1. What a day!
  2. BTW: Croatia is now the new unofficial world champion

    www.ufwc.co.uk
  3. I feel sorry for Kasper and Peter.
  4. That’s really good crowds you’re getting over there now. The game really seems to be on the up in the states and David Beckham could be a huge influence with his new club. If he can turn them into a genuinely great team with youthful talent then it could be beneficial for the other clubs as well who might start attracting better players.
  5. Originally posted by deanallison:That’s really good crowds you’re getting over there now. The game really seems to be on the up in the states and David Beckham could be a huge influence with his new club. If he can turn them into a genuinely great team with youthful talent then it could be beneficial for the other clubs as well who might start attracting better players.
    One of the major problems with football in the U.S. is that they have a system of "pay-for-play" with young players that want to become professionals. To be in summer camps or football academies they have to play thousands of dollars and only a few rich kids end up playing. Some of the best players that are sons of migrants are deterred at a young age because of this. This resulted in a lack of talent for Russia and we all saw what happened.
    In Latin America on the contrary getting recruited for a team at a young age can be the only way to get out of poverty, and these kids are really driven because of this.
  6. Those games were incredible today
  7. Originally posted by cesar_garza01:[..]
    One of the major problems with football in the U.S. is that they have a system of "pay-for-play" with young players that want to become professionals. To be in summer camps or football academies they have to play thousands of dollars and only a few rich kids end up playing. Some of the best players that are sons of migrants are deterred at a young age because of this. This resulted in a lack of talent for Russia and we all saw what happened.
    In Latin America on the contrary getting recruited for a team at a young age can be the only way to get out of poverty, and these kids are really driven because of this.
    This is Atlanta Uniteds second season. They made a playoff run 1st year. They signed a kid out of Argentina this year to a huge 15 million dollar deal. Ezequiel Barco?
  8. Originally posted by cesar_garza01:[..]
    One of the major problems with football in the U.S. is that they have a system of "pay-for-play" with young players that want to become professionals. To be in summer camps or football academies they have to play thousands of dollars and only a few rich kids end up playing. Some of the best players that are sons of migrants are deterred at a young age because of this. This resulted in a lack of talent for Russia and we all saw what happened.
    In Latin America on the contrary getting recruited for a team at a young age can be the only way to get out of poverty, and these kids are really driven because of this.
    What we could end up with then is some decent quality on the field bought from other counties if the investment is there but a lack of homegrown talent which is really the best place to try and get your money back as well. I’m guessing there’s a lot of difficulty of trying to change that pay for play system, that sounds like something that definitely needs to go though to maximise the number of young players from the states coming through the ranks.