Good debate; worthy of going on the front page.

I have written about this before. I think soccer as a whole is plenty popular in the youth divisions – everyone plays. The problem for American soccer is that because soccer is behind football, baseball, and basketball, the really talented kids. My eight-year old is one of the best players at his age and has been asked multiple times to move up. He plays with eleven and twelve year old kids all the time because of his older brother; and he is better, more gifted than everyone else. At some point I bet he switches to football.

I think Beckham was it. You remember what a big deal it was when he came into the league – ESPN pushed him like crazy. The problem was that he came in injured and if I understand things, he was never committed. He always wanted to get back to England and the way forward was via Europe not the MLS.

You are right that money drives everything. Follow the money and you can see where things are going.

Charlie Davies’ injury was a tough loss for the US. He was coming into his own and could have made a difference. Still, it is interesting that we cannot seem to develop a gifted striker. If we had one really top notch (not even world class) striker to play up front with Donovan and Dempsey, we would have advanced. Well … there is the defense.

I am not sure if soccer will ever advance past football, baseball, and basketball – Americans like “our” sports, and soccer is “football” everywhere else. Americans also like a winner, and are willing to follow an underdog. I think even if the US advanced another round or two, the excitement would have eventually worn off.

So the real key is how to keep our best young athletes in soccer? I am not sure I have the answer. We know we have talented kids – look at our professional sports and amateur teams (i.e. Olympic sports). I bet the US National team would be significantly better if even a small percentage of those kids that take to other sports decided to stick with soccer.