Conquer Club

Klinsmann has stressed the importance of American players securing loans in Europe, to place themselves in the center of the game’s most fiercely competitive, innovative battleground. And he’s also taken steps to rid the U.S. of its traditional playing style, adopting tactics more emulative of the possession-based scheme that correlates best with winning. The Klinsmann experiment is not a slight adjustment to American soccer — it’s a total overhaul.

Viewed this way, perhaps the United States isn’t underachieving at all, even after taking into account its economic resources. American soccer is making its way down an evolutionary path that other countries traversed decades earlier. The early growing pains of the U.S. men’s program under Klinsmann are part of a long process, one that someday may produce a team capable of legitimately competing for a World Cup.

universalchiro wrote:Interesting. Yes we are talking soccer for men. Women don't play football, nor hockey, nor baseball. So the best athletes in the United States for women are available to participate on the US soccer team and that makes sense why they won, they had the best athletes. But for men, the best athletes are choosing football, baseball, basketball and hockey over soccer. For some reason the sport hasn't taken off like other sports. Even baseball which was Americas sport, has been replaced by football.

universalchiro wrote:No. Football, Baseball and basketball get the country's best athletes.

InkL0sed wrote:The US winning the World Cup some day is pretty much an inevitability. There's a reason why we win so many medals at the Olympics – we're one of the most populous nations in the world, and we're the richest. The only reason why we've been historically poor at soccer is because of its low popularity here, but that's becoming less and less true. Nowadays we already have a decent squad. It's only a matter of time before we become a powerhouse.

InkL0sed wrote:The US winning the World Cup some day is pretty much an inevitability.

JBlombier wrote:I'll be damned if the USA wins the World Cup before The Netherlands gets his first.

betiko wrote: ...The US team overperforms compared to their actual player-by-player level. This means they can work well as a team but they are pretty much at their max in terms of quality. You have very few players playing in decent leagues; it's a sport where you guys need to export yourselves to be good unlike american football, basketball or baseball...

universalchiro wrote:Women don't play football, nor hockey, nor baseball.

Timminz wrote:Yes, someday. It will likely happen sooner if the NCAA stops playing by their own set of rules, and plays like the rest of the world. The substitution rules are ridiculous, and don't allow players in their prime developmental years to become as good as they could be at the professional/international game.