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World Cup Day 5 - SWI/CAM, URU/KOR, POR/GHA, BRA/SER


Captain Ron

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22 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

If you enjoy watching soccer played at its highest level with the best players and technical skill then those blowouts were a pleasure to watch. Spain’s midfield play was some of the best I have ever watched and England’s 2 deep would be a top 10 team in its own right. If you know what to watch for, a soccer blowout is far more enjoyable to watch IMO than a blowout in other sports.

Sure. And you saw the teams doing the blowing out early that you wanted to in Spain, France and England. Like watching Bama or Ohio state dismember someone in the non conference and say, yep, that’s what I was expecting let’s see what’s going on when they step up in competition. 

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1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It’s always been interesting to me to follow soccers popularity in the general zeitgeist of the United States. I grew up playing it on a shitty select team (back when there was only like 1 per city and you had to try out for it but it didn’t cost an arm and a leg financially) in Northern California and later coached it (girls) in high school so I’m not opposed/ignorant of it at all, but it’s probably my 5th favorite sport (behind big 3 and golf).  
 

People were predicting in the 70’s and 80’s it was going to take over the country eventually, and people were also shitting all over it and saying it wouldn’t ever be a thing.  Both those takes seem… wrong?  I get the feeling that its grown a lot in popularity and maybe has surpassed hockey in total interest here but nowhere near total interest of big 3 sports. I don’t know if, or when, it will ever actually challenge those sports for popularity but 100 years ago It was baseball, boxing and horse racing so shit obviously changes. I’d like to see the US be world class sometime before I die, and I suspect it would have to grow in popularity more to make that happen, but maybe not. 

 

1 hour ago, Macklemore said:

The World Cup has been averaging a 6 in the ratings which is about equal to the ratings for the NBA Finals. Soccer has arrived in this country 

 

1 hour ago, ztejas said:

The MLS is improving at a solid clip and there are two academies (Philly and Dallas) that aren't elite but are very relevant internationally. There are a few more that have had some really good players go through their system or have a lot of good prospects. 

The national team has its own issues that it needs to sort out that are rather independent of the popularity of the sport. Really until that happens we will have a hard ceiling below the true powers. We aren't very far away at all from not being at a talent disadvantage against most European and SA sides. 

 

53 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

The USA is finally building out the structure to compete. MLS isn’t challenging the nfl in national popularity or the EPL in talent, but that’s not what it’s for yet. It’s to have kids see a path to a career in soccer, to have local sports heroes to follow and emulate.  More and more American athletes will see soccer as just as viable a path as baseball, football, or basketball and some of those athletes will stick with soccer as their focus.  And the talent level will rise and rise, at the usmnt and mls rosters. 
 

we are at the point now where much of the national team plays in Europe, but they aren’t starters or stars. Need to develop a couple of those types, and have a bale or lewendowski, the types of players at all levels that the RMs and Manchester clubs covet. 

 

Has soccer "arrived"? I think in the end, that's the wrong thing to look at, consider, ask. Because that makes it seem like we're going to all wake up one day and be giant soccer fans. And that is a really simplistic way to look at it. And not realistic.

Soccer, like any other sport, was going to need to organically grow its popularity naturally, and it has. It's grown from low viewership in 1990 to what we get today. It's no accident the money that is spent by ESPN and Fox to broadcast these games. Our most popular game (the 2014 USA-Ghana match) outdrew all but 1 game of that year's NBA Finals (Spurs-Heat), the Stanley Cup and a bunch of other large events.

So many make it out to be an either/or event when it comes to sports and it doesn't have to be. Soccer fans can be basketball, baseball and football fans too. It's not like you can only like 1 sport.

Soccer is growing in US popularity and it's in good shape.

 

Edited by Captain Ron
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My main man Salisu got jobbed there. As a defender you wonder what can you do. Just not defend?

intersstingly there are 8 CBs in the World Cup that have played for little ole Southampton. 
 

Salisu, Bella-Kotcha, Yoshida, Caceres, Van Dijk, Lovren, Alderwiereld, Bednarek.

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