...uh yeah.

In the last 4 years the women have won Olympic Gold and a World Cup. Parades talk show appearances, endorsement deals, sky high television ratings and they tout the worlds best female player in Carli Lloyd, and WM grad Jill Ellis as the mastermind.

Meanwhile..

The mens team in the last 5 years has ..:

Had an historical win over that soccer powerhouse, Algeria...when Landon Donovan tossed in a sitter, of course 4 days later they were beaten by another soccer powerhouse Ghana. Then last World Cup they were lauded for an impressive 1-2-1 record, actually losing a game to Portugal with literally 10 seconds to go. (it was a draw, but who felt good about that?).

Then on the heels of the women bringing home the world cup, the country infused with soccer fever, they go out and...lose to...ready for it?

Jamaica in the Gold Cup semifinals, in which they were the host country.

The Gold Cup....which Klinesmann said his program was targeting as a stepping stone to the Confed Cup and a good showing (which I will assume at this point is not going 0-3) at the next World Cup.

I will now repeat what I have said before, the USWNT could beat the USMNT.

Jamaica...they lost to Yellowman and his reggae brothers....

So in closing on my rant:

USWNT:

USMNT:

One team has massive institutional advantages compared to other nations. The other team has massive institutional disadvantages compared to other nations. Can you guess which is which?

The USWNT wouldnt stand a cahnce against the men's team. The Women lost to our under 15 mens team.

Men have definitely crapped the bed this tourney but this is the closest I have found of proof of the U-17 men's team against the USWNT in April 2012. 8-2 win for the U-17 team

https://twitter.com/chris_awk/status/194994955347955713

(07-25-2015 11:27 AM)Rocco Wrote:  One team has massive institutional advantages compared to other nations. The other team has massive institutional disadvantages compared to other nations. Can you guess which is which?

Yes i fully agree, this completely explains losing to those Soccer Power countries with all the advantages we do not have, like Jamaica and Panama.

(07-26-2015 08:10 AM)Paulbintheburg Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 11:27 AM)Rocco Wrote:  One team has massive institutional advantages compared to other nations. The other team has massive institutional disadvantages compared to other nations. Can you guess which is which?

Yes i fully agree, this completely explains losing to those Soccer Power countries with all the advantages we do not have, like Jamaica and Panama.

The USWNT lost to powerhouse Denmark last year. Occasionally teams play like crap and lose to worse teams.

The USWNT is more accomplished. No one debates this. Saying the USWNT could beat the USMNT is a level of thinking more fit for someone with a JMU education.

(07-26-2015 09:03 AM)Rocco Wrote:  The USWNT is more accomplished. No one debates this. Saying the USWNT could beat the USMNT is a level of thinking more fit for someone with a JMU education.

Ok since Sandy obviously is the only one who gets my sarcasm....

If the USWNT played the USMNT I would 100% pull for the women.

Rocco you just summed it up, USWNT loses to Denamrk in a meaningless friendly, games the USMNT wins and gives its fanbase a false sense of hope.

The argument about not having the proper infastructure is baseless at this point.

I thought in 2002 we had turned the corner, and if not for a flagrant hand ball by Germany,the USMNT would of advanced to a winnable semifinal in that WC. However that evidently was the high tide mark for the US, it has been a steady s**tshow since then.

Also the USWNT had to beat the #1 ranked Germans to advance to the final, a game I might add that the USWNT dominated. So trying to say the odds are stacked in the Ladies favor just doesn't wash.

Karsten Braasch.

When Venus and Serena Williams claimed that they could beat any male player ranked below 200, Braasch, then ranked 203rd, stepped up to the plate. After smoking a few packs of cigarettes and downing a few beers, he went out and played lazily to beat the sisters 6-2 and 6-1 respectively.

With that said, though, the USWNT completely deserves all of the praise and accolades that they are receiving. It's not fair to them to speculate about the outcome of a match with the USMNT because that's not what they are trying to do. The women have accomplished a helluva lot and should be showered with praise. The men have a lot to figure out, it seems. The last few World Cups have been extremely disappointing.

As someone who has followed soccer for years, I'm thrilled at where the sport is today, but also disappointed given where it could be. For the men there seem to be two different goals by those in US Soccer; one to grow the domestic league, and one for the MNT to be a top-10 team. There will come a day in 30 years when those two can happen at the same time, but I think it is very difficult. Klinnsman has been very public about his desire for MNT pool players to play in Europe with top competition. Instances like Dempsey and Bradley coming back are not as detrimental since they have developed to the tip of their game, but for younger players who never leave the U.S., it can dampen their growth (imagine what Donovan could have become if he'd had to work harder for a starting spot with a top flight club in Europe). There is no question that the MLS is improving and the level of skill is growing, but it is not yet a top destination for talent from outside this hemisphere (think Japanese baseball league...no question it's a great league and has passionate fans, but you don't have young Americans clamoring to go suit up for the Yakult Swallows...yes, that's really the name of a team). Again, there will come a day in 30 years when the league has the money to throw around to bring players over, and the quality of play will rival European leagues. But until that point, if you want players to maximize their potential, they need to train and play with the best club teams; and those are all in Europe.

The WNT benefits from the fact that the top soccer league in the world is the one here (whatever the current acronym is). I have a hunch that the success of the WNT has a correlation to Title IX and such. I know many on here have very strong feelings on that subject, the bottom line is that the concerted national focus on women's athletics over the years benefited the WNT. I think it's a good thing and pays dividends to male soccer players as well.

Paul displays a lot of common sense when it comes to recognizing the superior sex...obviously a married man. My dad used to say, "Never pick a fight with something that can bleed for five days straight, and live."

(07-27-2015 02:50 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Paul displays a lot of common sense when it comes to recognizing the superior sex...obviously a married man. My dad used to say, "Never pick a fight with something that can bleed for five days straight, and live."

Sage advice.

Plus who would you rather watch run around, Ally Kreiger or Clint Dempsey?

By the way a little side wager, who thinks Hope Solo could kick Rocco's ass?

(07-27-2015 10:14 AM)hktribefan Wrote:  As someone who has followed soccer for years, I'm thrilled at where the sport is today, but also disappointed given where it could be. For the men there seem to be two different goals by those in US Soccer; one to grow the domestic league, and one for the MNT to be a top-10 team. There will come a day in 30 years when those two can happen at the same time, but I think it is very difficult. Klinnsman has been very public about his desire for MNT pool players to play in Europe with top competition. Instances like Dempsey and Bradley coming back are not as detrimental since they have developed to the tip of their game, but for younger players who never leave the U.S., it can dampen their growth (imagine what Donovan could have become if he'd had to work harder for a starting spot with a top flight club in Europe). There is no question that the MLS is improving and the level of skill is growing, but it is not yet a top destination for talent from outside this hemisphere (think Japanese baseball league...no question it's a great league and has passionate fans, but you don't have young Americans clamoring to go suit up for the Yakult Swallows...yes, that's really the name of a team). Again, there will come a day in 30 years when the league has the money to throw around to bring players over, and the quality of play will rival European leagues. But until that point, if you want players to maximize their potential, they need to train and play with the best club teams; and those are all in Europe.

The WNT benefits from the fact that the top soccer league in the world is the one here (whatever the current acronym is). I have a hunch that the success of the WNT has a correlation to Title IX and such. I know many on here have very strong feelings on that subject, the bottom line is that the concerted national focus on women's athletics over the years benefited the WNT. I think it's a good thing and pays dividends to male soccer players as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no question that women's soccer has benefited from the Title IX Federal mandate.

However, the US men's soccer team will never be able to compete with the rest of the world in soccer. The reason is simple, in the USA the best male athletes want to play football, basketball, baseball because that is where the money is, thats where the fan interest is, thats where the glory is. In all other countries of the world, soccer [also called "football" outside the USA] is the dominent sport, and the sport which ALL of the young men play starting at very young ages.

We need to go to Brazil an Germany, and just steal their best players.

Dual citizenship.

(07-27-2015 07:29 PM)Paulbintheburg Wrote:  

(07-27-2015 02:50 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Paul displays a lot of common sense when it comes to recognizing the superior sex...obviously a married man. My dad used to say, "Never pick a fight with something that can bleed for five days straight, and live."

Sage advice.

Plus who would you rather watch run around, Ally Kreiger or Clint Dempsey?

By the way a little side wager, who thinks Hope Solo could kick Rocco's ass?

If she'd beat up a family member, she'd punch me without hesitating. That's not really a question.

(07-27-2015 09:38 PM)62Indian Wrote:  However, the US men's soccer team will never be able to compete with the rest of the world in soccer. The reason is simple, in the USA the best male athletes want to play football, basketball, baseball because that is where the money is, thats where the fan interest is, thats where the glory is. In all other countries of the world, soccer [also called "football" outside the USA] is the dominent sport, and the sport which ALL of the young men play starting at very young ages.

So you can never see a day when kids choose not to play football? The sport is dying a slow death thanks to greed and negligence. You already have pro players retiring early (SEE: 49ers) and telling others to retire (SEE: Champ Bailey - Wes Welker). You had Junior Seau shoot himself in the chest so his brain could be studied. You have HS kids dying on the field or getting paralyzed seemingly all the time.

There's too much money in the game right now for it to shut down, but it will die as people slowly start to realize it just might not be worth it. First it'll be the affluent kids who have the ability to choose not to play the sport they're most gifted at, and choose something other than football. And then it'll start getting banned by public school systems when more and more kids get killed out there.

That's where US Soccer will see gains as a result.

(07-28-2015 08:23 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(07-27-2015 09:38 PM)62Indian Wrote:  However, the US men's soccer team will never be able to compete with the rest of the world in soccer. The reason is simple, in the USA the best male athletes want to play football, basketball, baseball because that is where the money is, thats where the fan interest is, thats where the glory is. In all other countries of the world, soccer [also called "football" outside the USA] is the dominent sport, and the sport which ALL of the young men play starting at very young ages.

So you can never see a day when kids choose not to play football? The sport is dying a slow death thanks to greed and negligence. You already have pro players retiring early (SEE: 49ers) and telling others to retire (SEE: Champ Bailey - Wes Welker). You had Junior Seau shoot himself in the chest so his brain could be studied. You have HS kids dying on the field or getting paralyzed seemingly all the time.

There's too much money in the game right now for it to shut down, but it will die as people slowly start to realize it just might not be worth it. First it'll be the affluent kids who have the ability to choose not to play the sport they're most gifted at, and choose something other than football. And then it'll start getting banned by public school systems when more and more kids get killed out there.

That's where US Soccer will see gains as a result.

I agree with this, moms do not want their little boys to be drooling their Spaqhetti O's all over themselves. I do not think the above mentioned will be the only cause for football to drop in popularity, I think there are other factors as well:

-International competition, do not disregard the popularity of international competitions, and the overall competitive nature of our own country. A prime example is US Skiing, it wasn't until 1980 when the first US ski medals were won, then in 1984 the first gold in the downhill, and ever since we are always competiting for medals at the winter Olympics. Now I for one would not watch skiing outside of 3 weeks every 4 yrs..which brings me to..

-The emerging popularity of Soccer in the USA, odd as it sounds, the US is the #1 emerging market for soccer, because well, we never cared until the early 90's, and little by little it has caught on. ESPN lost the WC rights to Fox, in a hotly contested bidding war, one that a lot of ESPN people are still gnashing their teeth over. Soccer has another thing going for it...

-90 minutes and you are done. Anyone actually sit on their couch on a Saturday or Sunday and find themselves looking at their watch when midway through the 3rd qtr of a football game, you are well over 2 hrs in, on your 3rd Television replay of a FB dive for 3 yds, and your 74th Budweiser commercial? Football is over saturated on television now, its what we do all the time, which is why...

-Football right now is like buying a tech stock in 1999, the glory days are behind you but you do not know it yet. While it is never going to die, it is going to decline in popularity because just like business it is a cycle. I already see the NFL eating itself, and how long are tax payers going to want to flip the bill for stadiums for these fat cat owners, and on that topic the NFL has its own basically free minor league system, that colleges have to pay for through their booster arm (there is other revenue but that gets funneled throughout the school). When a college has a 120 million dollar athletic budget, something has gone awry in the system.

Basketball will be the #1 sport in this country within 10-15 yrs.

On the subject of the best athletes playing soccer:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/25325...=editorial

As a side note when I read the bit about J.J. Watt I was reminded of Jay DeMerit. That guy spent most of his career with a Tier 2 English Club and is probably soccer's equivalent of Ben Wallace...not a whole lot of raw talent, but physical and punishing on defense. Our current back line could use a dose of DeMerit...

Of interest to those following the men's game, the Mexican coach, Miguel Herrera, was fired today after reports surfaced that he slugged a reporter in the security line (or shortly thereafter). The reporter had been critical of his performance and Herrera clearly took offense. Given we have to play Mexico in a few months, this will probably benefit us. The Mexican team was a train wreck for awhile and Herrera came in and although it took him a bit he seemed to be getting some production (poor showing in QF and SF games notwithstanding). The October 9 one game playoff for the Confederations Cup spot will be played at the Rose Bowl. Should be a very loud atmosphere with a lot of fans for both sides, really hoping U.S. fans turn out in force.

(07-28-2015 03:49 PM)hktribefan Wrote:  Of interest to those following the men's game, the Mexican coach, Miguel Herrera, was fired today after reports surfaced that he slugged a reporter in the security line (or shortly thereafter). The reporter had been critical of his performance and Herrera clearly took offense. Given we have to play Mexico in a few months, this will probably benefit us. The Mexican team was a train wreck for awhile and Herrera came in and although it took him a bit he seemed to be getting some production (poor showing in QF and SF games notwithstanding). The October 9 one game playoff for the Confederations Cup spot will be played at the Rose Bowl. Should be a very loud atmosphere with a lot of fans for both sides, really hoping U.S. fans turn out in force.

He should of been promoted for hitting a reporter, only thing better is if he had hit a Lawyer.