OT: Who watched US MNT instead of NBA last night?
- Thread starter Fk_Pitt
- Start date
So why does England suck at basketball, they've played for generations now too. Why is a small poor country like Greece #10 at basketball and has been as high as #3 and is the last national team to have beaten USA Basketball, and has won the Euro Cup 4-5 times, with 95% white guys? So are the black American soccer players bad too? Are they the rich suburban black kids that grew up soft playing Nintendo? Why are WHITE GUYS like Messi and Renaldo and Rooney the best players in the world and not urban black kids from Europe and Argentina?
You're right. It's not close. The US is actually in the top 15% or so, even using FIFA's ranking system that is so moronic it makes the RPI look reasonable in comparison.
You're assuming that anybody that is good at American football would walk in and be best at soccer too, that's a big assumption! Like when SMF assumed that if Messi played baseball he'd be a Hall of Fame 2nd baseman.
How come China and India who both have 3-4 times the USA population not have created a top soccer club by mistake?
thank you Joe, we covered this and I admitted I was wrong. There is a saying, something along the lines of admitting your wrong nullifies any need to apologize, or something to that effect. Heard it in a movie once, Pulp fiction I think, maybe MIchael. Travolta definitely said it somewhere.
All the comments here making the USA out to be some embarrassing pisss poor soccer team are really BS, USA is ranked in the top 15% in the world and has actually done quite well. It's just the American attitude that #2 is the 1st loser and because Americans think the are "entitled" to win at everything. Face it, USA has tried to win big at soccer and hasn't, so what? USA DOESN'T HAVE TO BE best at everything. We're ranked low in all kinds of other measurements too.
Why does America always have above average to elite goaltending?
Does goaltending take less "soccer specific" technique and training? Serious question, I know very little about the game.
Does goaltending take less "soccer specific" technique and training? Serious question, I know very little about the game.
No. I am simply saying that there is a large % of athletes in which soccer isn't even an option. We may be a country of 300 million but when the sports pie gets divided up it is extremely diluted. Soccer doesn't even own suburbia because hockey, football, basketball and baseball dilute the talent. And soccer can't take foot in the inner cities because of socio-economic issues. At the end of the day, the US pool might be greater than Italy because of youth participation but when other factors come into play, the playing field gets leveled and actually tips in the other direction.
It amazes me that people aren't smart enough to figure this out. The best American athletes dont play soccer and the ones that do aren't playing enough (ie pickup games at lunch time and after school EVERY DAY like in other countries) against good enough competition.
The skill of controlling a ball with your foot incredibally difficult at the highest level. You need X amount of touches of the ball. I'm just making up numbers here but if an Argentinian touches the ball a million times by the time he's 18 and an American touches the ball 200,000 times, that difference is too much to overcome.
In other countries, the best athletes play, they play more, and they play against better competition. Its no wonder why the USMNT is mediocre.
And the number of how many youth players there are is inflated because almost every parent signs their kid up for soccer when they are 4 or 5 as something fun to do since leagues start that young and is easy for a kid to understand. Even extreme right wingers sign up their kids so they can play something until tball starts a few years later.
By age 10, 10-20% of the kids remain in soccer and everyone says the US has poor retention and they do but when you have a football, baseball, basketball culture along with niche sports like hockey, lacrosse, tennis, etc, you just have to expect to lose that kids.
The only way this will change is if MLS was world-class. If Messi was playing for Chicago, CR7 playing for Columbus, Lewandoski playing for Houstob, etc......in their primes.
Extreme right wingers signing their kid up for soccer? Can you explain this? Obviously another SMF deep thought.
Soccer is great for little kids, everyone can run and is somewhat engaged. Tee ball is a dad pitching underhand to a kid while 15 kids sit in outfield, picking dandelions. B ball is bad cause kids can't dribble or aren't strong enough to shoot. Football is bad cause parents think their kid will shoot themselves in chest and donate brain to science if they get tackled a few times. No clue how politics are involved.
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Nothing worn with losing to them.
Losing while failing to generate a single shot attempt is very embarrassing.
That said, barring another debacle - which I do not expect, a third or fourth place finish will be an excellent result from this tournament.
Thanks for bringing that up again
LOL the second time is just as fun as the first.
There's not a shred of evidence Messi could hit a buck 80 or field a ground ball(anybody EVER see him use his hands?)
Correct. Not only that, they did not a single attempt not on the goal. Very bad effort.
We are rich enough and smart enough to have better options...i.e. Better sports.
Been hearing for 35 plus yrs about soccer taking over this or that.
Ain't happening.
Our best Athletes go elsewhere end of story.
I did watch some EPL recently. The pre game shows were good. The beginning of the matches are fun...and what's not to like about fans who sing Glad All Over...
But it just isn't enough to keep glued for a couple hours despite seeing those guys are sooooo much better than US players.
Soccer fans here in the US are just going to have to latch onto a Euro or Limey team...because the US teams and its players are far from top flight.
I may even try to pick an EPL team to follow .....
My requirements:
The team has to be good....and if possible the fans mostly hooligans and scallawags
Any suggestions ??
Somebody has to suck, so the US is the Cleveland Browns of the World Cup, so what?
Why is that? I have no problem watching teams that aren't "the very best in the world", I've latched on to DC United, a mediocre at this time, MLS club, and I find it easy to follow and enjoy. The quality of play or lack thereof doesn't matter to me, I just can't root for some English City playing another English City, I can relate to DC vs. NY or DC vs. LA or something like that, easier than Leicester vs. Arsenal, whatever that means?
They where playing the #1 ranked team in the world, as the #31 team, I could see 'Bama beating #49 Pitt 49-7 and not be that surprised.
Soccer is a mystery to me. I find it boring. Well, not baseball boring, but boring.
A good friend explained how the development system works here and it seems like it is pretty well organized. Better chance of good players (who seek it) getting good coaching than say a HS football player. I'm guessing that as more kids see it as an alternative to football, it will attract better talent. I see that at some small schools now. Can even argue that football is not getting all of the best talent.
A good friend explained how the development system works here and it seems like it is pretty well organized. Better chance of good players (who seek it) getting good coaching than say a HS football player. I'm guessing that as more kids see it as an alternative to football, it will attract better talent. I see that at some small schools now. Can even argue that football is not getting all of the best talent.
Ummm no, it wouldn't be like that. The US didn't have a shot on goal, let alone score.
Soccer fans annoy me, such apologists. Last night was an absolutely pathetic effort..
Just like after the WC, people applauded their tournament. They won one of four matches, and didn't score their last two or three games
Well, I don't think we suck in general. And definitely not in this tournament, as we won our group and made it to the final four. A lot went wrong at once, and we got blown out.
I know. Just think the recent concussion stuff and the rise of the single mom may be the perfect storm.
True. But soccer has its share of concussions and single moms often can't afford it the price of playing in a competititve youth league. Single moms should steer their kids toward baseball. Travel baseball is prevalent too so it would be similar in expense. But concussions won't be an issue...although frequent trips to the DL for hang nails and such could frustrate mom.
That's fine ...didn't mean it as a blanket just thought it fits most fans here but hey could be totally wrong
Trying to give a look to soccer led to watching a little MSL & some EPL....
But for me , with no experience watching soccer, it was clearly evident that MLS was a bunch of scrubs compared with EPL..
So if I go back it will be some EPL, if I can figure out if there's a team worth rooting for when it returns...whenever that is .....
Since a monsoon is delaying tonight's match. They are reairing last night's a$$ whipping. Revel in the glory.
I have seen no progress in 20 years, I think that is what you meant, and I agree.
I can't decide which team/league to follow based purely on the talent level, or quality of play. If I could do that I wouldn't be a Pitt fan. Or wouldn't have spent decades watching Big East football.
It's apples & oranges, USAMNT can't control the development of every kid in the USA, just like Argentina MNT doesn't. There has to be some organic development of players. China has more resources and 4 times more people, and they probably have authoritarian power to force the best kids to play, why aren't they World Cup Champs?
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Pointing out a huge demographic that is making the call on what kids can and can't do and that love the concussion "excuse" as the reason.
Concussions are found in every sport. But let's face it, football is football.
Single moms have more input than married moms? I guess single dads are saying "hit em in the head harder"?
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