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Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Is it me or whether the United States better football?
With a population of over 300 million dollars and a large percentage of immigrants from countries where soccer is king, it is my belief that there should be more talent in America.
When Team USA lost to Panama and then had to battle long and hard to beat Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup, I thought it was time for reality.
To be defeated by a team ranked 67 in the world and then just beat another, not even officially affiliated to CONCACAF, the regional football body which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, is certainly not good enough.
In 1998, after a World Cup campaign of sad, the U.S. Football Federation created the "Project 2010" plan to make the national football team a legitimate force for that year.
Resources were allocated to produce talented players and give them a structure in which to excel.
Fast forward to 2011 and is fair to say that the project has failed. Team USA a quarter-final of the World Cup in 2002, during that period, but have since failed to make their mark on the world stage.
Advance to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup was not exactly what they had in mind.
As troubling as the lack of success has been the team as a whole, equally troubling is the inability to find a phenomenon.
Landon Donovan is a very good player, do not get me wrong, but with all the children and grandchildren of immigrants from Latin America and Africa, how there has been no system at least a superstar?
I remember all the fuss was about Freddy Adu. He was amazing, with the teams of American youth in his teens, to signing with MLS in 14 years of age. People in the United States said it had the talent to become the next Pele, but that never happened.
Where is Adu these days? It belongs to Portugal's Benfica, but spent last season on loan at Turkish second division.
In my opinion there is one key factor which means that America will never be a force in world football, and is fairly simple.
Football is not part of the culture. I lived in the States for nine years and although I have seen many children in the game when they were young, I never saw it as a possible career.
Most adults really feel it is "soft" sport, some would even say it is a sport for women.
Men in the United States prefers more physical sports and tend to ignore football as a "game of sissies."
Moreover, in the United States, there are many other sports that football will never be able to compete with. Football, basketball, baseball, NASCAR and golf, for example, all get more coverage and more attention than football.
Therefore, if there is one thing that football officials have to do to change that football is a different market.
They do not have to spend money bringing as David Beckham and Thierry Henry to his professional league, have to go around schools with DVDs of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and company and really show how cool the sport can be an early age.
Perhaps this could be the basis for a new generation of players, a "Project 2020" if you will.
Changing the image of football take to change people who play it. Top athletes may prefer to kick a ball instead of throwing it away.
tags:fox news, casey anthony, msnbc, abc news, casey anthony trial live
With a population of over 300 million dollars and a large percentage of immigrants from countries where soccer is king, it is my belief that there should be more talent in America.
When Team USA lost to Panama and then had to battle long and hard to beat Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup, I thought it was time for reality.
To be defeated by a team ranked 67 in the world and then just beat another, not even officially affiliated to CONCACAF, the regional football body which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, is certainly not good enough.
In 1998, after a World Cup campaign of sad, the U.S. Football Federation created the "Project 2010" plan to make the national football team a legitimate force for that year.
Resources were allocated to produce talented players and give them a structure in which to excel.
Fast forward to 2011 and is fair to say that the project has failed. Team USA a quarter-final of the World Cup in 2002, during that period, but have since failed to make their mark on the world stage.
Advance to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup was not exactly what they had in mind.
As troubling as the lack of success has been the team as a whole, equally troubling is the inability to find a phenomenon.
Landon Donovan is a very good player, do not get me wrong, but with all the children and grandchildren of immigrants from Latin America and Africa, how there has been no system at least a superstar?
I remember all the fuss was about Freddy Adu. He was amazing, with the teams of American youth in his teens, to signing with MLS in 14 years of age. People in the United States said it had the talent to become the next Pele, but that never happened.
Where is Adu these days? It belongs to Portugal's Benfica, but spent last season on loan at Turkish second division.
In my opinion there is one key factor which means that America will never be a force in world football, and is fairly simple.
Football is not part of the culture. I lived in the States for nine years and although I have seen many children in the game when they were young, I never saw it as a possible career.
Most adults really feel it is "soft" sport, some would even say it is a sport for women.
Men in the United States prefers more physical sports and tend to ignore football as a "game of sissies."
Moreover, in the United States, there are many other sports that football will never be able to compete with. Football, basketball, baseball, NASCAR and golf, for example, all get more coverage and more attention than football.
Therefore, if there is one thing that football officials have to do to change that football is a different market.
They do not have to spend money bringing as David Beckham and Thierry Henry to his professional league, have to go around schools with DVDs of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and company and really show how cool the sport can be an early age.
Perhaps this could be the basis for a new generation of players, a "Project 2020" if you will.
Changing the image of football take to change people who play it. Top athletes may prefer to kick a ball instead of throwing it away.
tags:fox news, casey anthony, msnbc, abc news, casey anthony trial live
Labels: sports
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