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| US soccer celebrates 100 years!! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 23 2013, 11:01 PM (804 Views) | |
| alabastergremlin | Apr 4 2013, 05:14 PM Post #16 |
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I don't think you can limit this conversation to a single tournament or event. Any time frame would probably have to begin with the World Cup being awarded to the US, right? Was that 87? 88? Having been too young to fully grasp the scale of such an announcement I'm sure there was some controversy surrounding it and I have to imagine having the US qualify for 1990 was a big weight of FIFA's shoulders. For the sport as a whole here, I think the time frame would end with, what is still, a record setting World Cup and one that has not been, in many aspects, challenged even with expansion. Hell, the only one that will surpass it is 2022 when the US hosts due to a failure of Qatar to keep their floating AC cities in the area and not crushing an arena full of spectators and personnel...not that I'm still bitter about the rigged decision or anything. |
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| autogol | Apr 4 2013, 07:44 PM Post #17 |
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I think gremlin is right, awarding the 94 World Cup to the US is when the sport changed forever for the better in the US. That more than qualifying for 1990 or winning the Gold Cup in 1991 is what I think changed the sport in the uS. I am not sure exactly when the 1994 tournamentwas awarded to the US, I came to the country in 1990 and it was already awarded to the US by then. |
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| TonyDE | Apr 4 2013, 08:10 PM Post #18 |
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1988 is when the 94 World Cup was awarded to the US. If I am not mistaken it was Morocco who were edged out. And yes it was not a universally popular choice and prior to that there was talk of it being taken away because "Americans just do not follow the World Cup." Another one making the round sback then was if the US failed to qualify for Italia 90, they could risk losing hosting rights for 94. Laughable now to think back about those reactions. 94 was an unqualified success. |
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| Johnbuildr | Apr 8 2013, 09:55 AM Post #19 |
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Ahh, the not-so-great-old days! Another complaint about the '94 WC selection was often that the US NFL & NCAA football venues would not transform to soccer venues well at all due to size of fields and so forth. But that never affected the games much that I can remember. Saw Netherlands v Brasil live in Dallas in july with several youth players in the old Cottonbowl. I can tell ya fer sure it made those guys lifelong soccer fans! I started coaching soccer in 1984. It was pretty quiet here in the US until the ealry 90's, other than in youth & college soccer. The '91 Gold Cup was terrific, but the '94 WC is what opened a lot more eyes, minds, and hearts.... |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| shelsoccer | Apr 8 2013, 10:22 AM Post #20 |
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While remembering games from the 1980's and '90's, I'm struck by the fact this is the centerary of the USSF. I'm wondering how many of our non-American posters in this forum realize that soccer has been played in this country for that long and, actually, longer. I believe the first collegiate game in the US was in the 1870's. Of course, US soccer languished in the shadows for decades. There was some promise in the 1920's with the old ASL. A result of that was some success for the US in the first World Cup. Then a long drought until the 1950 World Cup, and another long drought until the advent of the NASL. Qualifying for the 1990 World Cup kept soccer's American pulse alive after the NASL folded. Awarding the US the 1994 World Cup provided an impetus, followed by the advent of MLS. So, soccer in the US, has been on a roller coaster. Those days are over. From the youth to the professional level, soccer is here to stay in America. The next step is to be truly among the elite in the world. That will be just as big a hurdle, if not bigger, than the earlier struggles to keep the sport alive here. |
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| alabastergremlin | Apr 8 2013, 12:28 PM Post #21 |
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Shel, regarding the roller coaster, you couldn't be more correct. Its been a point of contention with my father and I when we discuss sports. He is of the mindset that it will NEVER be a top 2 or 3 sport here. Never is a long time but he means anytime soon. It is hard to argue that but the growth and the momentum since the very late 80's to early 90's just can't be denied. While it may not take over football or baseball or basketball nation wide I do think it has seen amazing support regionally and is still trying to find its "place." He was born in the late 50's and likes to fall back on the fact, and it is as you have pointed out, that soccer has been the "next big thing" for a long time. And it was the NASL days he would be more familiar in terms of it being "on the rise" and ready to take over and it did not pan out. I started playing soccer at 4 years old in 1985 in a city league that was growing leaps and bounds. It seems everybody played where I grew up in Mississippi. We all also played baseball and football as the city leagues did a very good job coordinating schedules for that fact. It really wasn't until the high school level where you had to pick and choose but soccer remains very popular at those levels there. That isn't the case where I live now in Alabama. It is popular but there is very little chance to play both sports. Few of my friends played multiple sports here. As for soccer, I hope the growth experienced in the mid 80's and in the following years up to 94 have built, and continue to expand, a solid foundation for success at the national level. You start to see more of the kids who played soccer having kids who play soccer. And in many cases, while I grew up with coaches who were fathers just coaching I now see more cases where the coaches are actually coaches...not parents filling in. And while I would never criticize a parent being involved it is nice to see progress being made in training and understanding of the game. Of course, I suppose that is a natural progression as most of the real coaches now were the kids playing for parents who filled in. I do believe that, in my life time, the US will win the World Cup and I do think it will happen sooner than we think. We may never play the "beautiful game" in a truly beautiful manner but we've two solid runs in particular (02 and 10) and I do think as we improve we'll see the scrappy play eventually pay off. perhaps I'm biased... |
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| shelsoccer | Apr 8 2013, 01:26 PM Post #22 |
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As someone a little older than your father, gremlin, I tend to agree that soccer will not be a top 2-3 sport in the US anytime in the foreseeable future. I do expect MLS to pass the NHL here in my lifetime. Having said that, I don't get too hung up on where soccer ranks in the American sports landscape. It's a big country with a population that ranks somewhere in the top five in the world. We produce gold medalists in sports that aren't particularly popular (track, swimming, gymnastics, etc.). There's plenty to go around. |
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| Johnbuildr | Apr 9 2013, 05:09 AM Post #23 |
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<<...Having said that, I don't get too hung up on where soccer ranks in the American sports landscape. It's a big country with a population.....>> Amen, Shel! I know this much: Soccer is far and away ahead of where it was at any time before in the USA. We have an entrenched pro league around the country with new venues popping up yearly. And, I suspect it already has far more fans and a wider cross section of fans across the country than hockey, no disrespect meant to that great sport. Heck, our national and the world wide TV soccer coverage have brought just about every possible soccer related thing we might want into our living rooms as well. That wasn't the case even 5-6 years ago. So, the only reason I care about it gaining even more notoriety and respect is so that even more of our best athletes view it as the sport to play and maybe even make a living in. |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| shelsoccer | Apr 9 2013, 12:37 PM Post #24 |
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The key phrase, John, "is making a living." We're not talking about a working man's salary. MLS has to reach salary levels that attract athletes who might otherwise go in to other sports. That's a tricky balancing act for MLS right now -- keeping the league financially viable while slowly ramping up the payroll. So far, MLS has done a pretty good job of that. However, the "big" money has been spent on foreigners, with a few exceptions. When young N. American athletes can see salaries somewhere in the range of the four so-called major sports, you'll see more elite athletes funneling into soccer. |
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| Johnbuildr | Apr 9 2013, 02:05 PM Post #25 |
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Yes, "making a living" to elite athletes means quite a lot more financially than is possible in the MLS right now for most home grown ones anyway. There is quite a ways to go but we can all agree it is on the right track. And soccer in the US probably has as more potential for noticeable growth from this point on than any other sport. |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| Merengue | Apr 9 2013, 07:10 PM Post #26 |
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Having said that, I don't get too hung up on where soccer ranks in the American sports landscape. It's a big country with a population that ranks somewhere in the top five in the world. We produce gold medalists in sports that aren't particularly popular (track, swimming, gymnastics, etc.). There's plenty to go around. Exactly, being the 4th or 5th most popular team sport in the USA is just fine. There is still a significant, and ever increasing fan base for the sport, and while some posters here like John, shel and gremlin may have become fans of the sport without having a parent indoctrinate them in the sport, their children will be/were raised following the sport and that cycle goes around throughout the country which is how the sport becomes even more ingrained in the fabric of this country. Then there are the inmigrants to the US like myself, enganche, manzanares to name a few here, who already loved the sport before arriving in the country and who have also passed their love of the sport onto their children. This is how the sport has gained a more solid footing in the US. The children of fans of the sport, whether born here or not, are being taught to love the game. |
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| Johnbuildr | Apr 10 2013, 05:28 AM Post #27 |
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To M's point about the different ways soccer fans have developed in the US, we have a good, healthy ongoing soccer story here in Omaha. In the state's top class, A, a local Jesuit boys high school has long dominated soccer(and most sports). Other schools have won the state championships off and on, but this school, called Creighton Prep, always comes back around to either dominate or be a perennial contender most of the time. That was until the last 3-4 years when an old "inner city" high school, Omaha South, which hadn't done anything in soccer since it became a h.s. sport, began to rise up in soccer. Now, I am not saying that their predominately Hispanic population is the main factor because it is probably the only factor! :lol: ! In any case, South just won the Metro Championship for the first time this week. The two teams have also knocked each other out of the state semis or the state final games the last 2-3 years. My kid was a soccer star at Prep back in the 90's, but its great fun to see the rivalry with the old South Omaha Packers High School develop and flourish! Sign of the times! |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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