U.S. Soccer must wake up

David Beckham’s impending arrival in the United States to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer appears as a positive step for soccer in this country. But honestly, since we’ve all seen this before, why do so many believe it’s going to do what so many identical situations could never accomplish?

Pele couldn’t do it.

Franz Beckenbauer tried and failed.

If those two individuals, who possessed the same charisma and even more talent than Beckham, weren’t up to the task, why is Beckham going to make the difference?

Despite the efforts of many, soccer has failed to find its niche in the United States. But that does not mean one doesn’t exist. Americans will never embrace soccer the way they embrace football or baseball.

They just won’t.

I don’t know why; and it doesn’t really matter. Soccer just can’t work in this country on a consistent basis. Americans already digest four major team sports, not to mention NASCAR, golf and tennis. That isn’t the case in Europe where soccer is No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 with rugby and some other fringe sports finishing miles – or kilometers – behind.

To make soccer relevant to self-absorbed generations of Americans who love their country above all else, soccer must represent something more. It must be about America.

The World Cup is the only soccer that really gets Americans hot and bothered, if for no reason other than the sport presents one of the few visible arenas not already dominated by the country.

Americans have demonstrated their unquenchable thirst for reasons to chant “U-S-A” and belt out “God Bless America” for years. And watching Landon Donovan lift that awkwardly shaped trophy surrounded by teammates cloaked in that Grand Ole Flag would provide Americans the perfect opportunity to do so.

To do this, Americans must matchup with and defeat some of the most gifted players and dominant teams in the world. So why are the best American players wasting their abilities in an inferior league when the chance to become a world-class player lies just a transfer fee away?

The goal of U.S. Soccer should not be to enroll as many youth players as possible to combat the arguments of the sport’s detractors. Watching a group of American men establish the U.S. as a legitimate contender – as opposed to the fraud the last group turned out to be – is the only way to silence opponents of “The Beautiful Game.”

It is time that the best players in that falsely named league make their way across the Atlantic. Some may point to Donovan’s two failed stints in Germany’s Bundesliga as an excuse not to try. But how can anyone expect him to dominate some of the world’s best players as he does the inferior defenders and sub-par goalkeepers who call the MLS home without proper seasoning?

At 24, Donovan is just now entering his prime. He outclasses fellow-American Bobby Convey who has called Reading of the English Premier League, arguably the best soccer league in the world, home since 2004. So many American players who don’t compare to Donovan have established themselves as serviceable players in leagues all around Europe. But still, a majority of players on the 2006 U.S. National Team that competed in the World Cup play in the MLS.

When Freddy Adu suddenly appeared in the public spotlight as the supposed “American Pele,” those at U.S. Soccer hailed him as the sport's pied piper. But Adu signed with the irrelevant D.C. United club of the irrelevant MLS, wasting his promising future. Adu has since moved on to Real Salt Lake. He will never leave the United States and his country will never escape global mediocrity on the pitch.

Adu is young and can still save himself. Plenty of teams in the EPL or Spain’s La Liga would take a talented young attacking midfielder. And while the Manchester Uniteds or Real Madrids of the world may no longer take a hammer to their piggy banks to sign the former phenom, playing for a mid-level club such as Fulham (EPL) or Atletico de Bilbao (La Liga) could certainly provide him the chance to prove himself to the European powerhouses he longs to play for. Teams maintained rightful skepticism toward Adu, but the skills he displayed at July’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup should be more than enough to warrant a shot.

You’re not getting any better in Salt Lake Freddy – or any younger.

Professional athletes refine their skills while practicing against teammates in daily workouts. That’s why you see the biggest leap for most young players in the second year after they’ve been there and after they’ve had that done to them.

Would Adu or any other great young American talent (see Jonathan Bornstein or Maurice Edu) benefit more from practicing against the chumps in the MLS or the Europeans who mastered the game by playing soccer everyday of their childhood, adolescence and now adult lives?

It’s no surprise that someone like Benny Feilhaber hasn’t struggled in his first eight appearances for the U.S. National Team, he plays in Germany. He’s played in the UEFA Champions League and the Bundesliga, competing against the skilled 11 that took the field for Mexico in the Gold Cup final is nothing new.

How arrogant can those who make the decisions at U.S. Soccer be? Enough with the MLS already, your league is a joke and it will never be better than any league in Europe, Asia, South America or Africa – no matter what Alexi Lalas says.

Get your best players out of here. They have the potential to do something great, making Americans love soccer won’t happen. But they’ll support it if it means supporting America at the same time. Do you honestly think all of the people watching the Miracle on Ice cared about hockey?

Sports are relevant because they have meaning beyond what happens on the field. They mean nothing in and of themselves, but could not mean more in the broader scope of things.

If U.S. Soccer advertised its goal of making its national team a world power, Americans would get behind it. They’d buy jerseys and some would certainly travel around the world to support the team.

But none of this will happen.

The United States National team will never become a world power, even though it’s painfully obvious that it could. Those in charge are simply too stubborn to admit defeat in the misguided and frankly ridiculous plan to make soccer America’s game.