But yah, the fact that USA has a massive population of soccer-loving Latinos and not a single minute has been played by a Latino player in this WC for the USMNT seems like a massive leak. You could easily have half the team being Latino in any other country’s system.
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Basically you’ll have a local team A, B and C. The “A” team will be the best, have tryouts etc for it. They will tour to other states and play tournaments. The kids are paying for every tournament, plus accommodations and parents might have to take time off work to help make this work. It’s not cheap.
Hockey is the same and that’s why it’s super white.
Speculation on Twitter, including from a checkmark or two, that Pulisic either had a testicle ascend into his abdomen from the impact or suffered testicular torsion.
My point is, he came back into the game. And that dude on Iran scraped his shin and yelled like he was dying the most painful death imaginable.
I feel he’s taking the idea of adapting to your club a bit too far in losing a testacle for Adolf-loving Chelsea.
I didn’t see Reyna on the pitch. But then again the sound wasn’t on at the pub.
Maybe USA will miraciously advance to the QF.
Also, I’ll be hungover later today. I’m sure my students will enjoy it.
Suzzer not understanding the concept of nor how to read a live table was truly a great sequence.
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It is the magic of the world cup. Was/is the same on 2p2. A bunch of people watch soccer for the first time in four years (myself included) and lolz ensue.
Just in case someone here isn’t just trolling:
The problem for the USA isn’t, and has never been, athleticism. It’s been a lack of a proper development and skill. Proper development programs essentially didn’t exist until roughly 2006-2010. Everyone just went to college soccer, and college soccer is not a good developmental pathway for several reasons.
So pre-2006 or so, you had to be truly elite to do soccer in a developmental league. Elite here defined as “member of the US youth national team”. If you reached that level for the U17, you could go to IMG, live in Bradenton, and train full time. That’s like 25-30 slots.
So let’s say you’re the best keeper in all of the midwest like the guy I used to back up in college. You’re roughly the 5th best GK in the nation for your year. You didn’t qualify for that kind of training despite being really fucking good.
With the advent of developmental academies in more places, that kind of player would have received intensive full time training. No one goes to college soccer anymore. You see the success of those academies in the USA now.
CP played for DA in PA.
Brenden Aaronson played for Philly’s DA.
Adams played for NYRB’s DA.
Weah played for a DA in NY.
Sargent did IMG with the US YNT.
There’s more too. The DA adoption is a big part of the reason why the team is crazy young.
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Yah, the MLS academies are a big deal and the USA could potentially be a sleeping giant.
Right now there are a handful of academies pumping out prospects, but more teams are getting on board. What if you have 10 academies on the level of FC Dallas? 15?
The entire core of USA’s team is basically 24 or younger. Realistically, 2030 is probably the year when the USA could reasonably be in the convo for shipping.
By 2026, you’d assume there would be another crop like this one, to fill out the roster a bit, then by 2030 another crop. And each successive crop should be better than the last as the academies grow and send more kids to Europe. By 2030, you could have Pulisics that are like 2nd or 3rd choice at their position.
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I played on a traveling team as a junior. Biggest problem that soccer faced in my time was that as soon as you hit puberty, soccer became interchangeable with rollerblading in that famous joke. Flopkick was very much an indication of being an inferior athlete, pansy, or weirdo.
The thing is this is just football, you (and I mean americans in general) just need to get over that and move on
Thiago was left out of the WC squad.
You cant surpass Europe by moving kids to Europe when they’re 15 though.
Correct, those videos are from the Euros. He’s still the best Spain midfielder, but he’s on the outs with Enrique.
Yep, I’m sure most of us in our youth had pop warner type youth football and little league baseball that pretty much every athletically inclined kid funneled through. Nowadays around my area youth soccer is the biggest for the 8-12 age bracket, followed closely by little league baseball. I’d predict that youth football will continue to decline as parents try to keep their kids from getting brain damage by encouraging them to play the sport where you bounce a ball repeatedly against your ripening melon.
Graph points up for US Soccer, imo. Probably enough to be a second tier world power, but the big three (football/baseball/basketball) will continue to gobble up the best of the best who want to make a billion dollars playing sports.
i don’t think the basketball playing field overlaps much with soccer besides maybe potential goal keepers.
Its nothing to do with parents, kids want to be sports superstars and your sports superstars aren’t soccer players. Until that changes a lot of prospects will be lost to Basketball, Baseball & Am Football (and hardly any will make it there).
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Messi, Ronaldo and Co are still gigantic in America.
The thing is most people can’t pretend to be KD or Lebron. Most people won’t be 6’8+. That’s part of why Curry became the favorite for kids.
No, but if you can do that and can also run a 4.4 40 then that’s probably pretty good. Like is it just a coincidence that the best soccerer in the world can also do this?
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