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US GAF: Support your national soccer team
- Thread starter xbhaskarx
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Finally got around to reading this. Whether or not our 'best athletes' would make a difference it seems that Hurby is not really on point. Most people talking about basketball players or linemen or even linebackers don't get the biomechanical and physiological advantages that soccer rewards.woodchuck said:
World class soccer players aren't particularly tall, they aren't bulky and they aren't broad shouldered, thin-hipped/legged wonders that we in the US typically consider 'ideal athletes' (lol phelps as a soccer player REALLY?). Most basketball players and football players are built entirely inappropriately. Baseball rewards such a niche skillset (can you hit a little ball flying at you with a stick???) that there probably is no readily accessible correlation.
However, there are a subset of positions and individuals in basketball and football that fit remarkably well into the soccer mold. Point guards, the small, powerful wide receiver type (think Steve Smith or even Larry Fitzgerald if he slimmed a bit...not the slim types tho), some defensive backs, some running backs (think the 5'8" 210lb guys with lower bodies that match there upper bodies). I don't see any US players who would even approach some of these guys in terms of sheer power, speed, lateral movement, field awareness, etc. However, our best potential 'soccer athletes' are really only drawn away by this tiny subset of other american sport positions.
Hurby isn't quite accurate in that soccer requires an endurance running body type either - endurance and stamina are crucial but not defining. The soccer body type really is nothing like the endurance running body type. Soccer players have rather well developed lower musculature and skeletal structures not found in elite level endurance runners. Upper and lower body proportions also tend to differ. Soccer stamina is high interval stamina. 7 miles in 90 minutes is nothing even to a below average recreational runner...but when those 7 miles are all sprints that punctuate slow jogs or walking its much more demanding. Soccer players need a blend of stamina and a sprinter-ish body type.
Make no mistake, our best soccer players are phenomenal athletes. Our system actually rewards athleticism over other attributes. Our system (which I played in as a youth and now coach youths in) is pretty bizarre compared to many/all other countries - everything is structured and hours on the ball fairly limited compared to other countries (even though the parents bemoan the <GASP> 6hrs of practice a week). Uh...kids in other countries are playing that much unstructured ball every SINGLE DAY! Kids don't have a huge chance to just practice ball skills for hours a day so we start sorting them by impact on the field without a ton of ball skill or tactical development time. Well, guess what stands out? Yup...its the 'athletes' at ages 6-10 and the ones that don't measure up are discouraged and usually spend their time elsewhere. To me, that is INSANE.
That also leads to the point where we don't really measure up in a general way with other countries...we, on the whole, don't have the technical skills or tactical awareness because we sort our youth first on athleticism and frequently don't give the other critical skills time to blossom. Heck the small 7yr old who sorta "got it" got pounded by the large, fast 8yr olds and no longer wants to play even though in 8yrs they might physically dominate those same opponents. The system (because it is overly structured and time limited) doesn't reward things that take longer to blossom which is unfortunate.
Also unfortunate is that I don't see any of these factors changing any time soon.
Hurby article is fucking stupid. Our best BBall and American Football players are built the way they are because they have been conditioning their whole lives for that sport. If they were playing soccer, they would be built differently because their training and physical development would have been different.
I feel like an idiot for even needing to type that out... it's why I've never waded into this debate before.
The argument isn't "KOBE BRYANT COULD BEAT MESSI ON THE PITCH HUR HUR."
The argument is that in many countries, soccer is THE sport. All the young kids with physical talent aspire to play it. But in the US, that isn't the case. So the "pool" of soccer athletes is diluted & smaller. Since so many great young athletes choose to focus on baseball, basketball, and football.
Hurby spends half the article talking about how Kobe doesn't have the body for soccer... jesus. No shit he doesn't. That's because he's an NBA Superstar. So stupid.
I feel like an idiot for even needing to type that out... it's why I've never waded into this debate before.
The argument isn't "KOBE BRYANT COULD BEAT MESSI ON THE PITCH HUR HUR."
The argument is that in many countries, soccer is THE sport. All the young kids with physical talent aspire to play it. But in the US, that isn't the case. So the "pool" of soccer athletes is diluted & smaller. Since so many great young athletes choose to focus on baseball, basketball, and football.
Hurby spends half the article talking about how Kobe doesn't have the body for soccer... jesus. No shit he doesn't. That's because he's an NBA Superstar. So stupid.
They would be built slightly differently. The basic morphology would need to be of the appropriate soccer 'mold'. I don't care if Kobe played soccer 8hrs/day from the time he was 2 until he was 20...he isn't going to be shaped anything like a messi or ronaldo (duh).GDJustin said:
Which is why their are only a few positions in american sports actually competing for the soccer athlete. The 5'9" 220lb running back is carrying too much muscle for soccer because he plays football but the morphology and biomechanics are spot on for soccer if that is what they were desiring to play (ie they'd lose some bulk).
DTLIONS1013
Member
daoster said:
I hope so, and I see no reason why he shouldn't play, even if it's only 20 minutes. It's just a friendly
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
I'm excited for the friendly against Brazil. If it were closer I would try going to it. In the mean time I'll just be watching DC United games. I'm hoping we can manage to at least get out of last place.
quilter46761
Member
Watching Robbie Findley blow beautiful opportunities for salt lake in the game on espn2 is only reminding me why we're not playing deutschland on saturday. :lol
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
kamikazemartian said:
Chicago got robbed. I don't think that push deserved a penalty shot.
mikeybwright
Banned
xbhaskarx said:
At least one, my biggest gripe about the US run in the cup was the lack of Buddle. That friendly against the Aussies should have gotten him some starts!!
I don't think the idea wasn't that Findley was going to score the goals. His speed really is what kept England from raping us - his ability to blow by defenders and create opportunities forced England to play back and not throw more guys into the attack. And we had more problems than Robbie Findley playing at forward.
StriKeVillain
Banned
Yeah, I only watched a little bit while TF2 was downloading the update. :lolGDJustin said:
I wrote a new post on my blog aimed at new/lapsed soccer fans that wanna follow the game more closely: Club Soccer Overview:
http://soccernewbies.posterous.com/understanding-soccer-4-club-soccer-overview
Next post will be an overview of club soccer in the US specifically (MLS and the rest of the pyramid). Next post after that will focus on US club soccer events (US Open, CONCACAF Champion's League, SuperLiga).
http://soccernewbies.posterous.com/understanding-soccer-4-club-soccer-overview
Next post will be an overview of club soccer in the US specifically (MLS and the rest of the pyramid). Next post after that will focus on US club soccer events (US Open, CONCACAF Champion's League, SuperLiga).
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
rar said:
Then be embarrassed. The jersey is fine. Cry some more.
GDJustin said:
I'll look forward to reading it. I'm enjoying the blog so far.
The Daily Telegraph: Sven-Goran Eriksson and Slaven Bilic head queue for Fulham manager's job
Looks like coach Bradley doesn't have a chance anymore at the Fulham gig. Even though I guess it was a long shot, I'm still a bit disappointed that it didn't go down. It would have been cool to see him draw over a bunch of American players to follow overseas.
Looks like coach Bradley doesn't have a chance anymore at the Fulham gig. Even though I guess it was a long shot, I'm still a bit disappointed that it didn't go down. It would have been cool to see him draw over a bunch of American players to follow overseas.
sazabirules said:
Thanks! Seems like there's a lot of demand for this kind of resource but I'm not sure of the best way to get the word out. I've been tweeting the link to US National team players lately :lol Still waiting on the Donovan plug....
Gamecocks625
Member
rar said:
Stuck said:
If he was ever manager of Fulham, I hope he wouldn't use his position as an excuse to bring over American players...that'd be a horrible idea. Fulham has always had a somewhat large American presence in the past couple of years, but that shouldn't mean that Bob, if he were ever manager of Fulham or any other team, bring over American players just for the sake of brining American players.
and Fulham, or any other EPL team, or hell any first division European team for that matter, would be a horrible choice for Bob right now. I have no doubt that one day, Bob may coach a European side, but coaching Fulham is completely different from coaching Chivas USA or the US National team. Maybe a Championship (and even then it'll be tough) or League 1 team, or even better...being an assistant manager to an EPL team would be great experience for Bob.
kingkitty said:
Don't know if he's being considered by Gulati (though I wouldn't doubt it), but his name has been thrown around a lot by the press and U.S. soccer fans as a replacement for Bob.
Though it's a shame...it seems like Germany has already extended Loew's contract, but a Klinsmann-Loew partnership would be the maximum benefit for the USA (like it was for Germany!)
daoster said:
I'm not trying to make any judgment that Bradley would find great success by coaching an EPL team and/or bringing over a bunch of Americans to Fulham. And honestly, I'm not an experienced enough soccer fan at this point to know why he would have so much more trouble head coaching there compared to opportunities.
Essentially, I would like to have seen it happen for mostly selfish reasons. It would be nice to have a single club on a big stage with a large American presence that I could keep track of and root for in addition to the Earthquakes. And if they did well (but it sounds like wouldn't), I'm sure that experience would greatly benefit the US national team.
I wrote another new post on my new US Soccer fan blog - this one focusing on Major League soccer, how the season works, who the teams are, etc:
http://soccernewbies.posterous.com/understanding-soccer-5-major-league-soccer
Next post will focus on the other events MLS or US club teams might play in, like CONCACAF Champion's League, US Open, etc.
http://soccernewbies.posterous.com/understanding-soccer-5-major-league-soccer
Next post will focus on the other events MLS or US club teams might play in, like CONCACAF Champion's League, US Open, etc.
talisayNon
Member
My god, Redbulls midfielders are straight basura. When is Thiery Henry coming again?
Also Najar is a skinny shit
Also Najar is a skinny shit
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
talisayNon said:
He might have had a chance to score if he didn't get shoved from behind.
talisayNon
Member
sazabirules said:
he wouldn't have fell if he wasn't 65 lbs
sazabirules
Unconfirmed Member
talisayNon said:
Any soccer player could have been knocked over by that. Make whatever excuses you want for that behavior.
So now that this exciting World Cup has ended...the wait for 2014 begins anew...I think qualifying for the CONCACAF region begins in 2011 again?
I recently bought a book that I think should be required reading for the US soccer fans. I'm only 3 chapters into Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game, but it's been a fascinating read that sheds light on the history of Soccer in America, and its relation to the sport with the rest of the world, and other American sports.
The origins of soccer in America has had a very close relationship with baseball, and had things not happened the way they did...the American sport landscape could have been radically different (professional soccer, at one point, seemed more poise to take off than professional football in this country).
Some fascinating, fascinating stuff.
I recently bought a book that I think should be required reading for the US soccer fans. I'm only 3 chapters into Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game, but it's been a fascinating read that sheds light on the history of Soccer in America, and its relation to the sport with the rest of the world, and other American sports.
The origins of soccer in America has had a very close relationship with baseball, and had things not happened the way they did...the American sport landscape could have been radically different (professional soccer, at one point, seemed more poise to take off than professional football in this country).
Some fascinating, fascinating stuff.
UltimaPooh
Member
daoster said:
I think we have a friendly against Brazil August 5th.
DTLIONS1013
Member
daoster said:
Ive been looking for a good read about soccer, I'll check this out
mikeybwright
Banned
ATF487 said:
I took some friends to the game, it was a lot of fun and thank God there were some goals (for my friends). Can't believe the Revs won after getting raped in Salt Lake.
gutter_trash
Banned
the diagonal stripe looks like a Miss America sash, they should revert back to 2006's looksazabirules said:
DTLIONS1013
Member
I like this year's jerseys alot, I own an away one. I'd like to see some with vertical stripes soon
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
convert some of these chances!!!
SEND HIM OFF!
SEND HIM OFF!
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
BEAUTIFUL PLAY from Ferreira.
UltimaPooh
Member
Stuck said:
Good to know. Thanks.
Korey said:
Guys...the sash is a throwback to the uniform that the USA wore in 1950 when they beat England...there have been more throwbacks in the past uniforms, but this one was a more modernized throwback. It's hardly the worst jersey...it's actually one of the better ones.
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