In all fairness though Americans as a whole never cared or will care about soccer/football. I'm sure we could be good at it, but all our good athletes take up football or basketball as kids and never play soccer. I think the US has the athletes, it's just that nobody aside from a select few in suburban America care for soccer.
To be fair it was a friendly ... and a friendly with no real interest as it isn't in the build up to a competition ... so any one other than real followers of the game in England probably wouldn't have known was happening if it hadn't have been shown on the bbc ... it's not like it was a must watch game over here either
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
To be fair it was a friendly ... and a friendly with no real interest as it isn't in the build up to a competition ... so any one other than real followers of the game in England probably wouldn't have known was happening if it hadn't have been shown on the bbc ... it's not like it was a must watch game over here either
I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
Could be for the US For England it could have been lined up before England didn't qualify for Euro 2008 as a warm up game for that competition if we we got through.
Obviously as we compete as Great Britain at the Olympics and our football teams are recognised by FIFA as seperate nations we don't enter a team in the Olympics.
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
The Olympics are for U-23 players only, I believe. Actually, right now the U.S. is prepping for their first World Cup qualifier game in June against Barbados. We played England, we play Spain (currently ranked 4th in the world) on June 4, and against Argentina (currently ranked 1st in the world) on June 8. And we'll probably get our asses handed to us, but to be the best you've got to beat - or at least play - the best. But if we don't win by at least two goals against Barbados I'll be shocked.
I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
Some for the Olympics (u23 players, altidore, adu, edu) and the rest for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.
And for everyone bashing the US side against England, who cares? It was a friendly, we played like shit, our biggest scoring threat (Donovan) didn't play, Beasley coming off an injury and Altidore (who is better than Ed Johnson was on the bench). BTW, England consistently underachieves.
There is a very good generation of kids playing soccer right now. We will consistently be top 10 in the world within 10 years.
BTW, wtf is Josh Wolff even doing still on the national team roster. He is terrible. So is Onyewu. Why can't Bradley see this. These guys are not very good.
"That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."
Some for the Olympics (u23 players, altidore, adu, edu) and the rest for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.
And for everyone bashing the US side against England, who cares? It was a friendly, we played like shit, our biggest scoring threat (Donovan) didn't play, Beasley coming off an injury and Altidore (who is better than Ed Johnson was on the bench). BTW, England consistently underachieves.
There is a very good generation of kids playing soccer right now. We will consistently be top 10 in the world within 10 years.
BTW, wtf is Josh Wolff even doing still on the national team roster. He is terrible. So is Onyewu. Why can't Bradley see this. These guys are not very good.
We know we underachieve ... don't see anyone saying we played well
Think we are just pleased when we beat a team we are expected to beat as you go into games like this always expecting that England will mess things up and somehow conspire to lose.
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
We know we underachieve ... don't see anyone saying we played well
Think we are just pleased when we beat a team we are expected to beat as you go into games like this always expecting that England will mess things up and somehow conspire to lose.
All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.
"That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."
All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.
Not a man ... I've lived in the US so know how the sport is looked down on over there. I've taken enough crap for wanting to watch games and being told no one cares about soccer over here. The sport is definately looking up on your side of the pond ... think it's a question of keeping kids involved once they reach high school and now you have an established professional league hopefully less kids will get pulled away from the game.
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.
This is a bit off topic, but do you have any idea what happened to John O Brien? When he was healthy he was a top notch holding midfielder. I'm guessing he was kind of forced into medical retirement.
This is a bit off topic, but do you have any idea what happened to John O Brien? When he was healthy he was a top notch holding midfielder. I'm guessing he was kind of forced into medical retirement.
Not sure, it seems like he played in MLS last year or the year before and I haven't heard anything since. I know he made a couple of national team appearances the last couple of years, but he seemed pretty ineffective. But no doubt he was a talented mid. He was always nicked up it seems. I'm encouraged by Maurice Edu and Michael Bradley. I think those two are the guys that can take us to the next level. Edu is a beast and Bradley is a pretty crafty player.
"That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."
I think it was mainly John O'Briens age that caught up with him. He was fairly injury-prone during his Ajax years too. But he did have a few consistent final seasons in Holland & then the MLS. i rated him.
What was the craic with Wynalda? remember him? he was fairly hyped up by european media...was it all in the name or was he good? i only ever saw him in WC98
hit me up when you post a thread about a sport that matters......
you know that we Americans couldn't give a damn about soccer...........
Wonderful...but the rest of the friggin world, couldn't give a shit about your MLB or NFL. Now get your Ameri-centric head outta your ass and join us when you have something productive to say mkay?
In the meantime, I'm sure there's a NASCAR thread going on somewhere.
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky...A human being that was giveeeeeeeeeeeeen to flllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Wonderful...but the rest of the friggin world, couldn't give a shit about your MLB or NFL. Now get your Ameri-centric head outta your ass and join us when you have something productive to say mkay?
In the meantime, I'm sure there's a NASCAR thread going on somewhere.
You can mess with baseball and NASCAR, but don't you dare badmouth the NFL!!!
what's funny is if the US ever made a serious run at the World Cup (semis or higher) the bandwagon would be overflowing. The best way for US Soccer to ever get attention here is to win at the World level. They've seemed to play better other than the UK match but that just proves what we all know, that they can hang for a little bit with elite teams but won't beat them.
Playing in CONCAFF doesnt help because other than mexico they should win rather easily and that may bring a sense of over self confidence. That's why it's good they are scheduling UK, Spain and Argentina. They need to learn how to play against better competition. Their overreliance on set pieces works fine in CONCAFF but will not fly against your better teams.
Currently watching the Italy-Belgium match and I wonder if part of the problem is how kids are brought up playing the sport, do youth coaches stifle the creativity? or is it the fact that most youth coaches have no idea what they are doing? (actually it's probably both). The Italians just seem so much more creative in how they attack.
I agree also with whoever said that one of the problems is that there are a lot of other sports that get more attention. The talent pool is actually smaller for US in terms of soccer, it's just not part of the culture as it is everywhere else. Would be interesting if the US only had soccer can you imagine taking some of the athletes from our other sports and putting them on the pitch if that's all they ever knew.
since its the NBA playoffs imagine LeBron as a striker, Kobe as a midfielder, and a guy like Ben Wallace (at least when he was still good) on defense.
ok that was way too long a rant
98 MSG I
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
You can mess with baseball and NASCAR, but don't you dare badmouth the NFL!!!
OK ladies this is a football ("soccer") related thread so keep your girly sports out okay.
As i said in my original post England aren't much better than the USA anyway judging on recent performances, we're both nations who could achieve alot more.
Brian McBride, yeah i thought he was good, pity he has now left Fulham so won't be able to watch him in the permier league anymore. Definately good with his head.
Whats the interest in the MLS been like since the arrival of our very own David Becks? has the sport been covered by the media a bit more? or has the novelty worn off? From the brief stuff i have seen of the MLS there always seems to be good attendences at the games at least.
OK the UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland - all seperate countries.
oops my bad that's what i get when I try to multitask and actually get work done on a friday. my apologies
As far as Becks goes, from what i can tell it's gotten quiet, I think because people don't know how to appreciate what he does. Most when you say Beckham they say Bend It Like Beckham and dont even know what that means.
What MLS could really use is a prolific scorer to come here, like an Henry. The sad thing is our sports culture is fueled by Sportscenter so unless they get nightly highlights of a guy scoring over and over they aren't gonna quite get it. I myself haven't really watched sportscenter regularly in a years, it's become a shell of what it once was, now it's all about catchphrases.
98 MSG I
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
This is a excerpt from Klosterman's Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. It gives some insight as to why soccer will never catch on in America.
George Will vs. Nick Hornby
Like many U.S. citizens, I spend much of my free time thinking about the future of sports and the future of our children. This is because I care deeply about sports.
In the spirit of both, I've spent the last fifteen years of my life railing against the game of soccer, and exercise that has been lauded as "the sport of the future" since 1977. Thankfully, the future dystopia has never come. But people continue to tell me that soccer will soon become part of the fabric of this country, and that eventually be as popular as football, basketball, karate, pinball, smoking, glue sniffing, menstruation, animal cruelty, photocopying, and everything else that fuels the eroticized, hyper kinetic zeitgeist of Americana. After America placed eighth in the 2002 World Cup tournament, team forward Clint Mathis said, "If we can turn one more person who wasn't a soccer fan into a soccer fan, we've accomplished something." Apparently, that's all that matters to these idiots. They won't be satisfied until we are all systematically brainwashed into thinking soccer is cool and that placing eighth is somehow noble. However, I know this will never happen. Not really. Dumb bunnies like Clint Mathis will be wrong forever, and that might be the only thing saving us from ourselves.
My personal war against the so-called "soccer menace" probably reached it's peak in 1993, when I was nearly fired from a college newspaper for suggesting that soccer was the reason thousands of Brazilians are annually killed at Quiet Riot concerts in Rio de Janeiro, a statement that is-admittedly-half true. A few weeks after the publication of said piece, a petition to have me removed as the newspapers' sports editor was circulated by a ridiculously vocal campus organization called the Hispanic American Council, prompting an "academic hearing" where I was accused (with absolute seriousness) of libeling Pele. If memory serves, I think my criticism of soccer and Quiet Riot was somehow taken as racist., although-admittedly- I'm not completely positive, as I was intoxicated for most of the monthlong episode. But the bottom line is I'm still willing to die a painful public death, assuming my execution destroys the game of soccer (or--at the very least--convinces people to shut the hell up about it).
According to the Soccer Industry Council of America, soccer is the No. 1 youth participation sport in the U.S. There are more than 3.6 million players under the age of 19 registered to play, and that number has been expanding 8% every year since 1990. There has also been a substantial increase in the number of kids who play past the age of 12, a statistic that soccer proponents are especially thrilled about. "These are the players that will go on to be fans, referees, coaches, and players in the future," observed Virgil Lewis, chairman of the United States Youth Soccer Association.
Certainly, I can't argue with Virgil's math: I have no doubt that battalions of Gatorade-stained children are running around the green wastelands of suburbia, randomly kicking a black and white ball in the general direction of tuna netting. However, Lewis's larger logic is profoundly flawed. There continues to be this blindly optimistic belief that all of the brats playing soccer in 2003 are going to be crazed MLS fans in 2023, just as it was assumed that 11 year old players in 1983 would be watching Bob Costas provide play-by-play for soccer games right now. That will never happen. We will never care about soccer in this country. And it's not just because soccer is inherently un-American, which is what most soccer haters tend to insinuate. It's mostly because soccer is geared towards Outcast Culture.
On the surface, one might assume that would actually play to soccer's advantage, as America has plenty of outcasts. Some American outcasts are very popular, such as OutKast. But Outcast culture does not meld with Intimidation Culture, and the latter aesthetic has always been the cornerstone of team sports. An outcast can be intimidating in an individual event-Mike Tyson and John McEnroe are proof-but they rarely thrive in the social environment of a team organism (e.g. Albert Belle, Pete Maravich). Unless your Barry Bonds, being an outcast is antithetical to the group concept. But soccer is the one sport that is the one exception to that reality: Soccer contentiously rewards the outcast, which is was so many adults are fooled into thinking kids love it. The truth is that most kids do not love soccer, they simply hate the alternatives more. For 60% of adolescents in any 4th grade classroom, sports are a humiliation waiting to happen. These are the kids who play baseball and strike out 4 times a game. These are the kids who are afraid to get fouled in basketball, because it only means they're now required to shoot two free throws, which equates to two air-balls. Basketball games actually stops to recognize their failure. And football is nothing more than a ironical death sentence; somehow, outcasts find themselves in a situation where the people normally penalized for teasing them are suddenly urged to annihilate them.
This is why soccer seems like such a respite from all that mortification; it's the one aerobic activity where nothingness is expected. Even at the highest levels, every soccer match seems to end 1-0 or 2-1. A normal 11 year old can play an entire season without placing a toe to a ball and nobody would even notice, assuming he or she does a proper job of running about and avoiding major collisions. Soccer feels "fun" because it's not terrifying- its the only sport where you can't fuck up. An outcast can succeed simply by not failing, and public failure is every outcast's deepest fear. For society's prepubescent pariahs, soccer represents safety.
However, the demand for such an oasis disappears once an outcast escapes from the imposed slavery of youth athletics; by the time they reach the 9th grade, it's perfectly acceptable to quit the team and shop at Hot Topic. Most youth soccer players end up joining the debate team before they turn 15. Meanwhile, the kind of person who truly loves the notion of sports (and perhaps, sadly, unconsciously needs to have sports in their life) doesn't want to watch or play a game designed for losers. They're never going to care about a sport where announcers inexplicably celebrate the beauty of missed shots and the strategic glory or repetitive stalemate. We want to see domination. We want to see athletes who don't look like us, and who we could never be. We want to see people who could destroy us, and we want to feel like that desire is normal. But those people don't exist in soccer; their game is dominated by mono-monikered clones obsessed with falling to their knees and ripping off their clothes.
Soccer fanatics love to tell you that soccer is the most popular game on earth and that it's played by 500 million people every day, as if that somehow proves it's value. Actually, the opposite is true. Why should I care that every single citizen of Chile and Iran and Gibraltar thoughtlessly adore "futball"? Do people making this argument also assume Coca-Cola is ambrosia? Real sports arn't for everyone. And don't accuse me of being the ugly American for degrading soccer. That has nothing to do with it. It's not xenophobic to hate soccer, it's socially reprehensible to support it. To say you love soccer is to say you believe in enforced equality more than you believe in the value of competition and the capacity of human spirit. It should surprise no one that Benito Mussolini loved being photographed with Italian soccer stars during the 1930's; they were undoubtedly kindred spirits. I would sooner have my kid deal crystal meth than play soccer.
That said, I don't think my thoughts on soccer are radical. If push come to shove, I would be more than willing to compromise: It's not necessary to wholly outlaw soccer as a living entity. I concede that it has the right to exist. All I ask is that I never have to see it on T.V., that it's not played in public, and that nobody-and I mean nobody-ever utters the phrase "soccer is the sport of the future"
This is a excerpt from Klosterman's Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. It gives some insight as to why soccer will never catch on in America.
George Will vs. Nick Hornby
Like many U.S. citizens, I spend much of my free time thinking about the future of sports and the future of our children. This is because I care deeply about sports.
In the spirit of both, I've spent the last fifteen years of my life railing against the game of soccer, and exercise that has been lauded as "the sport of the future" since 1977. Thankfully, the future dystopia has never come. But people continue to tell me that soccer will soon become part of the fabric of this country, and that eventually be as popular as football, basketball, karate, pinball, smoking, glue sniffing, menstruation, animal cruelty, photocopying, and everything else that fuels the eroticized, hyper kinetic zeitgeist of Americana. After America placed eighth in the 2002 World Cup tournament, team forward Clint Mathis said, "If we can turn one more person who wasn't a soccer fan into a soccer fan, we've accomplished something." Apparently, that's all that matters to these idiots. They won't be satisfied until we are all systematically brainwashed into thinking soccer is cool and that placing eighth is somehow noble. However, I know this will never happen. Not really. Dumb bunnies like Clint Mathis will be wrong forever, and that might be the only thing saving us from ourselves.
My personal war against the so-called "soccer menace" probably reached it's peak in 1993, when I was nearly fired from a college newspaper for suggesting that soccer was the reason thousands of Brazilians are annually killed at Quiet Riot concerts in Rio de Janeiro, a statement that is-admittedly-half true. A few weeks after the publication of said piece, a petition to have me removed as the newspapers' sports editor was circulated by a ridiculously vocal campus organization called the Hispanic American Council, prompting an "academic hearing" where I was accused (with absolute seriousness) of libeling Pele. If memory serves, I think my criticism of soccer and Quiet Riot was somehow taken as racist., although-admittedly- I'm not completely positive, as I was intoxicated for most of the monthlong episode. But the bottom line is I'm still willing to die a painful public death, assuming my execution destroys the game of soccer (or--at the very least--convinces people to shut the hell up about it).
According to the Soccer Industry Council of America, soccer is the No. 1 youth participation sport in the U.S. There are more than 3.6 million players under the age of 19 registered to play, and that number has been expanding 8% every year since 1990. There has also been a substantial increase in the number of kids who play past the age of 12, a statistic that soccer proponents are especially thrilled about. "These are the players that will go on to be fans, referees, coaches, and players in the future," observed Virgil Lewis, chairman of the United States Youth Soccer Association.
Certainly, I can't argue with Virgil's math: I have no doubt that battalions of Gatorade-stained children are running around the green wastelands of suburbia, randomly kicking a black and white ball in the general direction of tuna netting. However, Lewis's larger logic is profoundly flawed. There continues to be this blindly optimistic belief that all of the brats playing soccer in 2003 are going to be crazed MLS fans in 2023, just as it was assumed that 11 year old players in 1983 would be watching Bob Costas provide play-by-play for soccer games right now. That will never happen. We will never care about soccer in this country. And it's not just because soccer is inherently un-American, which is what most soccer haters tend to insinuate. It's mostly because soccer is geared towards Outcast Culture.
On the surface, one might assume that would actually play to soccer's advantage, as America has plenty of outcasts. Some American outcasts are very popular, such as OutKast. But Outcast culture does not meld with Intimidation Culture, and the latter aesthetic has always been the cornerstone of team sports. An outcast can be intimidating in an individual event-Mike Tyson and John McEnroe are proof-but they rarely thrive in the social environment of a team organism (e.g. Albert Belle, Pete Maravich). Unless your Barry Bonds, being an outcast is antithetical to the group concept. But soccer is the one sport that is the one exception to that reality: Soccer contentiously rewards the outcast, which is was so many adults are fooled into thinking kids love it. The truth is that most kids do not love soccer, they simply hate the alternatives more. For 60% of adolescents in any 4th grade classroom, sports are a humiliation waiting to happen. These are the kids who play baseball and strike out 4 times a game. These are the kids who are afraid to get fouled in basketball, because it only means they're now required to shoot two free throws, which equates to two air-balls. Basketball games actually stops to recognize their failure. And football is nothing more than a ironical death sentence; somehow, outcasts find themselves in a situation where the people normally penalized for teasing them are suddenly urged to annihilate them.
This is why soccer seems like such a respite from all that mortification; it's the one aerobic activity where nothingness is expected. Even at the highest levels, every soccer match seems to end 1-0 or 2-1. A normal 11 year old can play an entire season without placing a toe to a ball and nobody would even notice, assuming he or she does a proper job of running about and avoiding major collisions. Soccer feels "fun" because it's not terrifying- its the only sport where you can't fuck up. An outcast can succeed simply by not failing, and public failure is every outcast's deepest fear. For society's prepubescent pariahs, soccer represents safety.
However, the demand for such an oasis disappears once an outcast escapes from the imposed slavery of youth athletics; by the time they reach the 9th grade, it's perfectly acceptable to quit the team and shop at Hot Topic. Most youth soccer players end up joining the debate team before they turn 15. Meanwhile, the kind of person who truly loves the notion of sports (and perhaps, sadly, unconsciously needs to have sports in their life) doesn't want to watch or play a game designed for losers. They're never going to care about a sport where announcers inexplicably celebrate the beauty of missed shots and the strategic glory or repetitive stalemate. We want to see domination. We want to see athletes who don't look like us, and who we could never be. We want to see people who could destroy us, and we want to feel like that desire is normal. But those people don't exist in soccer; their game is dominated by mono-monikered clones obsessed with falling to their knees and ripping off their clothes.
Soccer fanatics love to tell you that soccer is the most popular game on earth and that it's played by 500 million people every day, as if that somehow proves it's value. Actually, the opposite is true. Why should I care that every single citizen of Chile and Iran and Gibraltar thoughtlessly adore "futball"? Do people making this argument also assume Coca-Cola is ambrosia? Real sports arn't for everyone. And don't accuse me of being the ugly American for degrading soccer. That has nothing to do with it. It's not xenophobic to hate soccer, it's socially reprehensible to support it. To say you love soccer is to say you believe in enforced equality more than you believe in the value of competition and the capacity of human spirit. It should surprise no one that Benito Mussolini loved being photographed with Italian soccer stars during the 1930's; they were undoubtedly kindred spirits. I would sooner have my kid deal crystal meth than play soccer.
That said, I don't think my thoughts on soccer are radical. If push come to shove, I would be more than willing to compromise: It's not necessary to wholly outlaw soccer as a living entity. I concede that it has the right to exist. All I ask is that I never have to see it on T.V., that it's not played in public, and that nobody-and I mean nobody-ever utters the phrase "soccer is the sport of the future"
Whats the interest in the MLS been like since the arrival of our very own David Becks? has the sport been covered by the media a bit more? or has the novelty worn off? From the brief stuff i have seen of the MLS there always seems to be good attendences at the games at least.
There's interest in wherever Becks plays but interest in the league in general has improved by a small margin (although it has IMPROVED). Season ticket sales has increased throughout the league, and some more "big names" have made the trip to MLS: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico, Chicago Fire), Lauren Robert (France, Toronto FC), and Rohan Ricketts (England, Toronto FC) to name a couple.
Actually, my hometown team Toronto FC has made a bit of noise in MLS quite literally as the supporters are widely nown as the best in MLS. YouTube a few clips if you want. Anyways, slowly but surely the league is growing.....expansion is planned over the next few years. One or two more big names, and MLS will be OK!
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky...A human being that was giveeeeeeeeeeeeen to flllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
But the bottom line is I'm still willing to die a painful public death, assuming my execution destroys the game of soccer (or--at the very least--convinces people to shut the hell up about it).
damn this bloke has got it bad. thanks for the article though thunderDAN. As for this guy's painful death, well it can't come soon enough...LOL
hijacking the thread a little what do you all think about the 6+5 rule they are talking about?
I don't see why that would help any of the leagues, I'm more of casual observer but I watch the Premiership on FSC and La Liga on Gol TV when I can and you can see that they have distinctive styles.
What exactly do they hope to accomplish by getting this approvd?
98 MSG I
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
What exactly do they hope to accomplish by getting this approvd?
a stronger national team.
oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
Whats the interest in the MLS been like since the arrival of our very own David Becks? has the sport been covered by the media a bit more? or has the novelty worn off? From the brief stuff i have seen of the MLS there always seems to be good attendences at the games at least.
Maybe he's playing.. who knows.. he didn't really bring the coverage that they thought he would. He appeased the people that were already soccer fans, but didn't really create many new fans onto the sport. I love watching World Cup soccer... it does have a cool sense of excitement to it... but me and my friends never watch any European or MLS games. Just as you probably never watch any NFL or MLB games.
I do see Beckham sitting courtside at the Lakers games though:D I think he likes basketball better than soccer now!
Whoa, chill bro... you know you can't raise your voice like that when the lion's here.
hit me up when you post a thread about a sport that matters......
you know that we Americans couldn't give a damn about soccer...........
Your only bitter because none of your national sports were american inventions. Baseball...UK origin, American Football....UK origin, Basketball...invented by a Canadian in America (using a soccer ball!).
Your only bitter because none of your national sports were american inventions. Baseball...UK origin, American Football....UK origin, Basketball...invented by a Canadian in America (using a soccer ball!).
great american melting pot baby! were not shy about stealing other cultures
we'd steal quidditch from you bastards but our small american brains cant figure out how to make brooms fly
Whats the interest in the MLS been like since the arrival of our very own David Becks? has the sport been covered by the media a bit more? or has the novelty worn off? From the brief stuff i have seen of the MLS there always seems to be good attendences at the games at least.
it might have helped if Beckham had PLAYED more than 1 or 2 games last year...he came over hurt...and stayed hurt and only scored one goal
it might have helped if Beckham had PLAYED more than 1 or 2 games last year...he came over hurt...and stayed hurt and only scored one goal
believe me... it wouldnt have made a difference... the american fascination with the beckhams has nothing to do with sports or music... the only reason LA games sell out is because of the high hispanic population... has nothing to do with beckham
Comments
To be fair it was a friendly ... and a friendly with no real interest as it isn't in the build up to a competition ... so any one other than real followers of the game in England probably wouldn't have known was happening if it hadn't have been shown on the bbc ... it's not like it was a must watch game over here either
I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
Could be for the US For England it could have been lined up before England didn't qualify for Euro 2008 as a warm up game for that competition if we we got through.
Obviously as we compete as Great Britain at the Olympics and our football teams are recognised by FIFA as seperate nations we don't enter a team in the Olympics.
The Olympics are for U-23 players only, I believe. Actually, right now the U.S. is prepping for their first World Cup qualifier game in June against Barbados. We played England, we play Spain (currently ranked 4th in the world) on June 4, and against Argentina (currently ranked 1st in the world) on June 8. And we'll probably get our asses handed to us, but to be the best you've got to beat - or at least play - the best. But if we don't win by at least two goals against Barbados I'll be shocked.
Some for the Olympics (u23 players, altidore, adu, edu) and the rest for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.
And for everyone bashing the US side against England, who cares? It was a friendly, we played like shit, our biggest scoring threat (Donovan) didn't play, Beasley coming off an injury and Altidore (who is better than Ed Johnson was on the bench). BTW, England consistently underachieves.
There is a very good generation of kids playing soccer right now. We will consistently be top 10 in the world within 10 years.
BTW, wtf is Josh Wolff even doing still on the national team roster. He is terrible. So is Onyewu. Why can't Bradley see this. These guys are not very good.
EV
We know we underachieve ... don't see anyone saying we played well
Think we are just pleased when we beat a team we are expected to beat as you go into games like this always expecting that England will mess things up and somehow conspire to lose.
All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.
EV
Not a man ... I've lived in the US so know how the sport is looked down on over there. I've taken enough crap for wanting to watch games and being told no one cares about soccer over here. The sport is definately looking up on your side of the pond ... think it's a question of keeping kids involved once they reach high school and now you have an established professional league hopefully less kids will get pulled away from the game.
This is a bit off topic, but do you have any idea what happened to John O Brien? When he was healthy he was a top notch holding midfielder. I'm guessing he was kind of forced into medical retirement.
Not sure, it seems like he played in MLS last year or the year before and I haven't heard anything since. I know he made a couple of national team appearances the last couple of years, but he seemed pretty ineffective. But no doubt he was a talented mid. He was always nicked up it seems. I'm encouraged by Maurice Edu and Michael Bradley. I think those two are the guys that can take us to the next level. Edu is a beast and Bradley is a pretty crafty player.
EV
What was the craic with Wynalda? remember him? he was fairly hyped up by european media...was it all in the name or was he good? i only ever saw him in WC98
Wonderful...but the rest of the friggin world, couldn't give a shit about your MLB or NFL. Now get your Ameri-centric head outta your ass and join us when you have something productive to say mkay?
In the meantime, I'm sure there's a NASCAR thread going on somewhere.
You can mess with baseball and NASCAR, but don't you dare badmouth the NFL!!!
Playing in CONCAFF doesnt help because other than mexico they should win rather easily and that may bring a sense of over self confidence. That's why it's good they are scheduling UK, Spain and Argentina. They need to learn how to play against better competition. Their overreliance on set pieces works fine in CONCAFF but will not fly against your better teams.
Currently watching the Italy-Belgium match and I wonder if part of the problem is how kids are brought up playing the sport, do youth coaches stifle the creativity? or is it the fact that most youth coaches have no idea what they are doing? (actually it's probably both). The Italians just seem so much more creative in how they attack.
I agree also with whoever said that one of the problems is that there are a lot of other sports that get more attention. The talent pool is actually smaller for US in terms of soccer, it's just not part of the culture as it is everywhere else. Would be interesting if the US only had soccer can you imagine taking some of the athletes from our other sports and putting them on the pitch if that's all they ever knew.
since its the NBA playoffs imagine LeBron as a striker, Kobe as a midfielder, and a guy like Ben Wallace (at least when he was still good) on defense.
ok that was way too long a rant
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
OK ladies this is a football ("soccer") related thread so keep your girly sports out okay.
As i said in my original post England aren't much better than the USA anyway judging on recent performances, we're both nations who could achieve alot more.
Brian McBride, yeah i thought he was good, pity he has now left Fulham so won't be able to watch him in the permier league anymore. Definately good with his head.
Whats the interest in the MLS been like since the arrival of our very own David Becks? has the sport been covered by the media a bit more? or has the novelty worn off? From the brief stuff i have seen of the MLS there always seems to be good attendences at the games at least.
LOL, don't let the Scotsman hear you say that!!!
OK the UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland - all seperate countries.
oops my bad that's what i get when I try to multitask and actually get work done on a friday. my apologies
As far as Becks goes, from what i can tell it's gotten quiet, I think because people don't know how to appreciate what he does. Most when you say Beckham they say Bend It Like Beckham and dont even know what that means.
What MLS could really use is a prolific scorer to come here, like an Henry. The sad thing is our sports culture is fueled by Sportscenter so unless they get nightly highlights of a guy scoring over and over they aren't gonna quite get it. I myself haven't really watched sportscenter regularly in a years, it's become a shell of what it once was, now it's all about catchphrases.
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
George Will vs. Nick Hornby
Like many U.S. citizens, I spend much of my free time thinking about the future of sports and the future of our children. This is because I care deeply about sports.
In the spirit of both, I've spent the last fifteen years of my life railing against the game of soccer, and exercise that has been lauded as "the sport of the future" since 1977. Thankfully, the future dystopia has never come. But people continue to tell me that soccer will soon become part of the fabric of this country, and that eventually be as popular as football, basketball, karate, pinball, smoking, glue sniffing, menstruation, animal cruelty, photocopying, and everything else that fuels the eroticized, hyper kinetic zeitgeist of Americana. After America placed eighth in the 2002 World Cup tournament, team forward Clint Mathis said, "If we can turn one more person who wasn't a soccer fan into a soccer fan, we've accomplished something." Apparently, that's all that matters to these idiots. They won't be satisfied until we are all systematically brainwashed into thinking soccer is cool and that placing eighth is somehow noble. However, I know this will never happen. Not really. Dumb bunnies like Clint Mathis will be wrong forever, and that might be the only thing saving us from ourselves.
My personal war against the so-called "soccer menace" probably reached it's peak in 1993, when I was nearly fired from a college newspaper for suggesting that soccer was the reason thousands of Brazilians are annually killed at Quiet Riot concerts in Rio de Janeiro, a statement that is-admittedly-half true. A few weeks after the publication of said piece, a petition to have me removed as the newspapers' sports editor was circulated by a ridiculously vocal campus organization called the Hispanic American Council, prompting an "academic hearing" where I was accused (with absolute seriousness) of libeling Pele. If memory serves, I think my criticism of soccer and Quiet Riot was somehow taken as racist., although-admittedly- I'm not completely positive, as I was intoxicated for most of the monthlong episode. But the bottom line is I'm still willing to die a painful public death, assuming my execution destroys the game of soccer (or--at the very least--convinces people to shut the hell up about it).
According to the Soccer Industry Council of America, soccer is the No. 1 youth participation sport in the U.S. There are more than 3.6 million players under the age of 19 registered to play, and that number has been expanding 8% every year since 1990. There has also been a substantial increase in the number of kids who play past the age of 12, a statistic that soccer proponents are especially thrilled about. "These are the players that will go on to be fans, referees, coaches, and players in the future," observed Virgil Lewis, chairman of the United States Youth Soccer Association.
Certainly, I can't argue with Virgil's math: I have no doubt that battalions of Gatorade-stained children are running around the green wastelands of suburbia, randomly kicking a black and white ball in the general direction of tuna netting. However, Lewis's larger logic is profoundly flawed. There continues to be this blindly optimistic belief that all of the brats playing soccer in 2003 are going to be crazed MLS fans in 2023, just as it was assumed that 11 year old players in 1983 would be watching Bob Costas provide play-by-play for soccer games right now. That will never happen. We will never care about soccer in this country. And it's not just because soccer is inherently un-American, which is what most soccer haters tend to insinuate. It's mostly because soccer is geared towards Outcast Culture.
On the surface, one might assume that would actually play to soccer's advantage, as America has plenty of outcasts. Some American outcasts are very popular, such as OutKast. But Outcast culture does not meld with Intimidation Culture, and the latter aesthetic has always been the cornerstone of team sports. An outcast can be intimidating in an individual event-Mike Tyson and John McEnroe are proof-but they rarely thrive in the social environment of a team organism (e.g. Albert Belle, Pete Maravich). Unless your Barry Bonds, being an outcast is antithetical to the group concept. But soccer is the one sport that is the one exception to that reality: Soccer contentiously rewards the outcast, which is was so many adults are fooled into thinking kids love it. The truth is that most kids do not love soccer, they simply hate the alternatives more. For 60% of adolescents in any 4th grade classroom, sports are a humiliation waiting to happen. These are the kids who play baseball and strike out 4 times a game. These are the kids who are afraid to get fouled in basketball, because it only means they're now required to shoot two free throws, which equates to two air-balls. Basketball games actually stops to recognize their failure. And football is nothing more than a ironical death sentence; somehow, outcasts find themselves in a situation where the people normally penalized for teasing them are suddenly urged to annihilate them.
This is why soccer seems like such a respite from all that mortification; it's the one aerobic activity where nothingness is expected. Even at the highest levels, every soccer match seems to end 1-0 or 2-1. A normal 11 year old can play an entire season without placing a toe to a ball and nobody would even notice, assuming he or she does a proper job of running about and avoiding major collisions. Soccer feels "fun" because it's not terrifying- its the only sport where you can't fuck up. An outcast can succeed simply by not failing, and public failure is every outcast's deepest fear. For society's prepubescent pariahs, soccer represents safety.
However, the demand for such an oasis disappears once an outcast escapes from the imposed slavery of youth athletics; by the time they reach the 9th grade, it's perfectly acceptable to quit the team and shop at Hot Topic. Most youth soccer players end up joining the debate team before they turn 15. Meanwhile, the kind of person who truly loves the notion of sports (and perhaps, sadly, unconsciously needs to have sports in their life) doesn't want to watch or play a game designed for losers. They're never going to care about a sport where announcers inexplicably celebrate the beauty of missed shots and the strategic glory or repetitive stalemate. We want to see domination. We want to see athletes who don't look like us, and who we could never be. We want to see people who could destroy us, and we want to feel like that desire is normal. But those people don't exist in soccer; their game is dominated by mono-monikered clones obsessed with falling to their knees and ripping off their clothes.
Soccer fanatics love to tell you that soccer is the most popular game on earth and that it's played by 500 million people every day, as if that somehow proves it's value. Actually, the opposite is true. Why should I care that every single citizen of Chile and Iran and Gibraltar thoughtlessly adore "futball"? Do people making this argument also assume Coca-Cola is ambrosia? Real sports arn't for everyone. And don't accuse me of being the ugly American for degrading soccer. That has nothing to do with it. It's not xenophobic to hate soccer, it's socially reprehensible to support it. To say you love soccer is to say you believe in enforced equality more than you believe in the value of competition and the capacity of human spirit. It should surprise no one that Benito Mussolini loved being photographed with Italian soccer stars during the 1930's; they were undoubtedly kindred spirits. I would sooner have my kid deal crystal meth than play soccer.
That said, I don't think my thoughts on soccer are radical. If push come to shove, I would be more than willing to compromise: It's not necessary to wholly outlaw soccer as a living entity. I concede that it has the right to exist. All I ask is that I never have to see it on T.V., that it's not played in public, and that nobody-and I mean nobody-ever utters the phrase "soccer is the sport of the future"
This was funny. Entirely BS, but funny.
There's interest in wherever Becks plays but interest in the league in general has improved by a small margin (although it has IMPROVED). Season ticket sales has increased throughout the league, and some more "big names" have made the trip to MLS: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico, Chicago Fire), Lauren Robert (France, Toronto FC), and Rohan Ricketts (England, Toronto FC) to name a couple.
Actually, my hometown team Toronto FC has made a bit of noise in MLS quite literally as the supporters are widely nown as the best in MLS. YouTube a few clips if you want. Anyways, slowly but surely the league is growing.....expansion is planned over the next few years. One or two more big names, and MLS will be OK!
damn this bloke has got it bad. thanks for the article though thunderDAN. As for this guy's painful death, well it can't come soon enough...LOL
I don't see why that would help any of the leagues, I'm more of casual observer but I watch the Premiership on FSC and La Liga on Gol TV when I can and you can see that they have distinctive styles.
What exactly do they hope to accomplish by getting this approvd?
04 Boston I
06 Hartford, Boston I+II
08 Hartford, Mansfield I+II
08 EV Solo Boston I+II
http://seanbriceart.com/
a stronger national team.
Maybe he's playing.. who knows.. he didn't really bring the coverage that they thought he would. He appeased the people that were already soccer fans, but didn't really create many new fans onto the sport. I love watching World Cup soccer... it does have a cool sense of excitement to it... but me and my friends never watch any European or MLS games. Just as you probably never watch any NFL or MLB games.
I do see Beckham sitting courtside at the Lakers games though:D I think he likes basketball better than soccer now!
Your only bitter because none of your national sports were american inventions. Baseball...UK origin, American Football....UK origin, Basketball...invented by a Canadian in America (using a soccer ball!).
we'd steal quidditch from you bastards but our small american brains cant figure out how to make brooms fly
http://seanbriceart.com/
it might have helped if Beckham had PLAYED more than 1 or 2 games last year...he came over hurt...and stayed hurt and only scored one goal
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