if soccer was the most popular sport in the United States

[Malta]

I understand the concept. what you fail to understand is that a better athlete !=better soccer player.

there are many super athletic soccer player that are terrible and no amount of more athleticism will make them better. shyt, basketball has that too...tyrus thomas comes to mind

You really are missing the point, so if we took all the kids who were going to end up in the NFL and NBA, and they started playing soccer from a young age, not one of them would marry skills with athleticism? It would be no different than anything else, most would be ass, some would be good, and then you'd have a few who put everything in one bowl and come up with the right mix.

you could be a world class athlete and still suck on the soccer field to the point when you cant make a pinpoint pass. you could be the best athlete in the world and still not be able to putt a shot on the green...and NO athleticism will help you.

Yeah, going by this response here you clearly don't get the point. Im done even discussing this if you can't grasp such a easy idea.

 

[Marvel]

there's more to soccer/football than all of that...things like passing, shooting, ball control, positioning, having a good first touch, keeping ball possession..these are things that if you never master you will never be great on the pitch even with all that athleticism

Association football tactics and skills - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Breh, why can't you agree that those are skills that these great players pick up from a young age, playing on the streets and years of practice?

 

[emoney]

my point is athleticism alone does not make a soccer player or team great

 

[DalMem]

I never argued that.
you are the one who is a "dumbie" and cant grasp a simple point that the most athletic players in the world might not be good enough to have natural and nurtured skills to play some sports.

Your comments have became useless. You are status

Your services are no longer needed in the community.

 

[yseJ]

A manager is important in soccer, but he is not as important as in American football. I think we can all agree with that.

well as far as ingame adjustments....obviously. but impact of a soccer coach is imo comparable to, say, a bball coach. bball coaches draw up plays but they dont do it all the time.

also soccer coaches always tell players what to do. when ball is out of play they will call a player and tell him to tell everyone to change tactics if necessary. you can also make tactical changes in the halftime.

I actually wanted to make a thread about this (ingame impact of coaches in different sports)

as far as out of the game impact coach is huge tho. if you have a zero-tactics guy/pure motivator like diego...it wont end well. youll win some games on fervor but will be embarrassed by a tactically sound coach

 

[Malta]

there's more to soccer/football than all of that...things like passing, shooting, ball control, positioning, having a good first touch, keeping ball possession..these are things that if you never master you will never be great on the pitch even with all that athleticism

Association football tactics and skills - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jesus Christ, you can say that about any sport

It's athleticism + skill, just like nearly every other team sport in existence.

 

[The War Report]

What Wilt is saying that if America soley concentrated on properly developing soccer players, we would produce more than enough athletic, talented, skilled, and smart soccer players to compete and possibly dominate on a world stage. We shyt on everyone else when we really try.

 

[emoney]

Breh, why can't you agree that those are skills that these great players pick up from a young age, playing on the streets and years of practice?

I agree with this

but you have some people in here saying that an athletes talents and skills are transferable and THAT'S FALSE

To say Deion Sanders, LeBron James or Barry Bonds (for example) would make great soccer players if only they picked up the sport instead of their current respective sports is false.

 

[DalMem]

What Wilt is saying that if America soley concentrated on properly developing soccer players, we would produce more than enough athletic, talented, skilled, smart soccer players to compete and possibly dominate on a world stage. We shyt on everyone else we really try.

Exactly.

It's that simple.

 

[yseJ]

Your comments have became useless. You are status

Your services are no longer needed in the community.

translation: you have nothing to say

again, freakish athleticism does not magically enable a person to be dominant at any sports they choose, no matter how hard they practice and hone their skills. especially at sports that require a lot of skills.

no matter how mad you are about it, it wont be any more true.

 

[Malta]

I agree with this

but you have some people in here saying that an athletes talents and skills are transferable and THAT'S FALSE

To say Deion Sanders, LeBron James or Barry Bonds (for example) would make great soccer players if only they picked up the sport instead of their current respective sports is false.

The point is that some of our athletic freaks would develop skills a long the line, just like in any other sport. The world isn't ready to see some 6"3 235lbs nikka built like he just did 3 years in prison outrunning Walcott or Lennon.

 

[yseJ]

What Wilt is saying that if America soley concentrated on properly developing soccer players, we would produce more than enough athletic, talented, skilled, and smart soccer players to compete and possibly dominate on a world stage. We shyt on everyone else when we really try.

the same could be said for almost any nation tho

this isnt a debate about inherent ability to produce world class players.
or I hope it isnt...cuz we all know black excellence >>>>>>>>>>>

if we had sports academies and club structure like in europe...I have no doubts wed be able to compete. the problem is, its extremely complicated and itll take dozens and dozens of years to build....not to mention fukk with the college system...its unfeasible really

 

[mastermind]

Im not talking about just taking athletes we have now and putting them on some accelerated program, they would lose 100-0. Im talking about 20 years from now, if all the kids that would have been funneled into basketball or football got steered into soccer. I get that Ronaldo is supremely skilled, it's just like any other sport, the dudes who marry skill and athleticism are typically the best.

Fam, Im talking about if the NFL & NBA vanished tomorrow, all our money would be poured into Soccer, and with money comes access to the best trainers/coaches there are. What Im saying is if the infrastructure was there, coupled with the athletes we produce, it stands to reason we would be an absolute problem. Oguchi and Beasley wouldn't make the top 100 in terms of athleticism in the NFL or NBA, you know that, they aren't approaching someone like RG3 who is 6"3 223lbs and much faster.

and I am also talking about that world, which would be 40-50 years from now.

a 223 lb RG3 would not be able to play 90 minutes. He would have to lose a lot of weight unless he was playing centerback. Its just too big.

The GAWD Thierry was 6'2" and 180 lbs in his prime, and he was pretty heavy. And he was a great athlete.

These guys would have to lose a lot of weight. Then they would have to get the right coaching as its not turning up and just running and jumping.

The way America's sports model is set up, its not conducive to producing great soccer players. Its not even conducive to producing great athletes in other sports anymore.

I mean someone mentioned it earlier, Steve Nash didnt start playing bball until the late in HS career and he is a HOFer. Hakeem didnt start playing bball until he was like 16 or 17, and dude is either the first or 2nd most skilled center ever.

Using your hands to control something is natural. Using your feet is foreign as hell, and if you are 6'8" like Lebron it even harder.

Its possible, but it would take a complete overhaul of our current sporting system. We would have to identify potential pros at a young age and teach them the game properly. Then we would have to end HS and college sports a they really are not that helpful. Find a way to make AAU and ODP obsolete and then have our franchises focus on developing talent from young ages instead of when they are nearly a finished article.

Its not as simple as saying, "end the NFL/NBA/MLB tomorrow and see where we are in 30 years." It would take a concerted effort... and even then I still dont think we would kill. Its not like Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, etc are just going to halt their operations and wait for the US to catch up. They have their tried and tested methods of developing great talent. We still dont have that.

 

[emoney]

What Wilt is saying that if America soley concentrated on properly developing soccer players, we would produce more than enough athletic, talented, skilled, smart soccer players to compete and possibly dominate on a world stage. We shyt on everyone else we really try.

That's the same for any and every country

America is not an exception

Jesus Christ, you can say that about any sport

It's athleticism + skill, just like nearly every other team sport in existence.

no sh!t

No, it's not if Deion took up soccer as a grown man, it's that what if Deion, or any of our top athletes had picked soccer and stuck with that instead of what they currently play. It's what would happen if the NFL and NBA did not exist and the Billions of dollars that go to them, were then @ the disposal of our soccer programs with a pipeline to our top tier athletes.

It's a hypothetical situation that will never come to pass so there's no point in repeating this nonsense as if it's fact.

I can say the same about Canada and it would make it just as false.

no one said anything about soccer players not being athletic.
soccer is a product of athleticism, skill and stamina, yes

the problem here is that yall keep stating that if a world class athlete like deion was to take up soccer hed 100% succeed. no, he'd be a very athletic soccer player, but his overall effectiveness would depend on many other attributes.

youth soccer coaches dont really look at size or power of the kids in question, because everyone understands shyt can change. at early ages its all about technique and synergy on the field.

so if proverbial deion or bo could run and have a powerful shot at early age, but showed no technical feel of the game...hed be kicked out

exactly!

they don't get the folly in their argument

 

[yseJ]

The point is that some of our athletic freaks would develop skills a long the line, just like in any other sport. The world isn't ready to see some 6"3 235lbs nikka built like he just did 3 years in prison outrunning Walcott or Lennon.

problem here is a 6'3" nikka running fast is a problem in football and basketball (moreso in football tbh). especially if he got a freakish vertical.

not so much in soccer hed be tough to defend on headers and tough to bring him down...but otherwise...not much difference

athleticism matters but it doesnt matter that much in soccer