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re: True or False: soccer players are second tier athletes
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:10 pm to dnm3305
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:10 pm to dnm3305
quote:
It's all about perspective. If you would take this group and put them into a time machine to travel back to the toddler age and let them train their entire lives at only soccer, then this would be the best team in the world...
No. My word, people just stop.
The best player in the world, maybe the best player ever, is a stumpy 5'7". He had to take growth hormones as a child b/c he was a borderline dwarf. Despite that, he was one of the best youth players ever, effectively turning pro at age 14.
1
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:10 pm to StrongBackWeakMind
quote:
They are stud athletes so they would automatically be great at soccer?
If they focused on it from childhood, then yes they would. Much in the same way the Elway could have been a great baseball player if he would have played only baseball. He was drafted and split baseball/football for most of his life. Could you imagine if he would have dedicated his entire life to just playing soccer? He would have been a great player. In their infant stages, all great soccer players were just great athletes that acquired the skill over time to become great soccer players. America has the best athletes in the world. I don't see how you cant come to the logical conclusion that if our elite athletes would play only soccer for an entire lifetime then they wouldn't be elite?
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:14 pm to tigerfan88
They should probably set their sights on beating a USL team before moving up to MLS.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:15 pm to StrongBackWeakMind
Soccer is more than athleticism. The USMNT has incredible athlete's. But touch is more important. The players from Argentina and Spain are masters at it. You can't just plug a stud and expect him to thrive.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:15 pm to dnm3305
quote:
If they focused on it from childhood, then yes they would.
Not what the OP is asking. He's asking if you could take professional athletes from other sports right now and give them a year or two to train.
It's completely different than playing a sport from a young age.
Honestly, it's the same as asking if a Julio Jones or Kyrie Irving could be a professional golfer if they quit their respective sports and focused solely on it. The answer is no, plain and simple.
This post was edited on 6/20/16 at 3:17 pm
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:16 pm to Speedy G
Right, and at the WC it required a wonder strike from the best player in the 90th minute for his team of similarly great players to beat Iran 1-0.
Soccer can be a hard sport to just wipe the floor with people, even if you're much more skilled.
The hypothetical team I'm talking would be nowhere near as skilled or overall as tactically nuanced as even the worst MLS team. But if you drilled them for two years to play to the strengths they could develop, I don't think they would just get destroyed every time
Soccer can be a hard sport to just wipe the floor with people, even if you're much more skilled.
The hypothetical team I'm talking would be nowhere near as skilled or overall as tactically nuanced as even the worst MLS team. But if you drilled them for two years to play to the strengths they could develop, I don't think they would just get destroyed every time
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:16 pm to ToulatownTiger
I think if you took our superstar athletes, our Bryce Harpers and Mike Trouts, or LeBron James and Steph Currys, our Patrick Petersons and OBJs, and had them from a young age focusing on soccer, we would have the best soccer league in the world in the MLS, and the US would compete for World Cup championships every four years.
We would be at least on par with countries like Germany and Spain and Italy. If not much, much better. We just have a much larger talent pool to draw from and the US is sports obsessed.
We would be at least on par with countries like Germany and Spain and Italy. If not much, much better. We just have a much larger talent pool to draw from and the US is sports obsessed.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:17 pm to tigerfan88
quote:
Right, and at the WC it required a wonder strike from the best player in the 90th minute for his team of similarly great players to beat Iran 1-0.
It was literally 6 players versus 10.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:18 pm to dnm3305
quote:
all great soccer players were just great athletes that acquired the skill over time to become great soccer players.
I'm not sure if I would call Pirlo a great athlete. He hasn't sprinted in 15 years.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:19 pm to RB10
quote:
Not what the OP is asking. He's asking if you could take professional athletes from other sports right now and give them a year or two to train.
And I disregarded that because it's so asinine to think that. Soccer is so incredibly skilled. That level of skill has to be achieved over a lifetime, just like middle infielders turning a double play effortlessly. All Im saying is that the best athletes that America has to offer would excel on the world stage if they were only ever soccer players.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:19 pm to ToulatownTiger
Let's lay out a hypothetical to consider:
Say we take N. Robinson, Russell Westbrook, Odell Beckham, Wes Welker, Andrew McCutchen, Steph Curry, Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles, Bo Jackson, Ricky Henderson and Calvin Johnson. Let's pretend they are all the same age and we can go back in time to where they're all 6 years old and we subject them to the best training system the United States has to offer.
That team would almost certainly be the most "athletic" team in the world, with the word athletic presumed to mean "explosive" given the trajectory of the discussion in this thread.
Given that, that team would possibly be better than the U.S. MNT in its current form (no guaranties there).
What it almost certainly would not be is on par with a Germany, Italy, Argentina or Brazil in terms of soccer talent. The operative variable here is U.S. training, and as U.S. training is inferior to the training in the aforementioned countries, the talent and outcomes would be inferior. Soccer is a technique and skill based sport in which athleticism takes a back seat to proper and consistent training. Producing better U.S. soccer players requires a better U.S. soccer development system, not better "explosive" athletes.
Say we take N. Robinson, Russell Westbrook, Odell Beckham, Wes Welker, Andrew McCutchen, Steph Curry, Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles, Bo Jackson, Ricky Henderson and Calvin Johnson. Let's pretend they are all the same age and we can go back in time to where they're all 6 years old and we subject them to the best training system the United States has to offer.
That team would almost certainly be the most "athletic" team in the world, with the word athletic presumed to mean "explosive" given the trajectory of the discussion in this thread.
Given that, that team would possibly be better than the U.S. MNT in its current form (no guaranties there).
What it almost certainly would not be is on par with a Germany, Italy, Argentina or Brazil in terms of soccer talent. The operative variable here is U.S. training, and as U.S. training is inferior to the training in the aforementioned countries, the talent and outcomes would be inferior. Soccer is a technique and skill based sport in which athleticism takes a back seat to proper and consistent training. Producing better U.S. soccer players requires a better U.S. soccer development system, not better "explosive" athletes.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:20 pm to pvilleguru
Anybody that doesn't understand only needs to see Zidane's final WC run that ended in a loss to Italy in the Finals.
If you don't know what "touch" is, that's what you need to watch. And you're talking about a guy who was in his twilight years.
If you don't know what "touch" is, that's what you need to watch. And you're talking about a guy who was in his twilight years.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:20 pm to LoveThatMoney
When parents learn that soccer causes concussions as well they won't let their kids play, just like football.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:20 pm to dnm3305
quote:
All Im saying is that the best athletes that America has to offer would excel on the world stage if they were only ever soccer players.
I'm saying you are wrong.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:20 pm to pvilleguru
Yeah, that sounds about right. I just hate the myth that all soccer players or dwarfs. Yes, height isn't as important as other skills, but it still matters, even soccer.
Also people don't realize that some of those European teams are enormous.
Also people don't realize that some of those European teams are enormous.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:23 pm to NOLALGD
Most of our players are around 6'. We have a few guys like Yedlin that are shorter (5'9"ish) and a few that are taller like Brooks and Guzan.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:23 pm to MetArl15
quote:
What it almost certainly would not be is on par with a Germany, Italy, Argentina or Brazil in terms of soccer talent. The operative variable here is U.S. training, and as U.S. training is inferior to the training in the aforementioned countries, the talent and outcomes would be inferior. Soccer is a technique and skill based sport in which athleticism takes a back seat to proper and consistent training. Producing better U.S. soccer players requires a better U.S. soccer development system, not better "explosive" athletes.
Well how can you have a hypothetical which just athletes changing their lives to play soccer but the rest of the country not changing with them? You have to of course factor in that America would have an obsessive soccer culture and would WANT to compete on the world stage. You cant just say the best athletes will play soccer all of their lives but it wont matter because we have shite trainers. Of course the trainers would be better. All of the best athletes in this country are now soccer obsessed, therefore the country is soccer obsessed. You think the best trainers would stay in football? Football may not even exist in this hypothetical.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:23 pm to MetArl15
quote:
What it almost certainly would not be is on par with a Germany, Italy, Argentina or Brazil in terms of soccer talent.
Exactly. RIGHT NOW, the USMNT is more athletic than the Germans, and yet, skill trumps all.
Posted on 6/20/16 at 3:24 pm to ToulatownTiger
quote:
I believe if you take the top players from NBA and make a team, MLB and make a team, and NFL and make a team, all three would be better if they focused only on soccer
well you would be wrong
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