Match Day 2 (pbp) - Portugal v. Spain- Sochi

See reference to rich, white kids. There are plenty of pickup games in certain minority communities, but those kids are being missed by our academy system.

 

No hay nada que defender, Ronaldo fue imparable este dia.

 

I would respectfully dispute that there are plenty... Ive worked with kids my whole professional life and have not seen this. Bit that is admittedly personal observation. What I see is basketball, football, and baseball, in that order, among all groups.

Here in Brooklyn kids wear CL team jerseys the way kids in rural towns wear MLB/NFL jerseys. It's weird.

 

Maybe something NYC related? I don't know? But my kid's school has three or four games going every recess and if you head out into Eastern Washington, the migrant farmer communities have games after school and on weekends.

 

I don't know about the US, but Mexico has been very good in the last 10-15 years at generating good young prospects (proof, how well they've done in youth international tournaments). The problem is that they have a very corrupt federation, the local coaches are years behind in the tactical department and more importantly, most of the teams in Liga MX don't want to develop the talent they produce (most young Mexicans that are getting first team reps) preferring to bring foreigners that most of the time are just not good or mediocre veterans and when one of those youngsters manage to get pass all those barriers and shows enough quality to bring Eouropean interest, most teams ask for way too much for any European team to pull the trigger, eventualky stagnating in Liga MX (and if one player decides to go behind the team's back or anything, teams collude to either not p,ay him nor sign him, in what is called Pacto de Caballeros).

 

Ok, so then we are perhaps getting into some very unpleasant territory where race is a factor in this. A guy like Michael Bradley gets a spot, entitled son of a coach as he is. That is exactly why I don't watch. Do Americans need white guys to play in order to care, or do we not grasp our diverse talent enough? Hard to say, esp here. Food for thought.

 

Lol. Naw. MLS teams flushing money into their academies.

 

No offense, but the WNBA is treated as a joke league. Here people follow NFL, NBA, MLB, in that order. The USWNT stands out as an anomaly but the gender divide in sports remains. Want to get laid? Go to a bar during a USWNT match and know any player other than Morgan, Solo, or Wambach. Just kidding, but yeah, Americans have to conquer race and sex hangups to care, i don't see it.

 

Race is absolutely a factor (see rich, white kid reference in my initial post). You’ve got the institutional racism that disproportionately locks minorities into the lower income brackets, the pay to play youth development model that locks lower income kids out of the developmental system, the lack of college soccer scholarships that, again, locks lower income kids out of college soccer, the abject racism that favors white coaches over better minority coaches and sends national team scouts to plumb the depths of European soccer for Euro-Americans, while ignoring the Mexican-Americans plying their trade in Liga MX.

 

Football, a rich White kid sport? In the US race has to make it's way into every conversation, just saying.

 

Good perspective.

But I think you focus on pay to play too much. The youth leagues definitely discriminate with fees, $90 for uniforms etc when they're supposed to be supporting underprivileged kids. You're solidly correct there, full stop.

But there's a difference between talent that needs coddling and talent that is premier level. We can support kids dreams, and also support world class players

 

Me too, American. Do you really think the WNBA is a major draw? Is it on in bars, do people discuss it at work? I'm not knocking it. But the US has its sports and no changing.

 

Yeah, two mods have wanted to talk so I let them. I thought the same thing.

 

I was just going to ask that lol

 

WNBA outdraws NWSL and gets similar tv ratings as MLS.. It’s definitely a niche sport?

 

Haha. Valid. I’ll stop now.