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    US soccer looks bleak

    http://americansoccernow.com/article...uture-is-bleak

    #2
    Soccer is not a priority in the US. Did you think we should just win because we are the US?

    Our best athletes don't play soccer.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      Soccer is not a priority in the US. Did you think we should just win because we are the US?

      Our best athletes don't play soccer.
      HUH?

      That's the most used excuse i always hear...Do you really think Argentina or Germany or Brazil have their best athletes play this beautiful game?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        Soccer is not a priority in the US. Did you think we should just win because we are the US?

        Our best athletes don't play soccer.
        And that right there is the problem with US soccer. Americans value athletics over texhnical skill and vision. It needs to be the other way around. Unless this changes, US men's soccer will always be below average.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          HUH?

          That's the most used excuse i always hear...Do you really think Argentina or Germany or Brazil have their best athletes play this beautiful game?
          In a word - yes. Soccer is football in those countries. It has the most money, the most viewers on TV and the largest fan base. It is the game little boys grow up playing and dreaming of one day being a star. That said, it is not an excuse.

          The US has over 300 million people and the greatest economy in the world. While kids in Brazil play with homemade balls in dirt streets, we have thousands of people manicured soccer fields. Most of them are packed on weekends with youth games, pick up games and even adult leagues.

          The problem has been addressed on other threads. While every other country uses the Academy system to identify and develop their players, we use P2P which basically is a college feeder system.

          So any kid with talent for the game can be developed and receive the same quality training that a rich kid receives and it usually is the poor kid that excels. That is not to say that poor kids are better athletes. Actually the opposite. The rich kids have better nutrition, less stress and more sleep. The difference is focus.

          The poor kid plays soccer all day every day. The rich kid plays soccer, is in the band, taking AP school courses with hours of homework every night and might even belong to a few clubs. Basically soccer is one of several activities throughout the day. We all know that becoming an elite athlete requires over 10,000 hours of practice. Guess who gets there first?

          The other consideration is that when a sport is a national obsession, the general populace is much better educated on how the sport is played. They are saturated with games and analysis which helps them learn the game faster and become innovators at a young age.

          So to be the best in men's soccer, the US needs to scrap their P2P youth structure and figure out how to make the game available to all children and put in an identification structure that gets the gifted kids quality development at an early age.

          Comment


            #6
            what they need to do is less structure. why add a U12 academy this will not help the kids be better by the time there 17-18. they will just play like the robots we have now. and as far as coaching. your right that if we dont have coaches that understand the sport and really in debt understand what it takes to get to the next level we can not move forward. you can see that at U12-15 we win some overseas tournaments and we brag. but now look at out U1- up and they all start to play the same. so training and evaluation is bad. having a kid with great skill but is still on the small side because he's not grown like others is always over looked. its about winning in the younger age and our mistake to think we will have that next crop of boys lead the MNT to a big win. will not happen....

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              HUH?

              That's the most used excuse i always hear...Do you really think Argentina or Germany or Brazil have their best athletes play this beautiful game?
              I agree as the US is usually amongst the most athletic teams at international tournaments....US players just aren't soccer savvy....Has the US ever produced a goal as intelligent as Mexico's first goal ? I can't recall any...

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                In a word - yes. Soccer is football in those countries. It has the most money, the most viewers on TV and the largest fan base. It is the game little boys grow up playing and dreaming of one day being a star. That said, it is not an excuse.
                Did you know that Spain and Argentina ( two top 5 nations in soccer) are also #2 and #4 ,respectively, in World Basketball just behind the US....So not every little boy in those countries wants to become a soccer player... get rid of the following in this country:

                1. Pay to play system
                2. Youth soccer rankings
                3. Foreign coaches
                4. Tournaments ( we play way too many)

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  what they need to do is less structure. why add a U12 academy this will not help the kids be better by the time there 17-18. they will just play like the robots we have now. and as far as coaching. your right that if we dont have coaches that understand the sport and really in debt understand what it takes to get to the next level we can not move forward. you can see that at U12-15 we win some overseas tournaments and we brag. but now look at out U1- up and they all start to play the same. so training and evaluation is bad. having a kid with great skill but is still on the small side because he's not grown like others is always over looked. its about winning in the younger age and our mistake to think we will have that next crop of boys lead the MNT to a big win. will not happen....
                  I was able to meet Juan Mata thanks to Weston this past summer. To say he is 5'7" is an overstatement. He is maybe 5'5". He maybe weighs 145 soaking wet. If Mata grew up in South Florida, he would be playing FYSA until 12 or 13, maybe (or maybe not, too small) get into DA. Play high school. Maybe some college. And that's it.

                  We do not have people with the ability to recognize intelligent, technically skilled players.

                  That's not to say you need a team of players like this. You also need the athletes, scorers, large defenders, wingers, etc. But when our repeated shortcoming is in possession, you think this is telling you something, no?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

                    1. Pay to play system
                    2. Youth soccer rankings
                    3. Foreign coaches
                    4. Tournaments ( we play way too many)


                    This topic gets beat to death and there are a lot of reasons why we are not a world power but I love how simple and boiled down this response is. I don't know that number 3. has anything to do with anything but 1,2, and 4 are absolutely what is wrong with soccer and every other youth sport in this country. That and we allow parents to be involved.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                      I agree as the US is usually amongst the most athletic teams at international tournaments....US players just aren't soccer savvy....Has the US ever produced a goal as intelligent as Mexico's first goal ? I can't recall any...
                      Agree with you 100%. The problem is thinking that we need the athletes that go into basketball and football to get into soccer. The answer is not better athletes. It is soccer savvy/intelligence.

                      We do not recognize savvy b/c it requires skilled talent evaluators at the youth level. Instead we get daddy coaches and parents running the show.

                      Mexico's first goal was savvy. Their second was game intelligence by HH. and their third just a brilliant strike from a player that was left unmarked. Soccer intelligence was responsible for 2/3rds of Mexico's goals.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                        I agree as the US is usually amongst the most athletic teams at international tournaments....US players just aren't soccer savvy....Has the US ever produced a goal as intelligent as Mexico's first goal ? I can't recall any...
                        I can't tell you how many times I have been at games when my kids were younger and one of the kids made a pass back only to hear a parent scream "No, never back!!" like it is some huge mistake. Watch soccer much? Or "never to the middle.." Well, it depends. If you don't play through the middle you will never switch the field. Or parents excited when a kid playing center mid goes on a long run and leaves a hole behind him only to lose the ball. The list goes on .... it would not be a problem, except that coaches listen to and react to ignorant parents.. when they all show up at club office, the club fires the coach, not the parents. This is our system...

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          Did you know that Spain and Argentina ( two top 5 nations in soccer) are also #2 and #4 ,respectively, in World Basketball just behind the US....So not every little boy in those countries wants to become a soccer player... get rid of the following in this country:
                          Great perspective. I agree with most points. The difference in those countries though, is that their Basketball is structured the same way as their soccer. The way their youth is organized, trained, and the way they go through the ranks. In this country, soccer is different than most other team sports. H.S. is the way to success for baseball, basketball, football, etc. For soccer, its pay-to-play (clubs). You can say the same for gymnastics, tennis, and others.

                          So I don't know if its fixable.

                          1. Pay to play system
                          I wish. Pay-to-play means that the wealthier families are most likely to have their kids play at a high level. And talented kids that can't afford to travel will be left out of DA and ECNL. I say: "more than likely". The same goes for Tennis. You need to have a lot of money if you want your little-Serena" going to IMG or one of the other big tennis academies.

                          2. Youth soccer rankings
                          Yes. Youth soccer rankings on GotSoccer suck. There can be some kind of placement system, but giving points for racking up tournaments is idiotic.
                          http://www.youthsoccerrankings.us does a better job.

                          3. Foreign coaches
                          Not sure I understand your rational. A good coach is a good coach.
                          More immigrants should get involved in coaching. Why not? I also think that as our youth gets better at playing the game, they will become more educated and become better coaches.

                          4. Tournaments ( we play way too many)
                          I agree. Goes hand-in-hand with point 2. It becomes all about the points and rankings and parent's motivation: "which college will be at which showcase".

                          Maybe a solution is to just have invitational tournaments (for college recruitment purposes).
                          And then besides league play, have more "cup" play; ie: Florida Cup, state cup, etc.
                          Cup play together with league play will 'weed' out the bad teams. Its how they do it in most soccer countries.

                          Tournaments are for the parent's ego.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                            I can't tell you how many times I have been at games when my kids were younger and one of the kids made a pass back only to hear a parent scream "No, never back!!" like it is some huge mistake. Watch soccer much? Or "never to the middle.." Well, it depends. If you don't play through the middle you will never switch the field. Or parents excited when a kid playing center mid goes on a long run and leaves a hole behind him only to lose the ball. The list goes on .... it would not be a problem, except that coaches listen to and react to ignorant parents.. when they all show up at club office, the club fires the coach, not the parents. This is our system...
                            The "never back to the golie" line makes my ears bleed. LOL

                            Or when a defender boots the ball 50 yards for no reason; and the parents yell "good kick", great job"........really?.......just give the ball back to the other team?

                            sometimes a panic clearance is needed, but its never a "good job".

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              That and we allow parents to be involved.
                              Parent OVERINVOLVEMENT is our problem. There is one parent in the program and he has a hand in everything. He has personally railed and succeeded in replacing the coach for three consecutive seasons even bragging about this. He is not a board member or coach yet sits in meetings with board members and coaches. He tries to poach players from the B team for HIS A team all the time, causing disruptions for a team that his child does not even play on. he will be a big reason that many parents will move their kids somewhere else rather than play where a parent yields so much influence in the club's decision making.

                              Comment

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