3 essential pieces to changing soccer culture

The USMNT & USWNT are both top organizations in terms of resources and opportunity. The Women have been rated top 3 in the world for 20+ years and now are ranked #1 after winning the 2015 World Cup in Canada. The Men as everyone knows didn’t make the World Cup 2018, but neither did Chile, Netherland or Italy. The difference in South American and European countries is the competition US plays in qualifiers is not as good, so US should always make it. This probably was one of the best things to wake people up and know that the culture is not good in America. In the 2002 World Cup they did very well making it all the way to the quarter finals after beating Mexico in the Round of 16.

More players need to play soccer at home

The best players in the world all started playing at home early on in life. Most of these players learned and improved mostly in the streets playing at home or in the neighborhood. The difference in America is that most of our players are learning mostly at team practice. This is just not enough to learn how to control a round ball with your feet. Even if you only spent 5 mins per day with a ball at home, you will get more time with the ball in 1 season than you will all year with you team. At home is where you rack up minutes with the ball in a safe environment where you don’t have any fear of failure. So wherever you find find a place to play do it. You don’t need fancy equipment.

Arrogance can bring down a futbol nation

The difference of now and then is the mentality and culture. Back then was a bunch of players trying to prove themselves to the world. The 2018 squad has players that think they are World Class. Not only are the older pros needing to change the culture, but also the youth players and parents. The reason I say parents is because, some are too arrogant just because their kid plays on a top team in America. So what! Instead of being so proud of the past and present, be humble and hungry to know there are so many higher levels no matter how good you become.

Stay humble and hungry to prove yourself

To me this is what gave Soccer in America respect because after that most countries in the world could not say they were better than us. Before the Fall of 2017 when the USMNT missed out on making the 2018 World Cup, only countries like Germany, Italy, Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina, Netherlands can really say they are better than us but Mexico, England, Portugal, and anyone else can’t really say they are better than us now.

Must have a hard working soccer culture

For both the Men & Women’s National Teams the common thing you see is their hard work, discipline & belief in winning the game no matter who they are playing. Very smart players know when a team is better and how to best put themselves in a good situation to win the game. For the USNMNT we have had more than half the players on the roster who play their club ball abroad. Our goal keepers do the best in terms of playing for big clubs as Tim Howard, Brad Friedel and Casey Keller have all played many years in the English Premier League. Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey all played for Fulham in the EPL with Clint doing the best and moving on to Tottenham for big money and then moving to Seattle Sounders for reportedly over $8 Million per year! WOW good for him!

Then other players have played in the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico and Italy, but now you see our best players playing in the MLS and I think the reason is because the MLS has grown to be a top 10 highest paid league in the world in the matter of a few years. The league is changing every year for the better and lots of players from around the globe want to play in the MLS. For the USMNT team players should spend their early years and peak years in Europe. This way they are having to push themselves every single day just to keep their starting job. In the MLS the national players can relax a bit and that’s never good if you are wanting to be the best.

Women’s pro soccer pay

On the Women’s side obviously everyone knows Mia Hamm and the team that won the World Cup in 1999. Ever since then the US Team has gone far in the World Cup but just haven’t won until this year, which was a great result. A few of the players make over $200,000 a year off their playing contract abroad and then others are making a good living at $50,000 – $100,000 a year but some of them really do well with the self-promotion and earning sponsorship money.

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The future of US Soccer is bright and the kids of today have a lot to look forward to! I see these players now that are ages 9-13 years old and some of them already have some of the cleanest technique I have ever seen so I don’t think skill will be our weakness. I really think that for the USMNT and WNT the players between ages 14-21 really need to try to improve technically on their own, outside of club training. Team training is never going to be enough if you want to reach your potential in futbol.

Every single teenager needs more technical training

What is needed is better 1 touch passing from different distances, both under pressure and in low pressure settings. Also being very comfortable immediately after the first touch. These are things that are easy for this level of players, but you can see the difference from France, Brazil, Spain compared to USA. Honestly even the small countries are looking really good, just because their players are playing in Europe.

American soccer culture will never compare to abroad

I think there are so many advantages for US soccer in America but not living in Europe or South America hurts in some of the most important ways. Meaning we really don’t see true fútbol like they do. I am 38 years old and have not had the chance to see to many top flight matches like Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in Spain or Manchester vs. Chelsea in the UK or Boca Juniors vs. River Plate in Argentina.

The best revelry I have seen is in Chile with a club Colo Colo vs I forget who else. Haha but that shows you the difference from the other 3 rivalries. I think the life of fútbol is seeing people be so passionate on the streets, in the pubs, or in the store talking about the matches the day before or coming up and then get to see it live time after time. It’s just different and I think that’s a big disadvantage so if you ever have the chance to take your young soccer family to Europe and watch a couple matches and experience that different life of fútbol then I highly recommend it.

But at the end of the day we all have excuses and though we don’t have World Class Soccer always in our back yard. To watch live and see the passion from so many people everywhere you go makes a difference. The US does have hard working players and great families who support their kids and give them the best opportunity they can. The US is continuing to become even more diverse [e.g., as you see with Coach Klansman who was the coach before he was fired in 2017 – he used so many German American players, and players who have grown up in Europe] and the culture in American soccer is changing more and becoming more of a smart soccer country.

Best Americans should play in Europe not MLS

For the best American they need to be playing in Europe. I know there will always be a few top American players who stay MLS for big money, but you earn more respect by opponents playing in Europe. When the US plays small countries like Costa Rica they don’t respect us anymore, because they have players playing on better clubs like Real Madrid and Benfica.