Right, so the same could be said about American football in the US or cricket in South Asia.
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Why US men suck at Soccer??
- Thread starter Sir Alemeth
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Right, so the same could be said about American football in the US or cricket in South Asia.
This is not the point, it's actually the exact opposite. The US do not recognize football (Soccer) as a sport that matters, when it does, a lot.
For what I've seen so far, football (Soccer) is seen as a female sport, exact the opposite from the rest of the world. Clearly some kind of silly protectionism that I do not understand.
Accessibility is important for sure, but not the main reason.
It's the only sport that matters to most people in the world. If american football is more important to you, that's you. I don't get what question do you want me to answer?
But to say football is popular just because the 'easy access' is beyond dumb, you can 'play' american football of basket in your backyard as much as you can play football there.
Of course people move onto other sports in USA, because the media and people are focused on other sports. I doubt people in the USA care about Brek Shea or any other local young football talent, they care about the next basketball talent or american football player.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/08/major-league-soccer-surpa_n_1082593.html
The numbers don't lie, more people attend MLS games than both NBA and NHL. If the NHL needs bigger arenas to fill more fans, neat.. get bigger arenas. Until then, MLS has surpassed them, if only marginally. Its a bullet point articled used to show that soccer as a sport is growing in popularity here in the US, and very fast. Its not meant to degrade the value of NHL or the NBA.
Soccer is catching on, and the numbers back that.
Correct. Here are a bunch of other quotations from me:
If I need to couch every single word in probabilistic terms -- if you are unable to infer probabilistic intent in other posts, then I will couch every single thing I say every single time in probabilistic terms, I will.
I feel that is statistically unlikely and aberrant. Do you think the 6' tall gymanstic olympian proves that it isn't good to be short in that sport?
A bunch of guys? So you get together with other people from USA to watch NFL? If your circle of friends is american then obviously you won't try football.
If you go to the stadium in Germany and try to follow a team with an american player, you are very likely to dig it a lot. You just need a "connection" something to relate with football to start liking it.
edit: I'm not saying football is a better sport than american football/basket. But it's the most followed, and then the most important sport in the world. It's like a kind of "language" everyone in the world speaks, if you move to another country you will 'connect' with local people when you see someone playing football or if you go to the stadium.
No, I have a pretty diverse circle of friends because I go to an international university. The friends that watch soccer, watch soccer. I watch football. Soccer just isn't as interesting as football to me and since I have access to the internet, I don't have to miss any games.
Well, of course, if you don't give it a chance it can't grow on you. I've lived in a football-only country my whole life and I didn't like football for big part of my life, I found it boring and meaningless but a few years ago I started watching and following a team and now I'm a big football fan.
I would add, Greg, that the only one of those quotations you listed that I would not couch in probabilistic terms -- the one I think is absolute -- is the suggestion that there is no such thing as a "natural athlete."
If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd be very interested in listening.
I'd also be interested in hearing what you feel that scientific basis for this is. What defines being "naturally athletic?" What specific physical qualities does a naturally athletic person have?
I do not ask that question facetiously -- and I'd be happy to be hear anyone answer that question. I'd be honestly curious. Significant bonus points if you can evidence your position.
If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd be very interested in listening.
I'd also be interested in hearing what you feel that scientific basis for this is. What defines being "naturally athletic?" What specific physical qualities does a naturally athletic person have?
I do not ask that question facetiously -- and I'd be happy to be hear anyone answer that question. I'd be honestly curious. Significant bonus points if you can evidence your position.
I think he just enjoys commercials a lot.
Could be! haha. I barely can stand the half time in football, I don't know how americans can enjoy american football and all the pauses.
This is not the case. Soccer is a viable and popular sport for both men and women. Field hockey is the sport that we in the US consider a women's only sport.
No, what I'm saying is: I have been to soccer games before, I have watched soccer and can understand it is very popular worldwide. I grew up watching NFL. Maybe if I was in a country where I couldn't watch NFL for a long, long time soccer would grow on me. However, because the internet exists, I have no reason to pick up a sport that I already see as boring.
Are you giving any other sports a chance?
Exactly. People follow a sport because it's popular where they live.
Can you guys imagine yourselves following cricket? I can't.
Nope, because the other sports only matter in USA. Football is in the whole world. And we only have football teams where I live.
In USA you can pick football (depending where you live in the states), so it's different.
That's sad. Does every teams has a "owner" or there's another way the teams can survive?
I think people who don't like soccer just need to play some FIFA and Football Manager and they'll fall in love.
Hahaha, yes! FIFA was a big part of how I fell in love with football <3
Officially, yes, culturally, no. The discrimination was clear in many discussions I had about the subject, it was even brought to light in this very topic. "Foot Fags"
Or even in the Olympics thread, after the USA Women's team won the gold medal one of the first comments was about it, "now officially women's sport".
The presence of this kind of discrimination is undeniable.
I follow pretty much all sports, including cricket (though that's probably only because I was born in India).
I find all of them to be pretty fun to watch in their own regard, though I admit I enjoy some more than others.
I dunno man, sports are just fun.
I find that a sport is much more fun if you have friends who support it, and there is a rival team with also fans. And there is a popular local team you can identify. Basically the social aspect of a sport can make it more fun.
I genuinely found basketball and tennis fun some times I have watched them but I don't like them as much as football and they lack that same social aspect within the circle of people I know, since they are less popular among them. And local teams aren't as good as football ones.
user8503492
Banned
Hope it pans out for your son! Sounds like he is definitely on the right track to become successful.
Not yet, hes only 11, been playing since he was 4. Instructional and indoor from 4-5, then mini-fields till he was 7, then travel/town ball from 7 to 9. When he hit 9 it was near impossible to field a team of 10 year olds locally to even play, not to be sexist but we actually fielded girls on his U-9 team.
When he hit 10 we took him to his first academy with the Chelsea squad, then last season we got invitations from coaches around Southern Jersey for him to try out. We had tons of teams calling us trying to get him to play for them cause he has built a sort of rep.
His biggest adavtage over most American kids his age is his mind for the game, all they wanna do is score goals, thats it. Some kids are faster, have better stamina, and stronger...but he has been playing for so long and watching pro soccer he can see runs starting and orchestrates his teammates alot.
We've also played this game since he was little where I play keeper and I call out "left foot" "right foot" and he has to use that foot to pass or shoot, so now his coaches have no issue having him playing LB/RB or LW/RW.
His buddy who is 14 tho just went to play in a tournament last weekend in front of college scouts. Thast my only hope, no matter what happens I praay he at least gets a collage to notice him in the next few years and offer him some type of free ride
Thats like the family game in the house lol. Me, my wife, and my son have tounaments. A couple times a week (I won tonight lol) I acutally encourage him to play FIFA cause it really does help young players in the mental department.
Is FIFA 13 supposed to be good? I haven't played a FIFA game seriously in years.
You mean basketball, right?
Not yet, hes only 11, been playing since he was 4. Instructional and indoor from 4-5, then mini-fields till he was 7, then travel/town ball from 7 to 9. When he hit 9 it was near impossible to field a team of 10 year olds locally to even play, not to be sexist but we actually fielded girls on his U-9 team.
When he hit 10 we took him to his first academy with the Chelsea squad, then last season we got invitations from coaches around Southern Jersey for him to try out. We had tons of teams calling us trying to get him to play for them cause he has built a sort of rep.
His biggest adavtage over most American kids his age is his mind for the game, all they wanna do is score goals, thats it. Some kids are faster, have better stamina, and stronger...but he has been playing for so long and watching pro soccer he can see runs starting and orchestrates his teammates alot.
We've also played this game since he was little where I play keeper and I call out "left foot" "right foot" and he has to use that foot to pass or shoot, so now his coaches have no issue having him playing LB/RB or LW/RW.
His buddy who is 14 tho just went to play in a tournament last weekend in front of college scouts. Thast my only hope, no matter what happens I praay he at least gets a collage to notice him in the next few years and offer him some type of free ride
That's great! I don't know if you know about this (I guess you do!) but the US federation of football has some "official" academies around USA. Don't know if they have one near the place you live but it's worth taking a look: http://academy.demosphere.com/
Yes, FIFA is great now. FIFA 13 is going to be releases in september I think.
The FIFA series is a blast. Been top notch for years now...if you have a passing interest, give it a go.
Oh ok, I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were implying that only women played soccer in the US, which isn't the case. It's true that soccer has a bit of a reputation as a sport for "wusses", but that is changing.
I think I played the demo of FIFA11 awhile back and what caught my attention was how hard the game became. Before I could just run in a straight line, do a couple of dribbles, and score a goal. Now forget it.l I get my ass beat by even the easiest AI settings.
Greg's Usain Bolt comment is an excellent example for why statistics are great for argument if you don't know what you're looking at. So not only is Bolt an outlier at 6'5", but his height even has an apparent advantage in taking longer and fewer strides to the finish. I would want someone with Bolt's physique as a sprinter, but there aren't a lot of tall men like him around. We have a system in the US that cultivates tall athletes moreso than soccer does in general, and beyond that there are plenty of soccer players around the world now at an above average height that do not suffer technically from being that tall. Height can provide advantages in soccer but that attribute isn't as critical as it is in other sports. This is all in response to the body type comment where it is assumed that average height players are better simply because there are more of them statistically. I'd love to see a bunch of 6'5" US national players and I'd take that height advantage every time but I don't expect it to happen because I think technical skill is probably pretty evenly distributed among the population until heights become truly prohibitive like in the high 6' and lower 5' range, which is a complete rarity in the NFL.
That doesn't mean NFL players have a bad body type for soccer or that TO would definitely be a good soccer player, or shorter guys are better.
Yes, there's a learning curve now.
No, nobody plays it in the rest of the world.
USA sucks at it because their money, media and popularity is invested in other sports. But football is slowly growing in the USA, so that is starting to change.
user8503492
Banned
Yep, my son plays in the Atlantic division, if you look you'll see his old team "Match Fit Chelsea"
He was invited to play for Player Development Academy (PDA) but we passed and his trainer, his coach he has had his whole life and another coach from a very strong travel team just started there own Academy program. We chose loyalty and went with them for now. Not sure how its gonna pan out but his best friend is on the team, he loves his coach, and he's still young. Now when he turns 14/15 things might change but we've played some of those teams and won..and lost lol.
I will say one thing, clubs with a strong presence of immigrant parents have waaaaay better players lol.
We play North Jersey teams, teams that produced guys like Juan Agudelo...and we get crushed.
That's great! Yes, I think he's still young, no need to rush him.
I wish you and your kid the best of luck, it's great you're supporting him so much. He will thank you in the future for sure.
My little bro plays in a local academy and also in the reserves of a local team, he can't go everyday because of we only having one car. So he sometimes gets frustrated and sad because he would love to be full into football. So I can tell you, all you're doing for your kid is awesome.
Those are like amateur leagues, man. Not the same at all. You can argue all you want but american football is only important in USA.
Basketball is a better example of a sport that matters a little bit more in some countries.
Exactly.
But you do have a pro football league in your country: MLS. So things are starting to change.
user8503492
Banned
I ave the CFL love for one season..because of one man lol
Oh god, anyone remember this drama?
Oh god, anyone remember this drama?
This doesn't answer the question I asked. If it's an advantage to be tall in Football - or, in the case you've now brought up, running -- why aren't most top runners disproportionately tall? Why are they, in fact, statistically much shorter? Do you think it's simply a coincidence that happens to perpetuate itself repeatedly over large sample sizes? Do you think it's a coincidence that gymnasts are much more likely to be significantly shorter than average? That swimmers are much more likely to be significantly taller?
velvet_nitemare
Member
I can't wait for football to get super popular here in the US. We produce some fantastic athletes and with the proper coaching it'll only improve. Just need the sport to start generating money like Baseball, Am Football and Basketball. Once that happens, young kids will aspire to it.
There's always a trade-off. Height provides more force and longer strides, but also carries more mass which inhibits acceleration and provides less stability on the track.
I don't know why the majority of sprinters are a certain height, but I'm not willing to say that's the perfect height for sprinting until I've seen some in depth studies on the subject.
woefully lacking soccer/football development infrastructure to train elite athletes while young combined with fleeting public and fan support.
place the Spanish coaches and training academies (for ages 5-18) in the US with the requisite national funding and they'd develop an elite national team with a decade.
place the Spanish coaches and training academies (for ages 5-18) in the US with the requisite national funding and they'd develop an elite national team with a decade.
So you have no answer. If you find a more plausible explanation, please let me know. Thanks!
More plausible than...what exactly? Everything I said is true. I made no claim to have an answer to your question, and instead merely suggested the physics behind sprinting is complex. The knee joint alone would take decades of research to understand.
Statistical trends are important, but only for the purpose of finding the causation.
And here's an article I found if you want to read it:
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2008/08/taking_sprinting_to_new_heights.html
I think there's an advantage to being tall in soccer but not comparable to that of the NBA or NFL. Certainly not enough to make up for an even distribution of technical skill across all heights since there are less tall people. I think body type has little to do with it as you've described. Your correlation is right but your cause is wrong.
There could be an advantage if the player is a central defender, but beyond that... not really.
What on earth is this nonsense? The US is fine at soccer with a fine tradition of doing decently at international level stretching back to the 1950 world cup. You get better results than China for example and they are super into it.
The MLS is a decent league , better than many domestic ones.
There is no problem with the US and soccer, quit your bitchin.
You should be asking yourselves why the home of the automobile sucks so bad at Grand Prix.
The MLS is a decent league , better than many domestic ones.
There is no problem with the US and soccer, quit your bitchin.
You should be asking yourselves why the home of the automobile sucks so bad at Grand Prix.
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