America starting to become a big player at football?

sonofagun said:
More and more MLS franchises are setting up every year and more and more money is getting pumped in. They've also spent a lot of time examining the way coaches teach kids in Europe and are applying their methods. They'll get there eventually. I can't ever see 'soccer' replacing Gridiron Football as the national pastime though.
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Agree mate

it’s a lot different to the 1974 version
 


The Other Durham said:
The USA is still a long ways off being anything special. They don't organically produce enough major talent and despite the large youth participation numbers, the world class level athletes still filter to basketball/football/baseball. There's just so much more money to be made as a rank average NBA or MLB player than one could ever dream of in MLS. The only Americans making a lot of money in MLS are old guys like Bradley and Jozy and even they make less than just about anyone with more than two years in the NBA.
From the current batch of young talent, Reyna's pedigree is obvious, Dest has spent his whole life in the Netherlands and McKinnie was raised in Germany. Adams is the rare one to not have a clear footballing pedigree, work through an American youth system and still be able to succeed at a major European club. I hope he kicks on to be a big player on the world stage. The list of American born non-keepers to succeed in a major European league for even half of a season like Adams is very small.
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They'll get there and nobody knows what state the world will be in 50 years however I can see the MLS being a league where the elite talent head to and definitely in the top 5 leagues in the world as a minimum. I'd perhaps even put money on their National Team at least making a WC final by then too.

The standard is way off still though, they have some really decent Premier League standard players mixed with a quite a few good Championship level players and then the rest of the teams squads being made up of League 1 to non-league standard.

Each season though the quality is getting much better. I went to a Timbers game a few year back as I was over there with work and the atmosphere was decent (although some of the chanting sounded like nursery rhymes sang by Barney the Dinosaur) - but at least the atmosphere went on for 90mins and was generally decent.

Really enjoyed it pre-match, during and after the game. When things finally calm in Portland with rioting, covid and forrest fires, I'll be back over!

Let's Go Timbers!
 
SYB_DC said:
Fine but perpetually in and out of the side with injuries, unless something has changed. In any event, he can't cover both spots even when healthy.



It's the NFL that's the problem in terms of competing for youth players. The overlap in physical types between the NBA and association football is basically zero. (The same is actually true of the NFL to a lesser extent, but there are at least a number of positions you can play in the NFL without being 6'7".) If you get enough kids realizing early enough that they could have a future in one sport while one look at their families tells them they'll never be big enough for the NFL or NBA, you change some perspectives. It's a long term thing, but it's happening - me versus my kids is one example.
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I think the basketball v soccer thing is more complex. Because in a lot of cases, its more about the college opportunities than the NBA. So a lot of boys who figure to end up in that 6-1 to 6-4 range and who might have developed into elite soccer players still chase the basketball dream. And the uni scholarship opportunites are far greater in basketball, at least on the boys side.
 
SYB_DC said:
This is really just a reflection of Pulisic breaking the ice to where teams don't just stereotype anyone with an American passport as being an unskilled but athletic balloon chaser. The last generation of American players (e.g. Dempsey, Donovan, Michael Bradley) was decent but didn't have the already-extant reputation so didn't get a lot of attention - keepers were a different story. The national team made the knockout rounds at two successive World Cups. It's really the guys who are 26-30 now (the Altidore cohort) who were really weak interrupting what has been a longer-term rise in standards.
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The realization is apparent that to be a player on the world stage, the US has to accept its young players moving to Europe as you've seen with the likes of Pulisic and Reyna if they are going to achieve anything. Its a hot topic over here with complaints that its not the American thing to do while accepting the cream of American talent will go off to European centers of excellence to progress.

As far as it becoming a big sport, it is the number 1 participant sport in the country here. It will never move traditional big four sports though as there aren't enough stoppages for American tv or fans....
 
Peaknutt said:
More and more USA internationals starting to seep into the squads of big clubs:

Pulisic at Chelsea
Weston McKennie at Juve
Reyna at Dortmund
Adams at Leipzig
And now Sergiño Dest off to Bayern

Slowly but surely they are starting to become relevant.
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Yep, I mentioned this in a thread a few weeks back. Canada even have a couple of young players making waves in Europe as well. The MLS is starting to be scouted by every big European country. The more that Europe take, the more youngsters will see that its a legitimate pathway and career.
 
SAFCMark said:
They'll get there and nobody knows what state the world will be in 50 years however I can see the MLS being a league where the elite talent head to and definitely in the top 5 leagues in the world as a minimum. I'd perhaps even put money on their National Team at least making a WC final by then too.

The standard is way off still though, they have some really decent Premier League standard players mixed with a quite a few good Championship level players and then the rest of the teams squads being made up of League 1 to non-league standard.

Each season though the quality is getting much better. I went to a Timbers game a few year back as I was over there with work and the atmosphere was decent (although some of the chanting sounded like nursery rhymes sang by Barney the Dinosaur) - but at least the atmosphere went on for 90mins and was generally decent.

Really enjoyed it pre-match, during and after the game. When things finally calm in Portland with rioting, covid and forrest fires, I'll be back over!

Let's Go Timbers!
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I've had a season ticket in Vancouver off and on since Sunderland came over 15 years ago. Some of the best moments have been going to Portland and getting a result. Took over 1,000 down there a couple times, which over here is phenomenal.

Can't stand the Timbers, hate them even more than the Sounders, who I had to tolerate becaue my late wife supported them. But the setting in Portland is as good as it gets in MLS.

And your description of where the level of play is at is bang on. Mind, Vancouver is awful right now, wouldn't beat Sunderland most weeks.
 
Flash Gordon said:
Yep, I mentioned this in a thread a few weeks back. Canada even have a couple of young players making waves in Europe as well. The MLS is starting to be scouted by every big European country. The more that Europe take, the more youngsters will see that its a legitimate pathway and career.
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Will be interesting how the career element filters through to young players. In the NFL players don't usually make it until after college so around 22/23 in their first professional season. Erling Haaland is on £100k per week and only 20.
 

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