Jul 04
The Reason Why Americans Will Improve at Soccer (Response to an article on Soccerlens)
What to be done about a slightly ignorant view of American Soccer. Fight it with fact is what I say. Soccerlens, a great footy site had an article written this morning listing the reasons Americans “suck” at soccer. So if we do plan to combat this ignorance on the part of most of the world, what do we say. The following are the reasons why Americans will progressively become a more talented and enthused nation when it comes to soccer. What do we americans have to do to improve soccer, discuss below.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Maybe call it something different like I don’t know ‘football’?
Recruit better players and officials for MLS, because some of the players now are just sad and pathetic.
July 4th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Advertise the game more. Many high school kids choose football over soccer simply because it is a more famous sport in the U.S.. If we can somehow get more people to switch over to soccer, America will only become better.
July 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Michael, a very insightful comment, I couldn’t agree more. When the money comes to MLS, people will see they can do well out of it and choose it. It also needs to be on tv more so people can see soccer at its best
July 4th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
It was such a stupid article on the other site tbh, I don’t think it warrants a response. Let me say this though: we can beat probably 70% of Europe already so I think American SOCCER is on and right track and should stay the current track. Don’t let Eurocentric snobs change your mind!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
what it basically comes down to is we’re not poor enough as a nation. that’s not to say that well off countries are not good at soccer because plenty are but the ones that are dont offer such a wide array of other sports for kids to pick up and learn while theyre young. and thats when it counts. the typical sport for a poor kid to play in america is basketball because it doesn’t cost anything but the price of a ball (not even that most times) and a park w/ a basketball court…it’s basically our soccer replacement it’s treated here as soccer is in brazil…street kids pick it up turn it into their own thing…every basketball player has his own style in the same way every brazilian or argentinian is a little different too. the real question, though, is what is there to change a 8-9-10 year old kid from basketball over to soccer when no one else is playing it?
July 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
that is a real good question matt. I’m not sure how we go about getting those kids to play soccer. We currently have the athletes to get it done, the youth participation in sports is high but basketball and football are so prevalent, it is hard to change the landscape. If you look at the USMNT, all the players come from suburban backgrounds except a few latin players who grew up in the cities. What we really want is the african american urban population to pick up soccer, then we can really take off.
July 5th, 2008 at 10:49 am
the reason is that we have to many other options in sports. instead of growing up playing soccer we grow up playing football of basketball or baseball. if everybody in the country played soccer we would be even better then teams like Brazil and Italy
July 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
i tend to agree with you manurocks but one thing that does irk me a bit is the fact that most of our players play without much flair. What can we do about that?
July 6th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Informing inner-city youths that European footballers make more money than other athletes might do America wonders.