Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup: A Historical and Cultural Reality Check

by Beau Dure

Overview

October 10, 2017. The U.S. men’s soccer team loses in Trinidad and Tobago, and fails to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Winning soccer’s greatest prize never seemed more distant. Immediate fixes—a new coach, a revamped professional league, a commitment to coaching education—won’t put the USA in the global elite. The nation is too fractious, too litigious, too wrapped up in other sports, and too late to the game.

In Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup: A Historical and Cultural Reality Check, Beau Dure shows what American soccer is really up against. Using hundreds of sources to trace more than 100 years of history, Dure delves into the culture that only recently lost its disdain for the global game and still doesn’t have the depth of soccer insight and passion that much of the world has had for generations. The difficulty isn’t any single thing—the mismanagement of failed leagues, the inability to agree on a path forward, the lawsuits that stem from an inability to agree, or the unique American culture that treasures its homegrown sports. It’s everything.

And yet, Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup is ultimately optimistic. Dure argues that with the right long-term changes, the U.S. can build a soccer environment that consistently produces quality players, strong results, and a lot more fun on the international stage. Soccer fans and skeptics alike will find this a fascinating examination of America’s past, present, and future in the beautiful game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538127810
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/15/2019
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	6.21(w) x 9.35(h) x 0.95(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Beau Dure has covered soccer for two decades, writing three books and hundreds of stories for USA TODAY, The Guardian, ESPN, FourFourTwo, Soccer America, SoccerWire, Fox Soccer, and other sports sites. He’s the host of the Ranting Soccer Dad podcast, drawing from his experiences as a journalist, soccer coach, and soccer referee. He lives in Vienna, VA.

Editorial Reviews

09/30/2019

Ranting Soccer Dad podcast host Dure delivers a clever look at the history and current state of American soccer. Dure covers the historical debates as to why soccer did not become one of the Big Three professional sports, beginning with the fact that the American Soccer League, established in the 1920s, “only covered the Philadelphia-to-Boston corridor.” Despite the recent success of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, Dure believes that the odds are against the men’s team achieving similar success. For example, unlike the rest of the world, where soccer is wildly popular, in America, it takes a backseat to football, baseball, and basketball, which translates into less emotional and practical investment in the men’s team. Dure notes that this was not inevitable, as the “U.S. sports landscape of the nineteenth century was wide open,” and soccer had been played in America before 1900. While Dure may be correct in certain arguments—that excessive litigiousness is a major contributor to the failures of men’s professional soccer in the U.S., for example—the granular detail he provides (e.g. Fraser v. Major League Soccer, the 2000 antitrust lawsuit filed by eight players) will make casual fans’ eyes glaze over. Serious soccer fans are most likely to enjoy this ruminative complement to Bruce Arena’s recent What’s Wrong with U.S.? (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Beau Dure was one of the most diligent and responsible journalists who covered the 2018 U.S. Soccer presidential campaign, and here too in Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup, Beau has left no stone unturned. I do not agree with all of Beau’s provocative theses expressed in this book, but I am nonetheless (as always) impressed with his thorough research and interesting ideas. Anyone who is interested in the history of U.S. Soccer and/or its future will find this book a most informative read.

Steve Gans

Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup is a refreshing take on the obstacles and abilities unique to American soccer's history and culture. Beau Dure lays out compelling evidence to back the title's thesis as well as describing paths to success.Anyone who wants to see the U.S. men achieve international soccer success needs to read this to understand the soccer landscape in the U.S. This book lays out the challenge and outlines the path to the promised land—a World Cup victory for the U.S. men! The title may be right....if we don't heed Beau's advice!

Peter Wilt

Beau Dure meticulously connects the dots on the growth—sometimes encouraging, sometimes staggered, sometimes controversial—of the game in the U.S. as he makes a compelling argument as to why the American men will never win the World Cup. It is about evolution and not revolution.

Michael Lewis

American soccer fans who can’t take a punch should avoid this book. Beau Dure systematically demolishes the argument that soccer is “the sport of the future” in our nation as it stands. His prescriptions to fix the American game should be required reading for fans and administrators everywhere.

Jamie Trecker

Dure has two decades of experience writing about soccer for premier publications, and he's also been a soccer coach and referee. His premise is that men’s soccer in the U.S. has been in disarray for more than 100 years, during which more than 36 soccer leagues have failed. . . . American soccer fans won't be able to stop reading this painful exposé, but at least American women's soccer offers balm. An exhaustively researched look at more than a century of well-meaning disorganization.

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