re: Why is India so shitty at Olympics?

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On the other hand the us women were able to dominate because women's football is more dependent on athleticism and less on skill.

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This argues against your first point. I agree that skills are important but just like the US women, if the best male athletes in the US focused on Soccer from a young age, they would develop the skills necessary to compete on the world stage. I am not saying we would get Messi but we would certainly get a much better product than we have now and I would venture to say that we would be medal contenders.

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My issue with this sentiment is that you then turn around and claim that running a relative 4.2 IS important for the women. How can that be? Either being more athletic is important or its not. I don't buy that its important for one but not the other.

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Because the men's game is played on a more technical level.

The #1 and #2 men's teams faced off recently and and completed close to 90% of their passes

Spain completed 701 passes at 88% success rate whereas France complete 834 passes at a 90% completion rate.

Meanwhile in the womens world cup USA vs Netherlands were 2 top ranked teams and USA completed 363 passes at 68% success and Netherlands completed 505 passes at 76%.

There's a lot less passing/dribbling in tight spaces in the women's game and more kicking and chasing.

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Because the men's game is played on a more technical level.

The #1 and #2 men's teams faced off recently and and completed close to 90% of their passes

Spain completed 701 passes at 88% success rate whereas France complete 834 passes at a 90% completion rate.

Meanwhile in the womens world cup USA vs Netherlands were 2 top ranked teams and USA completed 363 passes at 68% success and Netherlands completed 505 passes at 76%.

There's a lot less passing/dribbling in tight spaces in the women's game and more kicking and chasing.

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IDK enough to argue the numbers other than to say that Pass and Chase is a better strategy for a more athletic team so while we may never complete 90% of our passes, if we had our best athletes out there, we could pass and chase and compete on the world stage at a higher clip than we do now.

Honestly watching our mens team play its obvious to a complete novice like myself that we don't have the ability to dribble past defenders the way the Euros can and end up playing a pass and chase style as a result. I don't see how putting better athletes out there would do anything but improve our product.

FYI: I am not arguing that we would be the best in the world, just that we would be able to compete at a higher level than we currently do.

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if we had our best athletes out there, we could pass and chase and compete on the world stage at a higher clip than we do now.

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It just wouldn't work. If lebron played from the time he was a baby he still wouldn't be good because we don't have the systems in place to develop that talent.

Last world cup we were arguably the most athletic team in the tournament, we logged more distance ran than any other team per 90 minutes.

You don't get a chance to use your athleticism if you cant keep possession of the ball with good passing and dribbling. Yes being fast is an advantage, but noone can run faster than the ball.

The new offsides rule will make athleticism a bigger advantage if it is implemented