Anonymous wrote:The problem is that the best sandwiches and pizza, like soccer players, are made with passion at home, not at a for profit business.

Nothing the USSF can do about that cultural problem. If we had that level of passion as a percentage of population as the European and South American countries, we’d be doing much better and you’d be hailing USSFs genius.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Passion and culture is such a cop out. All the passion in the world doesn’t help if you can afford to pay, or travel, if the coaching you get is terrible, or if the development pathway for you to improve is nonexistent.

How many coaches in the current system would actively push their best player to a better development environment? Hardly any - they would keep the player in their club, use them to win games and tournaments (yay - gotsoccer points!) and try to use that player to attract others so their team could win more games. The system is not set up for player development. Everyone is fighting over access to parent checkbooks.

We have enough families with “passion” for soccer to fill the countries that are smaller and better than us. You are telling me we don’t have enough soccer families in all of the US to match the population of Iceland, Uruguay, Croatia, Netherlands? We are almost 20x the size of the Netherlands. We have not come close to developing a single player that would be in the top 100 Dutch players of the past few decades.

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that the best sandwiches and pizza, like soccer players, are made with passion at home, not at a for profit business.

Nothing the USSF can do about that cultural problem. If we had that level of passion as a percentage of population as the European and South American countries, we’d be doing much better and you’d be hailing USSFs genius.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Korea is the the finals of U20 world cup. Are they known for soccer culture comparable to SA or Europe? This is the country of immigrants, we have millions of US citizens that immigrated from South America, Europe, Africa with soccer culture ingrained in them and taught to their kids.

The problem is that the best sandwiches and pizza, like soccer players, are made with passion at home, not at a for profit business.

Nothing the USSF can do about that cultural problem. If we had that level of passion as a percentage of population as the European and South American countries, we’d be doing much better and you’d be hailing USSFs genius.

Correlation does not equal causation.

USSF and US Soccer are 95% to blame for where the game is. They have done little to provide intelligent guidance, player development framework, real coaching education, or much else. They do a great job of collecting fees though.

The pay to play model sucks, leaving all the work to be done by nonprofit neighborhood clubs and it’s made worse by the disorganization of various states and the explosion of “elite” leagues and ridiculous travel distances.

A nationwide structure would be a start - with structured movement from recreation to local travel, to regional travel, to national level. Mandatory coach training - not 700 courses that are basically a worthless couple of tests - actual training in how they want the game taught and played, how they want players developed.

Until we get beyond the obsession with team success at every level we will not truly develop players the way we should. Abroad the focus is developing players (so they can sell them). Here it is on developing teams, so they can get people to pay, attract better players from other clubs. To expect great player development from our system is like getting mad that you ordered a sandwich at a deli and you didn’t get a pizza.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

LOL, can't see the forest for the trees.

The country is changing, but the US is nothing like European and South American countries when it comes to how we regard soccer. Period.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Yes. I have been hearing this argument since I was a kid in the 70s...and back then it was certainly plausible. You couldn't get foreign matches on TV and kids and adults certainly weren't walking around in FIFA jerseys like I see EVERYWHERE these days, even rappers wear them.

I have heard the same lame argument about the men 'we started later than all the other countries' which, ironically, the it's the exact opposite for the us women 'they started much earlier than all the other countries'.

Nobody watches MLS because its not good soccer and it's not exciting. Period. We have a shitty youth soccer development and lots of politics (on full display by Berthalter's choices). Period. We lock too many kids out of the sport because of the amount of travel and the exorbitant cost to play. Period. We focus to much on little kid wins and do the kids a disservice by cutting young and not developing. Period. Kids get burned out and leave the sport. Period.

Anonymous wrote:Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

The US has enough people playing soccer to support a strong club system, certainly more than Uruguay (total population 3.4 million) and Croatia (total population 4.25 million). Total MLS TV revenues in the US ($90 million a year) is only a fraction of the $167 million a year for the Premier League (in the US only, BTW). There's room for soccer in the US to be a lot stronger and still be a relatively "minor" sport. Seems like the real problem is people are shrugging at the mediocre product US Soccer is selling them.

Quote of the article “The “small sport” myth keeps American soccer mired in mediocrity”

That’s one hell of a myth to be able to keep the country mired in mediocrity. Maybe the simpler explanation is correct, that most play soccer to be active and not as a primary sport. We don’t have 24 million good soccer players in this country, or even 3 million. we may have those numbers recreationally, but these are not die hards, sorry. When World Cup parties come anywhere near the level of super bowl parties, then we can talk.

Anonymous wrote:It's a myth that Americans don't care about soccer. And an excuse for US Soccer's programmed mediocrity.

https://ben-fast.com/2018/06/28/the-myth-that-holds-back-american-soccer/

LMAO

It's a myth that Americans don't care about soccer. And an excuse for US Soccer's programmed mediocrity.

https://ben-fast.com/2018/06/28/the-myth-that-holds-back-american-soccer/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Youth Soccer is horrible. Look at the DA. Those aren’t the best America has. In Arlington Or Loudoun (before they lost it)- it was always pure athleticism/physicality before they’ve even had a wet dream and/or politics. Always been, always will be.

Read the Atlantic magazine article bout Sidwell Friends scandal that came out yesterday.Those are the same type of parents controlling soccer rosters.

Oh yes-they dominate at 14/15, but can’t trap a ball if their life depended on it.

Way to ignore that the DA produced nearly every player on the U20 team that doing really well right now. Most of them are playing in Europe, and are pretty good at trapping the ball.

DA is a corrupt racket designed to get parents to pay huge sums of money to develop potential pro/NT players so USSF and MLS can hang on to more of their own $$$$.

It's a big reason why small countries like Belgium produce world-class players on a regular basis, while the US rarely does.

Yeah right. The strong club system and soccer culture in Belgium have nothing to do with their relative success.

It's the USSF's fault that the vast majority in this country don't give two whoots about soccer.

More than 3 million kids in the US play youth soccer, nearly all of them paying fees to do so. Seems like someone cares. I know people who care enough to shell out the thousands of dollars for their kids to play DA every year.

Meanwhile, US Soccer sits on a >$130 million surplus and uses its licensing power to maintain MLS' monopoly position in top-level US pro soccer.

It's not the fact that Americans don't care that keeps us from having a strong club system and soccer culture. It's the greed of the people who keep a stranglehold on the game to get rich.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we stop pretending that Berhalter is a genius and Will Trapp is a good player now?

Only a mediocre MLS coach would pick Trapp and Bradley for a squad over Josh Sargent.

This post makes no sense. Trapp and Bradley both play in the 6 position, Sargent is a 9.

Only a mediocre MLS coach would pick Zardes over Sargent for No. 9 position.

They play different positions. Zardes can play the wing as well as the forward slot.
Sargent in only a target forward.

I love that people are treating Sargent...who can barely get first team minutes on his club team...as some sort of massive savior.

Nobody said that Sargent is a savior, but he is a young promising player with a higher ceiling than Zardes or Josy, none of whom will be a factor in 2022 when it matters. This is a cupcake CONCACAF tournament, which should be used solely as a preparation for the WC22.

As far as projected ceilings go, it's easy to forget that Jozy made his MLS debut at 16, and his La Liga debut with Villarreal at 19. Not with the U19s or reserves, but the 1st team. He never hit the heights projected for him, but his ceiling at 19 probably looked higher than Sargent's does right now.

That doesn't change the fact that leaving Sargent at home all summer is possibly one of the dumbest things Ussoccer has ever done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Youth Soccer is horrible. Look at the DA. Those aren’t the best America has. In Arlington Or Loudoun (before they lost it)- it was always pure athleticism/physicality before they’ve even had a wet dream and/or politics. Always been, always will be.

Read the Atlantic magazine article bout Sidwell Friends scandal that came out yesterday.Those are the same type of parents controlling soccer rosters.

Oh yes-they dominate at 14/15, but can’t trap a ball if their life depended on it.

Way to ignore that the DA produced nearly every player on the U20 team that doing really well right now. Most of them are playing in Europe, and are pretty good at trapping the ball.

DA is a corrupt racket designed to get parents to pay huge sums of money to develop potential pro/NT players so USSF and MLS can hang on to more of their own $$$$.

It's a big reason why small countries like Belgium produce world-class players on a regular basis, while the US rarely does.

Yeah right. The strong club system and soccer culture in Belgium have nothing to do with their relative success.

It's the USSF's fault that the vast majority in this country don't give two whoots about soccer.

You cannot have a strong club system when USSF works hard to eliminate any competition to the single entity MLS. There are no independent clubs within MLS, it is a franchise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we stop pretending that Berhalter is a genius and Will Trapp is a good player now?

Only a mediocre MLS coach would pick Trapp and Bradley for a squad over Josh Sargent.

This post makes no sense. Trapp and Bradley both play in the 6 position, Sargent is a 9.

Only a mediocre MLS coach would pick Zardes over Sargent for No. 9 position.

They play different positions. Zardes can play the wing as well as the forward slot.
Sargent in only a target forward.

I love that people are treating Sargent...who can barely get first team minutes on his club team...as some sort of massive savior.

Nobody said that Sargent is a savior, but he is a young promising player with a higher ceiling than Zardes or Josy, none of whom will be a factor in 2022 when it matters. This is a cupcake CONCACAF tournament, which should be used solely as a preparation for the WC22.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US Youth Soccer is horrible. Look at the DA. Those aren’t the best America has. In Arlington Or Loudoun (before they lost it)- it was always pure athleticism/physicality before they’ve even had a wet dream and/or politics. Always been, always will be.

Read the Atlantic magazine article bout Sidwell Friends scandal that came out yesterday.Those are the same type of parents controlling soccer rosters.

Oh yes-they dominate at 14/15, but can’t trap a ball if their life depended on it.

Way to ignore that the DA produced nearly every player on the U20 team that doing really well right now. Most of them are playing in Europe, and are pretty good at trapping the ball.

DA is a corrupt racket designed to get parents to pay huge sums of money to develop potential pro/NT players so USSF and MLS can hang on to more of their own $$$$.

It's a big reason why small countries like Belgium produce world-class players on a regular basis, while the US rarely does.

Yeah right. The strong club system and soccer culture in Belgium have nothing to do with their relative success.

It's the USSF's fault that the vast majority in this country don't give two whoots about soccer.