The 2013 College Cup is the competition that brings the best two-college soccer teams in America together to fight it out for bragging rights as the number one team in the nation.
Kyle Craft, Harrison Shipp and Andrew O’Malley, heard of them? No, and are you going to be seeing them wearing the red and white hoops under the management of Jurgen Klinsmann any time soon? Probably not, but these three players have just won the national title for Notre Dame Irish after beating the Maryland Terrapins 2-1, and therefore should be considered as the best players in America right now.
The NCAA, national collegiate athletic association, represents the future for all athletes in America, hoping to take the next step and become an elite sportsman. The NCAA is an organization that hopes to prepare athletes for the next step in sport and life after they leave high school. The strict organization implement many rules such as playing at least one year in college before going on to play basketball in the NBA and at least three years before going on to play in the NFL.
So where does that leave the future of American soccer? Could the national team one day win a World Cup?
Because the expectation amongst many soccer players in America is to go onto college and get a degree while playing, the standard they are exposed to is not very good. By the time the best players get done with their soccer careers at the college level they are 22, 23 years old. By this age, most promising young players in Europe and South America have established themselves in the soccer world and are regulars for top division club across the world. They have a good two-to-three years professional experience under their belt.
The system in America does not look promising for the future of soccer. You don’t see players coming through the Major League Soccer system the same way that Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard did. No, a player might be with a club’s Academy up to the age of 18, and then they go off to college to enhance their academic side, perhaps putting in a few hours each week in training. This is not to mention the rules of college soccer, which are there to develop the promising players into top sports stars.
Granted, that the NCAA say “students” come first, but when that is the route that athletes have to take before going pro, the set up for what is meant to be the ‘next best things’ in terms of soccer talent could well be compared to an under 12 tournament for a group of Sunday league teams.
There’s more: roll-on roll-off substitutes and exactly 90 minutes being played, with each half ending with a novelty countdown and an obnoxious air horn being blown to signal the full time whistle. Is this soccer, or a farce?
The standard of referees does not help the game in any shape or form either. What would be considered in England as a great 50/50 tackle is often deemed a reckless challenge and any sort of verbal retaliation, whether directed at the referee or a player on your own team is rewarded with a yellow card.
The College Cup wasn’t short of its poor refereeing decisions either. Hilario Grajeda, voted the 2013 MLS referee of the year saw two handballs inside the penalty area go unpunished. One of which was a clearance off the line in the 35th minute by a Notre Dame player that should have seen him sent off. Fate must have been on Notre Dame’s side though, as in the 67th minute there was a second obvious handball that went unnoticed. Notre Dame then went on to come from a goal down to finish 2-1 winners.
Despite the poor refereeing decisions, it seems like the American culture of wanting to “put on a show” is more important than developing the players of the future. During the first half of the game, Maryland’s head coach put on headphones to talk to the two commentators while the game was going on. Can you imagine what people would say if Arsene Wegner put on headphones to talk to Martyn Tyler during the FA Cup Final?
It seems as if the commentators don’t even know what they are talking about either. Taylor Twellman, a retired MLS player who had a brief stint with 1860 Munich seems to have all the credentials when it comes to knowing a thing or two about soccer, yet a comment during the game left me baffled:
“You can’t play a ball into the 18 yard box with a 5ft-8 goal keeper,” Twellman said.
What does that even mean Taylor? A 5ft-8 goalkeeper, is that commanding in the air? The forwards should rely on taking shots from outside the area?
This lack of knowledge is the most worrying thing about the future of American soccer, and because of that the standard has been affected. I believe a very average team from a council estate could give any college team a run for their money.
The country is content with three major sports in the shape of basketball, baseball and national football. Even during the game itself, the biggest spectacle in college soccer didn’t manage to trend on Twitter.
The one thing that can be taken from the Cup, is that at least Notre Dame aren’t calling themselves “World Champions” like every sports team that seem to win something in America do.
What’s your take? Was does the future hold for ‘soccer’?
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