Ian Dwyer

[Sebastian @WhyNotSebastian]

The most depressing thing about loving soccer in the USA is seeing the pattern of everyone not care, then misunderstand, then get hype, then clown on soccer once the USMNT lose, then just move on.
Repeat every 4 years.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Girl Father @TIMBO_SL1CE]

US soccer won’t be good until you stop charging little kids thousands to play travel ball. You’re not getting the best athletes into soccer that way. It’s the same crowd as lacrosse and hockey at this point.

[dandelion georgism 🔰🏗 @DandyGeorgism]

“And every four years when the World Cup comes around, we will say that we’d dominate if we had a stronger youth program.”

“And will we develop a stronger youth program?”

“We will not.”

[Noah Riffe @NoahRiffe]

The amazing thing about soccer at a national level is you can disagree or even hate the way your country is run and still back your team.

The USMNT is full of immigrant stories, fights to get out of poverty, and is antithetical to white supremacist narratives our leaders push.

[SuperiorUSMNT @EinSchwarzwelt]

So many good takeaways and points from this Poch quote on American soccer development.

[Pizza @number_pizza111]

Just ate ice cream from a land grant university and I Get It Now. This is literally the entire point of America. No clue why we do all that other stuff.

[Juniper the Dryad @adesertdryad]

you think Americans don’t have cafe culture until you go to McDonalds for breakfast in a small town

[wool hat @ghostxlovers]

songs used to have werewolves with chinese menus in their hands

[Ben Houselog @benlikessport]

Yes Acuff’s defense needs a lot of work, yes he has holes in his game

But have you ever stopped to consider

That boy nice

[friendscallmeJay @Jaypotta]

First, Sturgill Simpson made casuals pay attention to real country music. Then he made those honky-tonk aficionados listen to acid country. Then he made those metamodern cosmonauts listen to Marvin Gaye. Then he made those psychedelic soul-folks listen to Synth rock. Then he made those electro-rock junkies listen to bluegrass. Then he made those tye dyed grassers embrace heavy themed americana so-rock. Now he’s gearing up to make this mish-mash of wookery fucking BOOGIE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper]

I am here for the inexplicable largemouth bass on the Team USA goalie’s helmet. Always be fishmaxxing, even in the Olympics.

[van @vpstable]

I love the drive by truckers, the two wokest guys ever from alabama form a band and then decide what they need is the third wokest guy ever from alabama who’s also an alcoholic

[Random SEC @therandomsec]

One college basketball player cleared the entire NBA dunk contest in one game 😭😭 Adam Silver in SHAMBLES

[Michigan State Content @msucontent]

Tom Izzo’s mother has some new wall decor in her retirement home😂

(via Steven Izzo IG)

[gio🦁 @Clapped_Dre]

They got Buc-ee’s in the midwest and Culvers in the south now is nothing sacred anymore

[UAW @UAW]

STATEMENT ON FORD PLANT VISIT FROM VP LAURA DICKERSON, FORD DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR

The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union —the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.

The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.

Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.

[Brunette Bohemian @Jane_Doe82]

The guy who was voted to be the voice of the blue collar worker, flipping off a blue collar worker

[RedditCFB @RedditCFB]

Many are saying this. 🐴