Post by elp525 on Jun 9, 2010 4:53:33 GMT -5
Wednesday June 9, 2010
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Friday begins an exciting and possibly impactful couple of weeks for Marlon LeBlanc.
The World Cup opens in South Africa and the West Virginia men's soccer coach will commemorate the occasion with a watch party. He'll then try to devote as much attention as is possible to the event he's attended in the past.
This year it's a goal that will be more possible than ever before, with the unprecedented coverage of ESPN and Sports Illustrated and game times that make following live much more realistic.
LeBlanc will do this not as a fan of the beautiful game, but as a 34-year-old coach in a growing sport he plans to coach for another quarter-century or so.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for us," he said. "The trickle-down effect can be enormous."
LeBlanc is comfortably positioned as the Mountaineers' coach after removing his name from consideration for the job at Penn State, his alma mater, last month. The overriding reason to remain was that WVU is in a place where it can compete for the ultimate goal with a full complement of scholarships, salaries for two assistant coaches and the ability to recruit and land the best players out there.
The latter is what makes the World Cup so potentially important for any competitive college program, like WVU, which boasts a roster filled with players who were on academy teams for MLS franchises.
"Plenty of professional players play college soccer now, albeit not all of them for four years because some decide to play soccer in the professional leagues, but college does help bridge the gap now," LeBlanc said. "Most of the kids who get here now have aspirations of being pros when in the past it was not as clear-cut.
"Now there's a legitimate league in the United States paying salaries that are still not at the level players make in Europe, but certainly at a level where they can consider going pro and making $60,000, $70,000, $75,000 a year and working their way up to those big six- or seven-figure contracts."
It could be argued that never before has the World Cup had the attention of the United States as it does this time. True, it was in America in 1994 and Team USA did a nice enough job living up to expectations and writing a recipe for continued popularity.
Yet that was the infancy of the country's soccer renaissance and although Team USA hasn't been as successful in subsequent Cups, it's built a bit of a buzz this time based on players who have performed at the highest level and a team that beat Spain, the top-ranked team in the world, in July.
Major League Soccer wasn't as safe and successful as it is today. The global game wasn't as recognized and respected as it is now.
In short, the action from June 11-July 11 can shape and benefit the future of domestic and collegiate soccer. The game is grown and growing in the United States, but the process can be accelerated greatly.
"I think the success of the national team will, like any other sport, certainly help give a little bit of a boost to the youth level," LeBlanc said.
"Soccer is obviously not just here, but everywhere around the world, the most-played youth sport.
"If we can keep getting kids involved and get them to high school-level success, it can go on from there to the college level and the professional level and maybe the international level. I think once we change the perception, certainly we can change the thought process of some of the elite athletes in terms of sticking with soccer."
The future doesn't rest solely on Team USA. The first game against England, only one of the most anticipated games in this country's history, will show another side of the world and another side of the game with superstars like Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole, all top players in arguably the world's top league, the English Premier League.
No matter the outcome of that game, there are stars to look at in almost every game and LeBlanc is hopeful glimpses of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Spain's Fernando Torres, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, Brazil's Kaka and Argentina's Lionel Messi will open eyes and minds.
"The quality level of these guys is just unbelievable," he said. "To turn on the TV and see Messi score twice in a game and just absolutely make everyone look silly is really a unique opportunity."
It's an opportunity to persuade and convert so that the best leapers don't lean to basketball and those blessed with hand-eye coordination don't rush to baseball. Athletes with the gifts to unwrap any sport might watch this World Cup and one day see soccer in their future.
"(Team USA striker) Jozy Altidore looks like he should be playing linebacker for a major college football team," LeBlanc said. "Oguchi Onyewu is a center-back who's 6-foot-5, 210 pounds and looks like he should be playing football.
"I think more elite athletes realize they can play soccer and I think with the success of the World Cup as a whole you'll see more and more guys start training for soccer instead of football or basketball and then form there it'll be interesting to see what happens next."
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Friday begins an exciting and possibly impactful couple of weeks for Marlon LeBlanc.
The World Cup opens in South Africa and the West Virginia men's soccer coach will commemorate the occasion with a watch party. He'll then try to devote as much attention as is possible to the event he's attended in the past.
This year it's a goal that will be more possible than ever before, with the unprecedented coverage of ESPN and Sports Illustrated and game times that make following live much more realistic.
LeBlanc will do this not as a fan of the beautiful game, but as a 34-year-old coach in a growing sport he plans to coach for another quarter-century or so.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for us," he said. "The trickle-down effect can be enormous."
LeBlanc is comfortably positioned as the Mountaineers' coach after removing his name from consideration for the job at Penn State, his alma mater, last month. The overriding reason to remain was that WVU is in a place where it can compete for the ultimate goal with a full complement of scholarships, salaries for two assistant coaches and the ability to recruit and land the best players out there.
The latter is what makes the World Cup so potentially important for any competitive college program, like WVU, which boasts a roster filled with players who were on academy teams for MLS franchises.
"Plenty of professional players play college soccer now, albeit not all of them for four years because some decide to play soccer in the professional leagues, but college does help bridge the gap now," LeBlanc said. "Most of the kids who get here now have aspirations of being pros when in the past it was not as clear-cut.
"Now there's a legitimate league in the United States paying salaries that are still not at the level players make in Europe, but certainly at a level where they can consider going pro and making $60,000, $70,000, $75,000 a year and working their way up to those big six- or seven-figure contracts."
It could be argued that never before has the World Cup had the attention of the United States as it does this time. True, it was in America in 1994 and Team USA did a nice enough job living up to expectations and writing a recipe for continued popularity.
Yet that was the infancy of the country's soccer renaissance and although Team USA hasn't been as successful in subsequent Cups, it's built a bit of a buzz this time based on players who have performed at the highest level and a team that beat Spain, the top-ranked team in the world, in July.
Major League Soccer wasn't as safe and successful as it is today. The global game wasn't as recognized and respected as it is now.
In short, the action from June 11-July 11 can shape and benefit the future of domestic and collegiate soccer. The game is grown and growing in the United States, but the process can be accelerated greatly.
"I think the success of the national team will, like any other sport, certainly help give a little bit of a boost to the youth level," LeBlanc said.
"Soccer is obviously not just here, but everywhere around the world, the most-played youth sport.
"If we can keep getting kids involved and get them to high school-level success, it can go on from there to the college level and the professional level and maybe the international level. I think once we change the perception, certainly we can change the thought process of some of the elite athletes in terms of sticking with soccer."
The future doesn't rest solely on Team USA. The first game against England, only one of the most anticipated games in this country's history, will show another side of the world and another side of the game with superstars like Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole, all top players in arguably the world's top league, the English Premier League.
No matter the outcome of that game, there are stars to look at in almost every game and LeBlanc is hopeful glimpses of Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Spain's Fernando Torres, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, Brazil's Kaka and Argentina's Lionel Messi will open eyes and minds.
"The quality level of these guys is just unbelievable," he said. "To turn on the TV and see Messi score twice in a game and just absolutely make everyone look silly is really a unique opportunity."
It's an opportunity to persuade and convert so that the best leapers don't lean to basketball and those blessed with hand-eye coordination don't rush to baseball. Athletes with the gifts to unwrap any sport might watch this World Cup and one day see soccer in their future.
"(Team USA striker) Jozy Altidore looks like he should be playing linebacker for a major college football team," LeBlanc said. "Oguchi Onyewu is a center-back who's 6-foot-5, 210 pounds and looks like he should be playing football.
"I think more elite athletes realize they can play soccer and I think with the success of the World Cup as a whole you'll see more and more guys start training for soccer instead of football or basketball and then form there it'll be interesting to see what happens next."
