***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***

[jmb]

I’m getting lost with all the ways this has gone. And different people.

Long story short the US lost not due to athletes playing football or basketball but due to a lack of skills and techniques learned from a young age in Europe and elseware.

If we didn’t gatekeep that kind of training behind a very high paywall in many cases we could catch up to Europe with the athletes we already have.

Providing those athletes with that level of resources from an early age would level the playing field greatly.

By default almost all pro athletes are obv great athletes it’s kinda implied. What I was doing a piss poor job of saying is that unlike football and basketball that take those to the absolute extreme to be allowed to compete you can still be an incurable football player without some of those skills relative to their peers. You can be a little slower and still have a place in soccer, yes on defense. You can still have less endurance and have a role. You can have less agility etc and still find a place and obv the sport isn’t size or height dependent as football and basketball are.

Yeah I know TLDR

Except you are discounting how the academies screen in Europe and South America. I have been in Brazil and watched the screening process of young athletes at sporting clubs. There is in fact selection for sport based on speed, size, and every other measurable.

What you are saying is illogical. If the best athletes are given the same training aren't they inherently more
Likely to be a better footballer.


Come on. This "hard work beats talent" fantasy is that talented folks don't train hard. Your logic is flawed and your experience is weak.

 

[deadeyededric]

Except you are discounting how the academies screen in Europe and South America. I have been in Brazil and watched the screening process of young athletes at sporting clubs. There is in fact selection for sport based on speed, size, and every other measurable.

What you are saying is illogical. If the best athletes are given the same training aren't they inherently more
Likely to be a better footballer.


Come on. This "hard work beats talent" fantasy is that talented folks don't train hard. Your logic is flawed and your experience is weak.

Their programs spend money to make their National team and players everywhere better. Ours spends money to make more money hoping if you just throw enough money ey at something I will somehow work. They have a plan and goal, we really dont.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Except you are discounting how the academies screen in Europe and South America. I have been in Brazil and watched the screening process of young athletes at sporting clubs. There is in fact selection for sport based on speed, size, and every other measurable.

What you are saying is illogical. If the best athletes are given the same training aren't they inherently more
Likely to be a better footballer.


Come on. This "hard work beats talent" fantasy is that talented folks don't train hard. Your logic is flawed and your experience is weak.

No I get that’s how those kids are chosen. Our US players are chosen the same way.

Again I don’t believe that being good at soccer is somehow programmed into your genetics and if you don’t have the soccer gene you can’t be great.

Maybe you’re right. I can’t prove my point and it can’t be disproven either. Only example I can use would be for F1 and that doesn’t fully count.

 

[deadeyededric]

No I get that’s how those kids are chosen. Our US players are chosen the same way.

Again I don’t believe that being good at soccer is somehow programmed into your genetics and if you don’t have the soccer gene you can’t be great.

Maybe you’re right. I can’t prove my point and it can’t be disproven either. Only example I can use would be for F1 and that doesn’t fully count.

Our talent pool should be way larger than it is. We will always have other sports bigger but this is a country of 350 million people. Club soccer at the youth level is way more exclusive than most want to admit.

 

[jmb]

No I get that’s how those kids are chosen. Our US players are chosen the same way.

Again I don’t believe that being good at soccer is somehow programmed into your genetics and if you don’t have the soccer gene you can’t be great.

Maybe you’re right. I can’t prove my point and it can’t be disproven either. Only example I can use would be for F1 and that doesn’t fully count.

Nor being a swimmer, basketball player, baseball player is genetically hard wired. Each of them lends themselves to certain types of athletes with varied gifts. There is certainly some bleed over of various sports but those with the most physical gifts and the best access to training certainly outperform those that are genetically inferior with same
Access to training

 

[deadeyededric]

Nor being a swimmer, basketball player, baseball player is genetically hard wired. Each of them lends themselves to certain types of athletes with varied gifts. There is certainly some bleed over of various sports but those with the most physical gifts and the best access to training certainly outperform those that are genetically inferior with same
Access to training

Just like any natural ability. Music, art, math, etc...

 

[madguy30]

I didn’t know you were a world class coach but I’ll fully respect the fact that you’re damn good at your job.

Were those kids teens or older? Did those kids have perfect nutrition, recovery access, access to the other plethora of coaches where this was their only activity?

I could have had this in my best physical days and my top speed, jumping height, etc. would not improve much at all.

Improved motion yes, but some things you either have or you don't.

 

[F5cy]

I'd just like to point out, and probably someone already has in this thread since I looked at it last, but if you look at two major American sports today, many of the best players in those leagues aren't even American.

NBA- Lots of elite Euro talent
MLB- Latin, Japanese players
NHL- Canadian, European, Russian

The NFL is really the only league that doesn't have any sort of outside influence.
Soccer in the US as a whole isn't even as popular as High School football.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Surprised at amount of people rooting against Argentina. If we aren't in it I want the teams with generational stars going as far as possible.

 

[twojman]

Surprised at amount of people rooting against Argentina. If we aren't in it I want the teams with generational stars going as far as possible.

I am actually rooting for England now...I've got like 15% English blood or something in me.

Bellingham and Kane...what a combination those guys are.