America starting to become a big player at football?



SYB_DC said:
The US national team is going to be a total mess until they get the back line and keeper sorted out, which they're nowhere near doing. Nothing Pulisic can or should do, or his skill level relative to Sancho, changes that. But the trend is definitely upward: the talent pool overall is better than it was 6 or 7 years ago, and the system seems to have cleared away a few of the prior hurdles to development. MLS clubs now have actual functioning academies, for a start.
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How is John Brooks doing? Went to Wolfsburg for big money, no?
 
SYB_DC said:
Consider what "struggle" looks like relative to expectations for the two countries right now. Five years ago it was big news for an American outfield player - any American, at any club - to play in a Champions League match. The squad isn't remotely there yet, but you're talking about a place where the sport wasn't played in large numbers until around 25 years ago, and it's still much more popular as a youth sport for girls. It's going to take a while.
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It isn't ever going to happen imo.

Not unless it's popularity rivals NBA and NFL
 
Banks said:
As England have found if you can't create world class central midfielders you will struggle.

They have plenty of atheltic ball winners but nobody with any genuine class
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Foden has to be the real hope there. Hopefully he gets plenty of game time this year now David Silva has gone.
 
Comeback_Kenwyne said:
I think he's amazing.

But Haaland is too.

The SMB think he's "bang average".
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Do you watch Dortmund much? Genuine question as I wonder what you’ve seen when he plays for England that screams amazing. Last game he just kept running up to the defender. Then stopping and turning round to pass it back.
 
sonofagun said:
How is John Brooks doing? Went to Wolfsburg for big money, no?
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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.

Banks said:
It isn't ever going to happen imo.

Not unless it's popularity rivals NBA and NFL
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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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Banks said:
It isn't ever going to happen imo.

Not unless it's popularity rivals NBA and NFL
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Well, it's #3 to NFL's #1 and NBA's #2. So it's getting there.

I went to an LAFC match before lockdown and the atmosphere was fantastic. Quality of play wasn't terrible either.
 
Honess10 said:
Do you watch Dortmund much? Genuine question as I wonder what you’ve seen when he plays for England that screams amazing. Last game he just kept running up to the defender. Then stopping and turning round to pass it back.
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Seen em enough. And look at his stats - most productive player in Europe other than Messi. And he's 20.
 
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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I think it’s took on more than ever , thinks it’s the fourth most watched sport now after nfl,mlb and nba . So it gone past the nhl.

it’ll never catch up to nfl though your right . Not sure it’ll catch baseball and basketball really
 
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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They're really not.
 
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.
 
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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Konrad came on for Barcelona yesterday in a friendly and looked good. Koeman even singled him out in the post match interview.
 

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