Importance of American soccer culture
Luke Cyphers and Doug McIntyre
ESPN Insider
For all the strides soccer has made in America over the last 20-plus years, even the most ardent backers of the beautiful game will admit that it's many decades away from becoming the nation's No. 1 sport -- if it ever gets there at all.
Not that it needs to, of course. In the United States' vast and vibrant athletic landscape, there will clearly be a big place for futbol alongside football, basketball and baseball as the country's changing demographics continue to push what was a niche game a short few years ago deep into the mainstream consciousness.
Still, the fact remains that soccer is the only sport that matters almost everywhere else on earth. And for the foreseeable future, that means a distinct disadvantage for a U.S. national team trying to compete against the Brazils, Italys and Germanys of the world.
That's why the creation of a true soccer culture -- even on a small scale at first -- is a huge part of the new U.S. Soccer coaching curriculum Claudio Reyna presented last month at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
<OFFER>"It's existed in pockets in this country," says Reyna, who grew up near the Kearny, N.J., community credited for producing 1990 and '94 World Cup vets John Harkes, Tony Meola and Tab Ramos. "Why are certain high schools always really good at certain sports? It's because a culture has been created in that town. The Barcelona of today is a culture that was started by Johann Cryuff. We still have a long way to go as a soccer country, so to compete with the top nations, we need to make sure we can really develop places that are good learning environments."
With the advent of the U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla., a proliferation of MLS academies and soccer's growing profile across the board, that process has already begun. But the current U.S. squad, which is chock-full of dual-nationals, is still benefiting from players influenced by their ties to places where soccer is king.
"It's very different in Colombia," says 18-year-old Juan Agudelo, who moved from the South American nation to New Jersey at age 8. "I played there when I was young, and I don't remember even having a coach. We'd just go out, like on the street, and I'd play soccer almost the whole day. That's just how I was brought up.
"It's all soccer there, there's a passion in Colombia for soccer. You sit and watch games with your friends and then you talk about it. And that's how I felt I learned so much about soccer. I'd just absorb it."
Fellow striker Teal Bunbury had a similar childhood experience living in Portugal, where his father, a Canadian national teamer, played professionally.
"I think it contributed a lot to my game," Bunbury says. "It was an everyday thing there. The culture was all about soccer. Every day after school, we would be in parking lots or out in dirt fields playing. Every kid played soccer. It's a lifestyle. I think that really helped me, because I could always be thinking about it, and just every day know, hey, I love this game. That's what really inspired me."
During Reyna's presentation at Nike, the former U.S. captain reminded 150 of the country's top youth coaches in attendance that "our competition is the world." But until America's soccer culture catches up with the rest of the planet's, it may also be our biggest ally.
Notes
• Agudelo, who has been relegated to a substitute's role with the Red Bulls since the emergence of outspoken Luke Rodgers, could put in a rare 90-minute shift tonight when New York takes on the MLS-bound Montreal Impact in a friendly. The match will be streamed live, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
• Eric Lichaj put in his best performance yet at left back last Saturday in Leeds United's 2-1 win at Premier League-bound Queens Park Rangers, perhaps boosting his chances of cracking Bob Bradley's Gold Cup roster.
• Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt will be relegated from the Bundesliga this weekend with a loss at recently crowned champ Borussia Dortmund (9:30 a.m. ET, GOLTV); Clark missed Frankfurt's last game with a calf injury.
• After retiring from pro soccer last fall, U.S. legend Brian McBride has a new passion: training the next generation of American strikers.
Luke Cyphers and Doug McIntyre
ESPN Insider
For all the strides soccer has made in America over the last 20-plus years, even the most ardent backers of the beautiful game will admit that it's many decades away from becoming the nation's No. 1 sport -- if it ever gets there at all.
Not that it needs to, of course. In the United States' vast and vibrant athletic landscape, there will clearly be a big place for futbol alongside football, basketball and baseball as the country's changing demographics continue to push what was a niche game a short few years ago deep into the mainstream consciousness.
Still, the fact remains that soccer is the only sport that matters almost everywhere else on earth. And for the foreseeable future, that means a distinct disadvantage for a U.S. national team trying to compete against the Brazils, Italys and Germanys of the world.
That's why the creation of a true soccer culture -- even on a small scale at first -- is a huge part of the new U.S. Soccer coaching curriculum Claudio Reyna presented last month at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
<OFFER>"It's existed in pockets in this country," says Reyna, who grew up near the Kearny, N.J., community credited for producing 1990 and '94 World Cup vets John Harkes, Tony Meola and Tab Ramos. "Why are certain high schools always really good at certain sports? It's because a culture has been created in that town. The Barcelona of today is a culture that was started by Johann Cryuff. We still have a long way to go as a soccer country, so to compete with the top nations, we need to make sure we can really develop places that are good learning environments."
With the advent of the U-17 residency program in Bradenton, Fla., a proliferation of MLS academies and soccer's growing profile across the board, that process has already begun. But the current U.S. squad, which is chock-full of dual-nationals, is still benefiting from players influenced by their ties to places where soccer is king.
"It's very different in Colombia," says 18-year-old Juan Agudelo, who moved from the South American nation to New Jersey at age 8. "I played there when I was young, and I don't remember even having a coach. We'd just go out, like on the street, and I'd play soccer almost the whole day. That's just how I was brought up.
"It's all soccer there, there's a passion in Colombia for soccer. You sit and watch games with your friends and then you talk about it. And that's how I felt I learned so much about soccer. I'd just absorb it."
Fellow striker Teal Bunbury had a similar childhood experience living in Portugal, where his father, a Canadian national teamer, played professionally.
"I think it contributed a lot to my game," Bunbury says. "It was an everyday thing there. The culture was all about soccer. Every day after school, we would be in parking lots or out in dirt fields playing. Every kid played soccer. It's a lifestyle. I think that really helped me, because I could always be thinking about it, and just every day know, hey, I love this game. That's what really inspired me."
During Reyna's presentation at Nike, the former U.S. captain reminded 150 of the country's top youth coaches in attendance that "our competition is the world." But until America's soccer culture catches up with the rest of the planet's, it may also be our biggest ally.
Notes
• Agudelo, who has been relegated to a substitute's role with the Red Bulls since the emergence of outspoken Luke Rodgers, could put in a rare 90-minute shift tonight when New York takes on the MLS-bound Montreal Impact in a friendly. The match will be streamed live, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
• Eric Lichaj put in his best performance yet at left back last Saturday in Leeds United's 2-1 win at Premier League-bound Queens Park Rangers, perhaps boosting his chances of cracking Bob Bradley's Gold Cup roster.
• Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt will be relegated from the Bundesliga this weekend with a loss at recently crowned champ Borussia Dortmund (9:30 a.m. ET, GOLTV); Clark missed Frankfurt's last game with a calf injury.
• After retiring from pro soccer last fall, U.S. legend Brian McBride has a new passion: training the next generation of American strikers.
