Why is American female soccer so badass and respected by the whole world while the male team is like… you know… irrelevant?

21 comments

1. American men play real sports instead of soccer.

2. Our infrastructure for women’s sports is one of the best, if not the best, in the world.

   We grow up playing other sports, so that’s where the coaching, facilities, camps, money, and talent go. Sometimes its that simple.

3. It’s just not the most popular men’s sport in the US. The big 4 are football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.

4. This is a troll question.

5. The American men’s team has gotten better as interest in soccer has gone up 😁 we now actually hold our own vs. Mexico in Copa Oro matches. Being 14th in the FIFA world rankings (basically in the same league as Croatia, Mexico and Colombia) is certainly not irrelevant, I think it’s a matter of time before the US gets a surprising top 4 slot in the world cup

6. >male team

   >irrelevant

   what? the US men’s team is ranked no 14 in FIFA rankings.

7. It is because our high end male athletes play football, basketball, baseball or hockey at the professional level.

   The women’s professional leagues in those sports are either not that popular or essentially nonexistent.

   That means a lot of our most talented female athletes go into soccer.

   Our infrastructure for women’s sports at the high school and college level is actually really amazing. This means that female athletes at the highest level often go into soccer and their is a huge amount of training and support that they have access to, partly due to Title IX which requires colleges to spend as much on women’s sports as men. It’s also a reason that our women rowers are also absolutely top tier in the world (but precious few of us care much about rowing).

8. The US has the strongest female soccer infrastructure in the world and it’s the most popular female sport while and the US male infrastructure is just starting to be developed and the top male talents play 4 other sports before soccer, it’s literally that simple

   Also the USMNT isn’t irrelevant, they are ranked l14th right now, while it’s not top 10 or anything, we are only 2 spots below mexico (who we are on a really nice streak against) and 3 spots below Germany, they certainly aren’t world cup champions of anything, but to call them irrelevant is disingenuous.

9. Many, many, many of our children play soccer. Then as they get older the top athletes move on to the sports that offer better opportunities in the US like Football, baseball, basketball.

   Female soccer dominates because like most sports US women’s teams dominate. Our female sports infrastructure outpaces all other nations thanks in part to Title IV and the fact that a sad amount of countries of the world still thinks women belong in the kitchen and not on a sports field.

10. Because we have badass women.

    It’s not just soccer. Our women’s gymnastics team is always awesome. Softball. Basketball. Beach volleyball.

    American women are encouraged to compete just like the boys.

11. Women don’t trow themselves on the ground crying when someone from the opposite team breaths into their direction

12. American men mostly do manly sports like boxing, MMA, hockey, and football. Most U.S. American men find soccer boring. That’s why most of the players on U.S. soccer teams aren’t from the U.S.

13. Our men just missed the world cup last time because we had to play Trinidad AND Tobago at the same time. So unfair.

14. As far as men preferring “that funny rugby”, look at how well professional soccer pays in the US relative to professional football. That’s a lot of incentive for someone who loves competing and has the best genetics in the world to pick football. In the US, it’s a lot more prestige as well.

15. Title IX

    (also, we’re 15th in the world at our fifth favorite sport. that’s not bad on any planet)

16. Soccer is for women and children. Men play more popular pro sports.

17. People in the US don’t want to watch someone kick a ball around for 90 minutes only to score 2 points. We don’t consider that entertainment.

18. I thought our male team does just fine too. Obviously our female team is on a different level though.

19. The US Men’s team has made 6 of the last 7 World Cup tournaments (soon to be 7 of 8), advancing out of the group stage 4 of those 6 times. We may not be a powerhouse in men’s soccer, but it’s been a while since we were really irrelevant.

20. Title IX is the requirement that collegiate opportunity on mens and womens sports be equivalent.

    This means that the US has invested a lot more in womens sports than many countries, and also means that lower down mens sports (soccer, tennis, etc) get less funding than they may have before.

21. Men have more entertaining, popular, and socially acceptable team sports here that they play instead.

    For girls, their options mostly boil down to softball, cheerleading, volleyball, basketball, and soccer.

    Since soccer is primarily a girl’s sport here, the ladies get a significant infrastructure investment into the sport across all age groups thanks to it being their equivalent of more popular sports like men’s Big 3 or Big 4.