Usa Soccer Team

[Computer Hobbyist]

Originally posted by Mr N8 Hey CH, what team does your son play for? I watch a lot of amatuer football. I live in the home of the Racine Raiders, and catch a good percentage of their home games. n8

He plays for the KCJazz. One day he decided he missed football. He is a senior (premed) at the local branch of MU, (UMKC) which doesn't have a football team. So he went out for the Jazz. They had a preseason game last Sunday in St. Louis. The defense held the opponent to 1 first down. The teams first regular game of this season is June 15.

I agree there is no way the MLS champion could play in the champions league right now, (we have enough trouble with the bunch of Latin American teams we are currently playing) but watching a lot of European Soccer on Dish, I wonder if an all Italian team could play in the Champions league. It seems to me that most of the Italian club players are from overseas.

As to the point about the Americans not doing better. It takes time for a soccer player to mature. Soccer took off in the United States about 10 years ago. The first big wave of kids is just now hitting college. Some of the rising stars from that first wave are Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Josh Wolff and Clint Mathis. A lot of players who are just as good or better are in the pipeline. Donovan and Beasley were stars in the World Cup win. Wolff and Mathis sat on the bench (Wolff has been hurt and Mathis has gotten sideways with the coach.)

A few years ago just about any warm body who showed up for the average local high school team tryout would make the squad. Now days you better show up with skill, speed and game if you want to make the local high school team. Its even harder for girls to make local teams than boys, but America already dominates the women's game, so that's not worth talking about.

CH

[SARGE]

Originally posted by vacanthead We haven't even mentioned rugby yet. Now that is a game for real men.

Do they still play with leather balls?

[WJWheels]

Keep it clean Sarge........

I agree with Suncoast. I tried to play the game once, and there's no way I could drink that much beer.

[SARGE]

Originally posted by WJWheels Keep it clean Sarge........

Whatcha talking about, Wheels?

http://www.peta.org/liv/animaltimes/...ts/sports.html

[Colb]

Reply for WJWheels: about soccer players being the ones that got cut from the baseball, football, or basketball team.


LOL! You have got to be kidding. To play soccer you don't need to be the biggest or strongest kid. You need to be the most ATHLETIC. I would like to see any wide receiver try to dribble a soccer ball past a soccer defender. Now reverse the roles, a soccer player would have a much better shot at getting past a D-back. Now size and speed are advantages, but you actually need to use brain power and coordination to play a majority of this sport(unlike football).

I do agree that soccer closely resembles Hockey. With Hockey having a lot more action and a little more contact. For those who think soccer is a no contact sport, have you ever been to a high school game? In my senior year of HS, our team won the state title. It also came with a few broken bones too.

Soccer vs. Football, an ongoing discussion.

[alexmacdonald]

Cricket, there a real game. Try to figure out the rules to that.

[Computer Hobbyist]

Sarge,

Those peta guys have got to be kidding.

I think I'll go pull a burger off the grill.

CH

[Statica]

Originally posted by alexmacdonald Cricket, there a real game. Try to figure out the rules to that.

You get a hang of it by the 4th day

Seriously, I like cricket too (hey am from India .. its sorta like a religion there .. much like hockey is out here in Canada) .. but after getting into baseball seems a waste of time. During some good series I get really hooked on it too.

[WJWheels]

Originally posted by Colb_Dog Reply for WJWheels: LOL! You have got to be kidding. To play soccer you don't need to be the biggest or strongest kid. You need to be the most ATHLETIC.

You must not have read what I said. I don't agree nor disagree with your premise that soccer players are the best athletes. That wasn't my point at all. What I did say is that US soccer teams (youth, hs, college) do NOT get the best athletes because the best athletes choose to play football, basketball, & baseball. Soccer teams in the US get the leftovers, unlike most of the rest of the world where soccer is #1.

[Computer Hobbyist]

Wheels,

I understand what you are saying, and a few years ago you were right. As far as giants are concerned football and basketball are extremely attractive, but for the average sized great athlete, soccer is now seducing many of the very best. It is seducing them away from the other sport for average sized people--baseball. Have you noticed how many new major league baseball players are now coming from Central America, and Asia. That's not just because they are great players. It is a reflection of the decline of the little leagues in America's suburbs. In my home town, we have a baseball league that used to field 20 teams of 14-15 year old boys. Last year the league was barely able to field 6. This is a well respected league that has produced major league players. At the same time the number of soccer teams being fielded by soccer clubs has soared. In Johnson County, Kansas (rich suburb heaven) bond issues are being passed to build more soccer pitches.

As the man said, there are now more kids playing soccer in American than in any country in the world. What he didn't tell you is that there are now more kids playing soccer in America than are playing any other sport.

Why the switch. For the average thinking soccer mom, soccer has a number of advantages over baseball. First, kids have to run. Soccer, is an arobic sport, baseball isn't. Second, the time commitment is defined (a baseball game takes a long time while a little league soccer game is over in couple of hours--including pregame warmups and ice cream afterwards.) Third, it is not a brutalizing sport. Soccer moms don't like for little Jimmy to come home with broken teeth on a regular basis. Fourth, it is relatively cheap. A lot cheaper than hockey (ever priced hockey pads.) Fifth, while there are rainouts, rain doesn't ruin a field for a week (this is the reason that soccer has long been more popular than baseball in the Northwest.) Sixth, a lot of people need help with college tuition these days. Even people in the suburbs. Just what college team do you think Johnny Suburb, star high school athlete, has a chance of making if he is 5'11" 160lb. You got it--soccer. This is true even if Johnny was a great high school basketball player. There are just not that many basketball scholarships to go around. My daugher has teammates whose parents are counting on soccer scholarships to at least second level colleges. (BTW--my wife and I don't.) Of course, for girls, soccer is the scholarship equivalent of football. As long as there is title 9, colleges and universities will have to fund women's soccer.

Of course, you might argue that baseball doesn't depend on colleges and univerities to produce talent. It relies on the minor leagues. As more money is soaked up to pay AROD's salary there is less money available to pay minor league prospects. By not putting its financial house in order, major league baseball has not only destroyed the ability of most of its teams to win, it has also gutted its farm system.

Finally, soccer players develop a love for the game that is unbelievable. That is why it is so darn popular in Europe. All of the stuff that everybody has written about it being dull is true to the average non-player. But to the person who has played the game, the game is down right seductive. There are lots of adult leagues. People playing long after they should have hung up their spikes.

If my daughter came to me tonight and said Dad I don't want to play soccer anymore, it would be ok with me. When I talk to her about the game, however, all she can say is that she loves it. When she is playing well, a certain joy bubbles through in her smile. All of the girls on Sarah's team have that same love of the game. They just want to play.

As time goes by my daughter and her friends will all grow up. They will all be fans. They will have kids, and their kids will play soccer and not baseball. Within a generation, baseball is going to become a marginal sport. Stupid leadership has doomed it.

CH

[pmaddock]

CH,

I have to totally agree with you. I have never played soccer myself, but my nephew who lives with me is a great soccer player. He has even played in the world cup equivalent for 14 years olds a couple years ago (I think that it is the Gothia Cup or something like that) in Europe. He loves soccer so much that he has quit playing his other sport (knothole baseball). This kid is a great kid, whose character has been molded through playing soccer. I just wish that I had the same interest in the sport that he does (my affiliation still lies with softball and football). He totally loves the game and is depressed when he can't play.


PM

[WJWheels]

I'm sure it's a great game.... I've never played myself, but do enjoy watching it some. The fact remains; you guys can say what you want, but it's going to be a loooooong time before we see interest in any professional soccer league here in the states that compares to out big three sports. Even the player drafts for basketball & football draw bigger tv audiences than any soccer game.

BTW, down here in Florida, little league baseball & football still have the largest participation.