The US....

[ShotgunDawg]

US soccer is the Big 12 of the world.

No matter how many resources we pour into the program, we aren't to turn the corner until the culture is changed.

Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, & Brazil are SEC teams with real identities, toughness, & play makers, while the US is a soft, over coached team that lacks physicality & an identity.

[Beaver]

US soccer is the Big 12 of the world.

No matter how many resources we pour into the program, we aren't to turn the corner until the culture is changed.

Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, & Brazil are SEC teams with real identities, toughness, & play makers, while the US is a soft, over coached team that lacks physicality & an identity.

Netherlands, who made the final in 2010 and the semis in 2014, failed to qualify for the 2018 WC. Hard to qualify in Europe... Meanwhile, the US can't beat teams from countries that we send missionaries to build houses for in order to qualify.

[smootness]

US soccer is the Big 12 of the world.

No matter how many resources we pour into the program, we aren't to turn the corner until the culture is changed.

Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, & Brazil are SEC teams with real identities, toughness, & play makers, while the US is a soft, over coached team that lacks physicality & an identity.

If you think the problem with US soccer is that it isn't tough or physical enough, then I don't know what to tell you. The problem is that we don't have enough creative talent, and our touch still lags way behind the rest of the world.

And the problem isn't really that we haven't sent people abroad. We had an entire generation (4-5 years) that didn't develop, for whatever reason, and it is killing us. Klinsmann had a lot of great ideas about soccer development in the US, and the good thing is that we're starting to see the benefits at the 15-year-old to 20-year-old level. We have some legit talent there, and some of these guys are already starting to break through at legit programs across the world.

I am not a fan of Arena, but this is not his fault. This team just wasn't good. Period. Sure, they should have been better than they were, but the talent itself wasn't good enough. John Brooks being out hurt, because it also meant we weren't comfortable with Cameron on the back line. Bradley has declined and is no longer good enough to control things in the middle, and we have essentially no other controlling center midfielders we can turn to. Nagbe is not good enough to be starting for the US national team.

It is time to commit 100% to a youth movement. I don't want to see guys like Dempsey, Nagbe, Gonzalez, Besler, etc. ever play for the US again, and I don't care if Bradley ever does again. This is Pulisic's team; Altidore and Wood are fine up top, but it is time to start getting these young guys caps with the senior national team, even if they're really too young right now. Emerson Hyndman, Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent...they need to be playing now. And yes, guys like Kellyn Acosta do need to leave MLS.

[ShotgunDawg]

If you think the problem with US soccer is that it isn't tough or physical enough, then I don't know what to tell you. The problem is that we don't have enough creative talent, and our touch still lags way behind the rest of the world.

And the problem isn't really that we haven't sent people abroad. We had an entire generation (4-5 years) that didn't develop, for whatever reason, and it is killing us. Klinsmann had a lot of great ideas about soccer development in the US, and the good thing is that we're starting to see the benefits at the 15-year-old to 20-year-old level. We have some legit talent there, and some of these guys are already starting to break through at legit programs across the world.

I am not a fan of Arena, but this is not his fault. This team just wasn't good. Period. Sure, they should have been better than they were, but the talent itself wasn't good enough. John Brooks being out hurt, because it also meant we weren't comfortable with Cameron on the back line. Bradley has declined and is no longer good enough to control things in the middle, and we have essentially no other controlling center midfielders we can turn to. Nagbe is not good enough to be starting for the US national team.

It is time to commit 100% to a youth movement. I don't want to see guys like Dempsey, Nagbe, Gonzalez, Besler, etc. ever play for the US again, and I don't care if Bradley ever does again. This is Pulisic's team; Altidore and Wood are fine up top, but it is time to start getting these young guys caps with the senior national team, even if they're really too young right now. Emerson Hyndman, Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent...they need to be playing now. And yes, guys like Kellyn Acosta do need to leave MLS.

Excellent post.

I was speaking more to the culture problem than actual physicality

[smootness]

Excellent post.

I was speaking more to the culture problem than actual physicality

Gotcha.

[Liverpooldawg]

If you think the problem with US soccer is that it isn't tough or physical enough, then I don't know what to tell you. The problem is that we don't have enough creative talent, and our touch still lags way behind the rest of the world.

And the problem isn't really that we haven't sent people abroad. We had an entire generation (4-5 years) that didn't develop, for whatever reason, and it is killing us. Klinsmann had a lot of great ideas about soccer development in the US, and the good thing is that we're starting to see the benefits at the 15-year-old to 20-year-old level. We have some legit talent there, and some of these guys are already starting to break through at legit programs across the world.

I am not a fan of Arena, but this is not his fault. This team just wasn't good. Period. Sure, they should have been better than they were, but the talent itself wasn't good enough. John Brooks being out hurt, because it also meant we weren't comfortable with Cameron on the back line. Bradley has declined and is no longer good enough to control things in the middle, and we have essentially no other controlling center midfielders we can turn to. Nagbe is not good enough to be starting for the US national team.

It is time to commit 100% to a youth movement. I don't want to see guys like Dempsey, Nagbe, Gonzalez, Besler, etc. ever play for the US again, and I don't care if Bradley ever does again. This is Pulisic's team; Altidore and Wood are fine up top, but it is time to start getting these young guys caps with the senior national team, even if they're really too young right now. Emerson Hyndman, Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent...they need to be playing now. And yes, guys like Kellyn Acosta do need to leave MLS.

Most of the national team guys came home the last 4-5 years.

[dawgs]

If you think the problem with US soccer is that it isn't tough or physical enough, then I don't know what to tell you. The problem is that we don't have enough creative talent, and our touch still lags way behind the rest of the world.

And the problem isn't really that we haven't sent people abroad. We had an entire generation (4-5 years) that didn't develop, for whatever reason, and it is killing us. Klinsmann had a lot of great ideas about soccer development in the US, and the good thing is that we're starting to see the benefits at the 15-year-old to 20-year-old level. We have some legit talent there, and some of these guys are already starting to break through at legit programs across the world.

I am not a fan of Arena, but this is not his fault. This team just wasn't good. Period. Sure, they should have been better than they were, but the talent itself wasn't good enough. John Brooks being out hurt, because it also meant we weren't comfortable with Cameron on the back line. Bradley has declined and is no longer good enough to control things in the middle, and we have essentially no other controlling center midfielders we can turn to. Nagbe is not good enough to be starting for the US national team.

It is time to commit 100% to a youth movement. I don't want to see guys like Dempsey, Nagbe, Gonzalez, Besler, etc. ever play for the US again, and I don't care if Bradley ever does again. This is Pulisic's team; Altidore and Wood are fine up top, but it is time to start getting these young guys caps with the senior national team, even if they're really too young right now. Emerson Hyndman, Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent...they need to be playing now. And yes, guys like Kellyn Acosta do need to leave MLS.

Good post. I was telling someone last night we are kinda in between generations. Our best talent is all 30+ or <22. Somehow we ****ed up in between big time and that?s what brought the team down. I?m not familiar with who is coming down the pipeline, but everything I?ve read is the U-17 team is loaded. This team wasn?t gonna do shit in Russia anyway, but it would?ve been nice to get pulisic and a couple other young guys experience. But maybe this triggers a revamping of the USMNT. I think the system in place now is definitely better than it?s ever been, but it takes time for the talent to work their way up from pre-teens and teens to being world class soccer players. We need to update our style of play and turn over the roster to the young talent now. Give them 5 years to gel and develop and gear up for 2022.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Hopefully soccer will soon go away. Probably not in my lifetime though.

[CadaverDawg]

Hopefully soccer will soon go away. Probably not in my lifetime though.

We're closer to football going away imo than futbol going away. I enjoy watching international soccer, especially the WC, so I'm disappointed. Maybe this will finally cause a much needed reset with American soccer, and we'll start focusing on skill development at an early age and stop with the "pay to play". The only kids getting refined skills are the ones with money to pay for expensive travel clubs....that isn't right, and it's killing US soccer in my opinion. We have the athletes on the field, but our players have an ounce of the skill some of these countries have. And coaching....coaching & showing up should have beaten Trinidad. That shit was an embarrassment

[Liverpooldawg]

We're closer to football going away imo than futbol going away. I enjoy watching international soccer, especially the WC, so I'm disappointed. Maybe this will finally cause a much needed reset with American soccer, and we'll start focusing on skill development at an early age and stop with the "pay to play". The only kids getting refined skills are the ones with money to pay for expensive travel clubs....that isn't right, and it's killing US soccer in my opinion. We have the athletes on the field, but our players have an ounce of the skill some of these countries have. And coaching....coaching & showing up should have beaten Trinidad. That shit was an embarrassment

Soccer is basically the working class game everywhere but North America. Here, as you pointed out, it’s a game of the middle class, with the better players tending to come from the upper middle because they are the only ones who can afford the travel teams. Until that changes we won’t produce much top notch talent.

[ShotgunDawg]

Soccer is basically the working class game everywhere but North America. Here, as you pointed out, it’s a game of the middle class, with the better players tending to come from the upper middle because they are the only ones who can afford the travel teams. Until that changes we won’t produce much top notch talent.

As I've always said, the US will compete for World Cups the day that soccer goals are mounted underneath the baskets on New York and Chicago playgrounds

IMO, soccer must be played in small spaces in a creative environment. The US model is the opposite.

The US is the best in basketball because the development model is about creativity and is a playground sport. The US used to have this in baseball with inner city stick ball. Now the Dominican has that type of development

[dawgs]

Soccer is basically the working class game everywhere but North America. Here, as you pointed out, it?s a game of the middle class, with the better players tending to come from the upper middle because they are the only ones who can afford the travel teams. Until that changes we won?t produce much top notch talent.

When youth football and junior high/high school football starts disappearing due to insurance premiums and liability, something is going to fill the void, and imo soccer stands to be the biggest gainer in talent.

[Liverpooldawg]

When youth football and junior high/high school football starts disappearing due to insurance premiums and liability, something is going to fill the void, and imo soccer stands to be the biggest gainer in talent.

They will just start in soccer then, lots of concussions in soccer. It already has start d in fact, many youth leagues ban headers.

[mstatefan91]

Hopefully soccer will soon go away. Probably not in my lifetime though.

Not going to happen. Get over it

[mparkerfd20]

Thank God. Maybe we're one step closer to soccer going away in the US. One can only hope. **

[mstatefan91]

Oh look. A thread with men aged 40+ calling soccer irrelevant or a pansy sport. How original

Time for the system to be gutted. Got to drive up professional clubs and development. Introduce relegation and quit letting talent slip through the cracks. Enough with hand picking teams because "my daddy knows your daddy." There is no reason that the USA should not be top 10 in soccer other than corruption and incompetence.

[Dawgowar]

Oh look. A thread with men aged 40+ calling soccer irrelevant or a pansy sport. How original

Time for the system to be gutted. Got to drive up professional clubs and development. Introduce relegation and quit letting talent slip through the cracks. Enough with hand picking teams because "my daddy knows your daddy." There is no reason that the USA should not be top 10 in soccer other than corruption and incompetence.

54, love the sport. Agree with everything you said for the most part. Need to start allowing tackling in the youth leagues as well. All leagues need to have winners and losers.

[Dawg61]

That was the worst game I have ever seen USA play. Zero energy. We intimidate nobody.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Mullenz to US Soccer!

[BrunswickDawg]

Oh look. A thread with men aged 40+ calling soccer irrelevant or a pansy sport. How original

Time for the system to be gutted. Got to drive up professional clubs and development. Introduce relegation and quit letting talent slip through the cracks. Enough with hand picking teams because "my daddy knows your daddy." There is no reason that the USA should not be top 10 in soccer other than corruption and incompetence.

Easy now - a lot of us 40+ guys love soccer. It?s our parents who never could understand the rules and thought it was cute.