{sigh}
I look forward to reading those. It would seem though that we have one thing that many of those countries do not have: a long history of immigration. Folks from soccer-playing cultures (read: about everywhere but here) have emigrated to the States for generations. I learned soccer from a neighbor who was born and raised in England. We have these folks here.
{sigh}
Yeah.
I think it is time to move on from Michael Bradley...he looks like he's moving in slow motion out there these days. Would really like to believe we can come up with something better in the starting lineup than Jordan Morris. Zardes is a decent player but it would be nice to have a stronger option there as well. Looking forward to Tyler Boyd getting back on the field.
Yeah, I’ve wondered about this a long time myself. I do think you’re underestimating the pervasive effect of the uber-exceptional athletes— the types of athletes who would excel in almost whatever they dedicated themselves to— being unerringly pushed to just about everything but soccer.
These wouldn’t just be the best athletes... they’d be the most exciting.
Furthermore, US men’s soccer culture seems to push a very team-oriented variant that’s just less exciting. It’s more about limiting mistakes than taking risks. We churn out world-class goalies, excellent defenders, solid midfielders, and whenever we produce a spectacular, world-class (male) striker, it will be the first time. Ever.
Just my view from the soccer-as-occasional-obsession seats.
Highlander had some similar thoughts about risk-taking in our development system. I think it's a great point.
It does seem to me that Pulisic is the most skilled US player on the ball I've ever seen. Landon had great vision and speed, but lacked the...trickiness. Dempsey is probably the closest comparison, I guess? Granted I've only been following US soccer for about a decade so I'm missing out on plenty of guys from before that.
Well damn...
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-...043412847.htmlMore than 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar amid the nation's preparation to host the 2022 World Cup, The Guardian reports.
...
The listed causes of death include electrocution, blunt injuries due to a fall from height and suicide. Most of the deaths are listed as "natural" while citing heart or respiratory failure, according to the report.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
You can't make an omelette...
Seriously though, this next World Cup seems like the poster child for insane FIFA corruption and cover ups.
I had heard about the horrid working conditions and dangerous situations well over a year ago - I just assumed those reports had been investigated and/or addressed. Apparently, none of the above.
I saw that mentioned on social media this morning but the source was an unreliable bastion of crazy so I was hoping that it wasn't true. Obviously that's a huge number of deaths, migrant workers always seem to give more than they get.
As someone that would like to see soccer become more popular, you hate seeing something this negative associated with the World Cup (I mean on the mens side it's bad enough that we have a team that's not very competitive).
On a positive note, loved watching the USWNT play this week as they won the SheBelieves cup.
So far as I know, Qatar is also having major problems with keeping their indoor stadiums cool enough for safe play (although I haven't heard anything about that in a while so maybe the issue was resolved). At one point they were even discussing playing three periods instead of two halves to allow more downtime to rehydrate. Qatar was an absolutely awful choice to host the World Cup all around, that bid should have gone to the US.
A bastion of honesty, integrity, and transparency*, to be sure!
*Actually, they don't actually hide their corruption very well, I'm not sure they even really try, so I suppose maybe you could credit them with being transparent about it?
There was a great John Oliver segment about the rampant corruption of FIFA a few years ago. Lemme see if I can track it down.
Oh, seems he has walked this road several times. Here's the first piece he did:
https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
The IOC is eternally glad that FIFA exists so it doesn't look so bad.
What is it about international sporting agencies and rampant bribes/corruption?
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
This thread is as good as any.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=598607The United States will miss a third-straight Olympics after losing 2-1 to Honduras in the semifinal of the CONCACAF qualifying round for the 2020 games in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Sunday afternoon.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
We is not good.