Couldn't agree more, it is frustrating really. Go to a competitive tournament like Surf Cup and watch the best youth teams in the country. The boys are starting to get it, and you see some really creative and athletic moves that indicate lots of time (well or poorly spent depending on your perspective) with a soccer ball outside of practice. Still not that efficient compared to the best players in the world, but some pretty soccer none-the-less.
The girls on the other hand are pretty dull. And I don't mean just speed of play. I mean they clearly haven't developed a love and depth of knowledge for the game on a par with the boys. They are very COOPERATIVE and work like a group of bees to build towards a scoring opportunity, but their individual skills are stunted for how long and hard I know they have been working on the game. And I see more and more teams playing direct, which may win tournaments, but does little to foster individual skills that every players needs in their repertoire should they face a player like Marta at some point.
Perhaps the German women are better because their cultural work ethic wont allow them to be anything but super prepared (imagine a relaxed and fancy free young German playing for FUN!?!), and some of the Brazilian players may not have had enough money to go to the mall, so played soccer on the beach with their brothers instead. Whatever the reason, I saw a lot of soccer players in this womens World Cup that were better than our players, and given what I have seen on youth and college pitches around the country, it doesn't surprise me one bit.
PS - look at the D1 womens recruits. For the most part they look like female American football players with some foot skills. Not hard to see why our National Team plays the way they do. One could argue that the college game as currently played in the US is ruining or at least retarding the development of soccer in this country.
Author
Topic: GO BRAZIL (Read 1950 times)