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Post by blueronin on Oct 14, 2015 9:00:23 GMT -5
that folks truly believe that US can not compete because the best "athletes" play other sports. Soccer is played with the ball at your feet. That is the foundation of the game. Yet folks only care about speed, size, and strength. Why not start with the foundation of the game?
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Post by letissier on Oct 14, 2015 9:40:41 GMT -5
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Post by totaalvoetbal on Oct 14, 2015 10:49:41 GMT -5
I do think that getting our best athletes to play the game would be helpful only because then more money, more media, and such would be paying attention to soccer. However, technical ability is way more important. We have tons of people with the size and strength of Lukaku and Embolo, but not the soccer IQ. That is the thing that is missing the most in US soccer. I am hopeful that the US will be a great soccer nation one day, but it'll take a long long time.
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Post by newposter on Oct 14, 2015 11:21:08 GMT -5
I could care less about winning until maybe u14 and older. However the clubs push it because they are a business. They have to have the C1 top teams to possibly get to R3pl. To get to that point, they have to win early and often. Thus development takes a second seat to winning thus if you are bigger and maybe just a little faster because of early maturation, the kid is picked over a smaller more technically sound player w good IQ. I've seen it happen. Those kids leave to be the stars in other sportsi.e. football, basketball or baseball.
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Post by rifle on Oct 14, 2015 15:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by rifle on Oct 14, 2015 15:46:10 GMT -5
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Post by letissier on Oct 14, 2015 16:29:39 GMT -5
Its sounded like Aaron should be presenting the show, he knew more than the host.
I liked his point about Concacaf giving us a free ride to the world cup. Perhaps we'd be better if we didn't have this and had to compete with South American teams to get there.
I had not realized that Belgium had forced the clubs to invest in youth soccer with an increasing commitment each year, with the money starting at the lower ages.
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Post by rifle on Oct 14, 2015 16:53:45 GMT -5
Yeah, that was news to me also. And I agree about the host. He takes sides and then hedges his comments constantly.
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Post by newposter on Oct 14, 2015 17:56:16 GMT -5
Clubs investing in youth soccer is the inverse of what happens here. Here parents pay to the clubs with a few on scholarships. This format makes money for the clubs. That's why our pro teams are decades behind those in Europe. Countries with 5% of our total population continue to dominate our "best".
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