Sunday was one of those days when a lot of people were interested in something that usually takes a back seat to the Sporting World we live in and live for. Soccer was a topic a lot of my buddies, even those who have never stepped inside the lines of a finely groomed field, were talking about and I couldn’t really understand why, until it hit me, long after the buzzing sound from the game-coverage finally left my living room, and long after the cans were cleaned up, I sat down and gave it some thought.

First off, we as a country seem to come together when anything of the “We Vs. Them” mentality is on the horizon. For example I’ve never really taken an interest in swimming as a professional sport, but rooted for Cheech, I mean Phelps in the Olympics, because he was an American. Think about it folks, what he accomplished was not only record-setting, but amazing because he was an American. I guarantee if any other country had this swimmer in their stable, with eight gold medals in hand, we would never remember who that guy was.

Back to the Soccer team.

Our “best” player is Landon Donovan. His “stats” in the Confederation Cup were not that good with just two goals, but his presence on the field is un-matched. He is filled with the talent, skill, field-intelligence, and hustle and a heart the size of Lake Wallenpaupack, but he stands at a mere 5 foot, 8 inches. 5-8 is barely a dominant force on the high school basketball court. Our biggest player is Oguchi Onyewu at 6-4. Tim Howard, maybe one of the best keepers for America ever is 6-3. My point to all of this is that we are an undersized team playing against the elite players in the world who are not only bigger, but physically much stronger.

The USA leapt out to huge 2-0 lead over Brazil in the finals, and after half-time it was a 2-1 lead, then a tie game, then a loss. The reason is that we can’t bang heads with an opponent for a full game. We can run forever, but we can’t physically keep up with anybody on the world stage.

There are several explanations for this, in my opinion, and I’m sure some will disagree. First off, traditionally soccer season is during the Fall. What other sport is in the Fall? Football. The bigger, more athletically gifted kids are gong to play football in this country. I am not saying that our high school soccer players are weak, or less athletic than football players because that would be a lie, but a majority of the ability, as well as the size needed is groomed away from soccer.

I grew up playing soccer, through high school, in college, all kinds of travel leagues, and even managed to play a few matches overseas, and we were good, but we were small compared to a German team that was two years younger than us, and beat us easily. We lost to a stronger Belgium team who again manhandled us near the end of the game. We did hold our own against a Netherlands team, but again it was because they were much younger than us.

High school and college coaches need to focus on building a bigger player. They need to find the 6-3, 6-5 players and make them want to stay involved soccer, and this is almost an impossible task because there is no American stage for soccer players. Sure we have the MLS, at least I think we do, but I never see it on television, and rarely, if ever see a kid walking around with a “Donovan” jersey.

If we could take an exceptional athlete, someone along the lines of a Terrell Owens, Lebron James, or hell even John Daly (I know I’m stretching with JD) and make them understand and love the game of soccer then one day we will have a shot at being truly competitive. Until then we will get excited about our team in the upcoming World Cup, and we will support them as Americans always do when it comes to an us vs. them game, but it will be a long time, if ever, until we reach that point where we are thought of as a premiere team.