You can always count on Piers Morgan to have something to say about a big ticket news item. Whether or not he has anything useful to say is subject to interpretation.
OutKick founder Clay Travis went viral this week for a series of posts he made about the state of soccer in the USA and what can be done to fix it in the wake of the USMNT's failures against Belgium in the World Cup. This morning he asked for some suggestions on how to fix things.
"24 years ago US men’s soccer went to the World Cup round of 8. We haven’t been back since. Why not? What needs to change for us to get back to the round of 8 and beyond? Genuinely interested in your takes. Fire away," Travis wrote on X.
Well, Morgan took Travis up on the offer in his own special way. Here's what he had to say:
"1. Stop calling it soccer. 2. Stop cheating. 3. Play better," Morgan wrote.
Classy. As you might expect, U.S. soccer fans were more than happy to feast on Morgan's obvious rage bait of a post:
"1. You and all of England called it Soccer First 2. Every other government did it first, so quit complaining 3. We are trying; our Federation can't get out of its own way," one user replied on X.
"You invented the sport and haven’t won in 60 years. 1. Stop making money and your whole career off (USA) 2. Get used to it being soccer because we already have the real Football 3. Stop embarrassing yourselves and win… play better," wrote another.
"It is soccer and it’s a perfect acceptable name for it because of the origins on the sport. It’s you, the Brits, that introduced the sport to us as soccer. We didn’t cheat. Nobody made FIFA follow their own rules!! Yes, we do need to play better. Congratulations you were 1 for 3," a third wrote.
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Problems to be Fixed
There's no shortage of issues that need to be addressed in U.S. soccer. Youth development, pay-for-play, domestic vs. foreign development, and access to the game are just scratching the surface of issues that may be hindering the U.S. from becoming a global soccer superpower.
Plenty of people have suggestions - some of which are serious - but it will take implementation by the powers that be to avoid skating by on the status quo for another four years or four decades.
