Hey look, @DGreat and @ninjew the idiots at the Rockets board talking about soccer http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=255428&page=57
Lol playing great and going out in the rd of 16 does nothing for him.... but playing like absolute garbage and showing "grit" is perfectly fine. Not sure what that means really. Is grit cuando el otro equipo te trae como calzon de puta?
I read that thread with the "grit" post. Those guys give their fans on this board a bad name. Still overanalyzing friendlies, still talking about a load of rhetorical nonsense (WTF does "having grit" even consist of???) I'm inclined to just think that in the transition from being an avid baseball/Am. football/basketball fan to being a football/soccer fan, something goes wrong upstairs. And to think this thread consists of their objective analyses . . .
Anybody that watches all 5 games Belgium played in the WC they will see that they played the same (and looked as inconsistent) in all games but one. When one of the things isn't like the others, then it probably is that thing.
Formula to win the WC http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads...ng-soccer-on-the-street-not-baseball.2007956/ BEST ATHLETES FTW
Of course nothing like bringing as example the sport that they don't even dominate anymore. That being said there is truth in that and people don't want to hear it here.
Physical superiority will only get you so far in soccer though and the US is just short of that. There is a much better chance of success in skilled players rather than athletic ones.. American sports lack that aspect, one doesn't necessarily need to be very skillful to succeed in Baseball, Football, or the variety of sports they dominate in the olympics
I'm not saying it's just because of them being bigger but because of the amount of athletes and the preparation they have. If soccer truly arrives in the US, they have everything to be a contender. Soccer isn't that unique either that only skill (which is even debatable that they can't produce that) is a factor that comes thru. And like I said it's not as if they can't produce what Germany or Netherlands has. I don't think it will mean that Lebron James or Clayton Kershwan specifically would own Messi but neither that none of their elite Athletes could have flourished playing soccer.
Someone like Allen Iverson as a striker? I liked AI myself back in the day, but I think nad fans would take issue with something like this lol
The US, because of the over abundance of diversity present, will always have a unique player pool to choose from. I agree with you that soccer is one of those sports where muscle and hustle only carry you so far. I personally think that size and speed are the two most important components in being a successful football or basketball player. Skills in those sports are usually quantified by how they relate to physical attributes. These sports are then over analyzed to death over X 's and O's, when success usually came down to something simple and obvious such as one teams O line was just bigger and faster than the other teams D line. I personally stopped caring about basketball when I realized you had to be a physical freak to even compete. I won't even encourage my kids to play it because time is too precious letting your son want to be like LeBron when his physical attributes will probably give him a better chance of being like Rafa. Football is like wrestling to me: very large men putting their bodies and brains through hell for the entertainment of Americans. Those guys don't even get paid enough for the hell they go through and the money they bring in for the owners. And the USMNT, well, it will always be England Light because Americans generally trust anything said to them with an English accent. Pub rats barely fit to make fish and chips will win the hearts and minds of soccer moms over a Latin coach with professional experience. The hard fouls and occasional set piece goal victories will keep the base happy. And the soccer gems in the ghettos from immigrant families will continue to be ignored for the dreadlocked yuppie kids who parlayed their club soccer experience into a full ride at Western California Poly College of the Intercoastal Palisades in NorthSouthern Bakersfield, and a top 5 pick in the MLS draft. As for Mexico, it has to stick to what it does best and eventually the breakthrough will come. That's what Piojo did right. He put together a Mexican's Mexican team: luchadora con garra (which is our version of grit). People will always hate on Mexicans; it comes with the territory. They will do things like insist they know the meaning of something we are saying in Spanish even though the only Spanish they know they learned from Dora the Explorer, and say it's homophobic or racist. They will call us dirty for doing something they would call gritty or professional, or just business, if they did it. But that's how things are. Sorry for the rant. Insomnia is a bitch .
Don't know who you are referring to but JC didn't win because he was necessarily the strongest or fastest... idgaf about the other 2 sports tho