Quote:
Originally Posted by tredadda
The problem is that although soccer is gaining in popularity here it is still nowhere close to football, basketball, or baseball. As such the best athletes in the US tend to play one of those three sports, not soccer. Throughout a majority of the rest of the world the opposite is true more often than not.
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Adding to this, people also forget or don't know that soccer is not like the other sports in terms of how quickly you can develop. You hear all of the time in football and basketball about how some kid decided at 16 or even in college that he should pick up a basketball or try out for the football team because he couldn't cut it in his preferred sport but it turns out he's actually really good at this other sport and now he's a pro bowler a few years later. That doesn't happen in soccer. A complete freak athlete that can't shoot in basketball or can't catch in football can't just decide in college that I guess I'll try soccer and suddenly play in the premier league 2 years later. This neutralizes the population advantage of the US because these kids have to decide early they are invested in soccer or it's just not going to happen for them, and as was mentioned they usually don't choose soccer over the other sports.