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Posted on 7/8/26 at 12:32 pm to Sun God
quote:
No you haven’t
I have. Good points on both sides.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 12:35 pm to glassman
Fair enough 
Why do you think the USMNT isn’t as strong as some of us think they could be?
Hypothetically of course
Why do you think the USMNT isn’t as strong as some of us think they could be?
Hypothetically of course
Posted on 7/8/26 at 12:37 pm to _Hurricane_
quote:
pretend that Jamar Chase or prime Julio wouldn’t outpace and physically dominate random Belgians
Pace is very helpful in soccer but there are tons of teams in the World Cup with fast players that still suck. If you don't have the skill and size to dribble, pass, and score, you're just running up and down the field for nothing.
These threads are dumb anyway because you're never getting the best athletes in America to switch to soccer.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 12:42 pm to Sun God
quote:
Why do you think the USMNT isn’t as strong as some of us think they could be?
1. The level of coaching starting at a young age needs to be better
2. Prioritizing the skills and tactics instead of winning
3. Having a a few Deion Sanders/Barry Sanders prioritizing soccer would help tremendously.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 1:01 pm to The Pirate King
quote:I think it’s possible.
These threads are dumb anyway because you're never getting the best athletes in America to switch to soccer.
I think it’s possible to convince parents and kids to play soccer as a secondary sport as insurance. Many kids play both football and basketball. But if they only grow up to be 5’9”, they have virtually zero shot at either sport even if they are skilled and athletic.
But if they played football and soccer or basketball and soccer, if they only grow up to be 5’9”, they’d still have a path to play professionally with soccer.
Over time, if enough kids are sticking with soccer as a secondary sport and that move becomes popular, many more will also choose soccer as their primary sport. And many who choose soccer as a secondary sport may recognize that their talent is actually in soccer and not basketball, for example, and make it their primary sport.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 1:09 pm
Posted on 7/8/26 at 1:09 pm to PrimeTime Money
quote:
I think it’s possible to convince parents and kids to play soccer as a secondary sport as insurance.
Have you ever watched kids play soccer before? It's torture.
Kids are bored, parents are bored. Lots of kids play a season or two and drop it.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 5:18 pm to glassman
quote:
1. The level of coaching starting at a young age needs to be better
Yes.
quote:
2. Prioritizing the skills and tactics instead of winning
Double yes.
quote:
3. Having a a few Deion Sanders/Barry Sanders prioritizing soccer would help tremendously.
frick yes
Posted on 7/8/26 at 7:03 pm to SOBmustpay
I wish Fox would have found a graphic to display the salaries of the Americans. I think young kids seeing that Tillman and Mckennie make almost $6 million a year would help kids realize that there is a path in soccer.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 7:14 pm
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:05 pm to _Hurricane_
quote:
I know it’s cliche, but our best athletes would dominate Soccer
Casuals.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:05 am to WestCoastAg
quote:
But if you took heat era LeBron athleticism and gave him a life long training/coaching/dedication to the sport, I honestly dont know how anyone could argue that this would even be a competition
Has there ever been a 6-9 elite soccer player? There are plenty of tall athletes in Europe and Africa. Are they playing soccer?
I definitely agree with the OP, but I think it's mostly the football players that would excel, not the basketball players.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:07 am to The Pirate King
quote:
Have you ever watched kids play soccer before? It's torture. Kids are bored, parents are bored. Lots of kids play a season or two and drop it.
Maybe 6 year old rec players. But if you’re watching even 10 year old boys play at a high level it’s extremely fast.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:09 am to SOBmustpay
quote:
3. Having a a few Deion Sanders/Barry Sanders prioritizing soccer would help tremendously.
Also think prime LeBron playing goalie. That size and speed seems like a pretty good foundation
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:10 am to Archives
quote:Tennis proves Americans can easily dominate these “technical sports” (which calling soccer and tennis technical is asinine to start with)
Explain how America was once dominant in tennis, now we have limited presence at the top.
America is by far the most dominant force in tennis historically. It’s not even close
But we simply stopped caring about tennis in the mid 90s and such the fall off has shown
It used to be a popular sport here, especially the 60s thru 80s
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:11 am to PrimeTime Money
quote:
think it’s possible. I think it’s possible to convince parents and kids to play soccer as a secondary sport as insurance. Many kids play both football and basketball. But if they only grow up to be 5’9”, they have virtually zero shot at either sport even if they are skilled and athletic. But if they played football and soccer or basketball and soccer, if they only grow up to be 5’9”, they’d still have a path to play professionally with soccer. Over time, if enough kids are sticking with soccer as a secondary sport and that move becomes popular, many more will also choose soccer as their primary sport. And many who choose soccer as a secondary sport may recognize that their talent is actually in soccer and not basketball, for example, and make it their primary sport.
This is what I’ve been arguing. Very few people are going to rate a 5’8” 155 lb senior in high school as a tier one athlete even if they run a 4.4. You will have people saying that “if only they were bigger they would be a good college player.” This would be true for football or baseball. These kids would be plenty big enough to play professionally in soccer with the right training.
We don’t need our freak athlete size/speed combo Small forwards, shooting guards, and defensive ends playing soccer to have an elite talent pool.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 9:14 am
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:17 am to St Augustine
quote:
We don’t need our freak athlete size/speed combo Small forwards, shooting guards, and defensive ends playing soccer to have an elite talent pool.
But it sure would make it hilarious.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 9:49 am to St Augustine
quote:
Maybe 6 year old rec players. But if you’re watching even 10 year old boys play at a high level it’s extremely fast.
Let's say you're right, and there's tons of uber skilled 10-year olds playing exciting club soccer all over the US. The point is, you're never going to get soccer as a secondary sport for the other kids not solely focused on it. It requires too much skill development to play a high level.
I come from a family of athletes that all tried it at a young age (including myself) and gave it up in favor or basketball, baseball, or football. In some cases 2 of those sports instead of soccer. I myself gave up baseball and soccer in favor of football/basketball.
Posted on 7/9/26 at 10:12 am to The Pirate King
quote:
Let's say you're right, and there's tons of uber skilled 10-year olds playing exciting club soccer all over the US. The point is, you're never going to get soccer as a secondary sport for the other kids not solely focused on it. It requires too much skill development to play a high level. I come from a family of athletes that all tried it at a young age (including myself) and gave it up in favor or basketball, baseball, or football. In some cases 2 of those sports instead of soccer. I myself gave up baseball and soccer in favor of football/basketball.
It’s a complete chicken or egg scenario self perpetuating cycle which is basically never going to solve itself without a major twist of fate or some billionaire lighting money on fire for the hell of it.
Kids don’t choose soccer because they want to be like their sports heroes they watch in the US which are football baseball basketball.
Thus the most gifted athletes grow up and develop into….football baseball basketball.
The few kids who are solid like pulisic and were born into a soccer family thus not aspiring for those three sports go to Europe to develop which is not going to be watched en masse by kids.
It’s going to have to be a billionaire paying Saudi type money to woo several guys in their prime and have them playing top euro teams and winning in the us on us time zones.
OR
The usmnt not choking with 30 million people watching vs Belgium.
There was the opportunity to hook a lot of kids. They choked
Next World Cup there won’t be that opportunity with it being in Europe and time zones difference
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 10:16 am
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:16 am to The Pirate King
quote:
Let's say you're right, and there's tons of uber skilled 10-year olds playing exciting club soccer all over the US.
I am absolutely right. I also realize I live in South Florida which has an extremely high population of skilled players including a ton of Hispanic kids who WILL choose it as a first sport.
My point was more that when played by a skilled group of even little kids the game looks dramatically different than the running around in a herd chase the kid with the ball that a lot of people associate with kids soccer. The crazy thing is that decent coaching can make those games look a lot better very quickly even in very young kids. By age 10 it’s a fast paced game with spacing and touch and significant athleticism if you take decent athletes and coach them up.
If more kids (especially the athletes who wont necessarily have the body types for other sports) were exposed to that at a younger age I think it would help a lot.
Unfortunately a lot of very young coaching is just dads volunteering to help make sure all the rec teams are covered so it’s often over before it starts for a bunch of kids.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 11:23 am
Posted on 7/9/26 at 11:19 am to Adam Banks
quote:
Kids don’t choose soccer because they want to be like their sports heroes they watch in the US which are football baseball basketball.
I’d argue though that this is changing with the ease at which most leagues are available now (and often at times that younger kids are actually watching TV).
My kids couldn’t name 10 baseball or basketball players. They could give you hundreds of premier league players in addition to NFL. There are A LOT of kids out there like that these days.
This post was edited on 7/9/26 at 11:21 am
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