World Cup of soccer question
- Thread starter Big Rig
- Start date
Team play and strategy. Uruguay is the prime example of that and they'll be hard beat. Uruguay has also won the Coppa America twice in the new century.
Many reasons. It is a strong youth system that develops talent and strong professional leagues. Johan Cryuff who managed at Ajax I believe brought the academy system to Barcelona and look at the talent they've developed. This idea has funnelled through to other countries like Germany and Italy. Also the major league soccer is a shit league with poor quality play. The players won't be challenged week in and week out like they do it in other leagues.
Another factor is bias. I had friends that could have e played for canadian National youth level teams but the managers and selectors were bunch of red necks that picked players with white names not the best players. This discouraged players from playing g for their nations.
Finally in this country most of the best young athletes play ice hockey because that is where the money is. Makes sense if you have a skill you want to go where you will get paid the most. In Canada immigrants need to steer their kids away from f
hockey to soccer. Also, soccer is way cheaper and more fun than hockey. Even the culture of hockey is flat.
Finally, look at the US team. They are good too because they hand US passports to good players. Half their team were born and raised in Germany but now represent USA. Canada needs to start hanging out passports at consular posts in Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Germany to not get embarrassed in eight years.
Another factor is bias. I had friends that could have e played for canadian National youth level teams but the managers and selectors were bunch of red necks that picked players with white names not the best players. This discouraged players from playing g for their nations.
Finally in this country most of the best young athletes play ice hockey because that is where the money is. Makes sense if you have a skill you want to go where you will get paid the most. In Canada immigrants need to steer their kids away from f
hockey to soccer. Also, soccer is way cheaper and more fun than hockey. Even the culture of hockey is flat.
Finally, look at the US team. They are good too because they hand US passports to good players. Half their team were born and raised in Germany but now represent USA. Canada needs to start hanging out passports at consular posts in Spain, Argentina, Brazil or Germany to not get embarrassed in eight years.
1. You only need a full team of about 20 players
2. Soccer is the easiest sport for everyone to play. All you need is a field and a ball and be someone who is mobile enough to run
3. There are few rules in soccer so everyone can understand and it's a sport people can ref themselves
Add it all up and a 5 year old can practice on his own or with friends in a backyard or a neighbourhood field. That's why every country has soccer players.
On the other hand, hockey is the complete opposite. You need sticks, pads, arenas, zambonis to fix the ice, and lots of referees to govern the game and break up fights. And in order to be a good hockey player it takes a lot of time to learn to skate, shoot and you can only practice when you get access to ice time.
There's over 200 countries in the world. I bet half of them don't even have an ice arena. Here's the top 15 in the world. Now you know why Canada has so many great hockey players coming from any province or small town.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/282353/countries-by-number-of-ice-hockey-rinks/
2. Soccer is the easiest sport for everyone to play. All you need is a field and a ball and be someone who is mobile enough to run
3. There are few rules in soccer so everyone can understand and it's a sport people can ref themselves
Add it all up and a 5 year old can practice on his own or with friends in a backyard or a neighbourhood field. That's why every country has soccer players.
On the other hand, hockey is the complete opposite. You need sticks, pads, arenas, zambonis to fix the ice, and lots of referees to govern the game and break up fights. And in order to be a good hockey player it takes a lot of time to learn to skate, shoot and you can only practice when you get access to ice time.
There's over 200 countries in the world. I bet half of them don't even have an ice arena. Here's the top 15 in the world. Now you know why Canada has so many great hockey players coming from any province or small town.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/282353/countries-by-number-of-ice-hockey-rinks/
You need to take into account that Iceland and Uruguay have to go through different qualification "stuff?". This ensures that different continents/regions are represented.
To call Uruguay a soccer nation is an understatement.
Between ages 6 and 13, 85% of children in Uruguay play organized soccer.
I can't think of any other situation where you see that kind of participation rate and it translates into a competitive advantage.
The development of Canadian soccer has changed. It used to be one unit with the bureaucrats at the top having too much power. Now it's been split up into regions much like the CHA, Ontario has been the most productive
system, developing the most players of the regions. TFC isn't doing that well but Jonathan Osorio is becoming the club's MVP. He along with Whitecaps Alphonso Davies will carry the standard in our country.
Croatia will always be strong, their players are funneled out to bigger leagues for development. For example, Roma just signed Ante Coric who is expected to eventually take Lukas Modric's place on the team.
