Not American. Don’t live in US. The outside impression I get is that the game simply isn’t one of the kids’ default street sports.

▲

chrsw 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's not. The first time I ever saw kids playing soccer on their own with no adult supervision was when I left the US. I haven't seen it since I've been back. I think that's the most glaring "issue" right there.

▲

jppope 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Correct. We actually don't play "football" properly as a street sport either though... its typically a flag style football (two hand touch, etc) but the main sports are (generally separated by season during school) football, hockey/basketball, baseball.

▲

dfxm12 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is part of it, but you only need a few dozen great players to put together a program. Another part is organization. Italy has kids playing calcio in the streets by default, but FIGC has been run poorly for decades. USSF tries, but similarly is a little in over their heads.

▲

fsckboy 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

the US has a large relatively recent influx of Latino populations, and they play a lot of soccer, and in a number of cultures also baseball

	▲	waltfy 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Interesting, I didn’t think of that. Growing up in Brazil, soccer was essentially the only sport boys played, at every opportunity. In the absence of a ball, we’d dislodge the plastic ball from a roll on deodorant packaging and play with that, or a table football ball (which hurt a lot). Then - in my late teens - studying in the UK football (soccer) was also predominant, played during breaks etc. My point being that the US is along other large nations such as India, China which culturally favour other games/sports. Contrast these nations with Uruguay for example, tiny country… has won the World Cup. I do not know this, but I’d hazard a guess that soccer is THE game in the streets of Uruguay.
	▲	musictubes an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yup. For many years in DC just about the only people that went to DC United games were Latinos. They are still the dominant supporters of professional US soccer I think. I had a surreal experience one day after work. I lived on a cul de sac and it was common to have kids play baseball or kickball in the summer. There was one Indian family on the street and the eldest boy had convinced them to try cricket that day. Heard him yelling “Bowl it! Bowl it!” So yeah, immigrants add a lot to the US including sports.