Seriously hypothetical even on TS, but.....
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More D1 colleges would add men's soccer. -
American football and basketball would jump worldwide in popularity. Soccer would never be looked up to again as a serious sport.Comment
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lol so funny but true. The rest of the world would be scratching their heads asking "w t f just happened?"Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
So, the women's team obviously world champs. Soccer is the #1 sport for girls in the US. So their wins help it become a bit more popular each time. But it's women's soccer - many don't care about women's anything, and many don't care about soccer either - a tough combination. Basketball is a more popular sport, the WNBA has tremendous $ support, but they struggle for attention as well. They're fighting for attention in an already saturated male dominated sports market. ME's soccer is right there with them - sure it's men but it's soccer. We are years, probably decades from building a stronger soccer culture. It's growing but at a snail's pace. If the MNT won they'd get lots of attention, a ticker tape parade and trip to the White House. Then once the hoopla dies down MLS and overall soccer viewership and attendance would barely blip upComment
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A pessimists view
If the men won then USSF down to USYS would think the current system in is working just fine and the continued broken systems would remain in place. The win would be a one and done championship and they would keep trying to recreate lightning in a bottle to for another decade. FiFA would be investigated and all the leadership jailed regardless of guilt.Comment
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College soccer is NOT the problem. The problem is that this country still values size and speed over skill. A big, strong kid who can outrun everyone and barrel through a defense will ALWAYS get the nod over a highly skilled, profound, high soccer IQed player with less size and regular speed, even if that player's speed of play is far superior. THAT is the problem. College soccer just PERPETUATES what is started on the youth level!!!Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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During the 1980’s early 90’s I played high-level youth travel soccer and was on the ODP Regional team in the Northeast. I then moved on to play for a top-5 NCAA D-I program. During that time period I played against many men that were current US National team members and were significant players on the teams that played in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. These players were good, but not truly international level players. As a player I had success playing against these national level players and in my opinion the foreign players playing college ball here were clearly better than the majority of national level Americans, and these foreign players had zero chance of even playing pro let alone national level soccer back in their own countries.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s our national team played to hang on and keep the score close; a counter attack game, even in Concacaf and this was the case against any of the Concacaf programs. Again, the players were good back then, but nothing like what players have transformed into today. The pool of athletes has changed so much over the years. The MLS has been a massive help around the country along with having a development academy option, not saying DA is the only route, but it has improved the overall standard of the game. Contrary to what many believe on this forum, we have jumped to a high level program in a short period of time. We have beaten or competed against world powers in big events. We now dictate the way the game is played against smaller or weaker nations. That wasn’t the case 20 years ago. We now have standards. We are now expected to beat countries that fall outside of the power 15 nations in the sport. Teams like an Ireland or Scotland or the other minnow Euro nations are considered layups (and these guys come over here to teach the game to our kids…) and teams that should never beat us; and they rarely do now.
The fact that in my lifetime I have seen a fringe sport reach the level of where are today is impressive and exciting. We are competing on the world stage now. We have a solid pro league and improving youth development system. Although not many, we have real youth academies that aren’t pay for play. I hope we see the MLS and a youth system come to S.FL.
It's great we have sites like this to debate our sport now. We have TV networks and radio that cover soccer. I see soccer scores on my local news in my hometown in the northeast. When traveling for work I can go to pro games the majority cities I visit. None of this was true when I was a kid playing. There was soccer on PBS, not much more. I love that I can watch the game now at a bar. That the game is on live at the diner when I am having breakfast. I think we have come a long way. Having a standard now and the goal of achieving more is a great thing.
So if we were to win the World Cup, I see us continuing to grow and hopefully making the sport affordable for all kids to play at a high-level on a greater scale. All stuff we can debate on this site which is cool. Keep pushing to make it better.
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Yes, we have come a long way since Pele's cosmos and the rowdies. The biggest thing now is the European clubs are starting to the USA as a viable place to draw talent. The big issue is the ability for a club to make $$$ for developing a player.
The current US laws and rules do not allow for that possibility.
The common thread for our improvement has been the more players we have that play on European clubs the better our National Team is.
You could see the level our MLS players are in the first round of the gold cup.Comment
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Nobody cares about US soccer except those that have kids involved. Once the kid is done playing most , if not all, forget about soccer.Comment
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I fell asleep watching that mens game last night with my kids........other than some hard tackles, it was a snoozefest. Shoulda watched reruns of Breaking Bad.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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3 hours a week practice with paid sub par soccer teachers. Our soccer licensing federation has created a licensing system to teach coaches how to work in a money hungry player numbers driven soccer system. When the soccer club culture changes so will the quality of soccer. Until then, the US will always struggle to get into the World Cup.Comment
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Nothing would change. The vast majority of American men - the only group of sports consumers that count - would laugh and tell you that soccer is a sport for pussies. The youth leagues would continue to be populated by weak un-athletic boys whose dads insist they play something rather than nothing.Comment
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