NoGoal
DA
and I assume NOT many of the U17 and U20 WC YNT rostered players will ever get a call up to the Sr level, besides Mallory and Ashley (already called into a Sr camp).The US WNT is still ranked #1 in the world by FIFA.
and I assume NOT many of the U17 and U20 WC YNT rostered players will ever get a call up to the Sr level, besides Mallory and Ashley (already called into a Sr camp).The US WNT is still ranked #1 in the world by FIFA.
You had me until the last two sentences. I have been to Nebraska, Ann Arbor and BYU on gameday. Trust me they are as intensely fanatical about their football as they are in the heart of Tennessee or Alabama. NFL rosters are 18% SEC players, 14% ACC players, 13% Big Ten and 13% Pac 12 players. While the SEC has some intense stadiums to play in (Tennessee and Texas A&M spring to mind as some crazy places to play that I have been to) statistically speaking, with them having 15 member schools they are only slightly ahead of some of those conferences in terms of player numbers. Regardless, not really an equivalent situation. Football gets the best athletes and also has the carrot dangled of a 100% paid education AND the potential of millions of dollars. Not even the best female soccer player ever makes (or made) comparable money over her career to a starting NFL player that stays in the league for 4-5 years.
I agree that it is a cultural thing but more of it has to do with our soccer coaches cultural background and incentives. The coach of the US women's national team makes abut $215k a year. That is below the average of a Power 5 schools assistant (non-coordinator) football coach. Not sure what the highest paid women's college coach receives but I am pretty certain that it would be on the average to low side of a football assistant coach. That and the intense pressure to deliver wins at all coasts is the real issue. If the coaches were evaluated on style of play or had a differing incentives things might change. I don't expect it to happen unfortunately.
Juggling can make a big difference, even with beginners. This past fall I had 11 year old girls that could juggle once or twice, and they have improved to 5-6 times by end of season. Tough with only 3 hour a week in a AYSO league, but still happy with their progress. Noticed that some of the girls used their knees to deflect the ball in the right direction, plus were able to control bouncing balls a bit better during. It does help with first touch as well.A friend told me, Japanese trained youth players must be able to juggle the ball 1000 consecutive times without messing up. I wonder how many of the U20s can do that.
Good point about the coaching culture and pay. "The intense pressure to deliver wins at all costs is the real issue." This I could not agree with more wholeheartedly, from the top of the US game down to the bottom. And you are right that I probably shouldn't compare football because it undercuts the real point I was trying to make, which is that college is the end game for US girls in soccer, rather than becoming a professional international player.
P.S. We'll have to start a college football thread to debate my SEC comment. My point about NFL rosters has to do with where those players grew up (south). Lots of those elite Big 10 and ACC players are from Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, etc. I grew up in Dixie, and say with all due respect, unless you've lived there, you can't appreciate just how much perspective they lack with regards to football. There are some great places (which you mentioned) that do match SEC Saturdays for passion, but in the South, it is a 7-day a week religion to the point of absurdity. No comparison.
"We are not Europe." I think those are some of the most powerful words. We are not and that is a major problem, here's why. We are the US. Everyone has been taught that you make it by hard work, by your own bootstraps. You know "I". Soccer is a collective sport - a socialist one if you will. Europe definitely has that advantage. If you play collectively, everyone does their part you will be successful. The achievement and accolades will come. We don't teach that here. Maybe the 1980 US hockey team had it but our soccer culture certainly does not. It was not more plainly to see than in this U20 WC. Give it to the "stars" and they will do it. Not even Messi can do it for Argentina or Barcelona for that matter by himself. There are maestro's and then there are the people that carry the piano and tune the piano. All are key members. We don't get that. Soccer is a 5 v 5 game. Not a 1v1 game. Until we learn that - forget it.I don't understand why we can't develop our own, successful soccer culture. We are not Europe. We have sports in schools. Instead of treating that as a negative, why can't we maximize the positive sides of that. It would help if club, high school and college soccer could agree on some unifying themes with regards to development. College players are adults and should play FIFA laws of the game so that they can be prepared for the international game. High Schools should be encouraged to provide full width fields and 3 ref crews to minimize injuries. High school soccer is similar in many ways to World Cup soccer and should be able to offer some developmental opportunities. Club soccer should scale back their seasons a bit, and club tournaments with multiple games in one weekend should go away, especially for the youngers.
I actually think it's the complete opposite.
We (Americans) are generally a capitalist and individualist society. Europe on the whole is generally more socialist. But the roles seem to be reversed when it comes to sports. Our popular sports are very much team focused. Even our superstars are ultimately defined by team success (winning records, championships, and etc). Overall we are about "winning". Outstanding individual performances are great, but only if they are a "winner", which requires a team effort.
And there's nothing wrong with this attitude/phiolosphy. Even in Europe when you see this applied to soccer at the highest levels (ie. Barca) it can make for some beautiful soccer.
But Barca is the end-product after all the individual foundation has been properly made. The problem with US Soccer is that we take the "Winning/Team" all the way to the younger age groups. How many times has a U-Little coach put Little Billy at defender for the entire season because even though Little Billy could be a great midfielder, the coach put him permanently at defense for the sake of winning games. Conversely you see under-sized players put on the bench or big players not challenged enough, again all for the sake of winning games.
We have a generation of under-developed players precisely because team victories/trophies are over-emphasized at the younger ages instead of individual development and growth. Our culture's obsession with team victories/trophies even with pre-school age kids and the lack of marketplace incentives for individual development pretty much keeps us in a permanent state of mediocrity
The problem with our youth national team player isn't that they are too selfish and don't want to pass. The problem is too many of them can't even make accurate passes or receive passes under pressure. Or many cases they don't even see the pass. This is because we systematically eradicate almost all the technical and intelligent players at the young ages and keep pushing the big aggressive players who may or may not understand the subtleties of the game for the sake of again....winning games. This was fine we were the only women's game in town but now many other countries have caught up and are using the training philosophies from the men's game and applying it to their women's programs.
It's great seeing teamwork and players working toward a common goal. It's one of the reasons why the World Cup is so fun to watch. Players not playing for contracts but for team and national pride and glory. But ultimately soccer is a skilled sport. At the highest levels all the teamwork in the world isn't going to help if half the roster can't pass out of pressure or doesn't possess the game I.Q. to properly maintain possession off throw-ins.
Just like how some scouts/coaches seem to think it's easy to convert a forward to a defender, they also seem to think that just anybody can play as a midfielder. Doing so requires a really special skill set, imho, and some kids have a natural, equally valuable talent for it. It was apparent in this recent World Cup that you can have some of the best forwards in the world but without a strong midfield it doesn't matter. Of course I am biased because my kid is a midfielder. Makes me sad that my kid may never get a look because she's not up top and honestly has no desire to play up top.