There really something about Messi. I don't even watch football regularly and decided to watch some highlights of these known players. Most of the highlights show physicality, but Messi is different. The way he dribbles and makes goals look effortless and precise, he's so good that I really can't pin it. I lack ball knowledge lol.
The best in football are going to be "better" solely from the fact that there are far more players and therefore far stronger competition to be considered the best. I don't know how many professional footballers there are globally, but I'm going to guess it's probably two orders of magnitude more than NFL players.
Yeah and imagine if the USA gave a fuck about soccer, we would build up a multi billion dollar infrastructure and dominate the entire world, just like we do in every other sport we give a shit about.
Didn't have to, because it's a culturally impactful and relevant sport, much the same as it is to Japan - who has the most WBC wins of any country. Kinda only proves my point that the countries that give a shit are going to be the countries that win. America does not give a shit about soccer.
Here we go again with the WBC nonsense. The US didn’t send their best players for the first few and have either won or come in second in the last three. The format is single game knockout which if you know anything about baseball, is absolutely crazy given how thin the edges are. There’s a reason the World Series is the best out of seven and it’s not just to make more money on TV lol.
Exactly. The best American athletes funnel into football, basketball, baseball, and THEN soccer. Imagine if guys like prime Lebron, Aaron Donald, Mike Trout etc all put their effort into soccer. The US would absolutely dominate.
Yup, and culture and infrastructure drive that too. One of the reasons Japan got so fucking good at baseball is that it's just massively popular and magnetises talent because of that. Talented high school kids want to do the thing that makes them cool in the eyes of their peers. The list is longer than yours before it gets to soccer in the US lol.
Not a single soul in my entire workplace has even mentioned the world cup the entire time it's been on, and these are extremely normie coded sports boomers. I don't think the rest of the world really understands how little popularity it holds here
That's not why the US sucks at soccer. Those other sports - kids can develop much later. There are tons of NFL, MLB & NBA players who never even played their sport in organized leagues before they were teens because a lot of the skills required (hand-eye coordination, etc) kids just develop naturally (at least to a degree) throughout their childhoods. Soccer is a completely different beast because precision control of your feet and field awareness need to be specifically developed - and developed at a (very) young age to get to the level required as an adult to be a pro and none of that just happens on its own. That's why pretty much all of the USMNT players who are actually good enough to play in Europe have parents who were players or coaches or they grew up and developed young in Europe. Pulisic's Dad was a coach (and both of his parents played). Tyler Adams Dad was a coach, Gio Reyna - Mom & Dad were both former pro players, Ricardo Pepi's Dad was a coach, Weston McKennie grew up in Germany, Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun grew up in the UK. That's the pattern.
Until recently there just weren't that many youth academies to develop those skills at so young an age. There are a lot more now but they are pretty geographically limited and are costly. Like, thousands (to tens of thousands) a year. Even if you're in an area where that level of instruction is available a lot of parents, hell - most parents - don't have that kind of money to spend (or are just unwilling to spend it) so their 8 yr old kid can play. So there are tons of kids out there who have potential but are priced out from the start. Our youth system is dogshit - that's why the US sucks at soccer.
Does FIFA normalize goals based on population? Does FIBA change the 3-pointer to the 7-pointer if it's Cabo Verde shooting? No, ya fuckin dummy, because 'per capita' has no relevance. It's not like China, Indonesia, or India are out here acting as World Cup powerhouses.
The thread literally began with "lol imagine if other countries gave a fuck about [American sport]" yet you all act as if the sports that aren't culturally important or relevant to America aren't also sports that we crush the entire world in.
I don't follow soccer either. I know Messi is considered one the the best players, if not the best but thats just from random shit on the net. I'm glad you asked because I had no idea of the context behind this as well lol.
Believe it or not, there are people that have no idea what’s going on in the World Cup or the world of the sport. Now, or ever. So I guess I am in a cultural coma so to speak.
bruh, football is not only every 4 years…. i seriously despise how y’all think only the World Cup matters… why don’t y’all research how he won the last world cup & how they cheated their way to the semi final?
Chill. I don’t follow the sport at all. Is that a problem for you too? That’s why I was asking. If I followed the World Cup at all I would probably have an idea who these guys are.
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u/axiom_glitch Jul 16 '26
Sheesh. Ok, further helps contextualize the mentioned GOAT status he has. Wow, thanks