USA soccer is pathetic.

[SmileyBoy]

A huge FIFA World Cup Qualifier match between the United States and Costa Rica in Salt Lake City, and they can barely fill 2/3rds of the stadium. A 40,600 crowd in a 65,000 seat stadium.

What the HELL is wrong with the United States when we're so stubborn to embrace THE INTERNATIONAL SPORT???

[MrSlayer]

1. Soccer is pathetic in general.

Which is why no one goes. The game is boring and no one gives a fuck.

[Tweed]

5. I think you mean football

You want to talk about a boring game. Talk about a game where the action takes place once a minute for ten seconds.

[SmileyBoy]

6. Hey now, I love both American Football and Soccer.

You don't have to love one or the other. I love both sports for their own reasons.

Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to want to turn it into a football vs. soccer battle.

[MrSlayer]

15. The game within the game takes place between plays.

And at the line of scrimmage before the snap. Match-ups, coverages, motion, audibles, scheme changes, weird formations and such are moves in the chess match between coaches. It's not like they line up, play a snap and then just stand around. There's a whole lot going on there, the player packages change on just about every play these days. I treat soccer a bit too harshly I suppose but I have watched it and while I do find the finesse plays to be exciting there are far too few of them. So much of the game is the ball just going back and forth with little real action. There is also so much playacting with guys faking injuries to draw cards that it gets embarrassing after awhile. Another thing I hate is the Penalty Kick shootout to determine a World Cup championship winner. This would be like having QBs throw footballs through tires to end a game or having a home run derby in baseball. I did watch the World Cup last time and will probably watch it again next time if the U.S. or Germany are in it but it is a bit too low scoring and it lacks meaningful hitting which is why it will never catch on here.

[arcos]

27. little real action? That's baseball.... nt

[manic expression]

28. Well, then

Let me add my flames. By the way, I don't have anything against (American) football.

I was going to question the "strategy" (because I don't think it's as you say) in AF (American Football), but I'll be content with saying this: all of this "strategy" contributes to much downtime. This is not a bad thing, but don't laud it in AM and then turn around and scold WF (World Football, as in Football to everyone but America) for being "too slow".

The thing about excitement in WF is that it's there but people don't see it. The play is constant and intriguing. However, there is NOTHING more exciting than goal-scoring in a tight match. The "finesse" plays are just fancy moves during play and do add flavor, but it's not at all the basis of what makes WF enjoyable to watch. The ball "going back and forth" is not just that, it is a group of players working together to make something happen. Sometimes this results in scoring, sometimes it does not, sometimes it results in a counterattack, but that is why it is great to watch. The thing about "faking" injuries is that it isn't done nearly as much as it used to, and diving now results in a card itself. I wonder why no one gets mad at AF players for staying on the ground if they're hurt. The PK's (Penalty Kicks) at the end is the best way to finish a game, as 120 minutes of continuous play is about the limit for players, there needs to be a real way to finish it. PK's are a lot like the Collegiate AF method of overtime, where each team gets an opportunity to score, and it goes back and forth (I think you know what I'm talking about), this is a MUCH better way to finish a game than the sudden death (which is so unfair, as the coin-toss becomes the most important part of a game).

Something that makes me mad about people's perception of WF is that its "low score" is boring. The thing is scoring doesn't make a sport fun to watch AT ALL. People should just watch Slamball if they want to see people score, but if they want to watch something actually refined and interesting, then the score shouldn't matter to them.

WF does have meaningful hitting, and if you ever play the game in good company I think you'll discover this yourself. As a matter of fact, go ahead and wear white shoes while you play in England, and see how long you can go without getting hurt (they'll target you because they think it's flashy, I know someone who got their ankle broken because a defender took exception to the color of his shoes).

[MrSlayer]

30. I didn't know they instituted a diving card.

That's good. I don't know man maybe I'd have to grow into it but I have seen it since I was a kid and it just has never grabbed me the way Hockey and American Football do. If we got an MLS team here I might care a little more. I do love the crowd chants in the Euro games.

[manic expression]

31. Yeah

It's a sport that sometimes needs to grow on a person, sort of like an aquired taste. The atmosphere at Euro/S. American games is really amazing, I don't think there's anything quite like it in sports.

In the end, I guess, it's to each his/her own.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

12. Excuse me?

I haven't played soccer for 10 years because I'm pathetic.

:eyes:

[MrSlayer]

16. No offense to you personally.

Do you play professionally?

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

19. No, I do not.

But I do play and appreciate the game and you obviously don't have any respect for the people who play it, based on your comments about the sport. If you're insulting the sport, you're insulting the people who are involved in it. Calling soccer pathetic as a whole (I could understand if you were calling a particular team, league pathetic) is pretty ridiculous.

[MrSlayer]

20. Oh man, chill out.

Don't be so sensitive. I was playing off the OP's headline not personally calling any and every one involved with the game pathetic. Read my response to the guy who said football was boring.

[da_chimperor]

14. How about reserving judgement until actually seeing a proper game?

Sounds fair to me.

[MrSlayer]

18. I have seen World Cup games.

And I have gone to a bunch of games when I was a kid in the old NASL days when we had the Philadelphia Atoms and the Fury a little later. I'm familiar enough with the sport to have an opinion. I'm not dismissing it out of hand.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. 2 Theories:

1. If the sport didn't originate in the U.S.A., then it doesn't count.
(Exception: Olympics because we wanna play and win). Sort of United Nations with a ball and we don't own the ball.

2. Bad promotion and public relations.

I know of a guy who used to co-own the Strikers (Florida). He goes all over the place to go to soccer games. My theory is it's because he likes to hear his name over the loud speakers for being a has-been owner of a defunct team. It can't be the game itself.

[Tweed]

3. It's the media stupid

How are people suppose to go to a game that they don't hear about? I'm into soccer, I live in Chicago, and I didn't know about the US vs. England friendly until a week before it happened. Now a huge event like that (US and England hadn't played each other in 10 years, historic ties, etc.) should have received huge coverage in Chicago. Not only because of the magnitude of the event, but because Chicago has a huge immigrant ion population of Mexicans and Polish people (soccer loving nations). It wasn't even front page news when the results came by.

The editors of today's sports world think that soccer is stupid and that Americans do care. More and more Americans are caring every day. I go to DePaul University and I see a couple of soccer jerseys on fellow students every day. I might see a baseball jersey now and then, but jerseys from national teams, English and Italian teams are much more prominent. Part of it is a style thing, but if you talk to younger people, they are interested in soccer. They want to be part of the global community in that regards. Once the sports journalists of my generation take over, soccer will be covered more and people will take notice.

It's hard for people to get excited about something they don't know about. It's the same with a lot of important things that we at DU see and talk about, but is missed by the masses due to mainstream media. I think soccer has a huge opening now that hockey is constantly on strike and people haven't really noticed. It's taken a big hit against being the 4th major sport.

[NewJeffCT]

10. agreed, it's the sports editors

A lot of them grew up loving baseball, football & basketball and got into sports journalism as a way to get access to big-time sports for free when they realized their dream of being a pro player would not be realized... so, these editors are naturally pre-disposed towards the sports the grew up loving.

Only when the current generation of sports editors retires and are replaced by the younger, more open-minded folks who grew up playing & watching soccer will it change. It will take another 10-15 years, though.

Also, in general, Americans tend not to care unless it is the finals / championships. The World Cup games in the US were very well attended.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

4. I think there is a lot of interest from new Americans

(who brought their love of the sport from their former countries).

The U.S. media doesn't seem to be as interested.

[SmileyBoy]

7. USA wins 3-0 - And nobody seems to care!!!

My wish is to at least see soccer someday replace hockey as the #4 sport in the US (one of the "4 Sports"), now that it looks like professional hockey is dead.

[kenny blankenship]

8. Hellooo it's UTAH!

Sorry if that sounds offensive but c'mon...UTAH!
Utah, man. You expected droves, throngs and hordes, masses swaying to a samba rhythm?

Move the event to a coastal city and you're going to get a large & diverse soccer crowd.

[SmileyBoy]

9. Agreed. They should've played it at that new soccer stadium in LA.

They would've at least gotten a lot of the Chivas USA fans there.

[arcos]

29. They no longer play in places with high latin populations...

That's especially the case when playing against a Latin American country, and that's because I guess they rather have 40,000 fans supporting Americans and 500 supporting the other team, than having 25,000 of each. :P

[LSdemocrat]

11. It was Salt Lake's highest attended event since the Winter Olympics

(Utterly random note of frustration: I wish Windows wouln't automatically put a cursor in a password window, no matter if I'm typing somewhere else when the window pops up.)

[southlandshari]

13. Interesting - the USA-Mexico match in Birmingham, Alabama

wasn't a sell-out (I don't think) but my husband went and said there was a great crowd. I watched it on tv and don't remember there being a bunch of empty sections...

I do share your frustrations with the lack of interest in soccer in this country. If it is any comfort, though, every single fall and spring youth soccer season of the local parks & rec league where I live - where football reigns supreme among adults - is held up because they need more coaches to accommodate the hundreds of kids that register to play in each age group.

And this is Alabama! I am confident things will be very different on the national scale when it comes to soccer within the next 5-10 years.

[Floogeldy]

17. Perhaps, but not as bad as Brazilian football.

And when I say football, I don't mean soccer!



B-)

[redsoxliberal]

21. agreed. I yearn for EPL.

btw, check out this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=215x16049

[Blue_Tires]

22. not everyone cares for the USMNT

hell, I'm American, and I pull for Brazil, England, just about any other nation EXCEPT the usa....

[redsoxliberal]

23. well... I've lived in Boston for 10 years...

but my family is english and egyptian. I root for England... and passively for Egypt.

[-..__...]

24. More like international boredom.

Soccer is a few notches behind "professional poker" and 9 Ball on the watching on the "edge of your seat" and sports entertainment value.

FWIW, I could never understand the passion and national prestige associated with soccer that oftentimes erupts into violence from the fans. Doesn't seem to matter if a match takes place in Europe or South America.

Yeah... soccer is a great "international" sport. :eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

26. appreciation of soccer is an acquired taste

I personally have been on both sides of the spectrum...I was forced to play it by my mom, along with most other suburb kids, and when I got older, I was on that 'soccer is boring' bandwagon, but now that I've grown up, I've been able to see the beauty in it...

If you truly find soccer that dull, might I suggest you try watching different leagues or international competition? (I admit, the quality of play in MLS is below the world average.)

And a LOT of the passion in other nations has to do simply with cultural norms...I remember in grad school at the University of Kansas, I had a lot of foreign and exchange students in my program that I became friends with....No amount of my explaining was ever going to help them understand why, as KU students, they were supposed to HATE Mizzou, KSU, NU, etc.....And as part of enriching their american experience, I went with them to football, baseball, basketball, and even hockey games---all with varying degrees of understanding and interest....And when they went back to their home nations, and preferred sports of soccer, cricket, rugby, etc., I hope a little exposure to our sports has helped them increase their appreciation of their own, and vice versa

[aquaman]

25. I love soccer!!!

Played for years. Love to watch college/pro soccer as well. I find it much more exciting at times than many of the "Americian" sports.