The United States team edged past Cuba in a meaningless friendly today that hopefully no one saw. The match came hours after former boss Bob Bradley made no bones about how much he hates Jurgen Klinsmann with some oddly-timed comments at his introductory Swansea City press conference. Bradley also made clear that he felt Klinsmann was not a good candidate to coach England (hopefully England doesn't realize that!).
Meanwhile, it's college football season in the States or college 'soccer,' as the Yanks call it. And we have more evidence of how idiotic that sport it in this story by the Guardian. You see, college soccer allows what amounts to basically unlimited substitutions. That leads to chaotic slopfests that prevent players from developing technical skills. It's a complete mess.
Said UConn coach Ray Reid: "People wonder why the USA doesn’t play the right way – and it’s our fault, because we haven’t given Jurgen enough guys with technique. We should have more guys playing good soccer, but you have to be willing to sacrifice early on and a lot of guys aren’t. More guys concentrate on wins and losses than on development."
Why would college soccer exist like this? Well Americans always do things their own way, don't they? That works in sports they invented, although even that isn't true all the time. It doesn't work in a sport in which everybody in the world plays - with the notable exception of the greatest cricket powerhouse in the world India.
There is no reason for college soccer not to play by regular rules but American colleges are essentially overpriced, self-contained businesses at this point with little to no oversight. If tuition continues to reach record heights each year with the government unable to do anything about that, do you think U.S. soccer has any chance of fixing a sport that is an afterthought at these faux institutes of higher learning?
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