Kevin Lowe said something interesting...

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I meant the US has a huge amount of youth soccer, it is the single most popular youth sport in the US apparently, and there are far more youth players in the US than any european country by dint of its population and yet the US senior squad ranks in the mid teens in soccer, which is nowhere, the equivalent of Germany in Hockey, and the country barely sustains a league.

It takes time, they're only now starting to get a lot of these kids of age where they're going to make an impact as pros. US leagues are getting better every year and I have no doubts that 10 years from now, they'll be a whole lot higher in ranking.
Hockey wise, same things. I fear the day when the US is the consistent favorite, and can see it coming.

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I meant the US has a huge amount of youth soccer, it is the single most popular youth sport in the US apparently, and there are far more youth players in the US than any european country by dint of its population and yet the US senior squad ranks in the mid teens in soccer, which is nowhere, the equivalent of Germany in Hockey, and the country barely sustains a league.

Germany barely sustains a league? When I was there last I saw plenty of advertisements and billboards for the German Hockey league. Many of the people I know over there seemed to think it was doing very well.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Germany barely sustains a league? When I was there last I saw plenty of advertisements and billboards for the German Hockey league. Many of the people I know over there seemed to think it was doing very well.

The US barely sustains a soccer league

[dre]

I was talking with a family from Orange County about hockey a few years back. They had their son, 13 at the time, in hockey in Anaheim. They loved the sport, but they were not sure if he was going to continue playing because it was costing them over 10k a year.
If I am not mistaken, they also said that as he gets older the cost of enrolling him after he reaches 15 was going to be over 25k(something like that). Not a lot of people can afford to play hockey in certain parts of the US, especially in California. Also, they played hockey for more then 10 month out of the year.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

And yet somehow they consistently lose once they leave concacaf, and often in concacaf. I love the fact that septics have a team and there is some interest in soccer down south, but they arn't close to beating the top ten on any kind of consistant level.

The FIFA rankings are way to kind to the US by the way, they rate them at 14, their real rank is about 20th.

When does the US play competitive matches outside of concacaf? Once every four years?

2002 World Cup - Quarterfinals
2006 World Cup - Draw with Italy, otherwise disappointing tournament

They've defeated Sweden (twice), Spain, Poland, Denmark and South Africa and drawn Argentina since then. They've also played Brazil, England and Spain close in losses.

Your comparison to German hockey is laughable. The US squad is a legitimate world class team, their reputation is kept down more by the snobbery of Europe than anyhting else.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by dre

I was talking with a family from Orange County about hockey a few years back. They had their son, 13 at the time, in hockey in Anaheim. They loved the sport, but they were not sure if he was going to continue playing because it was costing them over 10k a year.
If I am not mistaken, they also said that as he gets older the cost of enrolling him after he reaches 15 was going to be over 25k(something like that). Not a lot of people can afford to play hockey in certain parts of the US, especially in California. Also, they played hockey for more then 10 month out of the year.

Hockey in the US is almost exclusively a rich persons sport. There are some areas (Minnesota, parts of Michigan) where hockey is affordable, but even places like Massachusetts are very exepnsive. The most obvious reason is the lack of rinks relative to Canada, there's not enough ice to go around so prices go up. At the older/elite groups travel costs become a big factor as there generally aren't more than a couple top tier teams in a region. Even Michigan based teams play weekend games against teams from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Chicago in order to have more than a handful of opponents over the year.

[afc wimbledon]

'The US squad is a legitimate world class team, their reputation is kept down more by the snobbery of Europe than anyhting else.'

That and the 5 0 thrashing by Mexico, 3 1 by costa rica, losses to denmark slovakia etc.
They are a 15th to 20th team at best.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

'The US squad is a legitimate world class team, their reputation is kept down more by the snobbery of Europe than anyhting else.'

That and the 5 0 thrashing by Mexico, 3 1 by costa rica, losses to denmark slovakia etc.
They are a 15th to 20th team at best.

Ah so when the old world teams (Germany, England etc.) suffer similar losses it doesn't count though, right?

[Heavy Jack]

Kevin Lowe said something interesting..."That the Oilers can compete this year for the cup??"