Shipping November 2019 …

New coaches? New training methods? New leagues? New money?

None of it will get the U.S. men to the top of the soccer world. This book explains the historical and cultural obstacles that stand in the way. And if we’re realistic, maybe we’ll actually fix the problems that stand in the way of making this a great soccer country, even if we don’t get past the semifinals.

Pre-order now:

+ Rowman and Littlefield
+ Amazon
+ Books A Million

clients

The Guardian • FourFourTwo • ESPN • Soccer America

Bleacher Report • SoccerWire • OZY • USA TODAY

Fox Soccer • Huffington Post • Popdose • Bloody Elbow

topics

general soccer • women’s soccer • youth soccer

Olympics • MMA • entertainment / social issues

books

lrg

Long-Range Goals

spirit

Enduring Spirit

sds

Single-Digit Soccer

history

B.A.: Duke (philosophy, music) • The Chronicle

M.A.: Duke (liberal studies) • thesis

Work: USA TODAY • KRT • News & Record • Star-News

resume • work history • portfolio

contact

duresport at gmail

Ranting Soccer Dad blog and podcast

  • Women’s soccer: How about equal spending in general, not just equal pay?
    Harvard Business Review had a piece on lessons to learn from the U.S. women’s soccer team’s “equal pay” push, which may be premature given that the lawsuit hasn’t proceeded yet (and, based solely on what’s going to end up presented in court, may not go well for the women). Here’s how I responded: I’ve covered… Read More
  • English pay and what it means for U.S. men’s soccer
    In yesterday’s Soccer America piece, I tried to give some perspective on the U.S. men’s soccer team’s collective bargaining negotiations (remember: they’re still playing under an expired deal) by taking a look at national team pay in other countries and other sports. I looked at several examples — English rugby (a considerable amount of money),… Read More
  • English clubs in danger of collapsing early in the season — why?
    I can’t claim to be an expert on the “winding-up” of soccer clubs. In my experience, every time it’s imminent, something magic happens to stop it. Something feels different this time for two clubs, in part because of the timing. We’re just a couple of weeks into the season. Could we really see League One… Read More
  • Abolish the penalty kick?
    Ian Plenderleith raises the question at Soccer America: In the majority of cases … the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Minor fouls or unintentional handballs are punished with an almost certain goal opportunity (and even more so now under the dissembling new handball rule ‘clarification’). Replacing the penalty kick with an indirect free-kick would benefit… Read More
  • Equal-pay play: No friendly gap, narrowed Cup bonuses
    Now that the national team pay calculator is done (more or less), we can run some scenarios. Here’s one: Assumed results: Women win World Cup with 9 points in group stage, take Olympic bronze with 7 points in group stage. Men reach World Cup quarterfinals (7 points in group) one year and take 3 points… Read More
  • Why do I question women’s soccer narratives?
    I’m aggravated when people denigrate soccer because it’s my favorite sport — and because such sentiments are often rooted in a form of xenophobia in which generations have been expected to be culturally assimilated through our devotion to American sports like football, basketball and baseball. I’m aggravated when people denigrate women’s sports because such sentiments… Read More
  • Freddy Adu’s next chapter will be worth reading
    Remember when U.S. men’s soccer was so full of hope? You don’t? Watch this … That ad is so much better than the ads we see for the U.S. women’s team today. The field-level ad isn’t bad, but so much of it is over-the-top hero worship. If we keep putting the women on pedestals and… Read More
  • A quick guide to the U.S. women’s soccer pay dispute
    This World Cup is going to be quite competitive, today’s 13-0 rout notwithstanding. The bad news is that the USA’s chances of winning are less than 50-50, but the good news is that the reason is the growth of the game worldwide. No one who cares about women’s soccer would want the game in England,… Read More
  • Women’s World Cup predictions (collated)
    If you made predictions, feel free to share them. I’ll try to compile as best I can. GROUP STAGE Key: Third-place teams that qualify marked with asterisk. The predictors … BD: me 538: from their rankings AC: Avi Creditor, Sports Illustrated LL: Laken Litman, Sports Illustrated (you’ll have to click to see the picks from… Read More
  • Game-by-game guide to Women’s World Cup group stage
    Three basic icons here: 📺 ️- must-watch ☠️ – must-win 🏏- country also playing in Cricket World Cup on same day Times Eastern Friday, June 7 3 p.m., FS1: France vs South Korea. Traditional first-day favorable matchup for the hosts. Saturday, June 8 📺 9 a.m., FS1: Germany vs China. Does China have anything to… Read More
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