USMNT still looking for talent elsewhere

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Arsenal midfielder*Gedion Zelalem*has become a United States citizen and plans to commit to U.S. soccer,*reports*the*Washington Post.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014...itizen-arsenal

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Arsenal midfielder*Gedion Zelalem*has become a United States citizen and plans to commit to U.S. soccer,*reports*the*Washington Post.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014...itizen-arsenal

Nothing wrong with looking else where for talents. Current U19 and up are not up to par. MLS is still in transition and will not be ready to develop home grown talents yet. Maybe 3-6 years down the road. See some promising in the U14 NT.

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Arsenal midfielder*Gedion Zelalem*has become a United States citizen and plans to commit to U.S. soccer,*reports*the*Washington Post.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014...itizen-arsenal

JK is doing a GREAT job as the Development Director of US soccer

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JK is doing a GREAT job as the Development Director of US soccer

Unfortunately he has a tough battle to fight with three significant hurdles 1) in the US youth development is controlled (mostly) by for-profit clubs, not by an organization whose mission is true development. DAP is a step in the right direction but by the time they get those kids they are already 14+ years old. Soccer development runs the gambit from fantastic to truly awful, with most being somewhere in the mediocre middle. 2) DAP is trying to develop players to become professional or NT players, but the goal of many of the players is to get a decent college scholarship and get a degree. There aren't nearly as many professional pathways here vs in Europe, and with college costing what it does it's no wonder few are willing to risk turning down college offers to go pro/semi pro. In Europe if the pros don't pan out you can go back to school and not go broke doing it. 3) here soccer battles for attention from athletes and spectators with football and basketball, and to a lesser extent baseball. Plenty of soccer talent is never discovered because an athlete never even played or committed to another sport early on.

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Unfortunately he has a tough battle to fight with three significant hurdles 1) in the US youth development is controlled (mostly) by for-profit clubs, not by an organization whose mission is true development. DAP is a step in the right direction but by the time they get those kids they are already 14+ years old. Soccer development runs the gambit from fantastic to truly awful, with most being somewhere in the mediocre middle. 2) DAP is trying to develop players to become professional or NT players, but the goal of many of the players is to get a decent college scholarship and get a degree. There aren't nearly as many professional pathways here vs in Europe, and with college costing what it does it's no wonder few are willing to risk turning down college offers to go pro/semi pro. In Europe if the pros don't pan out you can go back to school and not go broke doing it. 3) here soccer battles for attention from athletes and spectators with football and basketball, and to a lesser extent baseball. Plenty of soccer talent is never discovered because an athlete never even played or committed to another sport early on.

JK's first priority is to field the best possible team for international play. Development is not his primary function. He clearly does not think too highly of domestic players and the message is pretty clear. I am sure he has a 5-10 year plan on how to improve the US development system but currently the players coming out of this system are clearly inferior in his mind.

In addition the DAP system is aligned with MLS and JK thinks MLS is a joke. I might venture to say he is not sold on the DAP model domestically.

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JK's first priority is to field the best possible team for international play. Development is not his primary function. He clearly does not think too highly of domestic players and the message is pretty clear. I am sure he has a 5-10 year plan on how to improve the US development system but currently the players coming out of this system are clearly inferior in his mind.

In addition the DAP system is aligned with MLS and JK thinks MLS is a joke. I might venture to say he is not sold on the DAP model domestically.

It's the pinnacle of ironic stupidity (and laziness) for the strategy of building US soccer to be encouraging kids to move to Europe to play the game. Obviously Klinnsman has NO strategy to build US soccer.

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The irony of this whole situation is that club soccer in the U.S. is primarily a suburban sport while the national teams are an immigrant or second generation driven teams

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It's the pinnacle of ironic stupidity (and laziness) for the strategy of building US soccer to be encouraging kids to move to Europe to play the game. Obviously Klinnsman has NO strategy to build US soccer.

So are you saying Brazil, Argentina, rest of the South America countries and the Africa countries are stupid? All he is saying is for the USA to compete with the best, we play against the best players in the world . Can you honestly say the MLS is where the best players play?

Our current youth system (pay to play) does not always allow us to identify the future NT players simply many can't afford it. Until we have a system similar to AAU (basketball) we will never have the talents to compete with the rest of the world.

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It's the pinnacle of ironic stupidity (and laziness) for the strategy of building US soccer to be encouraging kids to move to Europe to play the game. Obviously Klinnsman has NO strategy to build US soccer.

If there was an equivalent route locally I am sure he would encourage it. It seems to me that the best players all go and play in Europe. That is where the game is at its best. No different than European basketball players wanting to come play in the U.S. or Central American baseball players coming to the states. The pinnacle of competition is here for those sports.

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I'm not sure Zelalem belongs in this conversation. He spent a large chunk of his formative years here in the states. If he wasn't a phenom I'm not sure he ever leaves the States to begin with.

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Nothing wrong with looking else where for talents. Current U19 and up are not up to par. MLS is still in transition and will not be ready to develop home grown talents yet. Maybe 3-6 years down the road. See some promising in the U14 NT.

But we were suppose to win the World Cup in 2010!

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So are you saying Brazil, Argentina, rest of the South America countries and the Africa countries are stupid? All he is saying is for the USA to compete with the best, we play against the best players in the world . Can you honestly say the MLS is where the best players play?

Our current youth system (pay to play) does not always allow us to identify the future NT players simply many can't afford it. Until we have a system similar to AAU (basketball) we will never have the talents to compete with the rest of the world.

You raise a good point but I would be striving to make the MLS and US soccer better and more competitive with Europe rather than conceding Europe will always be the superior place to play. Identify where the flaws are in the system and at least make a conscious effort to change it rather than kicking the can to Europe as our 'manufacturing' base.

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I'm not sure Zelalem belongs in this conversation. He spent a large chunk of his formative years here in the states. If he wasn't a phenom I'm not sure he ever leaves the States to begin with.

Yes but he also played for German youth teams

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Yes but he also played for German youth teams

But that was after he moved away from the US wasn't it?