Best Soccer Country in the World: USA!!
The talk of the soccer world in the United States over the last few weeks has been dominated by the World Cup and how the U.S. Men’s team fared. Many are saying that though the U.S. won their group, the popularity of soccer in this country is not going to change much. It seems to be up to the Men’s National team to decide how successful soccer will be on the world’s stage. I am here to tell you today that the United States is dominant in soccer on the world’s stage, but it might not be what you are thinking.For years, as a society, we have based our dominance on Men’s teams in international competitions. Of course we all would love the men to dominate because that is what is most closely followed. Think about it for a second. In world basketball competitions, who ALWAYS dominates. The United States does if you do not count the years where the Men’s team dropped the ball. The Women though, have always been dominant. Same can be said in the hockey competitions where the United States has the best team in the world in Women’s ice hockey. Seems to me like the women are keeping up with the men in international competitions, and they have surpassed them in soccer.
Everyone remembers when Brandi Chastain scored the goal and then took her shirt off on the pitch for the US team. Names like Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy are well known throughout the world. Well the U.S. Women’s team is here to stay and are flexing their muscle around the world. Last week the United States Women’s National team abused a Swedish team 3-0 behind Abby Wambach’s 108th and 109th career goals for the team. She has scored 10 goals in 13 games since she returned from breaking her leg. Are you kidding me? What can’t this team do next year in the 2011 Women’s World Cup.
There is a World Cup going on right now though, that shows how bright the future of United States soccer is. When we think about the young players in the United States, we think about Adu, Altidore, and Bradley. Well ladies and gentleman, please meet Sydney Leroux.
She is the captain of the United States Under-20 Women’s team. They just currently won their group in the Women’s U-20 World Cup, which is being held in Germany. Leroux, and 20 year old from UCLA, is dominating the Cup so far with 5 goals in the first 3 games. The Women’s U-20 team is the defending World Cup Champions and with the way things are going, they will repeat this year. So, with a dominate u-20 team and a phenomenal Women’s National Team, the United States is poised to go on an unprecedented run of dominance in a sport that our country says will never catch on like the rest of the world.
Newsflash…..just because the men are not the best, does not mean that the U.S is not the best. These ladies have a lot to say and they damn sure are being heard by the world.
