freddy adu...

[Baron von Fat]

Having lived for a number of years in the US and moved to Canada at the end of last year I feel I can contribute to this disccussion.

 

There is definately a 'soccer culture' in north america, for kids a a young age, outside of ice hockey here in Canada, nothing appears to be more popular for the kids to play. The problem seems to be that once they get to their teens other sports take over, winter sports are obviously very popular here, since we have like 8 months of it american football , lacrosse and baseball/softball seem to take over. I think this is partly because there is no where to go for these kids, there aren't any big football clubs here, there are few scouts watching them play. In europe if you have talent you are probably signed up with a top club's academy before you hit 14, here that is not the case and the talented players drift off to other sports or give up all together.

 

 

As a sign of just how early we are in our development as a soccer nation, MLS teams have just started their academy programs in the past two years.  These are the first ever true development programs within professional football in the US.  It's going to take time to build the right infrastructure to fully create the pipeline of talent that people believe could exist here.

[Guest Knightrider]

More kids in America are getting into football than any other sport and I do believe it is now the number one recreational sport in the States. The problem is the college infrastructure and the MLS system. America will be a force in the game one day though, in the next 10-20 years. What they must never do however is follow the UK's way in youth football, as we've royally fucked that one up.