If Americans took soccer serious, would they become good?

[Anonymous]

Obviously Americans don't care about the soccer WC too much. Their sports are American football, basketball and baseball instead.

If they were to start caring about the soccer WC and if they wanted to get better, could they become good at it? Would they be capable of becoming a great team if they were to start caring about it?

Updates

+1 y

Would that team then be capable of becoming stronger and apply their full potential?

[BeMuse]

There are 195 countries in the world. USA Men's FIFA ranking is currently 16. At times it's been higher. Even if it's not podium material it's still among the best in the world. That said, there isn't much incentive to be a professional soccer player in America. Many pro teams here in the MLS pay like $60-80K a year base salary. You have to work really herd to get to that level, for low pay. It's a lot easier to focuses on school and land a career that pays far better and has a lot more longevity in earning potential. Think about who plays soccer in America... It's mostly the middle class White/Hispanic population. That same population also goes onto college at very high rates and end up with more stable income. Why would they risk a good career, for a low paying short term one? It's a dumb play in a rich country. I was a good soccer players. So where a number of my friends and neighbors. Plenty of people I know played in college on scholarship to get their degree. One of my close friends played professionally in Turkey for a couple of years, but most of us just moved on. America of the land of opportunity, and being a soccer player isn't one of the best opportunities that presents itself to most Americans.

[BeMuse]

*is...

[BeMuse]

I stopped playing competitively in leagues when I was a kid, but still played in pick up games at the park with my friend that went pro and other locals. I was good enough to play with a person that went pro, as were many other random people that just played for fun. So I'm sure there is a lot of hidden talent out there, just no incentive...

[BeMuse]

Funny thing is though, if America started paying soccer players like they pay other American professional athletes, then America would just suck up all of the world's talent and then no team but America would be competitive.

[BeMuse]

Average NBA player gets what, $7.5 million a season, and it's not even entertaining it's just woke commie propaganda.

[jshm2]

No. Hence why they divert so much to the only shitty sports they can play there.

Football development is not about money, athletes or talent - but competition. American "soccer" is just piss poor in providing good competition. It's why when you look at the USA world cup squad, most were US players in Europe. The US leagues just don't have the experience to play on the International level.

The American football teams are worth millions, have plenty of players and even some with talent. But just no real experience as there is no competitiveness there.

[purplepoppy]

It's simply a numbers game, the more kids you get playing the more will go into local clubs and rise to the top. America might have thousands of world class players in their schools but we'll never know because most will never kick a ball.

[MrOracle]

They certainly could, but the most talented players get diverted to the more popular sports. As you said, Americans overall just don't care about soccer much - even less than hockey.

It's all about (American) football, baseball, and basketball in the US. Everything else is a much lower priority, and has much lower funding, which means it's hard to attract the best talent.

[Chill_Thoughts]

The US is huge so the pool of talent is really big, that said I doubt they could become much better than they are now. Just no tradition makes it hard to ever compete with countries devoted to the game for generations

[KostasKouvalis]

It wouldn't make a difference. Mexicans take it seriously and the Mexican team hasn't had World Cup success either

[Asker]

yeah the most the Mexican team did was reached up to the quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986 and nothing better ever since. I think those team need to play more with the Europeans.

[KostasKouvalis]

They have some Olympic and Youth titles, but that's it. I completely agree about getting more experience with European teams. Mexico only knows how to play other CONCACAF teams, and even in CONCACAF, the U. S. is better than them at the moment.

[Asker]

Though it's quite shocking at how the German team got knocked out of the stage group twice. In the 2018 WC, they first lost 1-0 to Mexico and then 2-0 to South Korea. Then in this WC, Germany once again loses 2-1 to an Asian team, to Japan. Spain loses to Japan too. Weird.
This is the 2nd time Germany gets knocked out in the stage group, not progressing... not even to the round of 16. I guess they aren't too good by now.

[Asker]

What's up the Germany? Why were they having a hard time beating those simple teams?

[KostasKouvalis]

They might be going through a transition phase, 'cuz I checked the roaster and I only recognized Muller. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they threw their matches. The German fans were talking about boycotting the tournament.
I'm pretty sure Iran threw their first match with England. I have no explanation for Spain's annihilation of Costa Rica though. There are certainly some teams who haven't been consistent.

Though Germany's performance in Russia I'm not surprised, because defending champion almost always plays lousy.

[KostasKouvalis]

Japan and Korea aren't as bad as people think, though Japan had a controversial goal. Morocco has probably been the most surprising by far, as well as Uruguay's early exit. Uruguay was a team that always picked themselves up even if they played poorly, so I was shocked to see them eliminated. And you could tell they were desperate, trying to draw fouls

[Asker]

Yeah they haven't been playing with the same enthusiasm. Hopefully they get back on track one day.

What has no logic is Japan losing to Costa Rica 1-0 (the team that got badly annihilated by Spain) but ironically beats Spain 2-1.

[Asker]

Uruguay hasn't been performing good on their first two games. They didn't bother to score with South Korea. On other WC, they would score in the group stage. Their performance has decreased. Then again, Luis Suarez and Cavani are already older. They aren't in their eary 20's anymore. It's likely this was their last WC.

[KostasKouvalis]

Exactly. I'd love to see Suarez in the US, but you're right that I probably won't. It won't be Uruguay without him :(

[KrakenAttackin]

Absolutely. If you want an example of what happens when the U. S. focusses on a goal, check out "Ford vs Ferrari"... Spoiler, it didn't work out well for Ferrari.

[panamared1]

we are getting better, we have only been taking it serious the last couple of generations, the rest of the world has taken it serious from its inception, it takes a while

[CuriousMufuxka]

No. They already tried decades ago. Also fuck baseball.

[Anonymous]

People take soccer seriously?