The Best Player in the World - The Cristiano Ronaldo Thread

Americans have such results in sports solely because of steroids. Even the women look like men. Nuff said.

 

One of the things the USSF is making mandatory is that these new academy programs be free. They will only grant official academy status to clubs with a proven track record of development and success... clubs, that as you say historically were very expensive. That is changing too. 'Pay to play' was a real talent-killer in the US.

 

I'm glad you like saying this but it doesn't make it true, kids do play soccer in streets and parks here. Even in inner cities

At the end of the day what that writer mentions is true, around junior high school age kids here tend to "specialize" and inevitably pick sports their friends are playing or that they see an economically viable future in. Sports with a traditionally rich heritage here like the Big 3 are backed with corporate sponsorship, exposure to find the next "LeBron" or "Insert Sports Star Name Here" and scouts identify these kids as young as junior high school and subsidize a lot of the costs associated with travel, equipment, personal training etc. Soccer (and to a lesser extent hockey) simply doesn't have those sorts of resources here and as a result participation remain cost prohibitive especially for kids who are playing in the streets and inner city parks so even though there are kids who can play (and are wildly talented) and do prefer it they choose other options because they simply can't afford soccer. I think over the next decade or so, especially with concussion concerns associated with football and PHDs in baseball, more kids may stick with soccer but we'll see and as the interest build dollars from Nike, Adidas, etc. will follow. Of course there are also infrastructure and philosophy issues that @Alma Merengue likes to prattle on about but kids playing in the street really isn't an issue.

 

What is amazing is how successful we've been with the women's game, it suggest we were doing somethings right. Perhaps that is why we persisted so long in spite of the results? Regardless I think the talent is there and I look forward to seeing us start to get the results as well as play a more technical brand of soccer.

 

I believe i can speak on behalf of all Europe and South America when i say that almost 80% of kids here play street football daily, for hours. I don't think that's the case there, at least from what i hear from a couple of friends and information on the internet.

 

This is one of the reasons the losing out on the 2022 World Cup was considered a huge blow to development process. They were looking forward to a lot of sponsor money coming in to fund youth soccer initiatives. Alas, Qatar well because Qatar.

Yeah. Pick up soccer is not as common. It is huge in immigrant neighborhoods. I've driven my son two hours away to play in legit Sunday pick up environments. Kids' lives here are overscheduled for pick up / street soccer to really work. Damn shame.

 

You cannot be serious? In the fall and spring the streets and parks are filled with kids playing soccer, especially in areas with large immigrant populations from countries where soccer is popular. The kids in my cul-de-sac play soccer until the sun goes down in the summer. It's also one of the most requested games in gym classes at the elementary school I intern at as an example when they get free choice and at recess they play as well. Soccer for children under the age of 12 is very popular here. They play the video versions and then they try to replicate the moves a lot, it's actually quite funny. The games are also more accessible with stations like Fox, ESPN, and recently NBC getting in on the coverage action.

I know how credible "information" on the Internet is and I'm sure your friends are placed all over this vast country and have done their due research to come to the conclusions they've passed on to you but they're missing the point is street soccer is an issue they choose to highlight.

 

I agree good level soccer is too structured in the US, that might sound strange but what I mean by that is street soccer with participants who know the game have technical skills and are playing for the opportunity to express themselves. Too often in the US the kids do drills and the tournaments and there is little opportunity to express themselves in the way that street soccer is played in other countries. The pickup game in middle school isn't quite what I mean when I say street soccer. And yes it is an important part of development.

Edit:

as @Alma pointed out, in the US I've driven an hour each way to get to the type of game I'm talking about or had to get up at 5AM every Saturday to get these sorts of games. However when I travel abroad no such effort is needed.

 

Why so mad though? It's clear that your street football level is much much lower than the rest of the world, especially Europe and South America.

I've had many people who moved from EU to US telling me that their kids don't have who to play football with. It's of course not 100% certain information, but it paints a picture pretty well.

 

Lol, what? I'm not mad...jeez. I'm just saying that a lack of quality street level football isn't as big an issue as you want to believe and a handful of your friends saying otherwise doesn't change that.

 

Move here, a five minute drive in any direction will get you your choice of pickup games every Sunday in fall/spring/summer. No Europeans but Jamaicans, Mexicans, and Brazilians...you can take your pick. Some crazy good kids there too, but then you find out they run track or play basketball or something instead of soccer. Crazy.

 

The funny thing is that every American who grew up here have played soccer. It's like a prerequisite for being a parent or a child. You take your kids to soccer games and you at least played soccer.

There may not be many street soccer like other countries because kids here actually played for their schools.

 

any news on wich games Ronaldo will miss?

 

But that's the problem!! For the most part, school soccer is broken. Street soccer > school soccer. Not even close.

Not yet. The club has presented a video showing that Cristiano Ronaldo was not directing his gesture at an official. The video clearly shows the 4th official was talking to someone else and had his back to Cristiano Ronaldo.

There is also something odd happening with Ayza Gomez' post match report. In that report he said the red was for the hand to the face of Gurpegui. Because we've appealed, Ayza Gomez was called to explain what happened and this time he said the red was for the incident with Iturraspe. WTF?!?!?

 

I know what you mean but that is how it is. Whether kids like soccer or not, as a young child, it is sometimes considered a chore to go out and play soccer or forced by your parent. The school structure is organized.

Street soccer is where legends are made of. These kids actually spend their free time playing where the kids here play because a friend plays or forced by their parent.

 

I disagree, it might be a very small part of the problem (I'll give you that)...I think the bigger problem is missing out on a huge talent pool of kids who are playing street soccer/pickup soccer because of a lack of resources, misguided philosophy/vision.

You know as well as I do street soccer 24/7 ain't gonna help some of these kids

 

It'll do them better than youth/school soccer coached by people that 1. do not live/love the game and 2. are paid to coach to results, not to development. The good thing is that it is changing and the better kids are being pulled away from school soccer environments. My $0.02.

 

To your points 1 & 2 this is something with any organized sport here, not just soccer, for the most part until kids show promise at which point they're shuffled to various travel teams, development programs, etc. Why the other sports are more successful in finding more talent is because not only are they pulling them from school environments but they're scouting basketball courts in the city, flag football games at parks, etc. My $0.02? US Soccer is definitely doing good things but they need to cast a wider net imo.

But we've debated this 1.5 million times here and now we're ruining Cristiano's thread. Cristiano would be a good American, he ticks all the right boxes. He must've know too and that is why he picked an American to be his baby mama.

As far as his status the disciplinary committee meets tomorrow to decide his fate but Ancelotti said he will play against Atleti.

 

I doubt the information about the change of the report was given from the from anyone on the inside.

My guess is, they're looking for excuses to minimize Ronaldo's suspension.

The referee wouldn't have ejected Ronaldo and left Iturraspe on the pitch, if that confrontation was the reason.

 

I wasn't saying it's THE problem, it's just that street football gives so much freedom for kids to be creative, which imo is just as important as tactics. You will notice, the more kids play football outside of teams, the more football will progress in the USA. It's not on a bad level anyway, it's just weird that a country that is so great about many sports, is down right average in football.

 

So Ronaldo got a red card for Iturraspe sticking the head in? This ref should be officiating street "soccer" in cul-da-sac's all around the US. Terrible performance from him.

 

@Eddie I don't understand how you can make the generalizations you are but like I said I'm done with this discussion

There are no refs in those game fool! Street justice prevails

But yeah Marca is calling him a liar (ironic right?), they're also taking issue with his explanation of who Ronaldo's gesture was directed towards.

 

I saw on Twitter @Rmadinfo that the match report was allegedly altered after 2PM on Tuesday which according to our lawyers should not happen. Apparently the modified match report made our argument irrelevant then the committee contacted us and gave us till 10AM Wednesday to present a revised case. Our attorneys say the process used has left Ronald without a basis for basis for appeal and further that the whole process was flawed....

shady stuff all around.....