The USA national soccer team recently played three friendlies against Spain, England, and Argentina. They were outscored 5-0 in two games, which they lost. The third was a tie, 0-0. This could be an indication of the inferior quality of the athletes on the team.
Maybe you're wondering what the case would be if the team had better athletes. Before answering that question, let's consider why soccer as a whole doesn't have better athletes.
Everything starts with the decision of which sport to play. Fewer kids are opting to play soccer these days.
Past that, from the teen years to early adulthood, soccer doesn't get anywhere near as much glory as other sports. Soccer players aren't exactly the ones all the girls flock to.
Well, actually soccer players would get some glory if they accomplished something significant. But even then, the fame is often very localized and gone in a flash, the feat largely under appreciated shortly thereafter.
Next, what if a soccer player is also good at other sports? Good enough to go pro in other sports? The NBA, NFL, or MLB offer millions more than the MLS.
Athletes in other American pro sports leagues also get much more media coverage than the MLS. Once again, that goes back to fame.
There are plenty of reasons for a high school soccer player who is equally good at another sport to stray from soccer and focus on another other sport.
But say top athletes from the NBA, NFL, and NHL decided to play soccer. But they still grow up to be the athletes they are today.
I think that if the top athletes in the country played soccer over other sports, we would have the best team in the world.
Take Chad Johnson for example. He's a tremendous wideout with unbelievable range. His range would make him an excellent goalkeeper.
What about mental toughness? In that regard, hockey players reign. It's gotta take a ton of concentration for an NHL player to keep his skates underneath, himself, control the puck on his stick, and look around to see what he needs to do with the puck.
But in terms of sheer fitness, football players are the best. They must be strong, quick, tough, and athletic to be good at what they do. Soccer players do run a lot, and hockey players do have a lot to coordinate. But on the average outside rushing play, linebackers have to fight off blocks, catch one of the fastest runners in the world, and drag him down to the ground. No athlete in any other sport can do that.
Have you ever asked yourself, "Would tennis players make good baseball hitters," or "Would hockey players make good golfers?"? It's time to get answers.
Tennis players would not make good baseball hitters. Tennis players are used to swinging a racket with one hand. Baseball bats require two hands if you want to get any power on your swing. Plus, the motion for a tennis swing is different from the motion for a baseball swing.
Hockey players would not make good golfers. The mechanics for a slap shot (the shot most like a golf swing) are vastly different from the mechanics of a golf swing. Plus hockey sticks are made completely differently from golf clubs.
The point is, why would a top young American athlete choose soccer over basketball when more glory and money are elsewhere? For nothing other than pure love of sport.
4 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Stephen Ellis about 1 year ago
The average rushing play has upwards to eleven people trying to tackle the one person with the ball, who, on most plays, is not going to lateral or give up the ball, at least voluntarily. In the average play of bringing the puck up, a defenseman has to deal with a shift in momentum, from forward skating when they are breaking in, to skating backwards to get back to cover. Also, there is the added development of the possibility of a pass, or, in many instances, passes, leaving many matchups one on one, or a greatly outnumbered rush in some instances. There is no sport that requires a player to change completely their manner of motion, from forwards to backwards, avoid getting burnt on a pass, and either play the puck or the body, depending on the situation, all while on skates, nonetheless. When comparing athletes it is important to showcase the different strengths and weaknesses involved with the sport, but hockey players must be in shape, fast enough to play but big enough to hit and be hit. In the NFL the roles are more delegated, where speed is necessary in every position but not as important as girth or accuracy in some positions. Hockey players have to embody all elements of an athlete, except for the gawkiness of some elite basketball players.
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Matt Gilmartin about 1 year ago
Yeah, you're right. I thought about changing my argument to saying that hockey players are the best athletes, but I didn't want to have to rewrite the whole article.
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brett corbit about 1 year ago
1) "Fewer kids are opting to play soccer these days. "
2) "Soccer players aren't exactly the ones all the girls flock to."
these quotes truely lose any credibility.....
1) there are more kids today playing soccer then any other sport... NOW if you mean stick with the sport through HS, then you are truely stating the obvious.... reason being?? most kids that drop the sport tend to not be good at the sport... not saying ALL kids who drop it suck at it, but most.... when i was in HS, the football team never cut anyone..... but the soccer team only had 22 roster spots on varsity... meaning if you are a junior or senior and you arent that good at soccer, you wouldnt be making the team.... where they could easily go to football and sit the bench or be on the team and not dress.... with the increasing amount of quality, limited spots cause some kids to quite and play other sports....
2) funny how every soccer player i know had zero issue in getting girls.... in fact we were sought out quite heavily.... now if you are refering to adults in sports, it all comes down to coverage.... i know plenty of girls who absoltely love professional soccer players.....
neither of these two points are concrete, just pointing out that those two statements are VERY incorrect...
funny thing is i compare ALOT of the aspects of soccer to hockey... there are so many similarities, and obvious differences.... and while i rank soccer players as some of the top athletes, ill rank hockey players similar.... i stand by the fact that soccer players take every aspect of speed, agility, endurance, power and finesse above and beyond any other athelete.... obviously this varies from athlete to athlete..... Steve Nash is an excellent basketball player, but he's quite good at soccer as well.. in fact im sure he could start for any USL team, and even sub for MLS sides.... he's played many many years of his life and still plays (hosted a charity soccer match)....
as a whole, every sport has some above and beyond athletes, so basing a sport as a whole is impossible, but toe to toe id rank soccer players above most
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Matt Gilmartin about 1 year ago
Okay. I see your points. About point 1, I guess I was saying that most HS soccer players stop after that. On the other hand, most athletes stop playing their respective sports after high school. As for the second point, it was based on what goes on at my school, where varsity football players get far more attention from girls than varsity soccer playaers do. Many of my points about high school sports come from my experiences based on my school's sports. And I actually do think that soccer players - especially pro soccer players - are elite athletes. As for the rest of the article, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
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