European Attitudes to American Soccer

[DanS]

As I understand it, Dallas is a special case, since they were building a new stadium and in the meantime were playing in a dump of a stadium.

[reds4ever]

You also need more than one league (ie. divisions), you need something for the smaller clubs to aspire to.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Cotton Bowl isn't exactly a dump of a stadium. It is FAR better than most Mexican and Latin American stadiums. It's not Azteca, but few Latin American stadiums are.

[DanS]

They did not play in the Cotton Bowl in 2003. Rather, they played in a dump of a stadium and attendance fell by 40%. Then they moved back to the Cotton Bowl last year and attendance rebounded somewhat.

They're moving into their new stadium in August. I think it reasonable to consider FC Dallas a special case until they have a couple of years in their new stadium.

You are acting like people looking at Chinese economic growth rates and projecting them into perpetuity and thinking they'll be some uber-country. It won't happen.

We will still be a country of some 400 million people playing against countries an eighth our size. This doesn't take much imagination, dude.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Why is it is a special case? Real Salt Lake are in a new stadium (which isn't a soccer specific) and they are drawing decently. Dallas just isn't supported by the community. They've been around since the beginning of the league and they've averaged 11,000 throughout all their years. The median has been even lower at 10,000 from 1996-2004.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Colon


Yeh, raaaight. American crowds are just too busy guzzling burgers, walking back and forth to the beer stand and staring at outreageously numb score boards to make any problems.

You guzzle beer and wolf down burgers. If your going to defame someone get it ****ing right

[Imran Siddiqui]

We will still be a country of some 400 million people playing against countries an eighth our size. This doesn't take much imagination, dude.

This is why a country like Holland is horrible at soccer, right? And why Japan is better than Spain or Portugal?

Population is seriously overrated, especially when there are so many sports to pull Americans in multiple directions.

[Locutus]

Population is almost completely irrelevant when it comes to football. The Netherlands and Czech Republic are prime examples today, but the best one is probably Uruguay which dominated the international stage in the first half of the century and won two world cups, when they only had a population of about 2 million.

The key to success in football is education, education, education. I keep hearing how non-Dutch people are so surprised that one supertalent after another rolls out of the Dutch football 'factory', considering we're such a small country. But it's no surprise really if you know that 24 of the 36 professional football clubs in the Netherlands have their own youth academy and they all take this academy seriously (they have to: by order of the Dutch FA these academies have to meet the highest of standards). Kids enter at the age of 8-14 and get a full education (both in football and in 'real' courses and professions) until either it becomes clear that they don't have what it takes to succeed as professional football player (at most until they're 18ish) or until they're promoted to the professional team (or until some other team picks them up if the club the academy belongs to isn't interested). The 'drop-outs' (the vast majority) end up playing for a lower league or amateur team and can sometimes still climb up from there.

At the same time, all those youth players that don't end up in a youth academy can follow a very natural path from youth team to first squad at one of the thousands of amateur teams that this country has (even villages with a population of a few thousand often support several football clubs). If they do well there, they might be invited to play for stronger amateur teams in higher leagues and if they have the talent will eventually be picked up by a professional team. With a system like that, very little talent goes to waste...

If the US ever wants to become a big football nation, they will have to abandon that hopeless system of only picking up players for pro teams when they're in college; a football education needs to start much, much sooner if you want to get the most out of your players... And of course, particularly in a country where football is not the biggest sport, it's pivotal to track down and pick up players with talent before they choose to pursue some other sport...

[DanS]

There are lots of ways for the US to make a splash in international soccer. In the end, what works for the US might look different than what works in other countries. The US might have a slightly older team playing than others.

That said, as Imran pointed out, we now have a national academy to cherry pick and train the biggest talents. The system will probably evolve to be multi-pronged like our other sports.

For example, some people go to junior highs and high schools known for their basketball. Some don't. Some go to college and play ball. Some are drafted into the NBA right out of high school. Some are drafted in the middle of college. Some are drafted after graduation. Talent and skill level are evaluated at all places.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Imran pointed out, we have a national academy to cherry pick and train the biggest talents.

Doesn't even compare... it's almost like apples and oranges to the extent that other countries have their acadamy systems.

And it is isn't particularized to one area... every soccer country has adopted the acadamy style because it works.

[DanS]

It doesn't compare only in scale and perhaps quality. It compares in kind, on the other hand.

Academies aren't the way any sports work currently in the US and we do fine nonetheless. I don't expect academies to comprise the majority of our system for soccer. We'll try to give most an edumacation in there somewhere.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

yeah, I remember when I did ODP. what a joke. they didnt have enough people to even make a squad. and you didnt progress anywhere from it either. and it was poorly organized, not enough games, too much long distance travel, so in the end, kids stayed with their club teams.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I don't expect academies to comprise the majority of our system for soccer. We'll try to give most an edumacation in there somewhere.

They educate them in European academies as well. They are like boarding schools with soccer training during the free time.

[DanS]

They're not college educations, as far as I know.

yeah, I remember when I did ODP. what a joke. they didnt have enough people to even make a squad. and you didnt progress anywhere from it either. and it was poorly organized, not enough games, too much long distance travel, so in the end, kids stayed with their club teams.

They've actually got an academy down in Florida now, LoA.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

one academy for the entire states? lets be serious. i could be playing professional/ semi pro somewhere right now if the US had the same system as in Europe.