If best US athletes played football (soccer)
- Thread starter belgianod
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Doesn't even make sense really does it..... What if seb Coe, Steve ovette, Steve cram, Peter Elliott , Alan wells, mo Farrah , jnsthon Edwards , Colin Jackson, tony Jarrett, roger Black, Iwan Thomas.....played for Everton ?..
Nobody could afford those wages...
Nah, it doesn't work like that.
artetas_biggest_fan
Player Valuation: £6m
Wasn't there a clip of some NFl player trying to take a penalty (think Beckham was the goalkeeper) and he almost dislocated his kneecap in striking the ball (he missed the goal).
Its no coincidence that there has yet to be a truly quality outfield American player...by far the best have been goalkeepers (Friedel, Howard, etc) with the position having the easier task of using your hands. Football being largely skill based (as opposed to speed/brute strength) means just being a good athlete is irrelevant. Emile Heskey was faster than pretty much anyone, and had fantastic physique and core strength, but he was crap as he didnt have the skill set required and lacked technique on the ball. The beanpole basketball players would trip over themselves in trying to trap a ball, their lanky frame would let them down. Spent many a PE class in school where the big fellas were almost always picked last, or were relegated to playing basketball.
Its no coincidence that there has yet to be a truly quality outfield American player...by far the best have been goalkeepers (Friedel, Howard, etc) with the position having the easier task of using your hands. Football being largely skill based (as opposed to speed/brute strength) means just being a good athlete is irrelevant. Emile Heskey was faster than pretty much anyone, and had fantastic physique and core strength, but he was crap as he didnt have the skill set required and lacked technique on the ball. The beanpole basketball players would trip over themselves in trying to trap a ball, their lanky frame would let them down. Spent many a PE class in school where the big fellas were almost always picked last, or were relegated to playing basketball.
Maybe this is a pipe dream of an American soccer fan. Suspend reality. My point is that the best athletes in the US do not play soccer. Landon Donovan is probably the best soccer player in our history. There are probably 200 American college football players right now that are better athletes then he was in his prime. That was my point. And my question is, if my 4th grade gym teacher in 1974 was right, that one day soccer would be the pre eminent US sport, which elite athletes could have been elite soccer players.
Garrick
Awesome, lid.
It would help, but I don't think we'd be at the level of like Spain or Germany if we had all of our best athletes play.
Given how technical soccer is for an individual player, really the best thing we could do for the sport in this country is have a more mature and better developed youth program and academy system. The MLS clubs are slowly stepping up to the plate on this one, displacing the old system of high school/college teams. That's how our talent will get better, training future stars more rigorously at a younger age.
Given how technical soccer is for an individual player, really the best thing we could do for the sport in this country is have a more mature and better developed youth program and academy system. The MLS clubs are slowly stepping up to the plate on this one, displacing the old system of high school/college teams. That's how our talent will get better, training future stars more rigorously at a younger age.
Elong
The fire rises
@pgheverton has the answer. I give you one word Trinidon Holliday.
Get him signed for the Everton Super Blue Soccerers and glory is OURS.
Interesting question. Could you expand on it please man?
Get him signed for the Everton Super Blue Soccerers and glory is OURS.
Interesting question. Could you expand on it please man?
andym78
Player Valuation: £30m
I heard Optimus Prime has a pretty sweet right foot. Good in the air too.
Don't think you can claim giant alien robots for your own though.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
US sports talent is a mile deep, so obviously if the whole country went mad for football they would be fielding an incredible team in a few years. That's never going to happen given how deeply rooted NFL, NBA and baseball are.
As said - football is all technique and understanding the game, not athleticism. Complete contrast to the NBA or the NFL, where you've got no chance unless you're a mutant, a genetic outlier - a megatron. I'd say the majority of players in the prem are merely above-average, physically. I mean, they're all as fit as a butcher's dog, but they're not especially removed from you or I in terms of the raw atheletic ability they're working with. Whereas if you saw Lebron James walk into a room it would be like another species had arrived, just on a different planet in terms of physical gifts.
As said - football is all technique and understanding the game, not athleticism. Complete contrast to the NBA or the NFL, where you've got no chance unless you're a mutant, a genetic outlier - a megatron. I'd say the majority of players in the prem are merely above-average, physically. I mean, they're all as fit as a butcher's dog, but they're not especially removed from you or I in terms of the raw atheletic ability they're working with. Whereas if you saw Lebron James walk into a room it would be like another species had arrived, just on a different planet in terms of physical gifts.
Not all of these would make good footy athletes. Also, you forgot Trindon Holliday on that list.
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