That Oughta Get the Hype Machine Crankin’!

Anyone know if Freddy Adu will play in WC 2010???

now why would all or most of the top talent go to european teams? hmmm…MONEY! and vice versa; how about beckham….money! that being said, IF the players really gave a shit about helping this MNT get to a real competative level, they would play in the states. let the true soccer fans see their “heros” in action! even the players consider soccer a second rate sport in the U.S. please don’t say, “well, its for the player development”, because that is a crock of shit!
these guys know what motivates them:MONEY! shame on the players, shame on the USSF, and shame on team owners for not “getting it!”

Posted from  United States

Dietmar: I think you’re the one who doesn’t get it.

For the success of the national team, we need as many players playing abroad as possible. Because it IS about player development. The five best leagues in the world (La Liga, the EPL, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and Ligue 1) are all in Europe. To be the best, you play the best.

Would Manu Ginobli, Steve Nash, Andres Nocioni, Yao Ming, and the dozens of other foreign players in the NBA have reached the same levels playing in their home countries? Nope. But they went to the NBA, so now when they play for their national teams, they play better, which helps their teams.

Besides, good athletes are competitive. They have to be. That usually means that they want to play on the biggest stage against the best competition. Are you seriously telling me that you think the USSF should tell some ambitious 19-year-old, “I know you have chance to play for Chelsea, but it would be just as good playing for Real Salt Lake.” No freakin’ way. Do you think the Canadian government should be telling its (American) football players to stay with the CFL or that the Venezuelan government should tell its baseball players to stay home?

And, yeah, a lot of it is about the money. But so what? Right now, on almost all the MLS teams half the players make less than about 70k a year, and a good chunk make way less than that. They have to dedicate their lives to a sport that a lot of them now skip college to play–that a lot of them have to skip college to play–and a sport that they’ll get to play for 5-12 years. And you want them to say, “No, thanks, Heereneven, I’d rather not make $200,000 a year. This $47,500 from the Chicago Fire is just fine by me.” You want the top American players to say, “No thanks, Tottenham, this $220,000 a year I’ll make for three good years I have left is plenty. I don’t want $3 million a year”? Are you kidding? Would YOU pass up a chance to multiply your salary by 8 or 10? I really, really doubt it.

It’s unrealistic and counterproductive to expect soccer players to take a financial hit for the abstract notion of “developing the MLS.” Soccer players have maybe 10 years to play professionally–IF they can avoid injuries. That goes by fast. So they should take the best gig they can get as soon as they get it. Usually, though not always, that means going abroad. If anything, they should helping out the MLS at the tail end of their careers, when they have lost a have step but they’ve learned a lot that they can teach the young players. Claudio Reyna is a good example of that.

For the MLS to develop into a bigger league over the next decade, it shouldn’t expect the USSF to try to stunt the growth of American players by locking them inside the US. It shouldn’t expect them to make professional and financial sacrifices that none of the rest of us would be willing to make. Instead, it should concentrate on doing exactly what it’s doing: putting an entertaining product in front of fans and searching for and developing young American talent. That’ll generate transfer fees and increased fan interest, which in turn will allow the MLS to pay enough to keep a few more good players at home, which will build more good players and increase the fan base. That way, many of the best American players will eventually choose to stay at home, and some of the best foreign players will choose to come here.

Posted from  United States

jon,
you need to see,”Goal!The dream begins.”
danny carry; director

Posted from  United States

and by the way, put stuart holdon on the national squad; seems he knows when to have the shot!

Posted from  United States

Hyperbole is the name of the game in commentary, but I have to say this: I’ve been watching US MNT football forever, and for my money, Adu’s 23rd minute goal is the finest finish, for any US striker, in any international match, EVER.

Really, for two days I’ve been thinking and recalling and I cannot come up with a goal that is even close. Fantastic defensive backtracking by Beltran, finished off by a superior run and fine dish to Adu, who had absolutely no angle on the goal and a defender to beat.

I know you see that sort of thing in Europe (and even occasionally in South America), but man, it’s been a long time here. May it be a sign of things to come.

Posted from  United States

Dietmar,

What’s in that (or any) movie that will make me think that it’s a either fair or productive to keep our best players from playing against the best competition and for the best organizations that they can find? What will make me think it’s fair or wise to tell players who could learn more and earn more (2-10 times more) by going abroad that they owe it to American soccer to stay home?

I have a hard time imagining what that might be.

As the MLS grows, it will be able to keep enough to keep our best players here, at least our best young players. But that’s at least a decade away, and I think it’s a terrible idea to tell an entire generation of players that they should choose the Red Bulls or DC United over Newcastle United or Sevilla if they get that chance and if they want to take it. To play at a world-class level, you have to play at a world-class level, and playing time for the USMNT in meaningful games against top-flight opposition is way too rare to expect players to get that experience only in their international caps.

Yes, it’s important to have a successful domestic league in order to develop a nation’s soccer. But it’s also important to have players developing their skills as best as possible (which often happens abroad) and doing things that capture potential pros’ imaginations.

Moreover, a domestic league doesn’t necessarily need a country’s best players to develop. Look at the Brazilian or Argentinian leagues for examples of that. Would it really be better for Brazilian soccer if all their players had to stay home?

Posted from  United States

PS: Dietmar, do you mean the Stuart Holden who has UK citizenship and who spent a good chunk of his childhood in Scotland? The Stuart Holden who left Clemson to sign for Sunderland in 2005? Who might still be in England if the drunks in Newcastle didn’t keep trying to fracture his eye. (Now there’s a legitimate reason for yanks not to go abroad or at least to avoid industrial England.)

Posted from  United States

sal zizzo look at the past he as been always fantastic on hes role he is the fastest player in the team he got skill, pass, crosses, dribblieng in my opinion he is the key of the team. he makes thing happen