QuoteWorth mentioning Tim Howard and Claudio Reyna also.
Howard was hardly world class I suppose (although I have a lot of time for him), but a very good player. in European football. Reyna was the first American to captain a European club (Wolfsburg).
Surely will be in the next few years.
Donovan could have been, and was probably the closest but I'd just classify him as good by world class standards. Dempsey in a similar boat but never really had the potential to be a world star like Landon.
Adu promised to be the golden boy but came up way short.
ATM US team is good but nothing more. When will the squad be at the level of like Netherlands or Portugal?
All the rave seems to be about a kid at Arsenal, Gedion Zelalem, meant to be the American answer to Cesc Fabregas, we shall see.
Mentions should go to Nevan Subotic and Rossi who came up through the youth system here, so both are technically products of the American soccer.
Every world cup cycle the squad seems to be improving, I think 2018 will be similar enough to 2014 but by 2022 I wouldn't be surprised if US is at a team like Belgium's level.
Worth mentioning Tim Howard and Claudio Reyna also.
Howard was hardly world class I suppose (although I have a lot of time for him), but a very good player. in European football. Reyna was the first American to captain a European club (Wolfsburg).
Last edited by osarusan; 11/11/2014 at 6:02 AM.
'produce' surely? Or is American 'english' now this bad...
LOL its all just a language, it changes over time, there can be no right or wrong way. Buuuuuuut, it was a typo.Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
I forgot about Reyna, yeah he was such a quality footballer.
One of the problems we have is that our style of play is pretty similar to traditional British teams. Hard work and determination are preferred over natural flair. This is probably related to American values and culture as much as anything.
There's a young guy Emerson Hyndman starting for Fulham in the Championship, only 18 and playing pretty regularly. I'm fully expecting Luis Gil to make it in Europe as well.
2-1 loss to Colombia tonight. Jones played centre half. I liked the look of the team, but was only glancing at it while watching Ireland game.
Those f*ucking Irish next :P
Last edited by irishultra; 14/11/2014 at 9:16 PM.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...ransform-usmnt
17 year old Gedion Zelalem could be USA's first "world class" player as he decides he wants to declare for the US.
Imagine that..
I hear you guys have a striker over there called Robbie Keane. Is he of international quality or just a journey man?
Both.
Turned out to be much ado about nothing
Irish Times: Freddie Adu
The big problem with soccer in the US is the coaching at Youth level. After living here +20 years with my kids playing and I coached a bit for a while, there are 3 big flaws in the system:
Win, win, win at all costs - the emphasis is put on simply winning the next game as if it's the Champions League or WC. It might Rec leagues or Travel or Elite, it's the same. Just win and that is the primary goal. It comes from the parents and the coaches, oh isn't it great little Johnny score 3 goals to win the game. Little emphasis to learn the basic fundamentals and proper skills of the game for enjoyment. They start the Rec leagues at 4-5 years old but by 12, most of those players don't have fun anymore and graduate to the other sports.
Stupid coaches who know nothing about coaching. Yes I admit I was one of those, expecting my fandom to transfer to me being the next Alex Ferguson where I make 20 Maradonas and eventually end up coaching Man Utd and Ireland at the same time. But in reality I knew nothing. I took some of the Coerver/Dutch classes and tried to instill the skills aspect but I basically failed. Too many Dads coaching like me who basically know nothing about coaching. Not enough real experts.
Cost - this is something Klinsmann has be going on about for a while. In Youth soccer in the US you basically have 3 levels, Recreational where kids will have practice once or twice a week with stupid Dad coaches like me and a game at the weekend. Then Travel teams where they practice a maybe 3 times a week and a game at the weekend, however the coaching at this level is mostly suspect. Then you have Elite teams with professional coaching, these players will end up playing in college or maybe they very top 1% will get eventually get noticed by an MLS team so maybe they join the MLS development teams. But the issue is that the Elite teams cost a decent amount of money, I guess $3-4K per year and it's the poorer families who simply cannot afford that. I had one kid for a couple of seasons 9-10 years old, his dad was Mexican, he was a fabulous player and loved to play. I knew he should have been on an Elite team but also knew his family couldn't afford it. So eventually he fell through the cracks and I often wondered what could have happened with him with the proper coaching. It's pay to play.
It is improving however. A few years ago the MLS teams did not have youth teams but now most do. But in a country as large as the US, 20 MLS teams is just a tip of the iceberg. The standard is getting better but slowly.
"Jacques Santini...will be greeted in every dugout of the country by "one-nil, one-nil" - Clive Tyldsley, 89th minute of France-England June 13, 2004.
"Ooooohhhh Nooooooo" Bobby Robson 91st minute.
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