The State of US Soccer
Friday, July 6th, 2007Soccer in the United States has definately made a leap foward from where it was even a few years ago. The problem right now is that they don’t help themselves.
After winning the Gold Cup with ease, the US went to Copa America with a young roster missing many key players. Why would they do that? Their excuse is going to be they can’t keep the players away from their clubs all summer since the MLS is a summer season. That is a huge problem. The MLS needs to switch to a different schedule. Perhaps a split season schedule giving from mid June to mid Aug off.
I suppose what bothers me the most is that in the Gold Cup final the US beat Mexico. Mexico then turns around, goes to Copa America, and beats Brazil. At the same time, the US goes to Copa America and doesn’t even easrn a point. It leaves me with several what ifs as a fan. What if the same team that played Mexico had played Argentina? Would the Copa America experience perhaps have helped the veterans just as much as it would help these young guys when it comes to top notch international competition?
As a fan you want your team to always have the best team it can possibly have out on the field. That didn’t happen for the US in the Copa America and if a sport is to grow in the US, then the US national team certainely has to to try to do that every time out.
I will be attending Yankees old timers day tomorrow so that will be the topic of the next blog.