Boomer and I have had this discussion before, and he'll probably disagree here, but this is a pretty well written article. They take some of the best American athlete's in the major sports to comprise a starting team.
I have said for years that IF the US wanted to dominate Soccer, we would. Granted, some of our other sports would not be filled with some of the Superstars they are, but you can't dominate every sport at once, no matter awesome and badass your country is. Soccer in this country is proof of that.
Here's one excerpt, but definitely check out the whole piece here:
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What about 7on7 Rugby (ok, he's from Aus, and plays Rugby but could make it in NFL)
http://www.rugbybuzz.com/?p=301
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My favorite is they have Patrick Willis, Ron Artest and Troy Polamalu on the back line.
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You can't compare apples and oranges.
So Percy Harvin is fast. Can he place a soccer ball anywhere he wants? Can he run with a ball that fast?
He can cut on a dime, but can he do it with a soccer ball between his feet?
It is a skill set, and one that comes more naturally to people like all others. What I mean is, take the worst NFL and NBA players and they have an equal shot at being better at soccer than the best players in the NFL and NBA.
Just because they are good at one sport it doesn't mean they will be equally good at another. -
The piece points out that many kids in this country play soccer at a young age, then play something else when they get older. What if they didn't switch to something else? That's the debate.SICK likes this. -
If thats the case why cant we dominate skiing like Austria does?? Or why doesnt America dominate hockey, we are good at hockey, but we certainly don't dominate right, however as a major sport here in the US, certainly we are trying no?? There are enough people in America to play everything....for as much as foreign soccer players, would rot playing basketball, baseball, and football, Jeter, Kobe, and Lebron would get embarrassed on the pitch....quickly... -
Now, American Football isn't played worldwide, but even if it was it would take YEARS for other countries to catch up. And that would be at the cost of them sacrificing their best athletes in other sports, like say, Soccer. :shifty: -
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Fun to think about though. Time will tell. Soccer is growing in the US. Interesting to see how much more received it is during this world cup in the US. -
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Now obviously my argument is contingent on the fact that playing Soccer requires one to be a great athlete, or that great athleticism does not always equate to one being a great Soccer player. That's fair, but I think it would also be splitting hairs to an extent. -
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I think that is being a little short-sighted. Bottom line is that Soccer here is what, the 5th or 6th most popular sport? And that is probably being generous. I don't think it's a stretch to say that if it were #1, we'd dominate.
Obviously it's hypothetical, and I cannot prove you wrong. I just love the debate. It'll be even more fun when Boomer sees it can starts calling me a stupid bloody yank.finyank13 likes this. -
Now you are operating under double standards. Aside from the US, what other countries have the infrastructure in place to develop athletes in the olympic sports? Maybe Russia and China, but that is it. If the rest of the world had your training facilities, paid scholarships, coaches, etc, would the US still dominate as much on the Olympic scale?
The rest of the world is in the same situation the US is in with soccer. -
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Here is the thing, the squad at World Cup is what 25-30 people on it?? Dont tell me that regardless of where this sport is in America right now as far as popularity, that we cant find 30...hell 40 people in the entire US to compete with these guys on a global scale.....AND WE CANT?!?!?!? That just tells me that we arent very good at it, getting better, but not as good as the power house countries....
I see the other side if the BEST athletes played soccer at 3yrs old instead of baseball, basketball, or football...who knows?? However some of America best athletes are playing soccer right now, and cant hack it..... -
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He got injured before this past season with AC Milan and was out all year. He just extended his contract from 2012 to 2013 for FREE! Although Milan advised against it, and didn't want to do that, Onyewu insisted and Milan took it as a nice gesture. -
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soccer only requires average size, so some great athletes in the NBA and NFL would just be too big, but its also a boom to great athletes that toil in their other chosen sport but are limited by their size to advance
not only would we be pulling from MLB, NFL and some NBA talent, but also all the great athletes that devoted all their time to those sports in college
the NCAA is part of the reason our sports are played at such a high level. now imagine college soccer and MLS or whatever being the biggest sports. there would be great american players all over the world and our college teams would rival professional clubs -
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basketball isnt even our most popular sport
this is also a world where soccer reigns supreme here -
My point is, top European and top S.American Under 21 teams (GER, ITA, BRS, ENG, SPN, etc) can beat MLS teams 6 times out of 10 games, today. Would you agree with that? -
MLS teams have performed well against talented european teams before. -
MLS would truly be major league and nothing like it is now. heck only either 3 or 4 guys from MLS have been picked on our squad lol.
its never going to happen. plus, us americans cant take everything :tongue2: the rest of the world can have soccer, though its nice to dream. its a little frustrating to have holes on our team like we do, but thats just the way it is. our depth looks really bad
i might agree on under 21, i guess it depends on who played. bottom feeders for sure -
I agree though, we can't dominate everything. We'll concede soccer, as long as the other countries concede that we could kick their *** if we wanted to :shifty: -
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