Politics


Sunday, January 22, 2012

U.S. Soccer Culture Needs Help




For the record I have never been more excited about U.S. soccer than the moment that Jurgen Klinsmann was named as the national team head coach. He is the ideal futbolista to lead the United States because as a former elite player who has lived in the United States for a long time, he has rare combination of 1st world experience with an inherent understanding of third world soccer conditions. By the way within the context of world soccer, the U.S. is a third world culture or in pc terms, it's part of the developing world.


Last nights game besides the last minute goal was horribly boring, yet typical of U.S. soccer matches.
  1. The average U.S. soccer fan is like a nerd trying to sneak into the cool kids Friday night beer bash
    • Sam's Army are a bunch of knuckleheads who prove that a little knowledge is very dangerous
      • Why do they have to be an "army?" C'mon why are we stuck in this imperialistic mentality and yes, this is a big deal since soccer fans are inherently part of a global community, unlike most Americans who could not find the rest of the world on a map. And we are a very poor army after all.
    • These fan's don't know when to cheer, what passive offsides means, or even how to berate an official properly, ugh!
    • Last night I saw a bunch of dopes covered in the U.S. flag but were all wearing English soccer jerseys-nerd alert! And most were either Chelsea or Man U tops, c'mon people. 
  2. The average American soccer player whether a 12-year old club player or a member of the national team has terrible technique, i.e. their first touch. And they lack soccer critical thinking skills and imagination.
  3. The tactics are horrible, but this is not Jurgen's fault, it's the fault of club soccer which still stresses  standing in line for five minutes in order to touch the ball for a few seconds. Jurgen has to overcome this naive American football method of coaching soccer.
    1. Too much parental involvement
    2. To much practice time and not enough free play, i.e. pick up small sided soccer
    3. Soccer should not be an expensive activity. And it's not in the rest of the world, but it is here in the United States.
    4. Jurgen undersands this inherent obstacle:

And the U.S. frequently attacked with only three players and agin this is a product of all U.S. soccer that I see at all levels. American soccer lacks fluidity and the average player on the pitch loses interest during the match if he is not directly involved in the play at hand. Such a mentality prevents consistent off the ball runs and running into space. Instead typical of American soccer is to run up and down the field in straight lines. 

So there you go, more pick up games and less adult supervision.

5 comments:

JHD said...

Amen. Our son is lucky to be in a club right now where the coach really stresses engaging and play - and our team lost one game in the fall season. Enter the parent problem. Because my kids team consistently wiped the floor with the other teams we had really, really, really angry parents screaming at us from the sidelines to bench our kids and play with 3 on the field, play without a goalie, or to stop "stacking the team." Since the team was a random hat draw, I'm not sure how that is possible... . At any rate, the coach says the key to the success is that most of the practice is really agressive "pick-up" style play, one on one challenges, and lots of running. :)

JHD said...

Hey, if you are on Facebook, come join us at the Mexican History FB page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mexican-History-Historia-Mexicana/163458783758558?ref=tn_tnmn

Jason Dormady

El Aguila said...

Thanks for the invite, I just joined. Although I have additional views about games that get out of hand. For example the coach of the better team could require players to only use their weaker foot or require x-amount of passes before a shot is taken. That way the stronger team still works on improving their skills, but without the pasting of another team. I have been on both ends of that situation as coach and player.

JHD said...

Coach required the best strikers to pass at least three times or no goals. Team got tons of left foot practice in. Problem? They only got better. Our coach started hosting other coaches and teams in the last half of the season to bring them in on his coaching methods. I think that helped. At the end of the day, though, nobody in our league is really versed in the kind of soccer you are advocating. Need a job in Washington state? :)

El Aguila said...

After living in the flatlands of Arizona and West Texas for the last thirteen years, I would give up most things to live alongside green, mountains, and rain!.

By the way, your coach sounds like he really understands big picture issues. Good for him, the parents, and especially the kids.