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Put American Soccer back on the shelf (at least for another 4 years)
 Posted
7/1/2010 9:35:00 AM
You know that cabinet that you never open in the kitchen or dining room where you keep the fondue set or the fine china, you know the stuff you never think about? Time to put American soccer up their with the Sue-Bee honey and extra coffee filters. The only time we give a flip about soccer is when we wrap it up in the American flag, just like The Olympics, which is full of boring sports that don't translate to the average American sports fan. I have been to see Chelsea play in the English Premiere League and that was one of the coolest sports experiences I've ever enjoyed. The action, the vibe and most importantly the talent level made for a great afternoon of pints and goals. I went to World Cup matches in Orlando in 1994 where the Brazilians, with all their style, looked like the Harlem Globetrotters with a soccer ball. I saw Ireland upset Italy at The Meadowlands. It was a blast. So I don't want to come off as the typical provincial ugly American crapping on futbol. Its just that brand of soccer that we play is so uncoupling.
I was watching ESPN's post mortem on the U.S. squad from South Africa last week and Jurgen Klinsmann made some great points on why we don't do better. The former German star and 2004 World Cup coach who lives in California talked about how we have it all wrong with our National soccer program. Kids playing soccer in the suburbs are groomed to get a soccer scholarship to a university. So they come to the U.S. team at age 21 or 22. If they're lucky, a great American player gets a cup of coffee in Germany or with the English Premiere League, whereas kids growing up in a slum in Rio or some project in East London play soccer to escape poverty. They're hungrier, tougher and just plain better. They're playing soccer 24/7 in a country's junior divisions or club teams and matriculate to Manchester United or Barcelona. Until we develop soccer in the inner cities and get our best athletes playing it, we will continue to under achieve Internationally. Imagine a guy with the size and speed of Tony Gonzalez playing goalie? How about Dwayne Wade passing to LeBron with their feet? Come to think of it, I can't imagine either, but there have to be some American kids out there who are tougher and more clutch than pipsqueak Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey.
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Mike Bell
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Kind of harsh comments here and they came across harsher on TV. I don’t think you shelf American soccer like the other sports you listed mainly because a sizable population follows the sport year round. Try going to Fados or Brewhouse on a EPL rivalry weekend game. Those are fun places to be. Even better in the fall, start your day in one of those bars, then go to a Tech or Falcon game in the afternoon.
I was thinking about Wade passing to James in a game. What about Pau Gasol passing to David Villa? Or Dirk Nowitzki passing to Mueller. Those countries have pretty good soccer developmental programs. Maybe Gasol and Nowitzki don’t play soccer because they’d be gassed by half time. Maybe they have unique talents, like height, that make them more successful in basketball.
The perception of escaping the slums is a myth. Yes, every now and then someone does it, probably at the rate of our inner city kids escape with a basketball. Similar passion, no luck. You need still connections to be able to escape by playing a sport.
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Posted By
Crew864
On
7/7/2010 9:20:30 PM
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Absolutely. Imagine how average our other teams would be if we pulled 95% of them from the suburbs. We have to find a balance. If we want to compete with the rest of the world, we need to pull from all demographics like the rest of the world, and like we do in the rest of our sports.
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Posted By
David
On
7/1/2010 7:30:46 PM
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