Category: USA

Andrea Pirlo’s guide to improving American soccer

In a recent interview, NYCFC midfielder Andrea Pirlo offered his views on youth development in the United States and how that impacts the quality of play at the professional level.

From Reuters:

“What I’m talking about is actually a system or culture. I don’t mean that the level of technical skills are low. I just mean there is a cultural void that needs to be filled,” Pirlo told Reuters at an MLS promotional event in Manhattan.

The Italian, who turned 37 on Thursday, said Americans who play soccer at college are already behind in terms of their development when compared with European peers. […]

“[In Europe] they pick them and they train them in much more than just running,” he said. “They train them in stopping the ball. Here that doesn’t happen.

“So when a young man becomes a professional in the United States he still has some gaps that need to be filled when playing on the field.”

As far as his personal U.S. experience, Pirlo said he has adjusted to the new environment and found the level of play quite physical, which he attributed to how players evolve in the U.S. system.

“It’s a very hard league to play in. It’s very physical, there’s a lot of running. So there is a lot of physical work and to me, in my mind, too little play,” said Pirlo.

So how would Pirlo fix these systematic issues? Here are his steps to developing a more cultured game…

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Dr. Strangeleague or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the aging superstar in MLS

Anyone who has ever had a disparaging nickname knows how hard it can be to shake. For MLS, it’s the label of being a retirement league. That phrase has burrowed deep under the skin of the league and its supporters, forcing new signing who fit that stereotype to declare their intentions to actually try upon arrival.

Perhaps because of this, Americans have developed a compulsion for rushing to criticize aged stars from other lands who don’t immediately perform well once they join the league. As if condemning a well known player will magically rid MLS of the irrelevant yet somehow still hurtful “retirement league” tag or unquestionably prove that the level of play in the U.S. surpasses the expectations of its doubters.

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Didier Drogba scores backheels when he wants

Six minutes into his first appearance of the MLS season, Didier Drogba scored a 56th-minute backheel equalizer against Chicago. Drogba’s debut was delayed by his refusal to play on turf in order to preserve his 38-year-old knees and almost didn’t happen at all as considered retiring to join Guus Hiddink’s coaching staff at Chelsea back in December.

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FC Kansas City fans spot typo on championship rings

The championship ring is a longstanding tradition in American sports that has seeped its way into the country’s professional soccer leagues. So, as reigning champions of the National Women’s Soccer League, FC Kansas City received their rings before their first match of the new season. And as this proud moment unfolded on the pitch, the club’s Twitter account showed off the ring each player was receiving, allowing followers of the account to spot a problem: the rings say “NSWL” instead of “NWSL.”

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Jurgen Klinsmann gives the U.S. everything they don’t know they want

Imagine a world in which the U.S. men’s national team win every match they’re supposed to win. They’d roll past all the CONCACAF minnows and only ever really do battle with Mexico and in friendlies against South American or European competition. World Cup qualification would be a given — a joke even.

“Will the U.S. beat Guatemala?” one fan would ask. “Oh, I don’t know!” another fan would reply, sarcastically, and then they’d laugh and laugh and laugh as they check their email inboxes for World Cup hotel room confirmations three years before the event while in attendance at an NBA game instead of watching the U.S. because, come on, of course they’re going to win.

In this world, most supporters — and not just the casual ones — only give the team their full attention every four years when they inevitably appear in the World Cup and play matches that are actually interesting. In this world, being a fan of the U.S. men’s national team is boring.

Enter Jurgen Klinsmann — a manager who delivers the varied and unique entertainment U.S. fans and press alike will never admit to craving at this point in the country’s development of the sport. He fosters debates that Americans simply cannot resist and never get sick of, to the benefit of journalists and social media platforms alike.

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