I think that the bigger problem for the US was that the sea of Belgian players averaged about 6 foot 6 inches. That is one tall team at the back and through most of the midfield. Not easy to get effective crosses against them.
True. While I think some countries who feign injury less than others can be a bit precious about it I do believe certain countries are much more prone to such tactics. It was noticeable that time wasting was not a major part of tonights game. Had the game included Italy or Uruguay on the other hand…
Spot on. While the US lacked a cutting edge up front the game is much much easier if you can keep possession of the ball. The US failed to do this too often. I mentioned earlier of my admiration of Claudio Reyna. The US had no-one in midfield who has half the ball control or passing ability Reyna had. Against a competent Belgian team full of excellent individuals this lack of ball possession told.
I’ve seen lots and lots and lots of youth soccer practices. Many at the highest levels. If anything, there’s not nearly enough dribbling. This is as glaring weakness.
Unless his name is Dempsey. The US has its share of divers.
While that’s true you don’t have to go for head shots. But if there’s nobody there it’s kinda tough to knock one. Although they managed to score their only goal on a chip to 2 players. they played a defensive game.
You seem a little sensitive about Arjen there.
I agree with whoever said that every time the US came up on the wing, there was nobody to feed, even at the end. Some of that was tired legs, no doubt, but still…frustrating. I’ll say one thing though: Desperation soccer is always entertaining soccer.
Who? Name me somebody on the US team that dives. I’m not saying that the Americans are exceptional in their lack of diving, the Belgians never dived once in todays game. But if you are going to claim that “the US has its share of divers” you’re going to have to fucking back it up.
I did: Dempsey, Clint.
You’re claiming that Clint Dempsy is a diver. Are you insane? Do you think the dude carries a bottle of blood onto the field just so he can spray it on his face to make it look he’s been kicked in the nose?
I call “Bullshit!”
Dempsey’s been booked twice for diving within the last year and a half. Given how rarely referees actually penalize simulation, that’s an achievement.
Well he appears to have left his scuba gear at home this time.
It was a heck of a game, and even though Belgium deserved the win I was glad to see the US play how they did.
One thing a few of my friends and I got into an argument about was whether the US could improve by getting NFL type and Lebron type athletes into soccer rather than than the NFL or NBA. Anyone here have thoughts on that?
It’s not like other countries don’t have NBA or NFL type athletes (Some NBA stars come from countries where soccer is the number 1 sport) and yet the best soccer players don’t seem to fit that profile. Messi might not have chosen soccer if he had grown up in the US, but I doubt he would have made an NFL starting lineup. Why should we assume Lebron James would have been a phenom at soccer too?
More like a Steve Nash type, perhaps.
I doubt that the absolute top athletes in one sport would do much good in the other. At that level it is just too specialized.
I think the bigger issue is a larger number of young players who are not perfect fits for their sports but who are still lost to soccer. If you look at soccer players’ biographies, then it seems that usually the decision to make a serious attempt at a pro career is made around middle school age. There are probably quite a few people in the US who could have been excellent soccer players, but either they never played or they played just a bit as little kids and didn’t take it seriously as a life goal and career choice. Good general athletic skills may allow them to be relatively good at a different sport, even if they aren’t a good enough fit to be truly great.
Heh 
Not really, though, Arjen is a diver, sure, but the penalty we got against the Mexicans we got fair and square, and we could have gotten another one during the first half (during that challenge in which the Mexican defender actually broke his leg :eek:). He dove on a separate, third occasion during that game.
I am sensitive about Americans who can only talk about football in terms of their own country being completely unlike other countries. They do this when they talk about why they don’t like it, and now that they’re starting to like, they still can’t just be one of the countries, they have to be all delusionalabout it.
The diving discussion needs to focus not so much on the character of individuals, and a distinction between those who are noble and valorous and those who are black of heart and dastardly, but on the structural conditions players play under, the rules of the game, and the incentives that the situation creates for players. Robben is a player who weaves his way through a maze of defenders while retaining control over the ball, and ends up being challenged frequently by frustrated defenders. If he keeps going after a foul makes his position more challenging and reduces the likelihood of a goal, a ref isn’t going to do anything about that foul. So he falls - otherwise nothing will happen. If the US had a player like Robben, that player’d be trippin’ too.
Boy, this is a discussion that could go on for days, so many conflicting theories. Yes, soccer in the U.S. misses out on a big percentage of the potential talent pool, kids whose first gravitation is towards our popular domestic sports. But we’re a big country; like someone else said, if we only get 20% of the talent pool focused on soccer, those are sufficient numbers with which to compete.
So, yeah, I’d like the LeBrons and Adrian Petersons in the next generations to pick up soccer instead but even then we’ll lag behind if they’re not playing in constant pickup games as soon as they can walk and receiving first rate professional training at a young age. There’s just so much to do yet before we can handle the ball as capably as the Europeans and South Americans.
I’m enjoying watching the progress, however.
I’ll defend my American cousins here. It’s not as if its only Americans who are delusional about football/sport. We have Uruguayans defending Luis Suarez. Argentinians defended Maradonna with his hand of God. Every nation that follows football is delusional, petty and nationalistic.
I suppose a number of national teams have been kicked in the groin so many times that it makes their supporters more realistic. However, watch your team get a bad decision against them, an opponent cheating or a piece of bad luck and you can guarantee that delusion will seep back into the national consciousness in an instant.
England! Scotland! You’ve been paged! 
Of the major US sports the most similar athletic type to soccer is probably basketball, without the absolute giants. Pace, athleticism, and decent height are all an advantage in soccer.
As far as coaching goes this is the all imporant question. Im wary of coaches. They can be self serving. Im of the opinion that you cant go far wrong if you get plenty of time on the ball from a young age. I rather doubt coaching in Brazil or Argentina is better than in most European countries. Yet Brazil and Argentina are second to none in skill. The correlation between coaching and skill is not an obvious one. Yes, you need taught the game. However, you dont need to be overly coached. Plenty of unstructured practice in a public park is as good an apprenticeship as any.