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Soccer still is very much a white middle- to upper-middle-class sport," said Mike Curry, chair of the NSCAA's diversity committee of the game in the United States.
Quote:
While the socioeconomic aspect doesn't solely impact the African-American community, it's just one of a number of barriers to participation. Unlike the Hispanic community, the black community in the United States lacks a culturally ingrained passion for soccer. So it becomes a matter of trying to establish one.
Even if you look at the minority players on the USMNT, most of them are first-generation Americans:
Jozy Altidore (1st generation Haitian-American)
Carlos Bocanegra (Father was Mexican)
Terrence Boyd (Grew up in Germany)
Edgar Castillo (Played for Mexico)
Maurice Edu (1st generation Nigerian-American)
Herculez Gomez (1st generation Mexican-American)
Tim Howard (Hungarian mother)
Fabian Johnson (Grew up in Germany)
Jermaine Jones (Grew up in Germany)
Oguchi Onyewu (1st generation Nigerian-American)
Nick Rimando (1st generation Mexican/Filipino-American)
Jose Torres (1st generation Mexican-American)
No wonder U.S. soccer is improving. It's not like the soccer culture is getting more intense in the States. It's just that we're getting more immigrants.
Here's how the United States could win a World Cup by 2030:
1. Increase the number of H-1B visas granted to citizens of African, Caribbean and Latin American countries.
2. Alter the current physical education curriculum at the primary and secondary school level. Instead of playing baseball for a whole quarter (which is what we did), play soccer instead. Hopefully gym teachers from Africa or Latin America will encourage kids to play soccer during their "free" periods.
3. Increase funding for soccer in inner city school districts. Tournaments (similar to the Rucker Park tournament in Harlem) should be held in every major city in the country.
Yes, seriously. And most of the WORLDS most highly paid athletes play soccer in Europe, hello. The point of this thread is kind of WHY soccer sucks in the US. Beckham and a HANDFULL of designated players are recruited from Europe to come and play in the US. Yes, they are paid pretty well. They have come from Europe, played there and trained there. That's why they are so good! The two cultures are DIFFERENT, that is the point.
I'm not sure what's so laughable about my statement. It's true, the majority, or at least MANY, MANY people in the US do not appreciate soccer or think that it is an acceptable sport for their kids to play. Or, they are just not familiar with it and don't take the time or interest in learning about it. Thus their children are pushed in the direction of the sports that are typically American. This is the premise of the thread: why America sucks at soccer, which is twofold. It is not appreciated and encouraged, and there are really no good training programs in this country.
Don't get all touchy because I think soccer is superior to other sports. I know, the truth hurts....
America doesn't suck at soccer anymore.
Granted there are many countries much better than the US. I would say the US team is good, but not very good like some European and south American teams.
The US sucking at soccer is an outdated generalization similar to American beer sucking.
Mainly because we don't give a crap about soccer. With almost zero marketing, Major League Lacrosse draws almost as much in attendance as Major League Soccer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete MUFC
Really? Source please.
You don't have to give a crap about soccer, but don't give a crap comp like this here.
2011 average attendance MLL 6400
2011 average attendance MLS 17,800 (21,000 so far in 2012)
Last edited by ozzie679; 06-21-2012 at 09:25 AM..
Reason: 2012 error
Granted there are many countries much better than the US. I would say the US team is good, but not very good like some European and south American teams.
The US sucking at soccer is an outdated generalization similar to American beer sucking.
American soccer does suck considering: (1) our resources; (2) our size (300 million+ people); and (3) the fact that other countries have closed the gap in American-centric sports, but the U.S. has failed to reciprocate.
Think about it. The world watched in awe as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird pounded the competition at the Barcelona Games in 1992. In only 12 years, Puerto Rico defeated the U.S. Men's Team by 19 points. Then Argentina (minus Manu Ginobili) blew out the American team in the semi-finals. We went from basketball supremacy to utter humiliation in a matter of 12 years.
So if you look at it that way, should we really be jumping up and down about the U.S. being ranked No. 28 in the FIFA rankings? Much smaller countries are beating us at a US-centric sport yet we, as the fourth largest country in the world (and the wealthiest), are ranked lower than Ghana, the Czech Republic, Ivory Coast, Croatia, and even Australia in the world soccer standings.
No. 28. Wow. That's some big accomplishment there.
American soccer does suck considering: (1) our resources; (2) our size (300 million+ people); and (3) the fact that other countries have closed the gap in American-centric sports, but the U.S. has failed to reciprocate.
Think about it. The world watched in awe as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird pounded the competition at the Barcelona Games in 1992. In only 12 years, Puerto Rico defeated the U.S. Men's Team by 19 points. Then Argentina (minus Manu Ginobili) blew out the American team in the semi-finals. We went from basketball supremacy to utter humiliation in a matter of 12 years.
So if you look at it that way, should we really be jumping up and down about the U.S. being ranked No. 28 in the FIFA rankings? Much smaller countries are beating us at a US-centric sport yet we, as the fourth largest country in the world (and the wealthiest), are ranked lower than Ghana, the Czech Republic, Ivory Coast, Croatia, and even Australia in the world soccer standings.
No. 28. Wow. That's some big accomplishment there.
We need strong youth academy programs with knowledgeable coaching and tough athletes in order to be a consistent top 10.
We need strong youth academy programs with knowledgeable coaching and tough athletes in order to be a consistent top 10.
If guys like Allen Iverson, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Warrick Dunn, Adrian Peterson, Rajon Rondo, Ty Lawson, and Russell Westbrook had all been exposed to soccer at an early age, do you have any doubt that the U.S. would be kicking ass in soccer? Could you imagine those guys playing soccer with top tier training facilities and coaching? We would be unstoppable.
Sports like American basketball operate by the laws of natural selection. You probably joined up with some neighborhood kids to play pick up games. The better players from the neighborhood earned higher status among the rest of the kids. Most of us have stories about that guy from the neighborhood who "didn't make it."
As you got older, the bigger, stronger, and more skilled players made the middle school, JV and varsity teams. And once kids started driving, or got old enough to ride public transit on their own, they started playing against kids from all over the city. There's this process where you start with everyone and the weaker players get weeded out through competition. The stronger players go on to North Carolina, Kentucky and the NBA while the weaker players get desk jobs and talk about the stronger players on websites like City-Data.
Soccer starts out with organized leagues, tactical drills, and cute little uniforms and trophies for everyone! There is no hunger brewing in the belly of the neighborhood kid because he was embarassed in a soccer pickup game the day before. Soccer is not a source of pride. It's not a source of identity. It's just an activity over here.
Do you remember how much you wanted to beat your dad one-on-one in hoops? Or how you and your friends would get run out of the local gym by the bigger boys? Or how other boys made fun of you for getting your "ankles broken" during gym? Do you remember trash talking with your friends and betting that the loser of the game would have to "eat their Wheaties!" Do you remember playing with middle-aged guys as a kid who showed you those dirty little clever moves like pinching a guy's jersey as he goes around a screen or stepping on his foot while in a stack formation?
Until soccer gets down and dirty like that, America will never be that good at it.
If guys like Allen Iverson, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Warrick Dunn, Adrian Peterson, Rajon Rondo, Ty Lawson, and Russell Westbrook had all been exposed to soccer at an early age, do you have any doubt that the U.S. would be kicking ass in soccer? Could you imagine those guys playing soccer with top tier training facilities and coaching? We would be unstoppable.
So you would be better than Germany, Spain, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay etc. I doubt it. Being exposed to football, having good training facilities and being athletic doesn't mean you will be good at football!
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