The United States of America. A country that is almost as harsh a divider in the footballing world as the city of Manchester on a City v United fixture. Where natives to the country seem to hold a perceived dominance in most competitive sports, the same success has not been forthcoming in the world’s game. Because of that (and the American propensity for the word “soccer” over “football”), Americans and the view on the American footballers and teams are often harshly viewed on the world stage.
A “Hollywood story” saw the United States progress to a round of 16 tie against Ghana, where they were defeated and saw their World Cup 2010 hopes die. Two short years later and we saw the USA pull off a one-nil victory against Italy, a feat that had never before been accomplished by an American national team and a feat that once again sent followers of the USMNT into a frenzy on the “potential” of this squad. We also saw the replacement of American Bob Bradley at the helm by the extremely capable Jurgen Klinsmann, a coach whose success as a player and coach only further induced the “hype” involved with the American team. This is where I take this train of thought and smash into a perfectly unsuspecting mountainside.
Come on folks. Look at the facts and stats. The last outing for the USA in WC ’10 was impressive because the USA went farther than they should. Accept the fact that the only team worth anything that they play in their qualifying matches is Mexico (sorry Honduras and…Antigua and Barbuda? Come on, the total population of A&B could fit into one U.S. stadium), and also accept the fact that the U.S.A. will never have enough depth at any position outside of goalkeeper to ever push around the big boys. Furthermore, do not even begin to mention that they “topped their group” in 2010. England (more specifically Robert Green) gifted them a draw and the other two teams are International lightweights. It is not the USMNT’s fault. Most of the talented athletes in the country are not drawn to football the way that they are drawn into other sports. Do you think stars like Lebron ever considered playing “soccer?”
The team is massively dependent on aging players. The Stars and Stripes’ defense (the position that seems to one of their weakest) has an average age of twenty-nine and a half, based off of all players that are currently involved with the squad and have ten caps or more. The midfield does not have the same age problem, but the absolute dependence on the performance of Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey in regards to midfield success is ridiculous. If Donovan or Dempsey have one off night, the midfield follows them right down the drain. Although Donovan and Dempsey are largely considered to be forwards, the only midfielder that is able to maintain any type of decent consistency without D&D performing seems to be Roma’s, Michael Bradley. Once again, ’big’ teams sometimes have three to four players for any given position that can all perform at a world-class level, demonstrating the lack of depth that will prevent the U.S. from ever snagging the biggest title in the world of football.
Another massive problem for the USMNT is the MLS. Sure, I think the MLS has potential and that they are making some moves that will improve their future, but the fact remains that having almost half of your players in this league is not good for your short-term or long-term future. The most dependable players on the U.S. team are players that have proven themselves across the pond, with Bradley and Dempsey making themselves indefensible to their clubs while playing in Europe and bringing that talent out for their national team. Although I am not absolutely positive on how to get the future of the U.S. team out of the confines of the MLS and into the top leagues, it is certainly something that needs to be done in order for the team to move forward.
Although many of you will probably voice your opinion against my thoughts, bear in mind that I am an American and that I follow this team as close as possibly can be done by any person following their national team. I also hope for the best for this team every time they take the pitch, but the stats and constant viewings that I have made on the last few years of matches (we do our homework here at Soccer Reviews) shows that the current direction of the Stars and Stripes is one of mediocrity. Once again, I hope that this changes, but a one-off win against winning an entire tournament is a completely different thing. Although I celebrated when the USMNT emerged victorious against Italy, they have still not proven that they can get out of a group stage and win three to four games in a row in order to lift a trophy.
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I’m an American too, and I believe in a lot of what you have to say. You do neglect to mention the fact that although he doesn’t play for the best team in the premier league, Tim Howard has been a starter for Everton as long as he has been there and has been one of the most consistent keepers in the game. Don’t forget too that Bocanegra and Edu ply their trade for Rangers week in and week out. True they will not be in the SPL next season but it is still a top european side every year. And Cherundlo has captained his side in the Bundesliga as well. We have quality players but depth is where we struggle. I live in England now and my 11 year old son is playing in the academy system for Rotherham United and you can tell the difference in coaching styles from a younger age between the English system and the ones we use in the States. The top national sides have systems in place from the grassroots ages that are coached by former professionals with coaching licenses whereas we use parents who coach the teams because they want their sons to be the stars. The MLS isn’t a problem, but we need to start developing our players from a younger age and following through until they reach the senior team. If we do that then maybe more of them will get opportunities to excel in Europe like Dempsey and Howard have. I enjoy seeing the likes of Lehigh playing for Aston Villa or Spector for Birmingham City, and especially Stuart Holden for Bolton (who was voted the players’ player of the season for the first half of 2010/11 before injury cut his season short) because it shows that we can compete at the highest level, even if it is on an individual basis. Give it until the World Cup in Qatar, but I don’t think an international title will forever be out of our reach. We are the model for athleticism according to the coaches I speak to over here. It’s our coaching and tactics that need to be criticised, the same way that the English team has taken a hit after their disappointing showing in the Euros. I don’t know exactly what the difference is between our Men’s and Women’s teams, but I will be watching the women with pride when they play Korea at Old Trafford in the Olympics in 2 weeks time. Maybe we should play like girls, because then we might win something sooner rather than later.
I completely agree about the youth system. If I felt that another 1000 words wouldn’t have bogged the article down, I would have included it…but, you have taken care of that. Thanks Tony D!
Tony D’s correct about the youth system. Luckily now MLS is starting to implement a more organized way of bringing up those grassroots in the form of academies and U-whatever age group teams. The LA Galaxy is doing a fantastic job of that, with the addition of the whole Generation Adidas plan (even though they’ve sized it down to go with MLS rules).
You are a complete dumbass.
F you bro. He’s not a dumbass. He knows more about soccer than you ever will. The guys at soccer reviews are awesome. You are actually the dumbass if you deny everything he said. In our lifetime, USA will never match up with the world elite teams.
You do realize that this article only compared our CURRENT team to the rest of the world. Soccer is currently the most popular sport for kids aged 6-10. Every year that number grows bigger so evantually the U.S. will have a high uptake in athletes playing soccer..so I’m pretty sure some where along the lines The U.S. will be a powerhouse in soccer..it may take a few hundred years but it can still happen. Not to mention or midwest regional Allstar team aged U14 beat fc Barcelona’s youth academy earlier this year.
Joe you’re beyond naive. It doesn’t matter if every single kid aged 6-10 plays soccer, what matters is the way we coach and develop these kids. And quite frankly we don’t have these thoroughly developed academies and the means to teach these kids the same way Europe has so successfully done so. The simplest example is this- if you don’t practice you won’t get better. The average kid plays twice a week. TWICE. Kids overseas play every single waking moment that they can. And that’s just the start of it..
Well this article says that our team would be a lot better if we had athletes like lebron choosing to play soccer and what I was basically saying was that kids with as much talent as lebron are now playing soccer and trying it out. Does anyone hear understand me or do I have to write a essay for every single dumb comment I see. DOES EVERYONE REALIZE U.S.A WILL EVANTUALLY BECOME A GREAT POWER AT SOCCER?! it may take awhile but it will evantually happen
I agree with most of what you say. The youth system in the U.S. is pretty bad. One thing I don’t agree with is your focus on the players of the current USMNT. The team won’t stay the same forever, so I think your declaration that the U.S. will “NEVER” win a world cup is harsh.
(Ryan, I have every hope that I will get proven wrong)
I completely agree with ryan, your article only talks about why our current team wont win the world cup, not the the USMNT in the future
As an American and avid soccer player and fan, I think you have a valid point. The problem with men’s soccer in the US is that the majority of the truly gifted athletes go where they can make the most money with their abilities. Very few all-star athletes in the US will ever choose soccer over football, basketball or baseball, even if they played soccer as a kid and loved it. Soccer isn’t America’s sport and may not ever be. The US women’s team excels because a lot of the most athletic girls in the country grow up dreaming of playing on the USW national team.
You make some very valid points. US soccer has made some large strides over the last couple decades but we have a long way to go. However mark my words that the day the Kobes and Lebrons start gravitating towards soccer it is ALL OVER! Another thing that might help is if NIKE might one day make a USMNT kit that doesn’t look like crap!
The real question is, how do we start getting great athletes to gravitate to the world’s game?
Have you ever watched a game of THE TOP youth teams in the states? They’re not too bad, and actually, a U-14 team from England came to play here in the Dallas Cup and couldn’t win a single game(All three teams they played were from the states). This happened on more than one occasion.
In the same tournament, the FC Dallas Academy team played the Manchester United Academy team. The FC Dallas Academy team did lose, but only 2-0. For an MLS team’s academy team, losing 2-0 to one of the best clubs in the world’s academy team isn’t a total disgrace. What I’m trying to say is that claiming we’ll NEVER win a World Cup is pretty harsh especially if you take a long hard look at our top youth programs. Apart from this article, I’m a huge fan of the site. Keep up the good work!
Totally agree with this article, the biggest problem is that the mls is not managed like every single soccer league in the world. What I mean by this is that NO teams ever get relegated and smaller teams that have potential cannot ascend into the mls. In other words the mls needs different divisions to encourage better play and more development in the youth systems. The top tier countries have great youth systems because they have scouts and coaches that know what to look for. The teams help these players reach their potential, if you’re a kid in the US, you do not get anywhere in soccer unless your parents are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for travel teams. This needs to change in order to have a better youth system and make American soccer progress.
You are absolutely right. There are some serious changes that need to be made.
What upsets me the most about this post is the lack of facts as the basis for your reasoning. Your opinions are valid, as are anyone’s, but I wish you would not present opinion as fact.
The US has made a tremendous amount of progress over the last 25 years: compare the ability and skill level of the 1994 World Cup team to the current MNT. The simple number of players plying their trade overseas is a reason for optimism, and the new willingness of the leadership to involve foreign coaching is another step forward.
The pressure you refer to is real, and is undoubtedly misplaced: realistic US soccer fans should not expect a World Cup win anytime soon. That feeling, however, is the way most soccer fans should think of their national teams. Realistically, there are only a few teams that should think of themselves as favorites at the next World Cup (Spain, Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Germany), while the rest of the 32 sides should only expect to play.
A long history of playing soccer/football is a tradition to be envied by US soccer fans, but our lack of history does not disqualify us from ever competing at the world stage. Our seemingly unlimited resources and the growing popularity of the sport point to the USMNT being able to win a World Cup someday. Not soon, but someday.
I think what many of you are forgetting here is the fact that we are still a fledgling nation when it comes to professional soccer/high level soccer. Yes, we have a crappy youth system devoted more to the basic American bullshit of “Everyone is a Winner!” than choosing the highest performing players at a young age. However, things are definitely changing.
I’m 29 and when I was in middle school, the MLS had its inaugural season. Granted, there were other forms of professional soccer (Indoor, A-League, etc.) but there wasn’t a TRUE marketplace for soccer. After the 94 WC (which, judging by the writing and comments posted here on soccerreviews, most of this community wasn’t alive to watch!), Americans realized that we do have a place for soccer.
The MLS has only been around since 1996 (and has had multiple teams come and go). We have just started using academy teams in the US (teams attached to MLS clubs) in the past 5 years. The level of soccer coming out of these academy teams is astounding. I played for CalNorth’s State ODP squad in high school and these kids are SO much better on and off the ball than I or many of the guys I played with ever were. The level of soccer intelligence and skills younger players have growing faster each year. If you want to see what our youth programs are capable of doing, watch your local MLS team’s academy program. If they don’t have an academy team, email the staff and find out why!
Believe me, as a guy that has been around the game for the past 25 years, soccer in America is growing and we will become a team to be reckoned with.
Honestly guys, the whole notion of the “American Athletes” playing soccer is ridiculous and just makes me feel like a stupid American. Look around the world. How many of the best players in the entire history of the game have ever been athletes like Lebron? Very few. Don’t get me wrong, each soccer player is a super athlete in their own regard, as playing this sport is very physically demanding. Soccer is not, has never been, and will never be based on pure athletic talent. Soccer will always be a game for the those who’s technical and tactical mastery match the mental will and desire to win for the team. I can point at stars who are arguably mega athletes (Cristiano Ronaldo) and stars who are not (Xavi). BUT WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS SHEER TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE. They flat out see the game better then the rest of the competition. Ronaldo has immense athletic gifts to compliment this unique understanding of the game, and that is what makes him so deadly. Xavi has had to develop his tactical and technical side in order to think the game faster since he is not the fastest or strongest guy on the field. There is not doubting that he thinks the fastest. Yes these are only two players but the same argument holds true elsewhere. The point is that over-relliance on athleticism is the REASON why our young stars don’t develop enough tactically, technically, or mentally to go overseas and compete with the top european talent. In the US at a young age, the best players are the ones who hit puberty first, (they are bigger, faster, and stronger). Because of this they grow egos or they just decide that they don’t need to develop other facets of the game. As they get older the overall athleticism of the competition increases and they’re ability to run past 10 players with pure speed is gone. They chose not to develop the other facets of the game that one must rely on to be successful. Knowing that they are not as good as they once were, they lose interest in the game. Recently young US talent have been able to sign contracts overseas and many have been extremely successful so far in establishing their selves in the youth setup. As the US breeds coaches and players that realize that soccer is not a game of brute force. Perfect example http://blog.3four3.com/, the Barcelona USA team from california goes to international tournaments and for the most part puts their opponents to shame. They have had 3 players signed to La Masia, one of them, Ben Ledermen (or something) is a captain. While the thought of Lebron doing scissors and bicycle kicks is certainly mouth watering, professional soccer players are so developed in the tactical, technical, and mental sides of the game that it will be very rare that anyone in the already small pool of American Athletes will be able to master all of the necessary skills to be a professional. Finally in saying that the USA will never win the world cup is just stupid and I don’t even need a solid argument. Never is a long long time, and even if the USA doesn’t continue its rather rapid upward trajectory in soccer development eventually the USA with produce at least 50 kids out of its 3 hundred million citizens (maybe more by that time) that will be good soccer players. Look soccer is not basketball or football. Each player needs a standard set of skills in each aspect of the game. We Americans need to stop treating soccer as a track meet and look at it as a game of finesse. With that approach, the athletes will come. Athleticism is genetic, understanding soccer takes years and years of practice. Patience, eventually, we will win.
I absolutely agree with you Aaron. The reason why the Spanish are so goo is because they rely on their touch and passing abilities more than their athleticism. Once Americans begin to realize that touch is a player’s best friend; our ability to play soccer will increase exponentially. Even European heavyweights like England rely more on athleticism than pass and move football; which would explain some of their underachievement. As a kid, I played on a traveling team in Wisconsin and the majority of our drills consisted of long balls and shooting. These kinds of drills cater to the most athletic of children while others may become discouraged. If coaches begin implementing more keep away drills and games, we will be all the better for it.
This is the very reason why American soccer blows because everyone thinks that soccer players need to be big and strong. When that’s not te case, prime example is onyewu, he’s huge and could have probably played football or basketball. This being said he’s the worst defender on the usmnt and can’t even succeed over seas.
We are working on it. Look how far our youth system has come. Talent is on its way up the system. To say the U.S.A. will NEVER win a world cup is a complete joke. we will win one in the next 50 years.
I tend to disagree with the people who agree with this post. I am also insulted that you fellow Americans have little to no faith for your national team. I have a few points I would like to cover. The first is this. @Andrew: For you to say that our players need to play in other leagues in order to become better players or to develop “world class players” is invalid. With the exception of smaller countries who don’t have a good league, other countries have most of their players playing in their first division domestic leagues. This allows the players to play with/against eachother and builds chemistry. If the American “Elite” players came back home to play in the MLS the league would fill with our world class players making the league more competitive. This would also make for better team chemistry when these players go to reprsent our country.
While I do think that the USA youth development system for soccer is really behind, the simple fact of the matter is that other countries do not use the development systems for the average soccer player. The world’s greatest players usually did not recieve proper training untill their already great talent was recognized. This is because their “develoment program” came from a playground or backyard. For this reason you cannot blame the developmental programs for too much. Soccer needs to be seen just as any other backyard sport here in the United States in order for young players to grow and like it.
These are simple things that can fix the sport here in the United States. Again @ Andrew: I feel that you view is simply based on the past. I think you have failed to recognize that these older players of the USMNT are simply here to reign in this flood of young talent that is coming in. With Players like Jaun Agudelo, Brek Shea, Omar Gonzalez, and many more, our team has brighter future than most have been able to see. These older players are simply there to guide the younger players so that they can play on the big stage. I understand that many will criticize this younger team for not even making it to the Olympics but I have a feeling this talent will be the first generation that helps create a world class team for Quatar.
Your points are somewhat correct and valid, but are very skewed in my opinion. The youth products that are coming up right now are better than the ones in other countries. Just check out the Nike friendlies tournament that the USBNT won a couple of years ago. The new development academy league is providing higher skilled players a better opportunity to make it big, but better coaching is also present. We could be astounding at soccer, but the coaching in America sucks. If we built a solid coaching foundation in this country, we would succeed, but the coaching motivation is definitely not strong enough here at the moment. Soccer is becoming big here, and it will soon be one of our top sports.
Nearly everyone says they disagree with me BUT almost every comment then goes to say the same thing that I do. You all say that there needs to be some type of change in the USMNT set-up (even if it is slight change). Whether it be youth academies, coaching, or something else. I was very clear that I feel that the current set-up (NO CHANGES) would equal never…but, with change (as I say in the last bit) the USA could move into a better international situation.
Then that just voids your article, you are arguing a hypothetical that is already being disproved currently. There is no question that over the past 20 years Americans have gotten better and better at soccer, and the system has gone from worse to bad (improvement). In another 10 years our system will continue to improve as it has consistently over the past 20. So yes if the USA was time frozen now we wouldn’t win a world cup, but you apply your argument to the other 200 or so countries that don’t make up the worlds elite.
you could*
I’m not talking about slow evolution Aaron, I’m talking about wholesale changes. Just allowing the USMNT to follow along this arc is not enough, some things have to change.
I’m merely responding to your hypothetical article with a hypothetical answer. Hypothetically even without wholesale changes we will still improve our system and will eventually produce good enough players to win the WC. In my earlier post, I express my opinion on which wholesale changes need to be made and how a slow evolution can be avoided.
If we go with the “eventually produce good enough” method, it could be the year 2100 before we find ourselves in a cup final. Your statement seems to say that we are saying the same thing, but you continue to make it sound like you are disagreeing with me. We both are against slow evolution and are asking for wholesale changes…why does this sound like a disagreement?
Let me clarify, I hate the current system. I disagree with American soccer ideals and coaching methods. There are still some positives. The Academy is still a major work in progress, but at least we are gathering our best young talent onto a collection of 50 or so teams. In 10 years we have gone from having around 10 Americans playing over seas on professional or affiliated youth squads to having hundreds of Americans in the same situation. It is not far fetched to think that in ten years that number will vastly increase, resulting in higher quality american players. Alas this goes to show that the only way now for american players to reach their potential is to get away from american soccer. Which is a plus one for europeans and a minus 1 for us. If this is the current system though, the increasing popularity of the sport in america alone will create more participants and better players. The academy isn’t going to produce any messi’s but it will produce players capable of playing in europe and hopefully a few of these players will break through and maybe in 10-20 years (5 world cups) we could be contenders. All of this is hypothetical of course, so lets hope that wholesale changes are underway sooner rather then later.
I still say we need to start by getting rid of those stupid ” where’s Waldo” kits!
I’m English, so perhaps not in a position to comment on youth football in the US. However, I’d like to state first of all that you do not want athletes, you want footballers. The problem with English football at the moment is that too many of our players are athletes first and footballers second, whereas Spain produce footballers who are good athletes. There’s a huge difference between the two.
Emphasis has to be on technical ability. Small sided games (so kids get lots of touches) on small pitches (so they are more capable of finding space and thinking quickly). Pace and power are great qualities, but anyone can make themselves a better athlete with conditioning and dedication. Footballing intelligence and skill is far more difficult to procure once you’re over 14.
I actually think that the US have the makings of a great side, they just lack two or three players that would make them a genuine contender in competitions. Take Rooney and Gerrard out of the England side and put them in the US, and I’d say the US were far superior to England.
You should concentrate on grass roots, and bring through quality, technically capable young players, but I wouldn’t look to England’s coaching system as a means of determining how to do so.
One last point I would like to make. I understand that the United States has more soccer players in the world, but let’s look at how long we have had soccer. Of course many of you guys will point that we have had a team of players for a long time, but the truth is all of the Soccer International Giants have soccer almost imbeded in their recent country history. The united states has just recently within the last 20 years began to develop a decent team. I honestly have a gutt feeling that when Quatar comes, the United states will have a figting chance.
Why does everyone make the assumption that it’s about who’s the best athlete? Lines like “Most of the talented athletes in the country are not drawn to football the way that they are drawn into other sports” are just plain stupid. It’s not about being athletes and not about be naturally talented. It’s about being technically skilled, and intelligent about the game. Do Iniesta or Silva look really athletic?
I take back the first line though. If you read through the comments here there are some good ones. For example Steve’s was brilliant, couldn’t have said it better myself
It all comes down to training. What hurts American soccer is when talented players get to the middleschool/highschool level. The amount of professional training a top player from the states gets vs. a top player over seas gets is grossly different. Assuming the level/skill of the training is the same, the amount of time dedicated to it is no where near sufficient. The NYT did an article about this (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/soccer/soccers-all-year-model-forces-high-school-players-to-choose.html?pagewanted=all). Those are the critical years to developing elite players anywhere. Athleticism, shape, speed, endurance can all pretty much be taught enough to compete at the professional level and the US has always had physically competent players.
Further, where the Elite countries are pushing their top talent to professional squads, we are pushing our top talent to College. The college game is a completely different game the a professional level club game with players at the same age. It is extremely difficult to transition to a college game (where physical ability and speed are the premium) to the club game (where skill and knowledge are the premium). I know from experience. Personally, I have seen players who could not get a minute of playing time in college, go on to play at the pro level in some of the 2nd tier lower leagues. I also played with guys who were Top tier D1 players, drafted into the MLS, who cannot get a sniff at a Euro tryout.
Also, Americans play multiple sports. Growing up I played a different sport each season (keeping soccer in the mix as well) and that was the story for everyone I played with. Offseason for my team (we did Dallas Cup back in the early 2000s, so we were serious-ish) was typically two months a year. Most of us played lacrosse, wrestled, did track, basketball, baseball, or whatever during that time off.
Finally, asking a player to not forgoe highschool ball is almost impossible. Even though the game sucks, the team was not so great, and it hurt my chances for recruiting I would not give up making a state title run for my crappy little highschool to play in tournaments for my club team. That is just the mentality of most players (at least for my generation). Now the kids I train now, they are learning pretty young that if they want to ball, they need to get in the right club and just train. Give 5-10 years when these 15 year olds start really maturing. Should be a completely different breed.
I think a better title for this article would be Why the Current USMNT will never win a world cup.
Im on a USL team’s youth academy team and my team went to england this pat march and we beat up on the stoke youth team and one player on my team may move to england to go into there youth squad because he is that good. Our team is top 5 in Florida but i agree. USA will go nowhere in the next few years.
The coaching in the US isnt neccesarily the problem, although it doesnt compare to Europe, there are still some good coaches. Personally I think the major problem in US youth soccer and development is the players themselves. Not enough of them want to do the work to become great players. They want to become great but are too lazy to go out and do the work that is needed. To put it plain and simple, being lazy has become a part of the culture in the US and thats why so few players have the drive to become great.