FanNation

Duh.

L-dUBbz | 03/27/08, 07:40 AM

Absolutely right... Look at the Spanish, Italian and German leagues, they have a great influx of Latin American players playing in their respective leagues.

RMadrid(Los Blancos) | 03/27/08, 09:18 AM

Yah. Im a little disapointed because I follow European soccer more than South American, but as long as we get some good players over here, who cares where they come from?

Stauff... I has a hat | 03/27/08, 09:41 AM

uhhh...OK. Europe kinda figured this out too. As LosBlancos said (after swearing allegiance to the blaugrana :) ) leagues there have been pumping the latin american market for a while.

sithomeandrot | 03/27/08, 09:42 AM

I think the issue here should be why doesn't America create players with panache? We certainly have the talent pool for that? Is it the coaches squashing individuality for too much of a team first mentality?

smitty6000 | 03/27/08, 10:27 AM

grammar problems all over that comment but you get what I'm going for.

smitty6000 | 03/27/08, 10:28 AM

Why no creative American players?

American player development is only a little over a decade old. You have to give it time in a country where soccer has only been a serious professional sport for 12 years. I think as we progress and develop the sport more seriously the shackles will be let off and we will play more creative. As of right now, we have some pretty creative players, but it will take time to have a healthy number of them.

Also, when you have all of your creative kids going to play basketball or other sports that are pushed more prominently, you see where the ones who have that self-expression play. Could you imagine what Allen Iverson would have been like had he picked up a soccerball? Maybe Chris Paul would have been a total footballer? Michael Vick?

Just some things to consider.

David James Brown | 03/27/08, 11:18 AM

Ya great observation, DJB. I've been conisdering that for a while now, that is, how the US can be pretty good at soccer even though only a small percentage of the population actually plays. The most athletic players always go out for baseball, football or basketball usually, which takes away from America's available talent pool. It won't be until more and more people begin to play soccer over other sports (which I don't think will ever happen here) that the US could possibly start bringing out more and more great soccer players.

Stauff... I has a hat | 03/27/08, 11:39 AM

Well heres some players who could come:

Juan Roman Riquelme
Juan Sebastian Veron
Martin Palermo
Rafael Marquez
Alessandro Del Piero
David Trezeguet
Ronaldo
Pavel Nedved
Clarence Seedorf
Andrei Shevchenko
Luis Figo
etc. etc.


Doesn't really matter where u look

jeevs BS | 03/27/08, 01:12 PM

jeevs, that's a good joke. Juan Roman Riquleme in the the US. Haha. He's much too good for the MLS, and the reason he plays for Boca is it's his hometown team. He grewup watching them. He could play on most MLS teams if he wanted to. Marquez won't work, no Trezeguet, no Figo. The others might work, but I'm not sure.

Keeper | 03/27/08, 01:18 PM

He could play on most MLS teams if he wanted to.

Sorry, I meant to say this:

He could play on most European teams if he wanted to.

Keeper | 03/27/08, 01:20 PM

Well Stauff, I wouldn't say that a small percentage plays it, when it is actually the largest sport played in the states. It is also probably one of the least lucrative if we are talking domestically, so a lot of people don't see it as profitable.

You also see poor urban youth playing soccer in other countries as a way out, while kids here pick other sports. That isn't saying our soccer players aren't good, they are, but they may not be at the top of our athletic heap. You do see some sticking with it and becoming pretty good.

David James Brown | 03/27/08, 02:25 PM

hordes of children play ayso. we even have an american term called "soccer moms." we should be able to raise homegrown players with creativity. we need to make over our player development programs completely.

LAandBrklyn | 03/27/08, 02:25 PM

how about asian soccer star? Narukama?Park-Ji Sung?

Underdog Champion | 03/27/08, 03:28 PM

SHUNSUKE NAKAMURAAAAA

Naka is at the height of his game right now. Itd be foolish for him to head to the MLS, but at the end of his career, he's probably going to play in the J-League again. Dunno about Sung. Probably the same goes for him. Japanese players have a great amount of respect for the J-League, and unlike the MLS a lot of the younger players stay in Japan. So, no I don't see it happening really.

Stauff... I has a hat | 03/27/08, 04:27 PM

Given this medium's tendancy to give too much weight to gross oversimplifications-- allow me to make a gross oversimplification. If our players lack "flair," it's also fair to note that our youth coaches are generally characterized as overcoaching and overthinking (AND OVERVOCALIZING). I'm painting with a broad brush, but I'm not the first to suggest that all that overinstruction led to a generation of players who can't think on the field, and coaches who won't let them.
But we'll get better. American coaches lacked the role models provided by their European counterparts, who were usually seen on the touchlines during games muttering to themselves, smoking, and leaving the game on the field to the players.

WT | 03/27/08, 04:32 PM

WEll Riqueleme has had a huge fall out with europe so i said him because if we offer him enough money, there is a better chance of him coming here than going back, if we can put some more $$$ behind it.

jeevs BS | 03/27/08, 05:13 PM

I don't know, Riquelme is an idol in Boca, why would he give that up? Scoring a goal in the Bombonera must be the best feeling in the world

Big Chaco | 03/27/08, 08:30 PM

true. but lots of money can do alot of stuff

jeevs BS | 03/27/08, 08:53 PM

DJB made a good point early on about top
athletes in other sports and how it would be if they chose soccer instead.
It reminded me of a Sports Illustrated article I read a couple of years back. Chad Johnson, the NFL wide receiver, said that soccer was his first love as a sport. Yes, that is right, Ocho Cinco dreamed of being the next Pele. However, he was eventually forced to decide between the two different types of footballs. In the end he realized that the pigskin would pay the bills.
Can you imagine an athlete the caliber of CJ suiting up for the Nats? Oh man, I'd love to see that.
Anyway, until kids growing up here see that they can make a good living playing soccer in the States, we will continue to lose most of our top talent to other sports beginning in high school...

L-dUBbz | 03/27/08, 11:10 PM