Stoppage Time Special: The American Fan Experience

Soccer's ascent in America has been remarkable – once considered a foreign oddity, it now captivates millions across the country. This Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast explores this transformation through the eyes of passionate supporters who've witnessed the sport's incredible growth firsthand.

We dive deep into what makes supporting a national team different from club allegiance. While club soccer may showcase superior technical skills due to players training together year-round, there's something uniquely powerful about watching professionals return to represent their homeland. As Al Schaefer puts it, "It's fun to have pride for something that matters to you."

American soccer fans experience a fascinating duality: cheering for the globally dominant Women's National Team while embracing the underdog journey of the Men's squad. This contrast creates a rich emotional landscape where supporters can experience both the thrill of expected success and the nail-biting tension of potential upset victories. Recent challenges, like the Men's 5-1 loss to Colombia despite fielding players from the world's top leagues, highlight the ongoing evolution of US Soccer's standing on the international stage.

The conversation also explores how national team coaches face fundamentally different challenges than their club counterparts. While club managers can buy and sell players to fit their preferred style, international managers must adapt their approach to the citizenship-limited talent pool available to them – a constraint that creates unique strategic considerations.

Curious about the growing soccer culture in America? Watch the full episode to hear more perspectives on how this once-niche sport has become a defining part of our national sporting identity. New episodes of the Pitch to Pro podcast, the official podcast of Ozark United FC, release every Thursday on YouTube, Instagram, and all major podcast platforms.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the
Pitch to Pro podcast.
This is a highlight reel ofsome of the best moments from
the show so far, and every otherweek we will be bringing you a
special 5-7 minute segmentfeaturing the best stories,
tales and moments of the podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm a soccer fan In this country.
It was kind of awkward, Rightwhat?
do you mean it's so boring?
Yeah, you don't know.
Yeah, seeing 0-0 games be themost fascinating thing to ever
watch on TV.
It was incredible.
I agree with that.
It's pretty awesome.
So I think that's been awesome.

(00:39):
You know, that's how I got intosoccer and now you got, has
grown, it has built up, it hasexploded in popularity.
You know, you see these it's,it's happening.
Yeah, there's a lot of thingspeople complain about the way
our youth systems are set up.

(01:00):
Right, hate a play or whatnot.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
You know you need a field and a ball, couple
backpacks, yeah your play, yourplay, and that's what's amazing
about it it's so accessible.
So that's great.
That's an incredible story andone that I, too, one day hope
that I get to live out, whenmaybe in my lifetime, win a

(01:25):
World Cup and be able tocelebrate in that way.
I'm going to hold it out.
Hang on to this moral quote.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I don't care what it takes.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
So you took that and now have pivoted that into your,
you know, maybe not entirelylifelong, but a very large part
of your life as a soccersupporter.
And specifically, let's getinto what does it mean to be a

(01:58):
supporter of the national teamand talk a little bit about that
versus your club?
You know that some people maybe very passionate about their
club, team, um, and talk alittle bit about the american
outlaws and sure, what is thatculture like?
And, uh, talk a little bitabout that, I mean soccer, the

(02:25):
variety of packages offered.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know international club, uefa, all
this stuff.
You know people like what theylike.
For me it's the internationalgame.
I love nation versus nationsoccer versus Asian soccer and
while I admit that the club gameis way more technically good

(02:50):
because these guys play togetherfor lots of money all the time,
I still love when theseprofessionals come back to their
country and represent.
It's fun.
It's fun to have a little pridefor something being something.
To you.
It matters.

(03:10):
You know we could see theobvious difference.
Anybody who's a SOG fan knowsthe difference between our men's
team and our women's team inthe scope of their success.
Yes, and it's still kind ofexciting in a lot of ways to
support an underdog yeah, whichis our men's team, yeah, and

(03:34):
every victory is just that it'sit's awesome we almost kind of
have the best of both worlds.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yes, when you get to support a global powerhouse.
Yeah, you go watch a globalpowerhouse and watch the women
handle some business, and thenyou get the underdog story with
the men.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
You know, the whole Columbia game was.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Oh yeah, for those that don't know, we just had a
tune-up game for the CopaAmerica.
We just had a tune-up game forthe Copa America and we
unfortunately lost to Colombia5-1, although it was 2-1 in
roughly the 60th minute.
So they were doing okay andthen the wheels kind of came off

(04:19):
.
Hopefully they're getting thecobwebs out now in these tune-up
games.
That's what they're for Aheadof the tournament itself.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
That was a rough one, considering the lineup we had.
Yeah, you're like, okay, thislooks like our guys.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
There's that evolution of increasingly
becoming a little bit less ofthe underdog but still an
underdog as we continue toprogress as a soccer nation on
of the underdog but still anunderdog as we continue to
progress as a soccer nation.
On the men's side, I think thiswas the first time, or one of
the first times, you have hadthe starting 11 all playing for

(04:56):
club soccer in the top fiveleagues in the world.
And unfortunately that's thething about.
To Al's point, that's the thingabout the national team.
Your player pool is limited tothose that have um citizenship

(05:16):
in the united states, that youdon't necessarily have to have
been born here, but you have tohave citizenship in the country
and so.
So that limits your player pool, whereas on the club side you
can buy and sell players fromall over the world and so if you
have a specific system that youlike to play, you can go and
buy and sell those players toyour heart's delight and within

(05:37):
your budget and the rules, butby and large can kind of shape
and mold your team around.
That, by and large can kind ofshape and mold your team around
that for sure.
On the national team side youhave your player pool where the
coach's job, at least in myopinion, there are coaches that
will still try to impose theirspecific style of play, um, but
I think, from my perspective,it's the job of the national

(05:58):
team manager to understand thetalent that they have and then
fit the system and their styleof play to that for the best
possible results with the talentand the players that they have.
Thank you for joining us forthis stoppage time special of
the Pitch to Pro podcast.
If you've enjoyed theconversation, you can click
watch the full episode here.

(06:19):
Be sure to tune in nextThursday for a new episode of
the Pitch to Pro podcast here.
Be sure to tune in nextThursday for a new episode of
the Pitch to Pro podcast, theofficial podcast of Ozark United
FC, available on YouTube,instagram and everywhere you get
your podcasts.