Are The USA a Soccer Powerhouse Yet?

[DC]

I was wondering what your guys opinions are of the US soccer team. Ive been watching them in the Concafaf Gold Cup (some weak **** competition with the only other team being Mexico) and ive noticed they have some real depth in their squad now and some players playing abroad. So i was thinking with talented players from the EPL like Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra, Tim Howard, Brian McBride, Bobby Convey, Oguchi Onyewu, Beasley, Spector and more good domestic players like Donovan, Eddie Johnson, Taylor Twellman is the US going to be a major force on the international scene in the near future?

Plus it seems like soccer is going to really take off here, the MLS is on the rise, the youngsters are coming up younger and younger through the age groups and the MLS now has "academy" like teams to nurture that talent. I think a potential soccer giant is stirring.

 

[Bullitt]

Are The USA a Soccer Powerhouse Yet?[/b]

No.

A reason? You're calling players like Howard talented which just about sums it up. While there are some potentially good players on the horizon such as Freddy Adu (who is only playing for the USA in a similar fashon to half of the AB's for New Zealand - He was poached), the game is still far too small in the US itself for them to be taken seriously in an international stage. Beckhams arrival won't change that.

 

[rod]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha my ribs are hurting please stop

 

[O'Rothlain]

We are a long way off...not to say the horizon isn't out there, we're making all the right steps. It will just be while. Patience my friend is the key for US Soccer.

 

[DC]

Are The USA a Soccer Powerhouse Yet?[/b]

No.

A reason? You're calling players like Howard talented which just about sums it up. While there are some potentially good players on the horizon such as Freddy Adu (who is only playing for the USA in a similar fashon to half of the AB's for New Zealand - He was poached), the game is still far too small in the US itself for them to be taken seriously in an international stage. Beckhams arrival won't change that. [/b]

Adu is a tough one, i dont really know if he's going to be as good as advertized, maybe its because of the league he's playing in but i really wouldnt mind seeing him get into a foreign league and develop more.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha my ribs are hurting please stop [/b]

who do you support you f***ing ******?

let me guess brazil!!!!111

 

[rod]

calm down your gonna do yourself some damage I dont really support any international team just enjoy watching a good game and i dont think the usa will ever be a powerhouse in world FOOTBALL

 

[Gulli]

you will get there one day, and you are gradually improving, some ok players, donovan is pretty good, and adu looks to be one for the future.

not there yet though

 

[RoyalBlueStuey]

you will get there one day, and you are gradually improving, some ok players, donovan is pretty good, and adu looks to be one for the future.

not there yet though [/b]

The MLS is still a way off, getting better but still lots to do....whilst this is the case the best players will ship out to Europe and improve, but they'll have lots of club v country issues.

This always handicaps a national team....tricky one.

The signs are there though.

SB

 

[danroadking]

calm down your gonna do yourself some damage I dont really support any international team just enjoy watching a good game and i dont think the usa will ever be a powerhouse in world FOOTBALL [/b]

 

[fcukernaut]

who is only playing for the USA in a similar fashon to half of the AB's for New Zealand - He was poached[/b]

Stop using hyperbole. There is only one player who could possibly be considered poached(Sivivatu) and even that is a questionable distinction. But that is neither here nor there and has nothing to do with this topic.



As for the US being a world power? Financially the commitment still isn't there corporately and otherwise. The MLS is still a minor league mentality. For the US 15,000 a game is not very much, especially when you see minor league baseball teams averaging 7000 a game. When the MLS starts building 40,000+ seat stadiums just for soccer than you know the league as hit it big. But considering they are building stadiums between 20-25,000 seats it remains a minor league mentality.



By the way, CONCAFAF needs a new acronyn. As well, wahoo for Canada soccer climbing the rankings.

 

[Brainpowerd]

The US is far from being anything more than a menace to the world's footballing powers at this time. However, to say that the players they've produced aren't talented or even athletic is being very close-minded and ill-informed on the American game.

Considering that only US and Mexico can even be considered as viable for the CONCACAF region and that no one wants to play either team in the US or Mexico says a lot about how they're considered as an opponent. The United States is still growing its sporting following for the game but you'll find that they're incredibly knowledgeable about the sport where it is followed.

I think that this year's Copa America could be an eye-opener for re-introducing people to American Soccer / Football but even if they miraculously won the event, no one would give them their respect.

 

[DC]

The usa should make it out of their copa america group in 2nd place behind argentina unless they can miraculously pull the upset on them.

 

[SPIDER18]

Are The USA a Soccer Powerhouse Yet?[/b]

No.

A reason? You're calling players like Howard talented which just about sums it up. While there are some potentially good players on the horizon such as Freddy Adu (who is only playing for the USA in a similar fashon to half of the AB's for New Zealand - He was poached), the game is still far too small in the US itself for them to be taken seriously in an international stage. Beckhams arrival won't change that. [/b]

name the players you think were poached i think you'll find most were born in nz

 

[Bullitt]

I'm more interested on naming whoever un-banned you.

 

[Brainpowerd]

No.

A reason? You're calling players like Howard talented which just about sums it up. While there are some potentially good players on the horizon such as Freddy Adu (who is only playing for the USA in a similar fashon to half of the AB's for New Zealand - He was poached), the game is still far too small in the US itself for them to be taken seriously in an international stage. Beckhams arrival won't change that.
[/b]

I wouldn't entirely discount the talent coming out of the U.S. when you consider that Casey Keller, Tim Howard, DeMarcus Beasley, Jay DeMerit, Clint Dempsey, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and several others have made a living playing first team football overseas. While some have prospered and others haven't, the fact that people are showing interest in our players enough to buy their services shows that there is talent available in the American system.

David Beckham's move to the US will serve to do one of two things. Either it will improve the overall talent level of the players who come to the league and bring about an exodus of international players who desire to play in America or he will sell a few extra tickets, flounder on a team of underachievers, and be sent out "on loan" to an English club somewhere down the line.

 

[Hazey]

Simple answer, no.

Firstly, because it will be incredibly difficult to break the hold of the 'big three' over American sporting culture; that is, Basketball, Baseball and American Football. Even Ice Hockey, which was an established sport, is dying out in front of these three powerhouses, albeit that the cause of that may be due to the foolish leasing of television rights.

Secondly, because football provides no opportunity for advertising time. Although baseball provides 'natural' breaks in play for adverts, the number of 'stoppages' in american football, basketball and ice hockey games simply to allow for adverts is incredible. If anyone noticed during the Stanley Cup coverage, being the most recent, how a period is meant to be 20 minutes long, yet as soon as their was a face off or penalty, or even a save by the goaltender, around the 10 minutes mark in each third, the coverage (and the game!!) was stopped so that the television companies could run adverts. The same is true in basketball and american football - the case is that they put these stoppages in because they need the broadcasting support, otherwise, like ice hockey, their sport dies.

Thirdly, American soccer will not be anywhere approaching a 'powerhouse' until it is taken up in colleges in the same way in which the major American sports are taken up - it is too heavily regarded as a youngsters, high school or women's game, and not as a proffessional sport on the same level as the major college sports.

Lastly, American soccer is handicapped by the league structure of sports in American. In every sport from Basketball to Baseball, the teams play in pre-set conferences where, no matter the standard of your team or where you finished the previous year, you are garranteed to play in the same league against the same opposition. Without the incentive of promotion or relegation, American soccer, and in fact any sport (however 'american' it is deemed to be) that is played in this set up plays below the level at which it should be playing if a promotion/relegation system was in place. Without this, American soccer cannot progress to the same level as a European league system, however deep and wide it's talent pool.

 

[Bullitt]

You mention that and I begin to remember something about the yanks trying to make the game into 4 quarters during the '94 World Cup so they could run some adverts.

It's no wonder it was a piddly small tournament (for a World Cup at least).

 

[Hazey]

You mention that and I begin to remember something about the yanks trying to make the game into 4 quarters during the '94 World Cup so they could run some adverts.

It's no wonder it was a piddly small tournament (for a World Cup at least). [/b]

You say that, but at least they managed to get it done, mentioning no names...


*points at South Africa* <_<

 

[DC]

You mention that and I begin to remember something about the yanks trying to make the game into 4 quarters during the '94 World Cup so they could run some adverts.

It's no wonder it was a piddly small tournament (for a World Cup at least). [/b]

I just wanted to point out that the 94 world cup had the greatest attendence of any world cup of all time.

"To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the greatest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition to 32 teams in 1998."

Pretty impressive for a nation that hasnt embraced soccer

"The 1994 World Cup revolutionized television coverage of sports in the USA through the sponsored scoreboard and game clock that were constantly shown on screen throughout the game. Television sports coverage in the US had long been dependent upon commercial breaks; a feature suitable for sports such as baseball, basketball, ice hockey and American football (which all have breaks in the action), but long considered incompatible with soccer, due to the long stretches of uninterrupted play. Variations on it were quickly incorporated into virtually every team sports broadcast by the decade's end."

They still do that when the USA plays here, the digital on screen score will be sponsored by a certain company.

 

[Hazey]

They still do that when the USA plays here, the digital on screen score will be sponsored by a certain company.
[/b]

An advertising feature that is hated by almost all American advertisers, hence why the breaks in the other games continue.