Yes, they have flying cars, but no MLS team and no youth soccer either.
Georger is busy taking care of some personal matters today, so I am humbling attempting to fill his shoes. Hopefully, I’ll still have access to the site tomorrow.
It is shaping up to be a long and busy soccer weekend at my house. I’ll be up at 4:30am on Saturday (gotta love PST!) for the Liverpool/Everton game, and again on Sunday at 8:00am (not too bad for PST) for the Spurs/Ars*n*l match. In addition to these matches, Saturday will include Zeke’s game later in the morning and UNLV’s first conference match on Saturday night. These latter two things in addition to Fuse’s post yesterday got me thinking about the long term future of soccer in the US.
I bring this up because only nine of the current players on the USMNT have any college experience. This has me “concerned” about what is going to happen to college soccer in the United States. The NFL and the NBA have both taken advantage of college sports as a cost-free way for the league to get the top talent available into their respective sport. Major League Soccer has been following this pattern as well, but does this current USMNT line-up signal that the applecart is being toppled.
The other fourteen players on the roster are the product of team development academies, “super” club teams, and/or the US Academy in Florida. As Major League Soccer currently seems limited to 20 (maybe 22) teams, if you don’t live near one of these 20 cities, does this mean you don’t have a chance at a soccer career unless your family can move? Is this good for youth development in the US?
On one hand this shift is frustrating, because UNLV is the only “elite” level soccer available to us here in Las Vegas. On the other hand, perhaps this will force MLS’s hand at some point and require them to look at relegation/promotion and bringing quality professional teams to all parts of the country.
I have a great deal many more thoughts on this, but I also know you’re also looking forward to seeing some soccer this weekend.
So is the importance of collegiate soccer in jeopardy? Is this good or bad for US soccer? Or are these just the musings of someone who’s spent too much time in the desert sun? Share your thoughts below.
Here’s your TV line-up for Saturday (courtesy of Soccer America):
ESPN2
England – EVERTON-LIVERPOOL (live) 7:30 am.
FOX SOCCER
England – MANCHESTER UNITED-NORWICH CITY (live) 9:30 am.
England – WOLVES-NEWCASTLE (delay) Noon.
Italy – INTER MILAN-NAPOLI (live) 2:30 pm.
England – ASTON VILLA-WIGAN (delay) 5 pm.
MLS – TORONTO-NEW YORK (live) 7:30 pm.
FOX SOCCER PLUS
England – BLACKBURN-MANCHESTER CITY (live) 10 am.
Italy – ROMA-ATALANTA (live) noon.
England – SUNDERLAND-WEST BROM (delay) 2 pm.
England – LEICESTER CITY-DERBY COUNTY (delay) 4 pm.
England – LEEDS UNITED-PORTSMOUTH (delay) 6 pm.
FOX DEPORTES
England – MANCHESTER UNITED-NORWICH CITY (live) 9:30 am.
England – ASTON VILLA-WIGAN (delay) 12:30 pm.
Italy – INTER MILAN-NAPOLI (live) 2:30 pm.
Mexico – MORELIA-ESTUDIANTES TECOS (live) 6 pm.
ESPN DEPORTES
England – EVERTON-LIVERPOOL (live) 7:30 am.
Germany – HERTHA BERLIN-COLOGNE (live) 12:30 pm.
GOLTV
Germany – HOFFENHEIM-BAYERN MUNICH (live) 9:30 am.
Spain – VILLARREAL-REAL ZARAGOZA (live) 12 pm.
Spain – VALENCIA-GRANADA (live) 2 pm.
Brazil – FLUMINENSE-SANTOS (live) 5 pm.
Colombia – INDE. MEDELLIN-NACIONAL (live) 7:15 pm.
TELEFUTURA
MLS – HOUSTON-CHICAGO (live) 4 pm.
Mexico – SANTOS-CRUZ AZUL (live) 8 pm.
Mexico – ATLANTE-PACHUCA (live) 10 pm.
TELEMUNDO
Mexico – UNAM-AMERICA (live) 4:55 pm.
Mexico – GUADALAJARA-QUERETARO (live) 7:55 pm.
GALAVISION
Mexico – SAN LUIS-PUEBLA (live) 9:30 pm.
TSN2
MLS – TORONTO-NEW YORK (live) 7:30 pm.
MLS DIRECT KICK
MLS – NEW ENGLAND-SEATTLE (livE) 7:30 pm.
MLS – COLORADO-DALLAS (live) 9 pm.
MLS – LOS ANGELES-SALT LAKE (live) 10:30 pm.
MLS – SAN JOSE-KANSAS CITY (live) 10:30 pm.
ESPN3.com
England – EVERTON-LIVERPOOL (live) 7:30 am.
Italy – ROMA-ATALANTA (live) 11:55 am.
Germany – HERTHA BERLIN-FC COLOGNE (live) 12:30 pm.
Italy – INTER MILAN-NAPOLI (live) 2:40 pm.
FOXSOCCER.tv
England – ASTON VILLA-WIGAN (live) 10 am.
England – BLACKBURN-MANCHESTER CITY (live) 10 am.
England – SUNDERLAND-WEST BROM (live) 10 am.
England – WOLVES-NEWCASTLE (live) 10 am.
England – LEEDS UNITED-PORTSMOUTH (live) 10 am.
Italy – ROMA-ATLANTA (live) Noon.
England – LEICESTER CITY-DERBY COUNTY (live) 12:20 pm.
France – CAEN-NICE (live) 1 pm.
France – DIJON-AJACCIO (live) 1 pm.
France – LORIENT-VALENCIENNES (live) 1 pm.
France – NANCY-EVIAN (live) 1 pm.
France – SAINT ETIENNE-AUXERRE (live) 1 pm.
France – SOCHAUX-TOULOUSE (live) 1 pm.
France – BORDEAUX-MONTPELLIER (live) 3 pm.
England – MANCHESTER UNITED-NORWICH CITY (On Demand) 11:55 pm.
I don’t know about elsewhere, but New Mexico’s soccer program is thriving, both in terms of attendance (top 10 in the nation) and performance (ranked in the top 10 after drawing Akron away and going undefeated in their first 8 matches this season). The problem is that “thriving in college soccer” means they’re averaging over 2,000 fans per home match – a figure that would do nicely in USL-PDL, maybe, but not for anything on a higher level than that. MLS would probably be happy to keep the status quo rather than take a chance on developing their own lower league pro/rel system – which is unfortunate, because I’d love to be able to support a club in my own city, even if it were a fourth-division side like we had between 2004-2008.
The fact is that collegiate soccer- particularly Div. I- simply isn’t the place for a talented teenager to become better, or at least not to improve to the point of becoming a notable professional player. A 16-20 year old is much better off in an elite, non-collegiate, program here in the States or playing in the youth system of a decent European team. If you need any evidence of this look at the Hermann Trophy winners over the last two decades. Just before MLS began you had Meola, Lalas, Friedel, and Reyna over a five year period. Since then Teal Bunbury is the only winner you could call anything more than a journeyman professional.
Also, while there are some exceptions, watching DI soccer is like watching English football from the “Route 1″ period or “dump and chase” hockey. As MLS has improved and become more cosmopolitan in its style and level the kind of brute force soccer played in many programs just doesn’t cut it, and as a result, neither do the players.
Ross County 4
Ayr United 0
Second place!!!
And our man Coco?
Came on as a second half sub.- don’t know if he was part of any of the goals (three of the four were in the second half), but chances are he was…he usually is.