Question for all you soccer heads

[Butt Rubber]

Whats the level of play in the US soccer league (MLS I think its called) compared to the level of play over in Europe?

 

[Zero Cool]

It's not great but there are some good players over there. That 16 year old kid Freddie Ado, I think he's called, comes to mind. Overall though the three big European leagues (England, Italy and Spain) play to a much higher standard.

 

[Duke]

Whats the level of play in the US soccer league (MLS I think its called) compared to the level of play over in Europe?

Basically it's not even close. Yes, there are some good players (Ernie Stewart), but usually these are "good" for US standards and "decent" for European levels.


Football isnt "big" enough in the States.

 

[Vaudeville]

football in MLS is like a 3rd lvl pro football. For example In Mexico we have 1st division (like premiership) then 1A, then 2nd division, last is 3rd.

 

[Zero Cool]

Basically it's not even close. Yes, there are some good players (Ernie Stewart), but usually these are "good" for US standards and "decent" for European levels.


Football isnt "big" enough in the States.

It is growing though. According to Wiki it's one of the top sports played amongst young kids in the U.S. today. Whether this continues on into High School and beyond remains to be seen.

 

[Zero Cool]

The best league in America (North & South) is probably the Argentinian. Those Argentinian fans are crazy

 

[Butt Rubber]

so why do players play in the US leagues then if its not the highest level of competition? do they get more money here?

 

[Zero Cool]

so why do players play in the US leagues then if its not the highest level of competition? do they get more money here?

Yeah. They get paid pretty well. Plus, as of now, only a select few are good enough to make it in Europe.

 

[stefanwzyga]

I can understand why a lot of americans dont get football (Soccer) There watching the wrong games, some games are crap, an its a waste of a couple of hours! If they sat down an watched man u V arsenal i think a lot of them would begin to understand what its all about!

 

[Illuminattile]

In Europe, MLS is sometimes seen as a 'retirement home' for footballers. Once players get to a certain age and can't cope with the pressures of their respective league they go to the MLS where they can pick up an easy paycheck without really exerting themselves (see; Youri Djorkaeff). That's a bit of a dated view, though.

 

[Zero Cool]

If I was an American I probably wouldn't like Soccer either Stefan, it's marketed too much as a "girls sport" (U.S. Women's team and all that), and with the league not being of top quality most Americans opt for one of the big three (Baseball, American Football or Basketball).

If a Man U v Chelsea game was shown on one of the big network's I'm sure many would change their mind. The Atmosphere at any European/South American football game > the atmosphere at any American sporting event.

 

[Diaz]

Future Headline

Soccer Head Sues Forum Member Over Offensive Thread Title

 

[Illuminattile]

"Soccer" is the best sport in the world. Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to have caught onto it very much.

 

[Zero Cool]

"Soccer" is the best sport in the world. Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to have caught onto it very much.

It isn't really made for TV viewing like the NFL, NBA or MLB thus the big networks don't like it. As everyone knows, in America they have ad breaks every five minutes, with Soccer matches this simply isn't feasible.

 

[Illuminattile]

In St. Lucia we had "Fox Soccer Channel", and it wasn't too bad. You'd get small ads at the bottom of the screen every once in a while, and then occassionally ridiculously annoying 'picture in picture' ads, so more than half the screen would be an ad for Taco Bell and over on the right hand side, too small to make it out, you'd see the game continue.

 

[Pittsey]

There's a couple of US players who are decent. But only a handfull will make it in a decent league like the Premiership.

 

[Butt Rubber]

baseball, football and basketball dont have add breaks every 5 minutes, although they are more frequent than soccer

 

[Zero Cool]

baseball, football and basketball dont have add breaks every 5 minutes, although they are more frequent than soccer

Whenever there's a timeout or stoppage in a game you can be sure an ad break will follow As there's no timeout's in Soccer or any other cause for breaks (excluding serious injuries) the window for ad's is non-existent. Therefore the networks and their major sponsers aren't particular fans of it. As in most things it's the major networks which dictate what sports recieve the most exposure and thus which are the most popular.

 

[DPG iz all I C]

I really feel sorry for the Americans, i mean the sports they enjoy just seem to have no atmosphere about them, people just turn up and sit on there ass for how ever long the game is for. but with Football its so much more exciting and the atmosphere is great.

 

[Illuminattile]

The thing that struck me about soccer in the US was the fans. In the UK, fans will chant almost constantly whether winning or losing. Plus, the chants will often be clever or innovative or humorous. In the US, they have two chants; "Let's Go _____" and "U-S-A".