USA - Belgium

[woundedknees]

Under Arenas, a majority of the players who were actually Americans were 1st and second generation kids, many of whom had parents who played high level soccer before immigrating to the US. A large portion of that group grew up playing with or against each other in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding area. The coaches often were those same parents, so the skill levels were fairly well developed at a young age.

For a long time, Pennsylvania had a rule that high schools with attendance numbering below a certain level of enrollment (600 students, IIRC) were not allowed to offer tackle football. Soccer, however, was available, and this resulted in a fairly well rounded program, compared to other areas of this country. Now, not so much.

The coaching of the American squad has been suspect for years, although I believe the talent level on the pitch is well above the performance historically shown by the Red, White, and Blue.

(Sorry for the long-ish rant... I coached youth soccer for 12 years, and did a lot of research in the process of filling in the vast void in my own understanding of the game. Soccer was not even offered at my HS until around 1983 or so.)

It never ceases to amaze me how many talented kids leave the sport, not because they don't love it, but either due to the lack of opportunity for scholarships at the major college level, or because their parents (especially fathers) can't stand that sissy game, and want their boys to play a "manly" sport, like American Football.

Some of the toughest, best conditioned athletes I have known played either soccer, lacrosse, or rugby.

[justducky0]

so whats your point

[justducky0]

You’d hope this will get a little better with the development of better club academies, but I still think that we have some structural problems in our country that aren’t going away anytime soon.

1). Many of our best athletes play other sports. No, I’m not one of those people who imagines Dwight Howard in goal or Ray Lewis as a defensive midfielder. But, you can’t convince me that all those guys playing cornerback in the NFL wouldn’t have been good soccer players if they’d been playing soccer from an early age. They’re all 5’10″, LIGHTING fast, great footwork, good hips, vision, etc. Ditto for most of the guys playing point guard in basketball. That’s a thing that will slowly change over time as more parents buy their little kids soccer balls instead of footballs and basketballs.

2). Soccer is largely a wealthy sport in the US. Kids don’t get good at a sport by going to practice twice a week. They get good by playing in an unstructured way every day after school. Unfortunately, many of the kids playing soccer come from middle/upperclass families and those families put school first. Have you seen the homework burden on elementary school kids nowadays? Not only is it a lot of work, but it is often work that needs to be checked by a parent and then have some discussion of how to improve. Lots of kids who play soccer are going to have a “no playing until homework is finished” rule.

just some thoughts

[oregontrack]

i think that's pretty spot-on.

i've heard 'soccer just needs more time to catch on' my whole life. the thing is, my father's generation heard the same thing. soccer competes directly with football for middle and high school age kids in the united states. it will never, ever take off here. the us national team will have it's occasional run of competence but we'll never have a consistent feeder system.

[Oregon Ownage]

i think that's pretty spot-on.

i've heard 'soccer just needs more time to catch on' my whole life. the thing is, my father's generation heard the same thing. soccer competes directly with football for middle and high school age kids in the united states. it will never, ever take off here. the us national team will have it's occasional run of competence but we'll never have a consistent feeder system.

While that may be true but it is more than just that. It is the development of those players who start playing at a young age. Not enough qualified coaches in the youth ranks to truly provide coaching to the young players here in the states. The academies for the MLS clubs are doing a better job and we will start to see an improvement in the next wave of players that will be coming through the system. We have more than enough players in the states to have a quality national side but it is how you develop them is the true answer to the problem at hand.