For anyone who is a fan of US Soccer or has a child that aspires to big things in the sport, you should say: “Thank you Ghana”.
I know I made my position clear last week, but this can’t be emphasized enough.
Thank the lord the US lost to Ghana on Saturday! Or in the words of Landon Donovan: “It makes me believe there is good in the world.”
This country now stands a chance at a brighter future.
Even though there are still people who naively believe the US performance showed we are improving, there are many who have started to ask questions and are attempting to identify what the problems are. And let me tell you, there are horrific problems – some of which we’ve only begun to articulate on 3four3.
Could you just imagine if the US won or heaven forbid, gotten to a semi-final! Problems, what problems? The US Soccer Federation and all the misguided, but well intended, masses would be the only voice in town. It’s interesting right? I mean these “types” of players, this “type” of coach, along with the whole US Soccer infrastructure and philosophy could have been validated with just one result.
Such is the delicate balance of public opinion. More specifically, the opinion of those who lack a sound fundamental understanding of the game.
It’s true. The most resounding and recent example; the Confederations Cup last summer. When the US got abused by Italy and Brazil in the group stage, the fanbase was up in arms (some even questioning Bradley’s continuation). Then just a week later, when the team beat Spain (regardless of being thoroughly dominated) and had a respectable score against Brazil in the final, the fanbase was lauding the “arrival” of US Soccer. Praising the likes of Onyewu, Demerit, Altidore, and company as quality players. Bob Bradley was now a genius!
I felt like vomiting!
Thank you Ghana and thank you US!
I’m also extremely happy those disallowed goals in the group stage can not be pointed to as any reason for failure. It would have been excuse #1 and everyone would have bought it. They’d say “we would have won the group if it weren’t for those damn refs”, then who knows … “likely have beaten Ghana & then even Uruguay”. But they’d be wrong and Ghana proved it!
Now it’s back to the matter at hand. For us back to articulating the problems and later, the potential solutions.
For the fan-base it’s back to asking questions, searching for answers, and exchanging ideas and opinions with one another. And hopefully in the process exerting pressure on USSF and soccer at all levels to improve.
Oh and in case I forgot, one more thing:
Thank you Ghana from the bottom of my soccer loving soul!
In just 120 minutes, you did more for our future than you can imagine.
One thing I know people will be reaching for in light of this defeat is the “best athletes” meme, that is, the idea that if we could convince kids in the US to stick with soccer instead of going to basketball, football, or baseball, the US would dominate world soccer. As I know you know, this is a deeply misguided attitude that can only lead US Soccer down blind alleys. The issue with US soccer players, for the most part, isn’t their athleticism, it’s their technical ability. The way I’ve put it to my friends is the question isn’t why didn’t Kobe Bryant play soccer, the question is why isn’t Clint Dempsey as good as Kaká, or why isn’t Landon Donovan the equal of Lionel Messi?
Messi is an especially instructive case, because he’s a guy that wouldn’t have ever gotten a single look as an athlete here in the US, but who was recognized from an extremely early age as a special talent in Argentina. Americans need to take a step back and think about that and identify the attitudes that need to change. There may be an eight-year-old here in the US that could become the next Messi, but sadly, it’s extremely likely he never plays as a professional.
Hi Carlos,
Ah yes, the good ole “Athlete Hypothesis”. I actually have a draft article in my queue that begins to debunk this myth.
People draw up these conclusions because they must rely on logic. Fair enough. But unfortunately logic will only yield good theorems if the postulates used are fundamentally sound. And without some degree of subject matter expertise, one can easily be led astray.
I especially like your
“the question isn’t why didn’t Kobe Bryant play soccer, the question is why isn’t Clint Dempsey as good as Kaká, or why isn’t Landon Donovan the equal of Lionel Messi?”
Very well put.
One of our biggest problems now is that we have built a foundation that is wrong. Too many people are too deeply invested, financially and by reputation, in maintaining the status quo. You know, pay to play, big camps, overly-organized.
Somebody once said that the US system is geared towards earning college scholarships, not producing professional players. Don’t get me started about college soccer.
Another on the money comment DaveyNC!
But I believe what can disrupt things is soccer education. The fan-base, the youth soccer parents, the coaches at all levels, must be educated properly.
The quickest path to this I believe is have a National Team that exemplifies good soccer. From the type of players the coach selects to the style of play.
This trickles down the ladder to the youth. What type of player is the NT looking for? When one chooses the likes of Demerit for defense, Clark for center mid, and Altidore for striker. This sends a message to MLS, college, and our youth coaches. The message is; this is the role model for this position. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
When the National Team has no style to speak of – effectively just ploping 11 on the field and have them work hard – it send that very message down the ladder. And guess what? That’s what we see at the youth, college, and domestic league. Again, WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
Yes. Pay-to-play as you say hurts us. But I contend that if the consumer (ie parents) know how to identify quality coaching and knew what development actually looks like, market forces would kick in. Thereby creating true competition between coaches/clubs for the customer. Coaches/clubs would be forced to do better.
Well, there’s too much to talk about. To be continued 🙂
Gary, I think a lot of what you say has merit, but the big difference is that in other countries, the “market forces” are operating on the professional clubs and their academies. Those clubs are looking to find the next great star, either to play for their team in the long term in the case of the major teams, or to generate giant transfer fees in the case of the smaller ones. They devote serious cash and lots of time by trained professionals to identify and develop the best talents from an extremely early age. Until the US has similar resources and expertise applied to developing its players, it will lag behind.
I agree 100%.
That is what I would ultimately want to see.
My comment above referring to “market forces” was meant to be on a smaller scale. Something that I believe can happen in the short term. Incremental improvement if you will.
Will it still lag behind the the traditional powers? Yes. But I do think it would help with player quality within the confines of pay-to-play (which isn’t going away any time soon).
Appropos your comment on foreign clubs “looking to find the next great star” the following from the revival of Accrington Stanley from non-league football might be of interest ;
“The club’s recent rise to the Conference level, and eventually to the League, is attributed in part to the windfall of hundreds of thousands of pounds reaped by the sell-on clause in the December 2001 transfer of former Stanley star Brett Ormerod to Southampton, who paid Blackpool over a million pounds for his contract. Stanley had taken £50,000 from Blackpool in 1997 with the agreement that Blackpool would pay Accrington a quarter of what they might have received if they in turn transferred Ormerod to another team. The 2002-03 championship of the Northern Premier League followed quickly on Accrington’s getting the cash.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accrington_Stanley_F.C.
You have good posts here. I was thinking the same thing: if the US managed to get to the quarter- or even semi-finals, the soccer community here would think that the sport is going in the right direction, which in my point of view isn’t the case. America needs more players like Donovan and Dempsey.
Agreed!
I checked a few articles on this site and some of them raised good points but, a lot of them are not helpful to the cause that is being fought for.
Yes there are some major problems with our youth setup in this country no one is denying that. Our system in this country puts team success over individual development and yes the cost of club teams that kids get scouted from decreases the amount in the talent pool. But, throwing rocks at the establishment is not helping anybody. Everyone knows those problems and there have been programs that are being implemented to change those things. Progress takes time.
And yes we do overrate athleticism in this country for soccer but, nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. The notion that Messi wouldn’t get a look in this country is ridiculous our two most hyped players ever here(Donovan, Adu) are both under 5’9. And while we do overrate it it is still an important factor. Look at our neighbors Mexico what is seperating Mexico from say Spain? It sure is not technical ability there’s is right up there with Spain the difference is they don’t have big physical, athletic strikers like Villa and Torres. The don’t have physical holding midfielders like Alonzo and Busquets. They don’t have physical and athletic defenders like Pique and Ramos
Hi Monty and thanks for reading and contributing!
So there’s quite a bit to discuss on your comments.
First I will say that while it’s true that SOME of the issues are, as you say known; I strongly contend they are not known well enough nor given the attention or importance they deserve.
Just take a tour through the soccer blogs out there, look at what soccer reporters/journalists talk about, or hear American soccer commentary. No one makes a stink about our issues! It’s pretty much the same storyline as that of 20 years ago: “Progress takes time”.
Yes, this is true. BUT only if the problems are properly identified and a solution put in motion. You mention there are programs being implemented to change some of our issues. Please name one, because I do not know of any national level initiative.
The progress that has been made in the past decades have been purely infrastructure in nature. This is a good and an important step! But again, it does not directly attack the problems we’ve been talking about. Indeed, these problems are cultural in nature.
For instance the overemphasis on “athleticism” is deeply ingrained. There is no program that can eradicate that idea, aside from education. And while people may say they know athleticism shouldn’t be given too great an importance, they really truly don’t believe it. Just look at your Spain vs. Mexico comparison. You actually believe the difference is athleticism?
No. The Mexican player is still far behind technically as well as tactically.
There are a number of reason for this that have been documented by the Mexican media along with statements from high-profile coaches in the FMF.
Off the top of my head:
1) They run two short seasons in the year. This does not allow coaches the luxury of debuting or consistently playing the youth. There is no margin for experimentation. This stifles their player development.
2) Their business model, unlike those of international powerhouses, is not aligned with maximizing development in order to capitalize on player transfer fees. Which leads to …
3) Not enough players playing in the top leagues of the world. This is HUGE. Not playing at the elite international level hurts development once again.
This is the difference between them and the international powers. Most definitely not a lack of athleticism!
But I digress …
Many of the big problems we face in the US are cultural in nature. People have the wrong ideas! And when it’s a battle of ideas, you need to be loud! Currently, the only voice in town is the “Progress takes time” crowd. This does not help. It will never change our mentality.
This is the mantra of those who renewed Bob Bradley’s tenure. This is also the rhetoric of many well-intentioned people. But it is this idea that actually stifles progress.
Establishments only change when they are heavily pressured or it makes monetary sense. Currently, and for decades, it has only been the latter.
What we need now is to introduce pressure into the equation. I know this country has a lot more soccer to offer. I believe this country is a sleeping soccer giant! Not 30 years from now – far sooner. So just like the international powers, more of us need to “throw rocks” and wake this giant up! I can’t do it alone …
The problem with American ball lies in the previously mentioned technical ability. We are not developing players that can square a defender up and beat them like Messi, Xavi,etc etc. There is no creativity in the American midfield nor pure strikers, think of Van Nistleroy in his prime. While there might be some truth to the whole “if this athlete had played soccer instead of….”, that shift in reality would not overcome the lack of technical development. We would simply have really athletic guys running up and down the pitch looking the same as our current national team. We must develop touch and creativity, look at how basketball develops players first then teams. That is the American way.
USMNT is like UCD in the college ranks. I was at the UCD vs. CSUN game too!!!
Great site!
How are we supposed to change America’s style of play, when smash ball is rewarded by the refs, the coaches and fans and colleges?
My daughter (GK) played Santa Barbara Football Club Silver Elite, now a GK in the NIAA
If the USWT or anyone else wants to see something to rival Marta, check out Briana Lopez, South Carolina State’s freshman striker(also from SBFC), I watch a ton of of woman’s soccer, at all levels and have to say there is nothing out there like her, absolutely unpredictable with the ball.
She was not even going to try out for college ball and walked on for a full ride.
Not enough energy promoting the rough diamonds in the US, because of the developmental/Olympic academy, pay to play driven BS, I don’t see much changing,when even the winning local clubs, don’t try to get girls scholarships (even partials) which eliminates a bunch of great players from the national scene.
you guys suck how can you hate ghana if you played them you would have died so don’t start saying thank ghana for the goal cause ghana won the match btw so if i were you i would keep ur maouth shut ortherwise shutup cause you have nothin goood to
You didn’t really read the article, did you?
Or pay attention that day in school when they went over how to write a proper sentence.
I believe another article along the lines of “Thank you Spain/Panama you are the savior of US soccer” is called for. This is the first couple of losses I have seen to get as much critiquing by the media. It is just a damn shame that our country, who produces the best athletes in the world, are held back because of people like Bradley and Gulati.