Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="Phillymoose, post: 1076548, member: 254"]
Youth soccer development in SoCal is very advanced, and within the past 3 years American youth from SoCal have entered into international club academies in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Holland, Germany and the UK.  The big international clubs are now actively recruiting SoCal and pumping money into certain clubs.

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/sports/soccer/at-barcelonas-la-masia-a-rare-us-child-soccer-star.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0[/url]

All this talk about our youth system's inability to produce world class talent is frankly about 5 years too late.  These kids - whether trained locally by dudes with foreign accents (of which there is no shortage in SoCal) or in overseas academies - are still Americans and will someday pull on the USA jersey.  IMO - we've cracked the development nut and I'd even go so far as to say that the international soccer intelligentsia know it.  Does it guarantee us a WC victory in the future - no, but we will not be the underdogs in international soccer for long.

I know - blah blah.  You hear it every 4 years.  It just happens to be true this time.

Again - if you are willing to imagine a world where the US is consistently a top 5 squad in the world - with one or more US players being international superstars, then it is not a far leap in logic to also contemplate what that could mean to soccer's popularity in the US.
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?