Hats off to the USWNT

[Leon]

Again, imo, you are borderline needing your name out here to get into a spirited debate. Be careful.
As a business person, and from a pragmatic thought, the monies earned should be relative to the profits. However., both teams (men and women) SHOULD have equal accommodations.
I sort of preach that the money you make in life is relative to the value you bring to your audience or your employer. Pay is also relative to how many people can do your job at your skill level. That is the way people earn money (in my view). It is why 18 yrs old kids get multi multi million dollar contracts every day in sports. It is why burger flippers (I was one for years when I was younger) can only ever make a certain amount. It is because it doesn't take a rocket scientist, or professional athlete, to flip burgers. And those high paid people are generally (at least supposed to) be good ROIs.

Originally Posted by packs

That high school game was nothing more than a scrimmage. Major League teams lose to college teams during spring training all the time. You can bet that no one wasted their energy playing a meaningless game while tuning up for games that mattered. For reference, that loss came before matches against Russia and other professional teams. I would doubt the same effort went into each.

The men's team is a disgrace. None of them can hack it on a field with the world's best players. The women's team is the team with the world's best players. Comparisons aren't even close. The women deserve the glory and the money that comes with it. Why should the men be paid to be terrible? Let them buy their own plane tickets.

[packs]

I would think there is room for considering why a men's tournament might bring in the money it is. I highly doubt the men's tournament receives some kind of boon from the US team's participation. People pay to see Messi and the like, not the US players. The US team is just in the tournament. The women's team IS the tournament. Their team has won 4 cups, including 2 in a row.

[drcy]

"In many soccer-dominant countries, women weren't traditionally allowed or encouraged to play soccer because it was a 'man's sport.' That philosophy/sentiment hasn't existed in the United States.

That American women do so well in many sports internationally is a social commentary on our country-- and counters the recent 'U.S. as regressive' arguments of some. It also helps, that we're a large country (third largest population).

[Snapolit1]

Why is it that we can field the best women's team in the world for a number of years, yet the men suck? Any theories out there? I suspect many more men have been playing soccer in the US for more years than girls/women.

[drcy]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Why is it that we can field the best women's team in the world for a number of years, yet the men suck? Any theories out there? I suspect many more men have been playing soccer in the US for more years than girls/women.

In many soccer-dominant countries, women weren't traditionally allowed or encouraged to play soccer because it was a 'man's sport.' That philosophy/sentiment hasn't existed in the United States.

That American women do so well in many sports internationally is a social commentary on our country-- and is an argument that counters the recent 'U.S. as relatively (I said relatively not absolutely) regressive towards women' arguments of some. It also helps, that we're a large country (third largest population).

[packs]

Someone mentioned the level of competition earlier, but I think it's actually a good point in a different light. I just don't think there is any major competition among the men in this country when it comes to soccer. I think women are much more competitive soccer players and that's why their team is made of up of higher caliber players that are able to compete globally. We don't have a large enough talent pool of men playing the sport to truly create a best of the best type of team, like say Brazil is able to do so often.

[oldjudge]

Soccer is a major sport for girls in high school. For boys, soccer is a secondary sport.

[prewarsports]

A couple thoughts.

Why does everyone feel the need to immediately jump from the womens team to bashing on the men? Just celebrate the women, they deserve it.

I think people are being way too hard on the men's team. We were one of the last developed countries to start taking soccer seriously and compared to others that live and breath soccer (like England) we have fared just as good or better than most other nations. It was not until 1994 that mens soccer even really existed in the United States and if you look at our record since then, we have done just fine and are trending upwards. We just played for a gold cup on the same night as the women, played very well against a dominant Mexico team and are trending up in the sport with one of the youngest national teams.

You cant take our population as a whole in the mens game, because we divide up our athletic talent among so many other sports. Assume football and basketball dont exist and ALL our young boys play is soccer. Who knows how good athletes like Lebron James or Odell Beckham would have been at soccer if that is all they did. In these other countries that is the case. Despite what some people are saying on here, we are not even CLOSE to the laughing stock of the soccer world. We also have some really good young talent as the game starts to develop here in the U.S. and I would not be surprised if we made it to a World Cup final or even won it in my lifetime (next 40 years).

As for the women, I applaud their success and think it was great they won. Anything that is good for the game of soccer in the United States is great.

If they played the mens team and they tried their best for 90 minutes, Vegas would have to set the line at 20-0 or more. Not a disrespectful statement, just the flat out truth.

Congrats to the women, it is awesome that they are so dominant. I just can not understand why every statement anyone makes about the women has to turn into mens team bashing.