Okay...I admit it. That ARE ways to make soccer more exciting.

(10-11-2017 02:40 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  Honestly this may be what is best for US Soccer in the long run. It forces the USSF to reevaluate what they are doing from top to bottom. Gulati needs to go, Arena never should have been called back in, he repeated the exact same mistakes that got him fired in the first place. Youth Soccer needs to be completely reworked to go away from this pay to play system currently in place. A lot of talented kids are being lost in the shuffle or overlooked because their parents can't afford to pay for them.

what youth sport isnt pay to play?

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(10-11-2017 09:45 PM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(10-11-2017 02:40 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  Honestly this may be what is best for US Soccer in the long run. It forces the USSF to reevaluate what they are doing from top to bottom. Gulati needs to go, Arena never should have been called back in, he repeated the exact same mistakes that got him fired in the first place. Youth Soccer needs to be completely reworked to go away from this pay to play system currently in place. A lot of talented kids are being lost in the shuffle or overlooked because their parents can't afford to pay for them.

what youth sport isnt pay to play?

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soccer in Europe and South America. and here in the US, for the most part, track & field

(10-11-2017 09:45 PM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(10-11-2017 02:40 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  Honestly this may be what is best for US Soccer in the long run. It forces the USSF to reevaluate what they are doing from top to bottom. Gulati needs to go, Arena never should have been called back in, he repeated the exact same mistakes that got him fired in the first place. Youth Soccer needs to be completely reworked to go away from this pay to play system currently in place. A lot of talented kids are being lost in the shuffle or overlooked because their parents can't afford to pay for them.

what youth sport isnt pay to play?

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Most Youth Sports, even in the US, will have scholarships and different options available for poor players. If a good athlete wants to play basketball, someone will find a way they can get in there.

The only way you can reach any of the top youth levels of US Soccer is to shell out a few thousand bucks a year. In most countries, the academies pay for everything from Education, to housing, to equipment etc for Youth players. It's a cut throat world where kids will get cut as young as 14 and 15 and told they aren't good enough, but it also produces World Cup Winners.

(10-11-2017 09:45 PM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(10-11-2017 02:40 PM)Rojogrande Wrote:  Honestly this may be what is best for US Soccer in the long run. It forces the USSF to reevaluate what they are doing from top to bottom. Gulati needs to go, Arena never should have been called back in, he repeated the exact same mistakes that got him fired in the first place. Youth Soccer needs to be completely reworked to go away from this pay to play system currently in place. A lot of talented kids are being lost in the shuffle or overlooked because their parents can't afford to pay for them.

what youth sport isnt pay to play?

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But competitive soccer is a different animal. The tournaments you pay for are very costly.

The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

(10-12-2017 07:36 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

And we have the population to do all of the above well.

(10-12-2017 07:36 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

I am sure soccer is skewed by number of youths playing it just because its the sports most kids start out playing then by age 10, 11, or 12 they are wanting to play basketball, baseball, lacrosse or football or some other sport...

(10-12-2017 01:14 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:36 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

I am sure soccer is skewed by number of youths playing it just because its the sports most kids start out playing then by age 10, 11, or 12 they are wanting to play basketball, baseball, lacrosse or football or some other sport...

See but that is why there is a problem. Because kids that are talented at soccer aren't getting identified early enough in the USA as they are in other countries. At age 12 unless their parents want to spend thousands of dollars a year at one of the youth academies the kids go to a sport that may cost a fraction of that and their parents can afford.

A different animal, but I have a sister much younger than me who is still in high school. She plays volleyball and is also on a travel volleyball team during the summer. My parents shell out couple thousand dollars a year for her travel team and for her away tournaments all over the southeast. Much the same as when I played AAU basketball. It costs some...but not even close to the level that youth soccer costs.

clt says we need more goals moving forward.

Size is not at a premium in soccer. Sure, there are some large soccer stars, Ibrahimovic, Yarmolenko, and a few others. But, unlike football and basketball, size is not very beneficial. I remember scouts came to look at me when I was 5-4, 130 pound 14-year-old teenager. When I was a 6-2, 180-190 pound 17-year-old teenager, no one gave a damn. Not helping the situation were my knee injuries due to an increased pressure at my knee joints.

(10-12-2017 05:16 PM)ghostofclt Wrote:  clt says we need more goals moving forward.

good lord youre a ******* dork.

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(10-12-2017 01:14 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:36 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

I am sure soccer is skewed by number of youths playing it just because its the sports most kids start out playing then by age 10, 11, or 12 they are wanting to play basketball, baseball, lacrosse or football or some other sport...

That's where the problem lies. 10-12 is the formative years of a young persons athletic development. Its where they are going to start to be noticed by scouts for the first time. Part of the reason these kids end up choosing to play something else by that age is because once they hit that point, the only option if they wanted to continue and be noticed is to commit to shelling out thousands per year to get your kid into an Academy system.

It forces kids to make a decision about whether or not they truly want to continue soccer 3 or 4 years before we'd ever know if they have a chance to become a star.

(10-13-2017 12:00 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 01:14 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:36 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  

(10-12-2017 07:19 AM)panama Wrote:  The top youth athletes in the USA play basketball and American football. The top youth athletes in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama play soccer.

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It's a different kind of athleticism that is needed to play football, basketball versus soccer. Messi would, most likely, not play basketball or American football.

Besides, soccer in America is the second (by participation) sport among the youth. So, the options are there.

I am sure soccer is skewed by number of youths playing it just because its the sports most kids start out playing then by age 10, 11, or 12 they are wanting to play basketball, baseball, lacrosse or football or some other sport...

That's where the problem lies. 10-12 is the formative years of a young persons athletic development. Its where they are going to start to be noticed by scouts for the first time. Part of the reason these kids end up choosing to play something else by that age is because once they hit that point, the only option if they wanted to continue and be noticed is to commit to shelling out thousands per year to get your kid into an Academy system.

It forces kids to make a decision about whether or not they truly want to continue soccer 3 or 4 years before we'd ever know if they have a chance to become a star.

So I'm curious as to why soccer is so expensive compared to other sports. My son is 9 and I kept him playing recreation because travel was so expensive and at 9 I didn't think their was any benefit in travel soccer. Now, as he gets a little older we'll have to more seriously consider the travel option. Is the cost so high simply because that's the way it's been and folks will pay it, or is there some built in stuff that actually makes it that expensive?

In Germany if you're 18 years old and really good at soccer you typically don't go to college, you get in the system there and exponentially improve your game.



In the United States if you're 18 years old and really good at soccer you typically go to college and flame out or just stop playing (obviously there are very few exceptions like Pulisic)

Also another part of the equation is Americans in general want to play fast pace moving sports, a lot of kids by the time they reach age 10 are bored with soccer....Its not as fast paced as basketball, football, etc...My son played soccer when he was 4 and 5 and then already gave up playing....The main reason was to give him a choice to play fall baseball to adjust to coach pitch or continue playing soccer, he choose fall baseball. With the pressures put on also for kids to be good at these sports and also money spent on lessons, you fall way behind if you don't play baseball year round and my kid is 7....

My daughter is choosing to play soccer now for the first time, her last game is tomorrow and she is 6, she wants to continue playing in the spring, so we will see how that goes forward...

Yeah but our U17 and U19 teams are usually really good.

There's a reason that those teams are good and the national team is usually mediocre. Between the ages of 16-22, US Soccer is an epic fail in terms of development and overall strategy.

The country has 330 million people. We shouldn't need our best athletes to play soccer in order to be competitive. Our third-tier athletes should dominate countries like Trinidad and Tobago, which barely has a million people. The entire program needs an enema and a culture change.

And there goes Bruce Arena. Resigned today.

(10-13-2017 09:43 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  In Germany if you're 18 years old and really good at soccer you typically don't go to college, you get in the system there and exponentially improve your game.



In the United States if you're 18 years old and really good at soccer you typically go to college and flame out or just stop playing (obviously there are very few exceptions like Pulisic)

Yep, and that's a cultural thing. Pulisic was smart to avoid college and go to Europe. Hopefully more will follow his lead.