NDL Forum

Took a shootout... but got it done! On to the next!

So Louisville City will play for their second straight USL Cup on Thursday night. On ESPN2.

.....in Didier Drogba's final match of his career.

.....and I will be working the sideline with the production crew and 4th official

Drogba is playing in the USL? Why?

Seeitsaveit13 wrote:Drogba is playing in the USL? Why?

Because he owns Phoenix Rising and decided to play for them as well

Interesting

Champs League final today. Tottenham v Liverpool. gonna be a gooood one

if youre just a casual, these are the players worth watching in this game.



Son - stud. Almost had to serve time in his home country but they allowed him to go back
Ali - Young solid kid who was once on Reals target list
Eriksen - Playmaker
Kane - Big finishing striker whos married to an ugly as fuck girl

Djik - Superstar defender. Gonna be fun to see them get past him
Firmino - Less talked about offensive stud. Brazilian
Mane - Fast attacking forward
Salah - Superstar striker.

USA u20 over France in round of 16 for u20 world cup.... pretty impressive

always shocked me that the US wasnt great in soccer with a 300 mil population and the south where its warm all year long to train.

our system was flawed.

i could be mistaken (this isn't my area of expertise) but i believe this is the first group of u20's that wasn't just a group of college kids. these are all kids playing on clubs in europe and that have come up thru teams feeder systems. they are pro's.

now that we have that type of process happening it should speed up some of the teams developments and if MLS feeder systems ever get to remotely close to the european levels (they likely won't ever be on par) then we'll get even more options/talent to choose from

we are still flawed sadly and I doubt we will get any closer than we are now without something drastic happening... like soccer overtaking football in popularity. We should continue to get slightly better but have just about reached our cap. We could def. get to the point where we are the in the 9-16 best in the world... where Mexico is now. Good enough to always make the WC easily and enough to make it out of the group stage but that is about it. Maybe make a few quarters.

DRiccio21 wrote:our system was flawed.

i could be mistaken (this isn't my area of expertise) but i believe this is the first group of u20's that wasn't just a group of college kids. these are all kids playing on clubs in europe and that have come up thru teams feeder systems. they are pro's.

now that we have that type of process happening it should speed up some of the teams developments and if MLS feeder systems ever get to remotely close to the european levels (they likely won't ever be on par) then we'll get even more options/talent to choose from

I'm still learning about a lot of the issues, but as my niece has moved through club and college ball and I've been more involved in SAY coaching for the last 4 years, I've picked up a good amount of info. Most people agree that it's still very broken, but for different reasons. It seems to vary by region. For instance, here, in SW Ohio, the Columbus - Dayton - Cincinnati has a ton of soccer interest. But we have an accessibility issue. Due to the variance in income, without the major influx of outside money, our affiliations are a flooded with friends of friends and higher income. Rarely is it about finding and developing. The clubs are filled with moderate income/high fees and what most refer to as 'cliques.'

On the surface, it screams economic issue, but in reality, it's a self-inflicted problem. The affiliations are plucking from the clubs, not canvassing. They don't really have a need to go hard in scouting/recruiting, because their affiliate spots are safe due to the organizational structure at the top. Meanwhile, every club is out for itself. #1 - Making money to pay all of the people in the org and #2 - Focusing on winning, over development, to keep their club image up.

I'm not sure what the real solution is, but I do know it starts at the top. There isn't enough pressure on the affiliates to find talent, as opposed to cherry picking. I don't think this needs to be a promotion/relegation discussion, but you have to think in scope.

Think about this... there are 40 teams in the PAL (all of the academies for major English teams). That's 40 major academies vying for talent, both local and international. Their local reach is roughly the size of Michigan / Minnesota. Meanwhile, Ohio (smaller in comparison 1/5 the population of England), has 2 decent affiliations, but they typically compete against levels that are much lower. They are basically glorified clubs that just cherry-pick club kids.

US Women are so fucking good. still boggles my mind that the Men are ok/good but not elite.

and as i say that they finally get scored on

nick wrote:US Women are so fucking good. still boggles my mind that the Men are ok/good but not elite.

Without looking, I’d say much higher % of girls participate in soccer at the youth/teen level than boys. Could be part of it

Seeitsaveit13 wrote:

nick wrote:US Women are so fucking good. still boggles my mind that the Men are ok/good but not elite.

Without looking, I’d say much higher % of girls participate in soccer at the youth/teen level than boys. Could be part of it

as well without looking.

but I'd say your answer is half truths. There are only so many avenues for girls when it comes to sports to compete at elite levels (basketball, softball and soccer). And I have said it before when it comes to the USMNT, soccer isn't sexy enough in the US and isn't economically available to kids in the inner cities. The sport is fairly cheap to get into from an equipment standpoint, but its expensive when it comes to the club level. I still believe there are kids that are pretty decent in football playing at the college level that had they been given the opportunity to excel at soccer they could have been the next big thing. The athleticism of some of these athletes in other sports that will never amount to a pro athlete could have done well in soccer. The USMNT needs a huge star that is a minority to open the sport up more, the way Tiger did for inner cities when he blew up on the PGA circuit.

Freddy Adu!

DRWebs wrote:Freddy Adu!

You need someone at the Tiger level and someone born in America to make it work. Freddy Adu has zero name recognition, need someone popular enough that if you say his first name everyone knows who you are talking about

GeorgesGoons wrote:

DRWebs wrote:Freddy Adu!

You need someone at the Tiger level and someone born in America to make it work. Freddy Adu has zero name recognition, need someone popular enough that if you say his first name everyone knows who you are talking about

Over your head, he was billed as the next big thing but flamed out

DRWebs wrote:

GeorgesGoons wrote:

DRWebs wrote:Freddy Adu!

You need someone at the Tiger level and someone born in America to make it work. Freddy Adu has zero name recognition, need someone popular enough that if you say his first name everyone knows who you are talking about

Over your head, he was billed as the next big thing but flamed out

More like Freddy Adieu.