#DareToDefend and the State of Soccer in America

After a long night of disappointed matchmaking and defending alone,

Lumiero closes this live stream on Mixer with an instrospect into FIFA 20 Pro Clubs' toxic masculinity, failure to practice discipline and how they may be connected to the current landscape of Soccer in America, including the USMNT not making the World Cup.

Lumiero:

"I hope it made sense. I know it's a little weird. (The #DareToDefend Promo) I am a big fan of professional wrestling. It just felt right.

I'm trying to keep it light but, if you've seen any of these broadcasts, if you've ever played any Drop Ins in FIFA 20, in any FIFA Pro Clubs, you know that I'm not making this up. This is what's wrong with it.

It's hard because the studio can't fix it. I mean, they can, there's definitely more they can do. I feel they're not doing enough but, it's kind of hard when it's the general public that's the problem.

I'm trying real hard to stay positive and be nice but, it's to the point where their flaws, their inability to practice is hurting my game. I'm getting poor ratings because they're playing poorly. It is a team sport.

As much as you can say, you gotta do your thing, do your part, when the team suffers, everybody suffers.

Although I do get angry, because it's just not going well--it's not that they're bad at it, it's that they choose not to do what's right. They choose not to. It's choices. They make bad choices all day, all night and it's evident in their gameplay.

So, it's hard to bite my tongue because I love this game. I love football. I love soccer. FIFA in many ways, is the only simulation and it's definitely got the highest quality. It does have it's own problems now, it's biggest issue is that these people that I'm playing with choose not to do the right thing. They choose not to make good decisions, to practice patience, to keep the ball.

For 2 years, I started in FIFA 17, for two years I just went along with it. 'Alright, fine. I'll try to play your way' and my gameplay suffered. I can't do that anymore. I can't just let them dictate my story, I guess.

It's toxic, you know, toxic masculinity, I think. It mimics real life football where the men are treated like royalty and the strikers, especially, are treated like gods and it's just nonsense, because, people like Messi and Ronaldo are not as great as they are without a great team behind them, they can't do some of the most amazing things we've seen.

They are great. They are remarkable talents and a lot of players like them are but, they ain' sh**t without 10 players on their team. They can't do that by themselves and for some reason there is still this mentality that strikers are, you know, gods to be worshipped. 'They deserve all the money, they deserve this and that and the covers of FIFA'.

They're great, they are. A great striker is a great striker and he's a valuable asset to a team but, it's a team. I feel like that's the mentality that these people are playing with. Nobody wants to play defense. That's why sometimes you'll get in there--it's 5 a side--all 5 players will be strikers and they'll all be fighting over that postion and whoever doesn't press the button faster, they play with an attitude.

They'll literally have to play a wing or an attacking mid but, then they'll just play like a striker. They'll all just run to the same spot. So we got 5 players standing on the penalty spot trying to facilitate some sort of attack and you just can't do that. You won't have success that way.

I think people know that because, when you watch a real soccer game, it doesn't like they're doing in FIFA and yet, they act like it is. So, yes, I'm mad because I'm not enjoying myself as much as I know I could.

I think I'm playing with mostly Americans on American servers and stuff. I'm gonna try hard not connect the two but, the USMNT didn't make the World Cup and if this is the general consensus, you know, I know it's just a video game but, if this is the general idea of what men and boys in America think soccer is and how to play it, I mean, you know? Do I have to make that connection? Is it not that obvious?

So, hopefully it's not connected but, I'm playing with American kids and this is, for lack of a better term, an epidemic in American soccer. This mentality is not gonna make a team that can win on an international stage in this game. I know it's just a video game but, it translates. A lot of it translates to real life. It's mentality and they can't do it and they didn't make the World Cup. There's something there.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. I just wanna play the game. I wanna have fun. I want to work on a team. I want to have fun. I want to express myself. All the things that football can do for a person, I just want to experience that and I'm not gonna let fools stand in my way.

I had to put that out there because, I feel like people didn't understand where I'm coming from. I tried to have fun with it. I was toying around with it a little bit, making a wrestling promo but, the thing is, it's not entirely untrue. It definitely comes from a real place.

So, yea, I hope it did make you feel a little uncomfortable if you're one of those players that are, essentially, ruining the game for everyone. I hope it did make you feel a little uncomfortable enough to make you wanna step your game up.

I know I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes in this game, in life, in general but, you have to make good decisions and most of these players are making poor decisions, constantly and it's ruining the game.I feel like, this is a microcosm of the real situation.

Anyway, enough of that. I think I got too real for some of you."