I was mostly referring to the major cities, yes. But I also think what you called "wild" is relative. Ever been in Colombia for even a qualifier win? Spain for the Euros? I had a SUV I was driving almost flipped over by a celebrating crowd in Tegucigalpa when Honduras beat Mexico in a qualifier. I've been thinking about this a lot recently because I am binge watching "The Missing."
We don't develop players good enough to excel in Spain/Italy for the most part, especially when you mostly have to be better than average to take up a non EU slot. I see no bias. Villarreal splashed big on Jozy and he flopped as he's not good enough. But AC Milan at one point were very interested in Dempsey. They also wanted Landon in 2013. But most every Italian or Spanish club would be more than happy to have Pulisic delivered to their doorstep. Why? Because he's good enough. I'd suggest the gap in quality Pulisic shows to the rest of our pool, which is massive, shows exactly what the problem is. From Pulisic himself: "A lot of people have asked me what’s it like being an American player in Europe. 'Do you have to earn more respect because you’re American?' But I don’t think it’s like that at all," Pulisic said. "I think if you’re good, you’re good. They don’t care where you’re from or anything like that. They might think it’s cool. Like, 'Wow there’s an American on our team.' It’s maybe not so common, but I don’t see it like that at all." Our YNT elite going to top leagues in waves suggests there's a fair amount of confidence in American youth. Is it anti-American bias keeping Jordan Morris out of Inter Milan's lineup or is it his horrendous left foot and lack of skill? I'll go with the latter.
But is that by choice or lack of interest or simply other reasoning? We've many players of Italian ancestry. We should have had greater numbers in Italy compared to say in the French league.
I'm part Italian, it was a great league to me growing up, it's still a good one, and it's one of the best countries to visit/live in to me (and a lot of people Italian or not), so hypothetically if I were in position to choose my league/country as a player, I might well have chosen Italy over all others, to my detriment. I was a flair attacker and they put an emphasis on playing organized there and winning at all costs/ugly. Also, as we're seeing they're not the most welcoming when it comes to football, and they put a heavy emphasis on veterans over youth. I think it's somewhat a two way street. They've deservedly developed a rep over time and not being welcoming means they won't be barking up as many trees here in the first place. I think when it comes to the passion of American futbol, it's behind all but a few to a man, but the country will certainly show up for the big comps. Maybe everybody isn't getting laid when we win a WC like in Italy, but there would be a ton of partying in the streets. You saw the scenes of people in droves during their work-days tensely watching Donovan score the game winner against Algeria and go nuts as a result. That was for a group stage game. The furthest we got in the modern era and the most inspiring we played happened to come in the middle of the night. You can't argue with US '94 still being the #1 attended WC by far, in spite of there being less games then. Those games had plenty of atmosphere. The U.S. games in Copa America did too. If Uruguay didn't feel the football, maybe their fans didn't travel well. That was even after a game against Mexico where their yahoos loaded the crowd. He was just using a hollow, go-to excuse like Klinsmann would about the culture when it was convenient to him, and that prejudice was always in the back of their minds and would come out when they got emotional. Individual American-developed players don't get fair treatment when confronted with others in the game like that. And it's unfortunate, because some do have the passion, which what they were supposed to want from us.
Second-hand heresay doesn't make a continent of anti American footballers and football clubs. "Many" players "purport"...not much for solid evidence. His fellow coaches "undermined him"? The bigger the paycheck and the pressure, the more SHAT rolls downhill. So what else is news? Skepticism, antagonism, disbelief and wait, racism....congratulations you have successfully passed Sociology 101: Victimhood A Primer. The Plucky Under Dog Theory of US Soccer Development; after the team Hug of course.
no U20 WC, is this a surprise? https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/05/09/usa-u20-world-cup-roster-tab-ramos-zelalem-klinsmann
copied from another thread: ======== Ramos also took aim at Fiorentina. "We had very little cooperation from Fiorentina," Ramos said, though he acknowledged a minor injury to Perez may have been a factor. "A player that we had pre-selected to come to the U-20 World Cup, except we haven't had an opportunity to see Josh with us, I think, in over a year now. He hasn't been released, and that's really difficult."
Scalera, an RB, is with the Nazionali but, tbf, his loan from Bari is ending in June. Of course, I have no way of knowing if others were called but not released. I also haven't found anything about other nationalities maybe getting a call up. Chiesa, as recently as last month, was expecting and expected to star with the squad. So at least we know Italian fans have woes of their own.
This happens ever cycle with European-based youngsters. Last cycle it was Horvath, Novakovich, etc. It doesn't really make sense, but some Euro clubs see little value in sending their players to "youth events."
So far they keep him to give him a run in the early-summer friendlies, that's fine. If it's just to sit him somewhere, then it's almost sabotage, e avrò un diavolo per capello, as the expression goes.
The goal: Josh @Joshua_Perez26 joins in the goal fest of a 12-1 @ACF_YouthSector romp. https://t.co/83uwDZ8X6O— Dallas Cup ⚽️ (@dallascup) May 13, 2017
Named to a top 20 list of U20 players in CONCACAF: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/features/concacaf-top-20-u-20-mens-players-rankings-15-11
Juventus up 1-0 in the second half, Fiorentina down to ten young men. (FIORENTINA IN DIECI! says ViolaChannel)