue Matt Turner would have been a better Wide Receiver than AJ Brown? Or Pulisic would have been a Hall of Fame Cornerback? Tyler Adams a Hall of Fame QB? I think Messi could have been a Darren Sproles type RB. Ronaldo probably a Safety. But we literally have hundreds of these types playing football and basketball and none playing soccer. Hell I don’t think Pepe is even athletic enough to play D1 college football.

Anonymous wrote:He has a point, Colleges, ECNL, MLS Next and GA top teams seem to prefer to pick bigger & faster kids typically. I've seen 1st hand girls who could be 100m track stars show up and automatically make ECNL teams and yet they have very poor ball control.

But, here we are calling little Cavin Sullivan the next Messi and he is already signed a pro contract and follow-on Man City contract.

There is truth and fiction to this. The best elite club teams in the country tend to be pretty normal height wise, they may have a couple tall folks on the back line or wings, but otherwise they look normal as a team by distribution.

There are teams that look like they were formed by a team of genetic scientists that selected for height, and some of them have speed freaks on their team too, but height is not a great predictor of speed - and can be a negative over a certain height for the type of speed you need in football. When you watch ECNL teams at the top level, it’s fairly common for the shorter (on average) team to win. Look at Surf, Crossfire and Slammers for example - they tend to field technical, physical teams, not “BFS Athletes.”

With many many teams you’ll see that in different birth years the teams will tend to have teams that all seem a bit bigger, and then another year, there all shorter and technical. It isn’t by accident! Most of these clubs are trying their best to find and help talented youth soccer players get to college and/or the pros. They all want the bragging rights, they all want the PR of YNT and NT call-ups. And increasingly (thanks FIFA) they are seeking to get reimbursed for the club and athlete success! So the reason you see such variation is that the clubs are told by the NTs, talent id pros and pro analysts on a regular basis what sort of players they’re looking for…and…to nobody’s surprised it’s totally bipolar in nature. One year it’s BFS, another year it’s high technical MFs, etc etc. so teams are formed based on the need of the the moment, and they sort of float along as formed for 5-6 years.

I love the Messi counterfactuals, and this one an easy one for Freddy to throw out there for click farming. He had another one out there this week with the “big strong fast athlete”
trope that is just old and sour grapes as far as an excuse / reason for the US mens WC title drought

Who knows how Messi would have turned out if he grew up in the late 90s / early 2000s US soccer scene. US youth soccer is worlds better than it was, but still has room to go.

Don’t forget, Messi had to leave Argentina to get the development he wanted for his future from La Masia…so it’s not like All Boys or Argentina got it right either…

Anonymous wrote:Michael Phelps for GK!

please! Phelps is a classic #6, locked HOF worthy of it weren’t for his pot habit.

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is more than just being an athlete you should at least know that

It’s not a 1 to 1 comparison. Just cause they are elite at football doesn’t mean they would have become elite at soccer

[insert sport] is more than just being an athlete…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe but in a country that prioritizes other sports over soccer, he may have never played soccer in the first place.

I have always thought this debate was a poor one. Top athletes play football, basketball, and baseball before soccer.

If the top 100 players alone in either football or basketball grew up playing soccer instead, we would have a dynasty. Imagine Lebron James in goal and Tyreek Hill as an attacking CM. Oh hell…NFL edition is soccer was top sport in US.

GK - AJ Brown
CB - Micah Parsons
CB- Travis Kelce
LB - Christian Mcaffrey
RB - Antoine Winfield Jr
HCM - Lamar Jackson or Mahomes
ACM - Tyreek Hill
LW - Ceedee Lamb
RW - Deebo Samual
ST - Justin Jefferson
ST - Devante Adams

Stop, just stop. You are everything that is wrong with American soccer...thinking that 6'6" 260 lbs guys are going to dominate against Messi, di Maria and others is just embarrassing yourself.

Tell me you know nothing about the NFL without telling me.


They all aren’t 6’6”. I think Kelce is the only one that is that tall. Everyone else is 6’2 or less except Mahomes. I picked these on purpose for that very reason alone genius.

Who is the one of the most respected CBs in the game?

Van Dyk. 6’5” to Kelce 6’6. Kelce would win every time in a foot race and in physically.

Ronaldo 6’2 to Jefferson at 6’1”.

Just some examples.

If these NFL players would have played soccer from a young age, we would be dominant just like in Basketball. It’s not rocket science.

You, sir, are an idiot.

Yes x 10000

Anonymous wrote:Freddy knows because he was on the other end of the spectrum originally. Freddy was an early bloomer who stopped growing once entering MLS. Him pointing this out gives it even more credence because he knows damn well that he was given chances because he hit puberty early. Also, keep in mind, that in their late teens to early 20's...Freddy had a hire FIFA ranking than Messi. #fact

Early bloomer? Freddy Adu was 17-18 years old playing against 13-14 year olds. Lied about his age and karma caught up with him.