Jom Crooz

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@BlaiseInKC Hard disagree. We lack technical ability. Look how many touches Academy kids in Europe get. Nothing close to that here.

https://t.co/pKU83zdPEh

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@anyotherleader1 soccer players only improve and get touches on the ball when they are at designated, official practices or games. So they fall hopelessly behind, and we all wonder why we underperform so badly every 4 years at the World Cup. [fin]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@anyotherleader1 that 20, 15 to 16 play baseball/basketball/football, and 4 or 5 of them play soccer AND baseball/basketball/football. When they decide what they're gonna play, it's not gonna be soccer. So unlike the Europeans & South Americans get a little bit better every day, the American [2]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DilksJay @USMNT @landondonovan This would fix nothing. If someone’s choosing between soccer and football at age 14, the choice has already been made for them: they have not put enough time into soccer to be elite at it. That ship has sailed.

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@ClayTravis their technical skills at home, and they play with no pressure because they have no fear of being cut. They "play" soccer in comparison to Belgians in the same way I "play" guitar in comparison to Eddie Van Halen. [2]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@ClayTravis Millions of American kids dabble in soccer; i.e., they play 2.5 months during "soccer season", meaning they show up to two practices per week plus one game on the weekend, then don't touch a ball for 9 months. They don't play pickup with their friends, they don't work on [1]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@stevemagness You've hit the nail on the head. There is no "solution." We will never be elite at soccer unless there is a cultural shift in which American kids play pick up soccer with friends instead of football or basketball. And I don't see that happening any time soon.

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@YouAreMyArsenal soccer their main sport is very, very small. E.g.: My son's high school has about 85 boys in his class. Only 2 of them have played soccer competitively since they were young. He's got some athletic classmates, but they all play football, basketball, or baseball.

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@YouAreMyArsenal Because that number includes rec leagues, YMCA leagues, and other non-serious clubs where the kids play for 2.5 months during "soccer season," then don't touch a ball for 9 months while playing football, basketball, or baseball. The number of American youths that consider [1]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@RoboGoose_ @BowTiedCrow b/c kids don't make decisions about sports based on scholarships. By the time a kid realizes he's not gonna go D1 in American football, he's 14 or 15. He doesn't have the technical skill to play soccer at that point, and even if he could, all of his friends play American football

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DrizzyDraught those sports make a ton of money. And the same people supporting those leagues, in turn, support grassroots and amateur leagues by putting their kids into the sport. The kids get into those leagues with all of their friends, and the cycle continues.

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DrizzyDraught butts in seats and advertising dollars. NFL, NBA, and MLB are popular in this country and have been for 75 years plus. Lots of people grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball, and they support those leagues with attendance and viewership. Meaning the players in [2]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DrizzyDraught Parents don' guide their kids into sports based on how lucrative the sport is for the top .01% of that sport. Parents guide their kids into sports primarily based on sports they played growing up. Baseball dads have baseball sons. Hockey dads, hockey sons. Etc.

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DrizzyDraught that's gonna make me more money." Do you have kids? Were you ever a kid? The popularity of a game in a friend group is what affects participation at a young age. USA sucks at soccer because kids don't live and breathe the game from a young age the way they do elsewhere. [fin]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@DrizzyDraught players start playing. No 7 year old has started playing soccer with his friends, excelled at it, but then thought "This is fun and all, but I better shift to basketball the NBA's collective bargaining agreement is great for the players, so I should put my time into a sport [2]

[Jom Crooz @ThomCrooz]

@kintatobi you had to speed this video up to make it look impressive.