In footballized countries, football is considered more like an art craft, than a sport played by athletes. Hit hard the ball is not considered cooler than having the ability to pass through 4 defenders. For us is more like a dance, that must be played beautifully, in the train to reach the opponent net. It can inspire poetry, by passion. That´s the part not easy to understood by USA people, not the rules and strategy.
Yeah... and some others like germany look at the game and say: "We need to put this ball into the net and we need to stop them from putting it in our net and we will do this in every way we can and we will train ourselfes to do every movemnt on and off the ball to be just perfectly able to do that. Not one step too much, that would be a waste of energy and not one step less than needed. German efficiency." Both approaches can lead to glory, but america needs to find its own style, its own rythm and win with it.
Another issue is soccer is a great source for money, fame, and power for many countries outside the US. In the US it's better to chase the money, fame, and power most people seek going the basketball, football, or baseball route.
@@jakemiller270 I don't agree. If the US actually produce a genuine world class outfield player and not a overhyped player like Pulisic, they will be worth double the money of Lebron James.
I'm glad someone countered Lalas's ignorant and delusional comments on American Soccer. Lalas was bringing up old shit that happened 7 year to two decades ago like it have relevance. Dude, bye.
What FCKING counter? Our kids should be poorer? Stfu, Whitlock knows jack about soccer, anyone who has watched any us game v a top team in an official comp pre klinsy and post 2000 can tell you that losing 4-0 at home is inexcusable
It was against FIFA ranking #1 Argentina. The USMNT is not special. I did not know playing at home gives us the super power to not loss bad against the best ranked FIFA team with the best ranked player on THAT team. I bet Brazil wish they had that super power back in 2014 when they faced Germany. I bet South Africa had that super power to not loss bad in 2010. Home field advantage is bull shit. As a Pastry Chef, if I enter into a competition against a foreign Pastry Chef in this country, I do not expect bull shit home advantage magic make me not TO bad against Belgium's best. Plus, US Soccer only being affordably for upper middle class youths is an issue. Most if not all countries do not have that issue.
CyberHamsterMartian you realize before klinsy our last three coaches never lost to a top 1 teamin an off. comp by more than one? you realize that we were outpowerformed vs argentina by fcking VENEZUELA? Have you watched as single mnt game pre klinsy?
You do realize that was six years ago and our best finisher retired. You should also realize most of our good players are in their 30's. Bradley and Altidore are not the same players they were back in 2010. The new generation show promise, but most are not even trying to out perform the 30+ year olds to replace them.
CyberHamsterMartian you realize altidore sucked big time in 2010 and that his inability to finish cost us wins vs ghana and englanbd? you realize this team is more talented than the 2010 one?. You realize thatany manager with a brain would play the dude playing with dortmund over zusi? and that its common sense that wondo doesn't have the speed to do squat vs argeintina/ you realize playing beckerman over nagme is dumb as hell when nagbe made all his passes v argentina and did twice as much i about half the time?
Soccer is also hard to play because they're not taking time outs every 50 seconds. Its a sport that requires some individual quick thinking. THe coach can only hold your hand through so much. It's one of the few sports where you can be slow as hell (Pirlo), a tiny midget (Messi), but still be studly because they're smart, they're creative, they're skillful, they understand the game. Teamwise, if you know how to move off the ball and get involved, that's a good team. The weak teams play one at a time, and that's easy to defend.
As an European who likes American sports a lot, I am always intrigued by the potential of the USA in soccer. But imo most Americans (in this case Whitlock) dont understand how to get better. Whitlock is emphasizing the mentality and drive way too much. The USMNT is already known for their great mentality/attitude (in Holland atleast). The things that you guys are lacking (imo) are al-around skill and tactical awareness. The way to improve those things is starting from a very early age. In Europe, kids start playing organized soccer around age 6 and when they prove to be really good they are enrolled in an acadamy of a professional team around age 9. This ensures that coaches have years to mold these kids into good players that possess a lot of skill and have an excellent understanding of how the game should be played. Just saying that you can fix it by wanting it more is way to short sighted and I think that those thoughts originate from the fact that most of the American Sports rely heavily on Athleticism and beating fatigue while being proficient in soccer almost exclusively comes down to ball skills.
pazzinho3, I think that his point is not coming across very well. I was born and raised in Wiesbaden Germany, when I left my house at 630am during the summer, there was already futbol (soccer) games going on, there were 3 on 3's full matches kids kicking a ball over a tennis net, kids kicking balls off of the side of buildings. The day after we lost to the Italians (their keeper was extrodinary during that match....it was a day of mourning for the entire Nation. What I mean by all of this is that passion comes from the bottom up. It is created when those who have the less, give the most. It becomes part of the entire Nations DNA, when I got to the United States in 1985 and was told that my High School was defending 3A Soccer Champions (3A was the largest sports affiliation in VA at that time) and found out that was just for the State of VA and only for that particular group setting, I was shocked at the amount of pride they took in that. I was shocked at the product that I saw on the field and I was shocked at the conditioning and coaching that occured. Moving back to the States destroyed my love of playing and pushed me into Basketball and Football. Long winded sorry, but what Whitlock is talking about is that desire and ability to wake up and go outside your door and find a game, so that eveyday you can work on things, so that it becomes second nature, so that it becomes a part of who you are, to the point were the ball becomes a part of you. like baseball back in the day or Basketball and Football today
pazzhinho, you make a good point, but I kidna wonder whether the secret isn't about unorganized or impromptu soccer, and how that led the South Americans and especially the Brazilians to be so good without all of the capital involved.
Colin and Whitlock are making good points. Touching on Whitlock point We already have the poorer communities invested in soccer. But here in the USA if you don't play college soccer well you don't make it to the pros. There are many players who are better than mls players but won't get there because they didn't go through the college ranks. They need to go to the poorer areas , go to the semi pro leagues there are players who are skilled who won't ever get a break. Sad but true
thats not entirely true about college and pro sports. For example, kobe never played college basketball but he still became a pro, but the thing is is that soccer isn't really meant to be a college sport, especially with the little development they receive, hell an academy player can outclass a college player. But some college soccer players like jordan morris and jack harrison are an exception, but harrison is a little more talented because he used to be a Man U academy product. The point is, it's that our American players, if they wanna succeed in soccer, should bypass College soccer and try and become a pro right away
trak 06 if we wanna get better, eliminate the pay to play system that limits the promising talent we could have on our NT, and get kids of younger age to join whichever academy they wanna go to, whether it's MLS, la liga, bundesliga etc, to help them start going pro at a much younger age, but the MLS does need to improve it's academies
+Christian Astorga exactly. But you know its a business here in the states. So they have to start a new system in which it will allow what you mentioned.
trak 06 well for now we will have to rely on our damn systems that aren't even connected just to get players playing for the NT, but with players like pulisic playing for borussia dortmund, the new generation is looking good so far
Andrew Hernandez honestly I don't understand why people say poor people play better than not so poor, it all comes down to work rates and how much a kid practices at the sport
how much they are willing to work comes down to drive and hunger means ppl who never miss a meal are less likely to express this determination especially for this sport that demands so much effort.
Alexi chose Argentina to win and it wasn't because of patriotism? Argentina have the best player in the world and arguably the best national team on paper. Who do the US have? The best MLS players?
I'm stunned as a soccer fan to see that Jason Whitlock (the layman) is schooling Lalas (the specialist) in such an easy subject. It's not a question of dedication or toughness, it's technique, skill and collective quality. It's not a drama, you're just a second tier country in the sport, that is rising over the time.
The issue Whitlock fails to mention is the safety net in American competition. There are so many institutions and accreditations that an American athlete has to go through in order to compete. The safe goal of a scholarship or professional pension or recognized All-Star appearance are more important than taking control of your career. Nobody told Pulisic how to make. Unlike many kids, Pulisic was attacking without checking with the coach or waiting for Lalas to put him in his top 25 recruits at Duke. American suburb kids are hesitant to throw themselves in as professionals. They wait for approval and direction instead of testing themselves abroad in the gauntlet of football. The problem is not whether we can produce a Messi but that we are anti-Messi. Our 15 year olds are told to wait their turn and participate like everybody else instead of making an impact on their career and pushing older folks out of their spot. Street kids live and die by reputation on the sports field. STREET CRED is real in football and basketball and is missing in soccer. Soccer players seem to hide behind their clubs and pay for play like it is suburban country club game. Klinsmann need gutsy players that go abroad, into the street and get in with rest of the world and make an impression there. Americans rather pump weights and build domestic barriers to protect their kids than throw people into the deep end. There the strongest survive, sports should be the great equalizer rather than pay for play.
All over the world kids aged from 6to 14y or older, would get out of school, invade a street portion or an empty field/parking lot throw a pair of school bags on each side to mark the goals and just play football 3v3 or 5v5...thats how you learn the basic skills and develop your talent , not by going with mom and dad to any sort of expansive soccer academy, it wont work that way. Look at basketball, most skilled players in the USA learned the game hooping in the neighberhood or in their back-yard basket with friends.
We can't be fooled thinking that a league that has no promoting and descending system can be considered a top competitive league in the world. There is no way college kids can become world class players in enough quantity to form consecutive winning teams. The secondary leagues will force teams to pickup players and form a base for the future. That's the problem...MLS clubs and players have no concept of battling all season not only for the win but also for not loose. Loosing has consequences and not everyone takes a medal home. We can't even beat the Central America clubs for the club World Cup finals every December in Japan and this year I believe in Saudi Arabia. American coaches such as Bruce Arena are not a world class coaches they are outdated and whoever is deciding the future of the USA football has no knowledge on how to create a winning league.
Om my... I didn't know... Now I understand Lalas... He's been wayyy out for a long time ago... How come a journalist who doesn't even know soccer that well, can make a better diagnosis of the situation than a man who played in Europe, who lived of soccer all of his entire adult life??! Oh my....
Other countries passion for the sport doesn't nearly compare to how people see soccer in the u.s and to Whitlock credit who in their right mindset would predict argentina to lose to a u.s team that is nonsense lol
There's a lot that goes into being a professional soccer player, soccer is the most difficult field sport to master. Unlike Basketball, baseball or American Football where players use hands which are more accustomed to handling things, soccer is played using feet, which makes soccer the most skillful field sport in existence, its no wonder that out of the 2.65 Billion people who play soccer worldwide, only a handful make it as professional soccer players.
a lot of football (soccer) comes down to how much of it you were exposed to while growing up and i mean like 2+ yo, as soon as the baby can walk its such a highly technical sport that a players technical foundation has to be built up in their childhood (dribbling, first touch, passing, tackling, heading, shooting, crossing), to miss that early childhood development gap means that person cannot be an elite player the likes of which we have roaming around the top european clubs right now to achieve this in america one has to get soccer to be popular among a decent demographic of american kids, couple that with good grassroots soccer and in 20 years you might see some results as is players cant compete because their technical foundation simply cant matchup to those elite players from the footballing nations, couple that with the better game sense that players would have if they had been playing organised football matches from the age of 4 and then we can talk about elite soccer prospects in america real talk though that boy pulisic is a talent, exporting nationals to get coaching in footballing nations is another alternative, the clubs dont care where the boy is from they just want the next star player
Whitlock is correct just outside of USA football(Soccer) best players ever Ronaldinho,C.Ronaldo,Messi,Ronaldo,Rooney,Beckham,Pele & Maradonna etc... what they all have in come is they all learnt the game on the street, It don't need to be attractive but available to them.
Whitlock makes a valid point about soccer being more difficult than a lot of sports, but then goes against that saying that we need players with more "drive" and "toughness" to be successful. What the U.S. needs is more technically skilled players. We already get by more than we should need to with guile and drive. We need more players who have world class technical ability. You get that by continuing to work on the youth system in our country. In Europe, a talented kid will be put in an academy and basically be brought up as a professional soccer player. In the U.S., that same kid would play for their local club a few days a week in the summer and then for their high school team for 2-3 months in the fall. When the U.S. gets serious (and I realize they are starting to) about youth development, you will see improvement up top. Also consider that 90% of young kids in Europe and Latin America who dream of being a pro athlete are focused on soccer. American kids want to be in the NBA or NFL. The sheer number of kids who actually want to get serious about a soccer career is not as high. That's where Lalas made a valid point about making soccer attractive to kids in the US, and with the growth of MLS, I think that is at least trending in the right direction.
Obviously getting the poorer classes to play will help simply because it vastly increases the talent pool by huge proportions because the big majority of most populations are poor but if it was simply just a poverty = great players argument then how come Germany are the current world champions with many of their players from middle and upper middle class families. There are many players from poor backgrounds, after all the chronically poor do make up over 80% of the population but if Whitlock's argument was right then how come great players like Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Gianluca Vialli, Gerard Pique, Diego Forlan, Robin Van Persie, Sergio Busquets, Marcelo Bielsa, Mario Goze, Michael Ballack, and Oliver Bierhof all come from very wealthy backgrounds. Talent needs to be discovered and the US will get a great team when the sport is played by every demographic and they see money and fame at the end if they are successful at it and the avenues to get to the top are open and continuous from a young age all the way to adulthood.
I agree with whitlock, the poor player is always the better athlete because they are chasing that pipe dream. you will never get that from mid-class or rich kids. very few great players come from the well to do, the drive isn't there and they have other avenues to success that they can see. US soccer needs to stop wasting time recruiting from elite leagues and start looking in the lower class neighborhoods at pick up games like they do in Latin America, following the rumors of a player and MLS needs to stop importing washed up players and develop the youth in-house in their own academies and not let them waste precious years in college soccer which is a terrible product.
I don't know. Germany has very good players and many of them came from the middle class. The thing is, you need a big culture. If every boy - the social class doesn't matter - playes after school football and every boy wants to be a football star, you get a massive pool of potential talents. If you do it like FC Bayern München or the (not really successfull OFC) you can support the stars of tomorrow.
Having the drive to win has nothing to do with suffering as a kid. It's the passion and the love for the game. Just look at some of the great European teams we have seen. Not all of them grew a in poverty, but many of them were great footballers. You have to love this game and if you're blessed to be talented enough to play it at a top level, then football needs always be be your first priority.
America winning the World Cup, with its degree of condescension towards the sport [Football], would be sad. Respect it first; it's perhaps the greatest sport on the planet, and certainly the most ubiquitous. Vive la futbol!
@2:10...the Brazilian team- with your working class heroes- were just lambasted for being soft during AND after their 7-1 loss to Germany. They were criticized for crying, saying that in years past a Brazilian team wouldn't DARE do that...
On Alexis point, the USA has done things back in the day. But in all those times we have had a really good central midfielder who has been from a Latino background. Hugo Perez, tab Ramos , Claudio Reyna. Etc. we are missing that now a player with vision and creativity. @whitlock
America understands most sport through school not through its wider culture. Baseball is the exception to this, very much a grass roots game in the US. Football in the US is part of a curriculum not part of life.
I remember that Argentina game and our defense was inexcusable. Our team needs to live and die for the sport which they currently don't do. They should live it like basketball does in America. I think Whitlock is right. Kids who play to survive will face adversity better than fight harder in many cases. The entitled kids don't play with the same desire.
90% of the greatest players in history came from poverty or poor working class, from brazilian favelas, argentinian suburbs etc. Pay for play system excludes biggest talents in US, especialy from poor immigrant communities, latin america communities. That is why American scouting system is failing, this is business to make money. Playing must be free, clubs got to have youth schools and academies. Lave the stupid drafts ideas, make free transfer market in America, let the clubs produce youth players and let them make money from selling them. The other thing is non competitive MLS, some bettere teams comete about titles but the most of the league plays friendly matches all the season. You need good relegation system to make MLS competitive.
I have to counter Jason Whitlock. Argentina didn't get through the tough tackles because they are mentally stronger they overcame because they identified quickly that you weren't applying the defensive principles as other teams would. Playing physical in soccer doesn't equate to a team that can keep their shape and knows when to engage physically. Messi routinely comes up against a defense that frustrates him when they play Atletico Madrid and thatsbhow you should apply defense.
Great Alexis, finally someone has the courage to tell this bunch of old players and Bruce Arena, what we feel about them, shame on them, they have the best trainers, fields, counselors, make millions and they play a mediocre game, Alexis you were short on Gulati and their marajas, they should be fired.
The truth is USA soccer is playing catch up to the elite soccer team internationally. USA have to build the soccer culture up, soccer camps starting at a young age and promote in the inner city and other communities besides the burb.
The motivation for the game really is a huge issue, in the US it just is played primarily by rich or at least middle class white people that just don't have to fight as hard and simply don't suffer as much as others. Outside of the US In the slums, favelas and townships of the world it's the only way to forget about all the crime and violence and injustice there is and the only way to get out of there, there are a lot of people with that attitude trying to get out of there miserable life condititions by making money in sports in the US, but they just don't play soccer/football. As a middle class german, you don't have to get out, because life is good. It's weird in germany, I think it's one of the only ways to Display national pride as german and when you're a Boy in germany you just play football, you don't think about why. It's just the one thing everyone does and because of that the best way to compare yourself to others.
To make soccer attractive to Americans you would need to make it 5 a side....and get rid of the goal keeper so there are more goals and they can keep concentrating.....and make it 3 goals for a shot from outside the 5 yard area......make it a lot more like basketball...Americans don't like low scoring games......that is why basketball has a shot clock....... Anyway it was silly to expect the US to beat Argentina, world cup finalists with the best player on the planet, you need a lot more than what they had to be beating Argentina and all the upsets Lalas mentions are freak accidents that are the result of soccer being such a low scoring game, those upsets are why we love it, and wouldn't happen on a regular day like this game was
can you teach passion???? in Brazil or Argentina (Latin America as a whole) all you need is a ball, you play in the street, US Soccer should hire Belgian execs who changed the culture now Belgium is a powerhouse
Lalas is right the us has played better I mean they made it to a concacaf cup final and were beating Brazil at the half. The u.s had been playing soccer for like 103 years they should be better by now . This cup was a failure .
Football, that's the real name is actually the simplest game you can ever find. Much simpler than american football!! Yes it's tough you have to run. The reason US sucks is cause everywhere else football is a street game!! In US instead of people playing on the street 5 a side in US kids wait to play on a perfect pitch this pay for play is what kills your chances USA.
do you even know how messi got into soccer and where he raised? if you know, you wouldn't be surprised. and if you don't, you're probably don't understand what you're saying.
Guys, guys, guys stop, stop n stop. The thing is that all sports r highly closely related. If u can play one sports, u can do it all I said. I'm doing it till this day, common.
Mr. Lalas can't face the truth. The host is correct. By refusing to accept constructive criticism is the Achilles of the American citizens. The truth is very devastating. They have not achieved credible ability in the Fifa football realm. They attract retired European footballers like Beckham in their MLS . It's the retirement home for the soccer players to make more wealth in their twilight years.
until the US builds REAL academies, where kids choose soccer at age 11 or 12, leave home, and play soccer 24/7 (train 2x a day 5 days a week under top coaches and have tutors for schoolwork 2 hrs a day - ie, school takes a backseat to soccer), the US WILL NEVER REALLY COMPETE W/THE WORLD ELITE TEAMS. this what other countries do. England, Germany, Spain, etc etc etc. academies. kids can choose soccer at a young age over 'school'. then what happens? u produce generation after generation of top level players - precisely BECAUSE THEY HAVE CHOSEN SOCCER EXCLUSIVEY AT A YOUNG AGE. THATS ALL THEY WOULD KNOW AND CARE ABOUT. now, kids choose between school work, baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, dance, spanish etc etc... no focus whats so ever. we have no soccer culture in America. none. we can make a million and one changes to our system, but until we have A REAL academy system, we will be second rate. period.
U.S have sharp players but those players need to come out n reeducate wanabees to play better. U can pick up second Messi from streets, high schools, colleges, galaries n that's how to distribute insiders to figure out hidden superstars.
stop trying to emulate european football, specially english premier league, embrace the southamerican pasion that the majority of your football fans have.
The US women are only good because they had 50 year head start on the rest world because no one outside the US cared about women's soccer. Other nations only started caring about women's soccer in the last 4 years and you can clearly see they will surpass the US team in the next 5 years.
In footballized countries, football is considered more like an art craft, than a sport played by athletes. Hit hard the ball is not considered cooler than having the ability to pass through 4 defenders. For us is more like a dance, that must be played beautifully, in the train to reach the opponent net. It can inspire poetry, by passion.
That´s the part not easy to understood by USA people, not the rules and strategy.
Yeah... and some others like germany look at the game and say: "We need to put this ball into the net and we need to stop them from putting it in our net and we will do this in every way we can and we will train ourselfes to do every movemnt on and off the ball to be just perfectly able to do that. Not one step too much, that would be a waste of energy and not one step less than needed. German efficiency." Both approaches can lead to glory, but america needs to find its own style, its own rythm and win with it.
Another issue is soccer is a great source for money, fame, and power for many countries outside the US. In the US it's better to chase the money, fame, and power most people seek going the basketball, football, or baseball route.
Amen!!
@@jakemiller270 I don't agree. If the US actually produce a genuine world class outfield player and not a overhyped player like Pulisic, they will be worth double the money of Lebron James.
Alexis Lalas you're delusional, you picked the U.S. to beat Argentina?! That's just ridiculous.
K. Impact I
Argentina being mentioned in the same breath as the US in soccer is complete blasphemy
I'm glad someone countered Lalas's ignorant and delusional comments on American Soccer. Lalas was bringing up old shit that happened 7 year to two decades ago like it have relevance. Dude, bye.
What FCKING counter? Our kids should be poorer? Stfu, Whitlock knows jack about soccer, anyone who has watched any us game v a top team in an official comp pre klinsy and post 2000 can tell you that losing 4-0 at home is inexcusable
It was against FIFA ranking #1 Argentina. The USMNT is not special. I did not know playing at home gives us the super power to not loss bad against the best ranked FIFA team with the best ranked player on THAT team. I bet Brazil wish they had that super power back in 2014 when they faced Germany. I bet South Africa had that super power to not loss bad in 2010. Home field advantage is bull shit. As a Pastry Chef, if I enter into a competition against a foreign Pastry Chef in this country, I do not expect bull shit home advantage magic make me not TO bad against Belgium's best.
Plus, US Soccer only being affordably for upper middle class youths is an issue. Most if not all countries do not have that issue.
CyberHamsterMartian you realize before klinsy our last three coaches never lost to a top 1 teamin an off. comp by more than one? you realize that we were outpowerformed vs argentina by fcking VENEZUELA?
Have you watched as single mnt game pre klinsy?
You do realize that was six years ago and our best finisher retired. You should also realize most of our good players are in their 30's. Bradley and Altidore are not the same players they were back in 2010. The new generation show promise, but most are not even trying to out perform the 30+ year olds to replace them.
CyberHamsterMartian you realize altidore sucked big time in 2010 and that his inability to finish cost us wins vs ghana and englanbd? you realize this team is more talented than the 2010 one?. You realize thatany manager with a brain would play the dude playing with dortmund over zusi? and that its common sense that wondo doesn't have the speed to do squat vs argeintina/ you realize playing beckerman over nagme is dumb as hell when nagbe made all his passes v argentina and did twice as much i about half the time?
Soccer is also hard to play because they're not taking time outs every 50 seconds. Its a sport that requires some individual quick thinking. THe coach can only hold your hand through so much. It's one of the few sports where you can be slow as hell (Pirlo), a tiny midget (Messi), but still be studly because they're smart, they're creative, they're skillful, they understand the game. Teamwise, if you know how to move off the ball and get involved, that's a good team. The weak teams play one at a time, and that's easy to defend.
sthanad20 Lol messi is one of the fastest movers with the ball on his feet.
And the very best in speed dribbling.
As an European who likes American sports a lot, I am always intrigued by the potential of the USA in soccer. But imo most Americans (in this case Whitlock) dont understand how to get better. Whitlock is emphasizing the mentality and drive way too much. The USMNT is already known for their great mentality/attitude (in Holland atleast). The things that you guys are lacking (imo) are al-around skill and tactical awareness. The way to improve those things is starting from a very early age. In Europe, kids start playing organized soccer around age 6 and when they prove to be really good they are enrolled in an acadamy of a professional team around age 9. This ensures that coaches have years to mold these kids into good players that possess a lot of skill and have an excellent understanding of how the game should be played. Just saying that you can fix it by wanting it more is way to short sighted and I think that those thoughts originate from the fact that most of the American Sports rely heavily on Athleticism and beating fatigue while being proficient in soccer almost exclusively comes down to ball skills.
And a good coach
pazzinho3, I think that his point is not coming across very well. I was born and raised in Wiesbaden Germany, when I left my house at 630am during the summer, there was already futbol (soccer) games going on, there were 3 on 3's full matches kids kicking a ball over a tennis net, kids kicking balls off of the side of buildings. The day after we lost to the Italians (their keeper was extrodinary during that match....it was a day of mourning for the entire Nation. What I mean by all of this is that passion comes from the bottom up. It is created when those who have the less, give the most. It becomes part of the entire Nations DNA, when I got to the United States in 1985 and was told that my High School was defending 3A Soccer Champions (3A was the largest sports affiliation in VA at that time) and found out that was just for the State of VA and only for that particular group setting, I was shocked at the amount of pride they took in that. I was shocked at the product that I saw on the field and I was shocked at the conditioning and coaching that occured. Moving back to the States destroyed my love of playing and pushed me into Basketball and Football. Long winded sorry, but what Whitlock is talking about is that desire and ability to wake up and go outside your door and find a game, so that eveyday you can work on things, so that it becomes second nature, so that it becomes a part of who you are, to the point were the ball becomes a part of you. like baseball back in the day or Basketball and Football today
pazzhinho, you make a good point, but I kidna wonder whether the secret isn't about unorganized or impromptu soccer, and how that led the South Americans and especially the Brazilians to be so good without all of the capital involved.
The man's right. Passion comes from pain
I really like Whitlocks argument, he's pretty much saying we lack players with more passion and I agree
to be fair to us team, HOW CAN U EXPECT TO WIN AGAINST ARGENTINA FOR FUCK SAKE !
David William The US thinks they should be #1 at everything.
fetusima O 1. Training harder. 2 push harder. 3. Building from the streets aka the hood at a young age.
Colin and Whitlock are making good points. Touching on Whitlock point We already have the poorer communities invested in soccer. But here in the USA if you don't play college soccer well you don't make it to the pros. There are many players who are better than mls players but won't get there because they didn't go through the college ranks. They need to go to the poorer areas , go to the semi pro leagues there are players who are skilled who won't ever get a break. Sad but true
thats not entirely true about college and pro sports. For example, kobe never played college basketball but he still became a pro, but the thing is is that soccer isn't really meant to be a college sport, especially with the little development they receive, hell an academy player can outclass a college player. But some college soccer players like jordan morris and jack harrison are an exception, but harrison is a little more talented because he used to be a Man U academy product. The point is, it's that our American players, if they wanna succeed in soccer, should bypass College soccer and try and become a pro right away
+Christian Astorga that's what I said college soccer is hindering us more than improving us. For every other sport it helps
but for soccer it doesn't.
trak 06 if we wanna get better, eliminate the pay to play system that limits the promising talent we could have on our NT, and get kids of younger age to join whichever academy they wanna go to, whether it's MLS, la liga, bundesliga etc, to help them start going pro at a much younger age, but the MLS does need to improve it's academies
+Christian Astorga exactly. But you know its a business here in the states. So they have to start a new system in which it will allow what you mentioned.
trak 06 well for now we will have to rely on our damn systems that aren't even connected just to get players playing for the NT, but with players like pulisic playing for borussia dortmund, the new generation is looking good so far
I agree 100 percent with Whitlock and he's not even the soccer expert.
it's not that poor kids are better, it's that the country doesn't give poor people a chance
Andrew Hernandez honestly I don't understand why people say poor people play better than not so poor, it all comes down to work rates and how much a kid practices at the sport
how much they are willing to work comes down to drive and hunger means ppl who never miss a meal are less likely to express this determination especially for this sport that demands so much effort.
Alexi chose Argentina to win and it wasn't because of patriotism? Argentina have the best player in the world and arguably the best national team on paper. Who do the US have? The best MLS players?
I'm stunned as a soccer fan to see that Jason Whitlock (the layman) is schooling Lalas (the specialist) in such an easy subject. It's not a question of dedication or toughness, it's technique, skill and collective quality. It's not a drama, you're just a second tier country in the sport, that is rising over the time.
The issue Whitlock fails to mention is the safety net in American competition. There are so many institutions and accreditations that an American athlete has to go through in order to compete. The safe goal of a scholarship or professional pension or recognized All-Star appearance are more important than taking control of your career.
Nobody told Pulisic how to make. Unlike many kids, Pulisic was attacking without checking with the coach or waiting for Lalas to put him in his top 25 recruits at Duke.
American suburb kids are hesitant to throw themselves in as professionals. They wait for approval and direction instead of testing themselves abroad in the gauntlet of football. The problem is not whether we can produce a Messi but that we are anti-Messi. Our 15 year olds are told to wait their turn and participate like everybody else instead of making an impact on their career and pushing older folks out of their spot.
Street kids live and die by reputation on the sports field. STREET CRED is real in football and basketball and is missing in soccer. Soccer players seem to hide behind their clubs and pay for play like it is suburban country club game. Klinsmann need gutsy players that go abroad, into the street and get in with rest of the world and make an impression there.
Americans rather pump weights and build domestic barriers to protect their kids than throw people into the deep end. There the strongest survive, sports should be the great equalizer rather than pay for play.
All over the world kids aged from 6to 14y or older, would get out of school, invade a street portion or an empty field/parking lot throw a pair of school bags on each side to mark the goals and just play football 3v3 or 5v5...thats how you learn the basic skills and develop your talent , not by going with mom and dad to any sort of expansive soccer academy, it wont work that way.
Look at basketball, most skilled players in the USA learned the game hooping in the neighberhood or in their back-yard basket with friends.
america is obssessed with athletism, this sporting culture isn't condusive to suceeding in skill based sports. This is why England sucks also.
Alexis Lalas criticizing Klinsmann? OMG
We can't be fooled thinking that a league that has no promoting and descending system can be considered a top competitive league in the world.
There is no way college kids can become world class players in enough quantity to form consecutive winning teams.
The secondary leagues will force teams to pickup players and form a base for the future.
That's the problem...MLS clubs and players have no concept of battling all season not only for the win but also for not loose.
Loosing has consequences and not everyone takes a medal home.
We can't even beat the Central America clubs for the club World Cup finals every December in Japan and this year I believe in Saudi Arabia.
American coaches such as Bruce Arena are not a world class coaches they are outdated and whoever is deciding the future of the USA football has no knowledge on how to create a winning league.
Om my... I didn't know... Now I understand Lalas... He's been wayyy out for a long time ago... How come a journalist who doesn't even know soccer that well, can make a better diagnosis of the situation than a man who played in Europe, who lived of soccer all of his entire adult life??! Oh my....
Other countries passion for the sport doesn't nearly compare to how people see soccer in the u.s and to Whitlock credit who in their right mindset would predict argentina to lose to a u.s team that is nonsense lol
There's a lot that goes into being a professional soccer player, soccer is the most difficult field sport to master. Unlike Basketball, baseball or American Football where players use hands which are more accustomed to handling things, soccer is played using feet, which makes soccer the most skillful field sport in existence, its no wonder that out of the 2.65 Billion people who play soccer worldwide, only a handful make it as professional soccer players.
I love these US soccer talks!
a lot of football (soccer) comes down to how much of it you were exposed to while growing up
and i mean like 2+ yo, as soon as the baby can walk
its such a highly technical sport that a players technical foundation has to be built up in their childhood (dribbling, first touch, passing, tackling, heading, shooting, crossing), to miss that early childhood development gap means that person cannot be an elite player the likes of which we have roaming around the top european clubs right now
to achieve this in america one has to get soccer to be popular among a decent demographic of american kids, couple that with good grassroots soccer and in 20 years you might see some results
as is players cant compete because their technical foundation simply cant matchup to those elite players from the footballing nations, couple that with the better game sense that players would have if they had been playing organised football matches from the age of 4 and then we can talk about elite soccer prospects in america
real talk though that boy pulisic is a talent, exporting nationals to get coaching in footballing nations is another alternative, the clubs dont care where the boy is from they just want the next star player
Whitlock is correct just outside of USA football(Soccer) best players ever Ronaldinho,C.Ronaldo,Messi,Ronaldo,Rooney,Beckham,Pele & Maradonna etc... what they all have in come is they all learnt the game on the street, It don't need to be attractive but available to them.
.. err ...
Ball - check
Street - check
Sweatshirts for goalposts - check
Game of football - check
ANYONE can play this game.
but you won't play if its not apart of your culture all those guys football is in the countries dna. Basketball in the U.S is the same.
Lol Beckham isn’t an all time great, and he wasn’t poor he grew up in one of the wealthiest countries in Europe
smh USA jus don't get it.
Whitlock makes a valid point about soccer being more difficult than a lot of sports, but then goes against that saying that we need players with more "drive" and "toughness" to be successful.
What the U.S. needs is more technically skilled players. We already get by more than we should need to with guile and drive. We need more players who have world class technical ability.
You get that by continuing to work on the youth system in our country. In Europe, a talented kid will be put in an academy and basically be brought up as a professional soccer player. In the U.S., that same kid would play for their local club a few days a week in the summer and then for their high school team for 2-3 months in the fall.
When the U.S. gets serious (and I realize they are starting to) about youth development, you will see improvement up top.
Also consider that 90% of young kids in Europe and Latin America who dream of being a pro athlete are focused on soccer. American kids want to be in the NBA or NFL. The sheer number of kids who actually want to get serious about a soccer career is not as high. That's where Lalas made a valid point about making soccer attractive to kids in the US, and with the growth of MLS, I think that is at least trending in the right direction.
Obviously getting the poorer classes to play will help simply because it vastly increases the talent pool by huge proportions because the big majority of most populations are poor but if it was simply just a poverty = great players argument then how come Germany are the current world champions with many of their players from middle and upper middle class families. There are many players from poor backgrounds, after all the chronically poor do make up over 80% of the population but if Whitlock's argument was right then how come great players like Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Gianluca Vialli, Gerard Pique, Diego Forlan, Robin Van Persie, Sergio Busquets, Marcelo Bielsa, Mario Goze, Michael Ballack, and Oliver Bierhof all come from very wealthy backgrounds. Talent needs to be discovered and the US will get a great team when the sport is played by every demographic and they see money and fame at the end if they are successful at it and the avenues to get to the top are open and continuous from a young age all the way to adulthood.
And let the passion go into the streets. Cars burning in the streets
I agree with whitlock, the poor player is always the better athlete because they are chasing that pipe dream. you will never get that from mid-class or rich kids. very few great players come from the well to do, the drive isn't there and they have other avenues to success that they can see. US soccer needs to stop wasting time recruiting from elite leagues and start looking in the lower class neighborhoods at pick up games like they do in Latin America, following the rumors of a player and MLS needs to stop importing washed up players and develop the youth in-house in their own academies and not let them waste precious years in college soccer which is a terrible product.
I don't know. Germany has very good players and many of them came from the middle class. The thing is, you need a big culture. If every boy - the social class doesn't matter - playes after school football and every boy wants to be a football star, you get a massive pool of potential talents. If you do it like FC Bayern München or the (not really successfull OFC) you can support the stars of tomorrow.
spain england italy France* also :)
Alexi doesn't understand what he is talking about because he was to busy getting dropped off at his boy scout school by his daddy in a Bentley
us beat brazil in gold cup ? really ??
Messi wasn't a poor kid.
jer pon yes he was he played football with coconuts lmao
LALAS & DONOVAN, WE HEAT YOU!
Whitlock knows nothing , yet is talking more sense then self proclamined soccer expert analyst Alexis Lalas
Having the drive to win has nothing to do with suffering as a kid. It's the passion and the love for the game. Just look at some of the great European teams we have seen. Not all of them grew a in poverty, but many of them were great footballers.
You have to love this game and if you're blessed to be talented enough to play it at a top level, then football needs always be be your first priority.
America winning the World Cup, with its degree of condescension towards the sport [Football], would be sad. Respect it first; it's perhaps the greatest sport on the planet, and certainly the most ubiquitous. Vive la futbol!
Lalas was smoking something weird.......he is a joke
Lalas is a shameless shill ... but he manages to sound plausible enough, so the outsiders think he has something to say ...
Until the US calls "Soccer" by its proper name, "Football" it will never flourish. Peace out. ✌🏼️
You know England came up with tha name right, idiot
+Karun Sagar good thing my name isn't "idio"
The Italians call it 'Calcio', which translates to soccer
@2:10...the Brazilian team- with your working class heroes- were just lambasted for being soft during AND after their 7-1 loss to Germany. They were criticized for crying, saying that in years past a Brazilian team wouldn't DARE do that...
On Alexis point, the USA has done things back in the day. But in all those times we have had a really good central midfielder who has been from a Latino background. Hugo Perez, tab Ramos , Claudio Reyna. Etc. we are missing that now a player with vision and creativity. @whitlock
America understands most sport through school not through its wider culture. Baseball is the exception to this, very much a grass roots game in the US. Football in the US is part of a curriculum not part of life.
I remember that Argentina game and our defense was inexcusable. Our team needs to live and die for the sport which they currently don't do. They should live it like basketball does in America. I think Whitlock is right. Kids who play to survive will face adversity better than fight harder in many cases. The entitled kids don't play with the same desire.
90% of the greatest players in history came from poverty or poor working class, from brazilian favelas, argentinian suburbs etc. Pay for play system excludes biggest talents in US, especialy from poor immigrant communities, latin america communities. That is why American scouting system is failing, this is business to make money. Playing must be free, clubs got to have youth schools and academies. Lave the stupid drafts ideas, make free transfer market in America, let the clubs produce youth players and let them make money from selling them.
The other thing is non competitive MLS, some bettere teams comete about titles but the most of the league plays friendly matches all the season. You need good relegation system to make MLS competitive.
I have to counter Jason Whitlock. Argentina didn't get through the tough tackles because they are mentally stronger they overcame because they identified quickly that you weren't applying the defensive principles as other teams would. Playing physical in soccer doesn't equate to a team that can keep their shape and knows when to engage physically. Messi routinely comes up against a defense that frustrates him when they play Atletico Madrid and thatsbhow you should apply defense.
Great Alexis, finally someone has the courage to tell this bunch of old players and Bruce Arena, what we feel
about them, shame on them, they have the best trainers, fields, counselors, make millions and they play
a mediocre game, Alexis you were short on Gulati and their marajas, they should be fired.
The truth is USA soccer is playing catch up to the elite soccer team internationally. USA have to build the soccer culture up, soccer camps starting at a young age and promote in the inner city and other communities besides the burb.
Talk about simplifying an argument
Donald Trump for coach. Make America Great Again.
Whitlock won this argument. The other dude is delusional.
Ronaldo didn't grow up that poor?
He did actually.
Messi is good because in south america people would rather score beautiful goals and lose, than just score tap ins and win.
The motivation for the game really is a huge issue, in the US it just is played primarily by rich or at least middle class white people that just don't have to fight as hard and simply don't suffer as much as others. Outside of the US In the slums, favelas and townships of the world it's the only way to forget about all the crime and violence and injustice there is and the only way to get out of there, there are a lot of people with that attitude trying to get out of there miserable life condititions by making money in sports in the US, but they just don't play soccer/football. As a middle class german, you don't have to get out, because life is good. It's weird in germany, I think it's one of the only ways to Display national pride as german and when you're a Boy in germany you just play football, you don't think about why. It's just the one thing everyone does and because of that the best way to compare yourself to others.
To make soccer attractive to Americans you would need to make it 5 a side....and get rid of the goal keeper so there are more goals and they can keep concentrating.....and make it 3 goals for a shot from outside the 5 yard area......make it a lot more like basketball...Americans don't like low scoring games......that is why basketball has a shot clock.......
Anyway it was silly to expect the US to beat Argentina, world cup finalists with the best player on the planet, you need a lot more than what they had to be beating Argentina and all the upsets Lalas mentions are freak accidents that are the result of soccer being such a low scoring game, those upsets are why we love it, and wouldn't happen on a regular day like this game was
Maybe indoor or beach soccer like they have in Brazil?
Put your Pulisik to playa against any flayer from argentina who plays for a B divison team and you will see how he fails...
We are america. We think we're # 1 but we're actually # 29999999999999999999999999.
can you teach passion???? in Brazil or Argentina (Latin America as a whole) all you need is a ball, you play in the street, US Soccer should hire Belgian execs who changed the culture now Belgium is a powerhouse
Really Buster Doughlas vs Evander as far as a challenge for Mike Tyson this guy is joke!!!
Lalas is right the us has played better I mean they made it to a concacaf cup final and were beating Brazil at the half. The u.s had been playing soccer for like 103 years they should be better by now . This cup was a failure .
I find it hilarious that Americans have such a binary, polarized mindest, you people see everything in black and white.
Football, that's the real name is actually the simplest game you can ever find. Much simpler than american football!! Yes it's tough you have to run. The reason US sucks is cause everywhere else football is a street game!! In US instead of people playing on the street 5 a side in US kids wait to play on a perfect pitch this pay for play is what kills your chances USA.
do you even know how messi got into soccer
and where he raised? if you know, you wouldn't be surprised.
and if you don't, you're probably don't understand what you're saying.
Whitlock's argument is trash. There are amazing players who have struggled, but not all the greats were from poverty
Guys, guys, guys stop, stop n stop. The thing is that all sports r highly closely related. If u can play one sports, u can do it all I said. I'm doing it till this day, common.
Whitlock is just the worst analyst ever ..his just there for the free burgers!
Mr. Lalas can't face the truth. The host is correct. By refusing to accept constructive criticism is the Achilles of the American citizens. The truth is very devastating. They have not achieved credible ability in the Fifa football realm.
They attract retired European footballers like Beckham in their MLS . It's the retirement home for the soccer players to make more wealth in their twilight years.
until the US builds REAL academies, where kids choose soccer at age 11 or 12, leave home, and play soccer 24/7 (train 2x a day 5 days a week under top coaches and have tutors for schoolwork 2 hrs a day - ie, school takes a backseat to soccer), the US WILL NEVER REALLY COMPETE W/THE WORLD ELITE TEAMS. this what other countries do. England, Germany, Spain, etc etc etc. academies. kids can choose soccer at a young age over 'school'. then what happens? u produce generation after generation of top level players - precisely BECAUSE THEY HAVE CHOSEN SOCCER EXCLUSIVEY AT A YOUNG AGE. THATS ALL THEY WOULD KNOW AND CARE ABOUT. now, kids choose between school work, baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, dance, spanish etc etc... no focus whats so ever. we have no soccer culture in America. none. we can make a million and one changes to our system, but until we have A REAL academy system, we will be second rate. period.
U.S have sharp players but those players need to come out n reeducate wanabees to play better. U can pick up second Messi from streets, high schools, colleges, galaries n that's how to distribute insiders to figure out hidden superstars.
stop trying to emulate european football, specially english premier league, embrace the southamerican pasion that the majority of your football fans have.
In year 2026 bro it will go down for real cause the game is properly been grinded by united states now than before
Dont aim for Messi aim for the best aim for CR7!
Most men here don't want to play soccer because we see it as a women's sport.
Women's sport? Why?
that is mentality american. That why people all around the world laughing that usa failure. Embrassment to tge country.
No, they’re just too fat so they play football 🏈 because Americans like people w/ body types they can relate to
Common now if women made it this far, that means the game is getting understandable by folks
The US women are only good because they had 50 year head start on the rest world because no one outside the US cared about women's soccer. Other nations only started caring about women's soccer in the last 4 years and you can clearly see they will surpass the US team in the next 5 years.