|
| |
 |
|
|
Tough road Your Take: How can the U.S. win a World Cup?
Posted: Tuesday June 08, 1999 04:09 PM
CNN/SI asked users what the United States needs to do in order to ever win a World Cup. This question is not as difficult and ridiculous as one might imagine. Being originally from England and actively involved in the sport, I have seen the talent in the U.S. in our 13- and 14-year olds. What needs to be done is to recognize these individuals, train and develop them in special programs, and have them compete against at higher levels. Then their performance can be on par with the youths in Europe. High school and college soccer development is not the answer, this only works for short term and accelerated development. By the age of 17 our players should be ready to play pro soccer, not varsity. -- Dennis Grant, Ft Lauderdale, FL I think in order for the U.S. to win the World Cup they need to start producing and training players that trained coaches think have potential. The U.S. should not hire a coach like Steve Sampson again, that is somebody who never played soccer professionally. -- Valerie Jamison, Trumansburg, NY The U.S. needs to realize their limitations. Ex: The English play the long ball because of sloppy, wet fields that make crisp passing difficult. That is their limitation and they work around it. Ours is talent. We need to stop imitating the style of other countries (which we fail at doing due to the lack of sound fundamentals) and create our own trademark style, focusing on the best attributes and playing a real team game. I feel the players take too much time trying to get respect from the world individually, which hinders progress. Bruce Arena knows all this, so it will eventually happen. -- Ronnie Pruett, Austin, TX When they start playing like the women. -- Sean Gallardy, Irvine, CA The U.S. won't need anything to win the World Cup because it will never happen. They suck now and they will always suck. The Americans should stay with baseball. -- Yun Liu, Nebraska The best way for the U.S. to win the World Cup is to increase the level of competition in Major League Soccer. -- Arturo Altreche, New York City, NY I feel that for the U.S. to win a world title it will take a more interested public. I also feel that it will take a better established network of leagues and a system to develop young players better. Soccer will also have to get more money involved, so that skilled young player's won't be lured away by the NFL, NBA, and MLB. -- Wes Faulk, Savannah, GA We have the backbone of a great team, and leader in head coach Bruce Arena. We need to get ex-players to coach and make a difference. We need to get the best athletes interested in soccer via youth programs. Experienced players are the key, as they can share their experience with others and help them learn. -- Frank Spinello, Reston, VA I believe that our U.S. team maybe just one or two World Cup competitions away from winning the whole thing. The style of play for the U.S. has improved more than any nation in the world and in a very short period of time (just eight years). Our players can compete with Europe's best -- proven by Americans now playing in European leagues. Our children need to play soccer year-round, so that they will become the expert ball handlers and shooters that the Europeans have groomed through the years. I, personally am very proud of the American effort in building a world-class program. -- Joe H. Ramirez, Brownwood Soccer should be advertised in the U.S. to make people aware and enthusiastic about it. Schools should encourage and promote soccer so that the new generation, the young boys, should be inspired to play thus to love the sport. Only then will the U.S. will develop skilled players capable of winning the World Cup. -- Diego Utreras, Santiago, Chile If the U.S. ever wants to compete with the Brazils and Englands of the world, they have to either ship their great prodigies to England or France or the Netherlands -- or provide a kind of program equal to what you see overseas. I think the media has to play a role as well in giving more of an awareness in soccer, so people will start becoming interested in the sport. The media has to do more than just a couple of hour shows a week on soccer. Lastly, I believe it would be good to see more money put into the MLS so the us can attract better imports form Europe and South America so that the national team players can compete with world class talent on a yearly basis. -- Johnny Bamfton, Roanoke, VA The American way of doing things -- determination, perseverance and professionalism will undoubtedly make the U.S. a World Cup winner, or at least a finalist. The MLS has become the seed of what eventually will make of the U.S. a soccer power to be reckoned with. -- Efren Palacios, Mcallen, TX The U.S. does not have enough experience to play in the World Cup, let alone win. Their best players pale in comparison to European and other international players, because soccer is still a new sport in the U.S.. Americans are obsessed with the little things in sports. Once I saw a game in the U.S., and they even measured the speed of the ball -- like that's important. I think that they would rather enjoy the look than the game. But maybe in the future, after the popularity of soccer increases in the U.S., which is happening now, then perhaps Americans can then play at the international level. But until then, even Japan can beat the pants off them. -- Leandro Rey Go-Soco, Manila, Philippines The U.S. will never, never win a World Cup. There is no grassroots appreciation for the most popular sport in the world. This feeling transcends to the fans, players and administrators. No amount of money, specialist coaches or facilities will help the U.S. win a World Cup because of a fundamental reason: lack of talent. The U.S. may qualify for the World Cup because of these advantages, but they will never win. The fallacy that soccer was revived in the U.S. by staging the '94 World Cup here has been proven wrong as indicated by their performance at last year's World Cup. I believe they were ranked last -- lower than the lowly touted Jamaicans. When you reach the World Cup, winning is about the talent and the belief that soccer is everything. The U.S. haven't even started to address these issues yet. Soccer must get the attention that American football, baskettball and baseball get from the professional and non-professional stakeholders. I can't see this happening because Americans can't appreciate anything other than the three sports mentioned. I go back to my initial statement, the U.S. will never win. Europe and South America will always prevail. An African team will win the World Cup before the U.S.. -- Loowiz, Georgia The USA will win a World Cup only after its people become passionate about it. -- Ricardo, Yuma, AZ The U.S. will win the World Cup when soccer becomes one of the major sports in this country. Then the size of the country should produce many talents. The "be number one" mentality will do the rest. However, the Americans should love the sport for what it is and they should not try to change it. This tendency to adapt sports to suit the TV audience will kill interest in the rest of the world. Another way to become world champions is renaming your soccer league. Just call the finals World Series and the champion becomes world champion automatically. -- Peter den Ouden, Voorburg, The Netherlands
| |||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Read our privacy guidelines.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
