Incredibly insightful conversation. Thanks guys for bringing this to us. We are based in Tampa, Florida (born and raised in Dublin, Ireland). Our kids (half Irish/ Colombian) are 5 and 3 and they are training multiple evenings a week with Florida Premier FC. I believe it's the best soccer/ football structure for the region. But a ways to go to get to the UK/ European/ Latin levels. Once the 2026 World Cup arrives, soccer will explode in the US. Additionally, im seeing a huge increase in numbers on the grassroots front. Fields are full of kids playing soccer every evening wherever I drive. Wonderful to see!
You are completely right. When i arrived to Coach youth Football in Barcelona, the word Drill was hated. “We practice, Practice and play” practice is active, with intensity, purpose and related to the game, Most important individual technique and practice has to have maximum touches of the ball.. This is CONTACT TIME with the ball is so central to the Spanish Culture of practice, development and play..But most important is Local Competition. Recently a local top grass roots team drew 2-2 in the league with Barcelona’s Academy..
My GK son (13 years )who plays in Barcelona U13s has played against many USA academy teams in international Tournaments; ie Mediterrean International Cup (MIC 2024) has played many USA soccer Academies. Its always the same, they are big, strong athletic and confident. But, they lack basic foundation technique to play the game at a competitive level. its always a pleasant experience but i think the Soccer Coaches do not understand how to teach youngsters basic soccer foundation skills. Sad “the pay to play”.
@@neildean7515 What you Spanish? Or American who moved to Spain? What foundation do you think they lack? I know a bunch of kids from various clubs that have gone to MIC from where I am in the US. I don’t disagree with you. Just wondering in your observation what you thought was lacking from those teams.
@ i am English (Ex Semi pro player & Academy Coach). I moved to Barcelona 15 years ago. I think USA team players lack Game and Tactical IQ(This comes with lots of play, experience & competition). Personally, i know there are many more Coaches that understand how to teach Technique in a game related situations in Spain than UK and USA. When you add that Spanish players start to play at 5/6 years young and there is a clear structure for progression, this means children or players move up or down the lvls..and those that are talented, serious will progress quicker.. Hope thats helpful
Played Football in America close to the Bronx long enough ago to see a Retired Pele play a tribute game with Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto at Giants Stadium in the 1980's. Used to Watch Maradona play For Napoli on Live TV on the Italian Station . Starting from 10 yrs Old what I remember most is playing small sided games where 40 Yr old Fathers, Uncles and Older Brothers from many different countries play with and against 8 yr olds. Many Lessons were imparted to the Young Ballers that go beyond what could be taught with drills in the Academy or Travel system. Still there were always native born Americans that played in these pick up matches that would get progressively better and more competitive till everyone was playing 1 and 2 touch or turning to take on defenders vs passing back as a matter of pride. Maybe not just USA Youth soccer is an issue here. Respect Iwobi but he's not his Uncle Okocha (granted few are).... but a prime difference may be that Okocha played against grown men as a youth and picked up grown men lessons early. Some of the Intangibles of Football go beyond American Athleticism.......... One touch vision Passing at the last moment (the pause) Pulling back to look vs forcing the shot Turning with the ball to take on defender vs passing back Hitting on frame low hard vs kicking into the bleachers Tracking back to defense after losing the ball Never losing the ball Seeking diamonds and triangles Learning to use both feet Trapping a ball hit high like a goal kick or hit at you at 80 miles an hour Coming back 2 goals down Playing in a small restricted area Not getting mad if get beaten.... instead getting even Willing to play any position Getting Roasted by OG's for failing to do any of the above
I've been coaching since I was 16. When I quit 🏈 in HS to focus on playing and coaching ⚽. Now ⚽ is all I do for a living. We have free options where I live but it's only very underprivileged families. I take my kids and am trying to keep my 9 year old from falling into the same robot like personality most players have. Unfortunately it cost $2k+ a year for her club. As a juco college coach I fully agree that college pressure is an issue too, especially at the NCAA D1 level.
As a 42 year old American, I had ZERO interest in soccer growing up. Baseball, football, basketball. In High School I played baseball... then my buddy convinced 4 or 5 of us baseball guys to join soccer. I absolutely fell in love w the game. By my 3rd and final year on the team... I had a feel for spacing and runs (not to mention that soccer turned me into a new, better overall athlete).. however, I had no foot skills. So, it was a frustrating love affair at that point. I grew up in Jersey City, NJ... directly across the Hudson River from NYC. It was literally one of, if not the most diverse city in the nation. (It's now gentrified from working class to a rich man's city)... I've always felt with our international flavor (Latinos, Africans, middle easterners, etx) that we should be a hotbed for soccer. There was no, and still is no casual street soccer. There's one league, in a far corner of the city that's tough to get to. If we could somehow change that, the game can grow, I'm sure of it. We've had pros in all 3 major sports regularly. Our main man right now is Dan Hurley. UConn men's basketball national champion coach. The sport culture is here for sure. I think what you all are saying is spot on. Great talk, gents.
I agree with most of the assessment of us soccer. Too much emphasis on winning, too little on ball mastery and development, no creativity, lack principles of play and get to 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 too fast. I love the point about coaching and how coaches try to coach soccer like they would American football or basketball (based on running sets/specific plays and drills). With that said basketball has a lot of similar principles to soccer (movement off the ball, making runs/cuts, 1v1,…..). You can apply the principles of a triangle offense in basketball to soccer. I would much rather have a basketball coach try to coach soccer than an American football coach. US lacks quality coaching for soccer. My sons best coach come from Central and South American
Basketball is a better example than American football. Basketball here you grow up playing 1v1, 3v3 playing from sun up to sun down being creative. The best players learn the right way to play from a team, but they get their game from the streets. All the great Basketball player are known in the streets.
Interesting that Mauricio Pochettino (who has Coached in Spain (Espanyol) and England (Spurs) is now the USA National Manager. He is a sell known European Coach who loves technical players and a style of play that is technical, intensive with speed. Definately going to be interesting to see how he does with these USA players in the coming years
As the host says playing up is important. My son plays up two age groups from time to time and trains with a team two age groups up. It really helps the talented technical players develop further by overcoming physical challenges.
How many times a week does he train and play matches. As an experienced coach. You need to be training twice per week in organised sessions and playing matches once per week to develop. Anything less than that you won’t develop.
My favorite subject....I have many many thoughts! Growing up in Ireland in the 80s soccer was in our DNA, so first of all we loved it and when we had structure twice a week at training it was fine because we had 4/5 other days to try the fancy stuff! In the US it is just another activity and very few seem to actually love it. Maybe I have emerald-colored glasses on but the grasp of the basics of young players is very poor here Also, the point about the drop-off has much to do with grassroots structure. hundreds of thousands of 17-40-year-olds play every Sunday morning in the UK and Ireland and that builds the love for the game, I am not sure bringing a WC here is going to change that
It’s a cultural thing, the same reason that Pulisic, Reyna, and Sullivan parents are former players. US parents and kids do not watch soccer like they do with American sports, so the kids don’t really know the essence of the beautiful game. The game is about control, pass and move. Parents who never play insist the game is pass and move, it’s like saying you don’t need to learn to crawl and stand, just start walking and running.
Couldn't agree more, I ask my players to watch highlights of games every week and they generally don't, but they tell me they watch clips, which is something I guess, but they don't watch full games. I am not saying we were any different back in the day, we all wanted to be Pele, but we still had to endure 90 minutes of soccer and understood that it wasn't all fancy flicks and tricks Great analogy about the walk and running
The observations about US soccer that a) there's no casual play here, and b) US club soccer lives and dies by "testing" kids instead of teaching them are spot-on. We have no casual play here because most cities in the US are designed to need cars to get anywhere - if a 10-year-old wants to kick the ball around with his friends, they and their friends need to convince their parents to take the time to drive them to a park. That's unheard of in the rest of the world: in any other part of the world you could walk a block or two and find a place to play. That's why the US can't produce a world-class team - no one here can control the ball and build a play because no one was taught how to do it. Also: the capitalistic aspect of American culture kills any chance for creativity. US youth soccer clubs live and die by their social media presence: they need to focus on advertising the club and bringing in new customers because it costs so much money to run a club. They can't afford to spend time on teaching technique, refining skills, etc. They are constantly joining tournaments so they have footage to advertise the club on social media. Money becomes the focal point and, apart from leaving out 50-70% of kids and families that can't buy their way in, it produces sub-optimal players because they're always "teaching to the test."
Magnificent post is exactly what I tried to articulate poorly in my post. We played for 3 hours every single day from about age 7-12 and still many of my friends dropped off, what hope a player get here when they play for 2 hours a week!
USA Soccer Culture - pay to play. This guy when on a English tangent when the answer to the first question was 3 words. Pay to Play is also the problem
There are many other problems other than pay to play. You have to pay to play in every other country too even England, Spain and Germany. Although i agree its more expensive in the USA Main problem with the USA is the coaching and the kids doing too many other sports…so they aren’t training enough and therefore the standard is too low to develop good players
@@lukebignell7846, the most important thing we can do to fix the system is have regional and local academies that are accessible to all kids in the area. Also, completely separate it from academics. Being a scholar and athlete are two totally different things...(when we accessible academies locally and regionally the kids will naturally play year around and choose it as main sport sooner in life)
People saying pay to play is the problem haven’t thought it through… every other youth sport in America is pay to play… and many are more expensive (by a lot) than soccer… so how can pay to play be a problem unique to US youth soccer? It’s also pay to play everywhere else in the world… when people point to pro youth academies in Europe as “see! It’s free!” Well we have that in the US too… the truth is we need 300 MLS youth academies that are free because US is so damn big… we only have 30… and we can’t get to 300 because majority of Americans are too busy watching NFL NBA MLB EPL..
@lukebignell7846 soccer is boring as a kid in the U.S. it's boring to play a sport that none of your friends and neighbors play, and is also difficult too learn. My kids play soccer but when they play at the park it's usually football or basketball.
Guys you need to come to Toronto! Seriously. The grass roots scene is booming here. Plus the Canadian immigrants are different culturally than Americans. We do have the bullshit pay to play system here too but come and check it out pleaseeeeee
That for sure is a weird end point for soccer, but having it geared towards pro isn't a silver bullet either. It's a volume thing....get more playing and more cream will rise to the top
The vast majority of kids never go pro, and the majority of pros don't make as much as a college grad especially in the U.S. plus NCAA football and basketball are huge leagues top 10 worldwide so they are one of the few organizations here that can support soccer. If their was no NCAA we wouldn't have MLS or the women's league.
Im from northern ireland been in america east coast 27 years have done alot of youth coaching im all about development but unfortunately people only care about winning no matter what the cost ,which is of course human nature ifbyour not winning people jump ship
The stat about kids stopping to play at 14 is accurate ... but I think the reasons behind it are a bit fuzzy. I coach at a high level club, a high school and run a rec program. At 14, most rec programs stop operating. I think that is a huge problem in this country as the shift to "select teams" has become more prevalent. Let's be honest - we all know those select clubs that are basically glorified rec programs. Add on to that the introduction of high school sports and many times kids having to finally choose between sports. I could go on, but I think removing Rec programs is a big problem. When kids get to the U15 level, most clubs have started to really push for results-driven development as they try to move up the ranks to ECNL, NPL, E64, etc or to keep their places there. It's a broken system for sure.
This interview provided great insights into the current state of soccer in the U.S. However, I have a question for all coaches, clubs, academy's and soccer fans: the word 'development' is often overused in the soccer community. What does 'development' really mean in the context of soccer? And what does it look like in real time? How can we measure a child's development and understand what progress should ultimately look like?
@@tolaakanni937 It starts with identification of the ball mastery skills and game understanding that the club would want to see at given age groups, and a training methodology designed to progress players through these levels. It would shift the definition of success/failure from wins/losses to things like “our U10s are now recognizing 2 v 1 situations much better and exploiting them”…or “our 1 v 1 training seems to be working…we’re seeing a lot more players take on defenders in the final third and creating chances” or “we have an issue with a lot of players not developing their weaker foot” or “our players still seem to not understand when to press and when to cover” or “we struggle to punish teams on transition”… Under this environment, coaches would be watching games mainly to see if the identified skills and game understanding are being absorbed, with a good result in the game being a “nice to have” but not the primary measuring stick. Further, talented players may be asked to play in multiple positions more to challenge them and accelerate their development, something that might compromise results. All of this obviously takes a high level of coaching expertise, and patience. Very difficult to sustain in the US youth model, with parents (whose knowledge of the game tends to be limited) funding the clubs and wanting to see results in the formal games quickly.
Coach here, Most coaches care only for their journey and how it can take their coaching journey to the next level, teams need to set something up like an academy to creat players that can play in their first team or to be known as a team that creates good players so more kids come to join. Also possible to sell a player, that will look like a success. So answering your questions as a coach, if we can create players so coaches can bring them to the next club that they might join, in order to have a great season to then move to a better club. Repeat that for 5 years then with luck you have a few pro players and a full tine coach.
Is your son or daughter controlling/dribbling/passing and shooting the ball better than they were last season? Are they taking less and less time to make the correct decision? This is development.
I am developing a program to tangibly measure development in soccer. But a great observation, soccer is very dynamic compared to other sports and even Moneyballing soccer isn't really perfect. There is still a huge amount of subjectivity and serendipity to get ahead in soccer and it is still a bit of the blind leading the blind and development is still very much down to the coach, which is never great
If your talking about coaches using youth football as a stepping stone, it's standard, I coach youth u18 in Australia getting 3x more than when I did u12s the more a coach moves up age and or better teams the more they can get, and everyone wants more money and a better profile. I know coaches that have been stuck 10 years at youth and people come in and in 4 years go from u7 girls to a pro coaching contract.
Americans kids play 2 to 3 sports. Soccer needs to be pitched as a sport that can help you5h football players during their off season like basketball and track are we will pull kids into the sport. Soccer skills training are great football training for kids that play running back, receiver and defensive back in footbal.
If there is not the right challenge point locally playing other soccer teams. Get them playing other invasion sports (basketball, hockey etc.) at the higher level alongside soccer. All invasion games are about finding and manipulating space. The decision making will transfer.
Where is this stat that says MLS is most watched league in US. As far as I know, it’s 1. English Premier League 2. Liga MX 3. MLS. And considering you have to have MLS Season Pass to watch the majority of MLS games, they may fall even lower now that you can watch USL on local TV/streaming and EFL on Paramount
Currently, yes; I agree with you. However, as the leagues (MLS, USL, & colleges) continue to grow in popularity and evolve, the U.S. youth development system will shift toward increased player development rather than strictly winning tournaments. Our youth system will rival any world league because of the education components that are integrated. It won’t be a make it pro or bust. The best players will make it as they always do. The others that wash out professionally, play at the collegiate level, or merge into other careers will become fans and administrators with increased knowledge of the game and thus, generate immense passion similar to world futbol culture. You will see the birth of a new generation of young talent of supreme American quality better than we could ever imagine while continuing to evolve the U.S. system from the ground up. Soon we will have a more robust academy system within the MLS. If the USL can thrive and do the same, at a smaller scale similar to a UK category three academy, in addition to club soccer players that go to top flight D1 colleges, our system will be just fine. I played tackle football and didn’t appreciate futbol until I travelled to Europe. We didn’t even have a soccer team in my neighborhood. I found the game to be more complicated than football as the puzzle is in constant movement. Wait until a defensive safety that is 6-4, 225lbs and runs a 4.4 40 yd dash, with a graceful touch eager compete and to slice you to shreds, decides to play soccer instead of football. The social incentive structure for young people is not there yet, especially in our toughest neighborhoods where those players are born and forged. I can visualize it coming together now and our system will be strong. Maintain some optimism and stay thirsty my friend! 😎🇺🇸
When the USA begins to nurture autoocratically, we will accelerate at a very good pace....based on my observation athletes who learn democratically will have an advantage over other countries with less athleticism. ...the combo of both will be special.
You guys need to interview African Americans and the huge opportunity that the world has to develop the inner city talent. Exposure is the biggest hurdle.
Can US soccer be like Europe was in basketball in the 1990s?..I think it will take longer than Europe's rise in basketball...but it will eventually happen.
the problem with US soccer comes down to their own arrogance, the wrong standard of achievement for grass root and club soccer and the fact that soccer here excludes huge sections of the population ( i'll explain this later). First US soccer is too arrogant for it's own good... we dont want to change our grassroot system or even college system to match the rest of the world and we will develop players late because they aren't introduced to actual competitive football until they get out of college or skip it and go outside the US. Our grassroot system has always catered to get people into college which shouldn't be our goal for players, they should be pushing to get players at age 12-14yrs pushing to get into europe or academies for soccer clubs. We're starting to see it but not as a whole only a small select numbers. and to keep things brief... US Soccer will never be good cause it so money involved at the grassroot level that we don't find the next ronaldo, messi, ronaldinho... I mean when you listen to a lot of players you'll see that football was a means to get out of something/somewhere.... in America soccer is often played by the middle class or people with money so they can get into these clubs to get looked at. You hear stories about CR7 growing up poor and football was a way out for him and his family and he dedicated himself to it and look where it got him. We have more people in some states than the whole of portugal and we can't find/develop/produce an athlete like him? Somehow we produce top basketball and american football players....We don't have a scouting structure or a academy system that finds these kids playing pickup on the streets or at some random field. Soccer almost seems like its for the privileged and is moneygated unlike some other sports... we only have scouts at like ODP, or these expensive soccer camps or places where you only get there if you got money. I bet with the size of the US, i'd say about 40 states if they took the money and budgeted a system to act as an academy for the state and it was based off talent and not necessarily money.... these states could develop their own top professional football team with supporting academies and our national team would be #1 in the world, there's honestly so much more wrong with US soccer but those are the ones that come to mind
Great comment. But regarding American football..we’re the only ones that play, so there is nothing to compare our system too. The US thought it was great at making cars…until the Japanese got in the act. So I wonder what would happen if other countries played American football but developed them the same way they do soccer players…
@@Michael-cb5nm if they would and could we'd see more diversity just like we're starting to see in basketball. Globally basketball is starting to be more competitive with the US and you could say the same about women's soccer. The biggest weakness for the US and soccer development is it's pay gated so we will always lack the ability to find and develop the best players. Both national teams for the US lack diversity compared to what the US has to offer for a development pool. USWNT barely had any diversity before 2016, crystal Dunn and scurry the only two women of any color I can really recall .. Dunn been there forever representing!! But on either national team I say for the population pool the US has, were grossly under represented from the Latino community, never even seen an asian or Asian indian get a look at, and I'll say most of the player pool is coming for the women, those that went to college and for the men college or those plucked up and went Europe route at an early age or are multinational and picked the US over another country cause they know they weren't gonna get looked at.
@Michael-cb5nm Look at the makeup of our country and the American Football (NFL) players. Now tell me the European country that reflects the makeup of the US. No European country will ever beat our pro NFL players. Ever.
Were teans can play? There are no free field. All schools built fence around thier field and parks has guards to stop games. All government's field like schools and parks should be open for soccer games if we want to build strong soccer culture. If that doesn't happen talents will never grow and they drop out of team. Parents belive thier kids might be next super star but this bobble will burst when they find reality of US soccer.
1) United States is the 2nd largest South American country by population in the world 2) U.S. is the largest sporting culture in the world the diversity of sport is a strength not a liability 3) We have had our soccer culture imposed on us by the English and the Germans (can't take what should be an indigenous American culture and impose the English model) 4) the problem is a culture clash and a) Americans have a "sum of the parts" sport culture b) soccer is a "weakest link game" c) the English "pay to play" culture will not us talent rise if you didn't first fail in London then try here then you won't make it d) we dont know enough as a culture to send them packing e) it's not football it's futbol f) and its not futbol if you pretend to put on a Liverpool jersey every weekend and pretend to be in the EPL that's why kids quit at 14 they find out the English are full of it and you just can't take turns counter attacking each other!
Love this podcast. Sean does a great job. Wish the guests were a little more knowledgeable on the USA Soccer environment being they work in it. Check your Pulisic story if you’re going to tell it. MLS has 29 teams, USL Championship 24, and there are over 200 D1 Men’s College Soccer programs. And it’s called SOCCER by the way. Even Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher know that 😆
Call him back because he must’ve heard you wrong when you said his dad was Polish. And Claudio Reyna played over 100 caps for the USA 🇺🇸 national team, not Argentina!!!
@@topbenssoccer the main point is that Pulisic is the player that he is due to street football in UK, moving to Europe in his teens and his Dads influence being European by DNA. Pulisic building street football pitches in his home town to give kids the opportunity to play freely without a coach says it all. We apologize for the elements of the story that are beside the point. Good spot though! Gotcha moment 😂❤️⚽️
@@GlobalStreetSoccer you’re spot on with needing more unstructured free play at the younger age groups. The initiative is great to get kids playing in the “street”. A lot of people will watch or listen to this, and you’re obviously doing good things, so I think it’s important the little facts line up so that your message isn’t diluted or discarded. Oh and George Weah was most definitely World Footballer of the Year! 🙌 no need to think about that one :)
Loved the podcast. US soccer has coaches training that mimics the best countries soccer programs, but will take years for the coaches to get certified and implement the teachings. I think we will get there. Counter argument, England has never won a major tournament, and I just heard recently that this Brazil team is the worst in generations. So I take everything with a grain of salt.
@danielwestlund9208 the sarcastic comments are from people who don't subscribe to a Finding Dorey mindset....the game has a rich and long history...and it all counts...go tell Uruguay their World Cups don't count 🤣 As for youth development in England, they have been highly successful despite not winning a Euro or WC...over the past two cycles they have consistently been among the best, and that's in large part due to their youth setups across the Prem and Championship.
There’s no “system”. Up to age 12, it should be mainly about ball mastery and understanding the fundamentals of space and positioning. But pay to play encourages lots of formal games on large fields with many players, basically turning youth soccer into glorified kickball. Secondly, there is little need to worry about getting kids to pick soccer over American football. The physical attributes of the athletes diverge too much. Tell me, which American football position would Phil Foden, Messi, Siva, or a host of other world class soccer players have played if they grew up in the States? Answer…they would have played soccer because they would have been too small for American football. And they wouldn’t have become world class in our system. So stop this nonsense about “the better athletes in the US don’t play soccer”. US soccer doesn’t have an athlete problem, we don’t lose games because we’re too small or slow. We lose games because we lack elite skill and decision making ability.
@@johnyoung823 Not to the extent it is in the US. The academy system, whereby developmental programs are funded by senior professional clubs at little or no cost to prospective players, is much more developed outside of the US. How else do you think all these talented kids with little means get spotted in these countries? And once in these academies, they are developed by professional coaches with age group expertise whose goal is long term development for the player. Further, there is the solidarity payment system which can result in the youth club receiving payments if one of their players is eventually signed for a large transfer fee. This further incentivizes a development approach across the board. In contrast, the US youth soccer economic model is to have clubs unconnected to any senior pro team. Their main source of revenue is fees from parents. There is little to no solidarity payment system. Long term development is hard in this environment as parents generally judge the quality of a club based on its win record, and how many tournaments are entered. It is this completely different incentive structure and economic model, one that stifles development, that is the rule rather than the exception in American youth soccer.
@@johnyoung823Not true. For instance if you grew up in Holland, and were scouted by Ajax as a youth player and asked to train there, how much would your parents pay? Virtually nothing. The club pays for everything. As long as you continue to show promise, they’ll develop you with the long term aim of turning you into a professional that can play on their first team, or be sold on. This is how it works outside of the US…it’s a completely different economic and developmental model.
I don’t think there is a right answer, some kids learn better doing drill work and learning in a structured environment and some kids thrive in free play with very little rules. I feel the academies don’t adapt to the players they have, one way doesn’t fit all!
@@imawaylonfan1 The best athletes for these 3 sports are not interchangeable. Soccer involves manipulating a ball with the feet and playing continuously over 90 minutes. This imposes upper limits on size..soccer players rarely exceed 90 kilos. LeBron would be too large to play soccer, and conversely Messi or Modric are too small to play in the NBA or NFL. There is an entire class of athletes that are between 5’5 and 5’10 that soccer has a virtual monopoly on that are not really wanted by the major American sports. Yet they have never been adequately developed in the US soccer system. The “best athletes play other sports” is therefore mainly an excuse that US soccer is happy to hide behind.
I’m a soccer fan and player and coached most of my life. Just telling you the facts, majority of the better athletes in junior high and high school do not play soccer. You guys can think what you want but I’m going by facts.
@@imawaylonfan1 You have anecdotes, not facts. You still haven’t addressed the fundamental point that many world class soccer players are way too small to be considered for American football and basketball, so athletes like that by definition cannot be poached by those sports. Also, the US men’s team are considered good athletes relative to other nations…their issues are technical and creative deficits. US players abroad are generally there because of their athleticism, not in spite of it. Those are the facts, not your junior high anecdotes.
@Michael-cb5nm There are many great athletes who go on to play the big 3 sports in the US that could have been great soccer players. Because they are not of ideal size, they do not make it to the NFL or NBA. I can think of many college point guards that were 5'10" to 6' that were beasts but never made it to the NBA because of their size. Many great high school athletes who choose football are undersized and never go on to play at higher levels.... many of these athletes would have been ideal soccer players. That being said I agree that the biggest problem is player development/culture
Incredibly insightful conversation. Thanks guys for bringing this to us. We are based in Tampa, Florida (born and raised in Dublin, Ireland). Our kids (half Irish/ Colombian) are 5 and 3 and they are training multiple evenings a week with Florida Premier FC. I believe it's the best soccer/ football structure for the region. But a ways to go to get to the UK/ European/ Latin levels. Once the 2026 World Cup arrives, soccer will explode in the US. Additionally, im seeing a huge increase in numbers on the grassroots front. Fields are full of kids playing soccer every evening wherever I drive. Wonderful to see!
We will have to take over ☘
You are completely right. When i arrived to Coach youth Football in Barcelona, the word Drill was hated. “We practice, Practice and play” practice is active, with intensity, purpose and related to the game, Most important individual technique and practice has to have maximum touches of the ball.. This is CONTACT TIME with the ball is so central to the Spanish Culture of practice, development and play..But most important is Local Competition. Recently a local top grass roots team drew 2-2 in the league with Barcelona’s Academy..
My GK son (13 years )who plays in Barcelona U13s has played against many USA academy teams in international Tournaments; ie Mediterrean International Cup (MIC 2024) has played many USA soccer Academies. Its always the same, they are big, strong athletic and confident. But, they lack basic foundation technique to play the game at a competitive level. its always a pleasant experience but i think the Soccer Coaches do not understand how to teach youngsters basic soccer foundation skills. Sad “the pay to play”.
@@neildean7515 What you Spanish? Or American who moved to Spain?
What foundation do you think they lack? I know a bunch of kids from various clubs that have gone to MIC from where I am in the US.
I don’t disagree with you. Just wondering in your observation what you thought was lacking from those teams.
@ i am English (Ex Semi pro player & Academy Coach). I moved to Barcelona 15 years ago.
I think USA team players lack Game and Tactical IQ(This comes with lots of play, experience & competition).
Personally, i know there are many more Coaches that understand how to teach Technique in a game related situations in Spain than UK and USA. When you add that Spanish players start to play at 5/6 years young and there is a clear structure for progression, this means children or players move up or down the lvls..and those that are talented, serious will progress quicker..
Hope thats helpful
Played Football in America close to the Bronx long enough ago to see a Retired Pele play a tribute game with Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto at Giants Stadium in the 1980's. Used to Watch Maradona play For Napoli on Live TV on the Italian Station . Starting from 10 yrs Old what I remember most is playing small sided games where 40 Yr old Fathers, Uncles and Older Brothers from many different countries play with and against 8 yr olds. Many Lessons were imparted to the Young Ballers that go beyond what could be taught with drills in the Academy or Travel system. Still there were always native born Americans that played in these pick up matches that would get progressively better and more competitive till everyone was playing 1 and 2 touch or turning to take on defenders vs passing back as a matter of pride. Maybe not just USA Youth soccer is an issue here. Respect Iwobi but he's not his Uncle Okocha (granted few are).... but a prime difference may be that Okocha played against grown men as a youth and picked up grown men lessons early.
Some of the Intangibles of Football go beyond American Athleticism..........
One touch vision
Passing at the last moment (the pause)
Pulling back to look vs forcing the shot
Turning with the ball to take on defender vs passing back
Hitting on frame low hard vs kicking into the bleachers
Tracking back to defense after losing the ball
Never losing the ball
Seeking diamonds and triangles
Learning to use both feet
Trapping a ball hit high like a goal kick or hit at you at 80 miles an hour
Coming back 2 goals down
Playing in a small restricted area
Not getting mad if get beaten.... instead getting even
Willing to play any position
Getting Roasted by OG's for failing to do any of the above
I've been coaching since I was 16. When I quit 🏈 in HS to focus on playing and coaching ⚽. Now ⚽ is all I do for a living. We have free options where I live but it's only very underprivileged families. I take my kids and am trying to keep my 9 year old from falling into the same robot like personality most players have. Unfortunately it cost $2k+ a year for her club.
As a juco college coach I fully agree that college pressure is an issue too, especially at the NCAA D1 level.
As a 42 year old American, I had ZERO interest in soccer growing up. Baseball, football, basketball. In High School I played baseball... then my buddy convinced 4 or 5 of us baseball guys to join soccer. I absolutely fell in love w the game. By my 3rd and final year on the team... I had a feel for spacing and runs (not to mention that soccer turned me into a new, better overall athlete).. however, I had no foot skills. So, it was a frustrating love affair at that point.
I grew up in Jersey City, NJ... directly across the Hudson River from NYC. It was literally one of, if not the most diverse city in the nation. (It's now gentrified from working class to a rich man's city)... I've always felt with our international flavor (Latinos, Africans, middle easterners, etx) that we should be a hotbed for soccer.
There was no, and still is no casual street soccer. There's one league, in a far corner of the city that's tough to get to. If we could somehow change that, the game can grow, I'm sure of it. We've had pros in all 3 major sports regularly. Our main man right now is Dan Hurley. UConn men's basketball national champion coach. The sport culture is here for sure.
I think what you all are saying is spot on. Great talk, gents.
41 and picking up soccer for the first time, too. I'm in North Dallas and see the exact same thing you mention here
New Jersey is home to a world reknownwd street soccer game where pros come and play from every culture
Well done lads,
I agree with most of the assessment of us soccer. Too much emphasis on winning, too little on ball mastery and development, no creativity, lack principles of play and get to 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 too fast. I love the point about coaching and how coaches try to coach soccer like they would American football or basketball (based on running sets/specific plays and drills). With that said basketball has a lot of similar principles to soccer (movement off the ball, making runs/cuts, 1v1,…..). You can apply the principles of a triangle offense in basketball to soccer. I would much rather have a basketball coach try to coach soccer than an American football coach. US lacks quality coaching for soccer. My sons best coach come from Central and South American
Believe it or not that is the future, but more in the open age groups
Basketball is a better example than American football. Basketball here you grow up playing 1v1, 3v3 playing from sun up to sun down being creative. The best players learn the right way to play from a team, but they get their game from the streets. All the great Basketball player are known in the streets.
Interesting that Mauricio Pochettino (who has Coached in Spain (Espanyol) and England (Spurs) is now the USA National Manager. He is a sell known European Coach who loves technical players and a style of play that is technical, intensive with speed. Definately going to be interesting to see how he does with these USA players in the coming years
As the host says playing up is important.
My son plays up two age groups from time to time and trains with a team two age groups up.
It really helps the talented technical players develop further by overcoming physical challenges.
Playing up in any sport is the most underrated hack every 100%
My son started at 8, almost 9. He’s doing ok for his age but I hope he’s doing well enough for the future. He just got on a club team this year at 10.
Does he play soccer a lot outside of a club team? Yes then yeah they’ll do well, if the answer is no, then he just kinda likes it.
How many times a week does he train and play matches.
As an experienced coach.
You need to be training twice per week in organised sessions and playing matches once per week to develop.
Anything less than that you won’t develop.
My favorite subject....I have many many thoughts! Growing up in Ireland in the 80s soccer was in our DNA, so first of all we loved it and when we had structure twice a week at training it was fine because we had 4/5 other days to try the fancy stuff! In the US it is just another activity and very few seem to actually love it. Maybe I have emerald-colored glasses on but the grasp of the basics of young players is very poor here
Also, the point about the drop-off has much to do with grassroots structure. hundreds of thousands of 17-40-year-olds play every Sunday morning in the UK and Ireland and that builds the love for the game, I am not sure bringing a WC here is going to change that
It’s a cultural thing, the same reason that Pulisic, Reyna, and Sullivan parents are former players.
US parents and kids do not watch soccer like they do with American sports, so the kids don’t really know the essence of the beautiful game.
The game is about control, pass and move. Parents who never play insist the game is pass and move, it’s like saying you don’t need to learn to crawl and stand, just start walking and running.
Couldn't agree more, I ask my players to watch highlights of games every week and they generally don't, but they tell me they watch clips, which is something I guess, but they don't watch full games.
I am not saying we were any different back in the day, we all wanted to be Pele, but we still had to endure 90 minutes of soccer and understood that it wasn't all fancy flicks and tricks
Great analogy about the walk and running
The observations about US soccer that a) there's no casual play here, and b) US club soccer lives and dies by "testing" kids instead of teaching them are spot-on. We have no casual play here because most cities in the US are designed to need cars to get anywhere - if a 10-year-old wants to kick the ball around with his friends, they and their friends need to convince their parents to take the time to drive them to a park. That's unheard of in the rest of the world: in any other part of the world you could walk a block or two and find a place to play. That's why the US can't produce a world-class team - no one here can control the ball and build a play because no one was taught how to do it.
Also: the capitalistic aspect of American culture kills any chance for creativity. US youth soccer clubs live and die by their social media presence: they need to focus on advertising the club and bringing in new customers because it costs so much money to run a club. They can't afford to spend time on teaching technique, refining skills, etc. They are constantly joining tournaments so they have footage to advertise the club on social media. Money becomes the focal point and, apart from leaving out 50-70% of kids and families that can't buy their way in, it produces sub-optimal players because they're always "teaching to the test."
Yes, you nailed it.
Spot on
Magnificent post is exactly what I tried to articulate poorly in my post. We played for 3 hours every single day from about age 7-12 and still many of my friends dropped off, what hope a player get here when they play for 2 hours a week!
USA Soccer Culture - pay to play. This guy when on a English tangent when the answer to the first question was 3 words. Pay to Play is also the problem
There are many other problems other than pay to play.
You have to pay to play in every other country too even England, Spain and Germany.
Although i agree its more expensive in the USA
Main problem with the USA is the coaching and the kids doing too many other sports…so they aren’t training enough and therefore the standard is too low to develop good players
@@lukebignell7846, the most important thing we can do to fix the system is have regional and local academies that are accessible to all kids in the area. Also, completely separate it from academics. Being a scholar and athlete are two totally different things...(when we accessible academies locally and regionally the kids will naturally play year around and choose it as main sport sooner in life)
People saying pay to play is the problem haven’t thought it through… every other youth sport in America is pay to play… and many are more expensive (by a lot) than soccer… so how can pay to play be a problem unique to US youth soccer?
It’s also pay to play everywhere else in the world… when people point to pro youth academies in Europe as “see! It’s free!” Well we have that in the US too… the truth is we need 300 MLS youth academies that are free because US is so damn big… we only have 30… and we can’t get to 300 because majority of Americans are too busy watching NFL NBA MLB EPL..
@lukebignell7846 soccer is boring as a kid in the U.S. it's boring to play a sport that none of your friends and neighbors play, and is also difficult too learn. My kids play soccer but when they play at the park it's usually football or basketball.
Guys you need to come to Toronto! Seriously.
The grass roots scene is booming here. Plus the Canadian immigrants are different culturally than Americans.
We do have the bullshit pay to play system here too but come and check it out pleaseeeeee
A large problem for soccer, and most sports in general in the US, they are geared towards college and not making professionals.
That for sure is a weird end point for soccer, but having it geared towards pro isn't a silver bullet either. It's a volume thing....get more playing and more cream will rise to the top
The vast majority of kids never go pro, and the majority of pros don't make as much as a college grad especially in the U.S. plus NCAA football and basketball are huge leagues top 10 worldwide so they are one of the few organizations here that can support soccer.
If their was no NCAA we wouldn't have MLS or the women's league.
Im from northern ireland been in america east coast 27 years have done alot of youth coaching im all about development but unfortunately people only care about winning no matter what the cost ,which is of course human nature ifbyour not winning people jump ship
The stat about kids stopping to play at 14 is accurate ... but I think the reasons behind it are a bit fuzzy.
I coach at a high level club, a high school and run a rec program. At 14, most rec programs stop operating. I think that is a huge problem in this country as the shift to "select teams" has become more prevalent. Let's be honest - we all know those select clubs that are basically glorified rec programs.
Add on to that the introduction of high school sports and many times kids having to finally choose between sports.
I could go on, but I think removing Rec programs is a big problem. When kids get to the U15 level, most clubs have started to really push for results-driven development as they try to move up the ranks to ECNL, NPL, E64, etc or to keep their places there. It's a broken system for sure.
This interview provided great insights into the current state of soccer in the U.S. However, I have a question for all coaches, clubs, academy's and soccer fans: the word 'development' is often overused in the soccer community. What does 'development' really mean in the context of soccer? And what does it look like in real time? How can we measure a child's development and understand what progress should ultimately look like?
@@tolaakanni937 It starts with identification of the ball mastery skills and game understanding that the club would want to see at given age groups, and a training methodology designed to progress players through these levels. It would shift the definition of success/failure from wins/losses to things like “our U10s are now recognizing 2 v 1 situations much better and exploiting them”…or “our 1 v 1 training seems to be working…we’re seeing a lot more players take on defenders in the final third and creating chances” or “we have an issue with a lot of players not developing their weaker foot” or “our players still seem to not understand when to press and when to cover” or “we struggle to punish teams on transition”…
Under this environment, coaches would be watching games mainly to see if the identified skills and game understanding are being absorbed, with a good result in the game being a “nice to have” but not the primary measuring stick. Further, talented players may be asked to play in multiple positions more to challenge them and accelerate their development, something that might compromise results.
All of this obviously takes a high level of coaching expertise, and patience. Very difficult to sustain in the US youth model, with parents (whose knowledge of the game tends to be limited) funding the clubs and wanting to see results in the formal games quickly.
Coach here,
Most coaches care only for their journey and how it can take their coaching journey to the next level, teams need to set something up like an academy to creat players that can play in their first team or to be known as a team that creates good players so more kids come to join. Also possible to sell a player, that will look like a success.
So answering your questions as a coach, if we can create players so coaches can bring them to the next club that they might join, in order to have a great season to then move to a better club. Repeat that for 5 years then with luck you have a few pro players and a full tine coach.
Is your son or daughter controlling/dribbling/passing and shooting the ball better than they were last season?
Are they taking less and less time to make the correct decision?
This is development.
I am developing a program to tangibly measure development in soccer. But a great observation, soccer is very dynamic compared to other sports and even Moneyballing soccer isn't really perfect.
There is still a huge amount of subjectivity and serendipity to get ahead in soccer and it is still a bit of the blind leading the blind and development is still very much down to the coach, which is never great
@@RastaSaint7 Ah correct but there is no measurement of "better" in soccer like there is in other sports
FYI Pulisic is Croatian and Claudio Reyna is born in New Jersey He played for the USA not Argentina
We are going to employ a fact checker for the next episode 😅
Reynas father or grandfather played for Argentina so they're not far off.
Please cover the Australian system!
Some coaches see usa clubs as an audition from grassroots to the MLS ⚽️👀
If your talking about coaches using youth football as a stepping stone, it's standard, I coach youth u18 in Australia getting 3x more than when I did u12s the more a coach moves up age and or better teams the more they can get, and everyone wants more money and a better profile.
I know coaches that have been stuck 10 years at youth and people come in and in 4 years go from u7 girls to a pro coaching contract.
If the USA were to have the same programs as USA basketball then we would probably produce some of the best players
Americans kids play 2 to 3 sports. Soccer needs to be pitched as a sport that can help you5h football players during their off season like basketball and track are we will pull kids into the sport. Soccer skills training are great football training for kids that play running back, receiver and defensive back in footbal.
Mens BASKETBALL in the USA is identical to the soccer in Europe. Poor people play without instruction and are creative.
Jumpers for goal posts 💚. Spot on, I use that comparison all the time when people ask what soccer is like in Ireland
Poor people....lol
If there is not the right challenge point locally playing other soccer teams. Get them playing other invasion sports (basketball, hockey etc.) at the higher level alongside soccer. All invasion games are about finding and manipulating space. The decision making will transfer.
Claudio Reina played for the USA buddy. He played in the 1994 WC, maybe???. But yes he was a good player.
His father and grandfather played professionally in Argentina.
Where is this stat that says MLS is most watched league in US. As far as I know, it’s 1. English Premier League 2. Liga MX 3. MLS. And considering you have to have MLS Season Pass to watch the majority of MLS games, they may fall even lower now that you can watch USL on local TV/streaming and EFL on Paramount
We”ll be fine. Just keep the kids playing however you can whenever you can while our growing systems evolves. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
No the hell we wont. Soccer is too expensive and prices out our best athletes.
Currently, yes; I agree with you. However, as the leagues (MLS, USL, & colleges) continue to grow in popularity and evolve, the U.S. youth development system will shift toward increased player development rather than strictly winning tournaments. Our youth system will rival any world league because of the education components that are integrated. It won’t be a make it pro or bust. The best players will make it as they always do. The others that wash out professionally, play at the collegiate level, or merge into other careers will become fans and administrators with increased knowledge of the game and thus, generate immense passion similar to world futbol culture. You will see the birth of a new generation of young talent of supreme American quality better than we could ever imagine while continuing to evolve the U.S. system from the ground up. Soon we will have a more robust academy system within the MLS. If the USL can thrive and do the same, at a smaller scale similar to a UK category three academy, in addition to club soccer players that go to top flight D1 colleges, our system will be just fine. I played tackle football and didn’t appreciate futbol until I travelled to Europe. We didn’t even have a soccer team in my neighborhood. I found the game to be more complicated than football as the puzzle is in constant movement. Wait until a defensive safety that is 6-4, 225lbs and runs a 4.4 40 yd dash, with a graceful touch eager compete and to slice you to shreds, decides to play soccer instead of football. The social incentive structure for young people is not there yet, especially in our toughest neighborhoods where those players are born and forged. I can visualize it coming together now and our system will be strong. Maintain some optimism and stay thirsty my friend! 😎🇺🇸
When the USA begins to nurture autoocratically, we will accelerate at a very good pace....based on my observation athletes who learn democratically will have an advantage over other countries with less athleticism. ...the combo of both will be special.
Anybody in comments know anything about the possible switching of birthdate cutoff again and going back to August 1st??
You guys need to interview African Americans and the huge opportunity that the world has to develop the inner city talent. Exposure is the biggest hurdle.
Pulisic is Croatian not Polish or Hungarian 😂
Can US soccer be like Europe was in basketball in the 1990s?..I think it will take longer than Europe's rise in basketball...but it will eventually happen.
I'd be willing to come on over a zoom if you're interested. I've played many sports and can speak on behalf of that and coaching ⚽ for a living
the problem with US soccer comes down to their own arrogance, the wrong standard of achievement for grass root and club soccer and the fact that soccer here excludes huge sections of the population ( i'll explain this later). First US soccer is too arrogant for it's own good... we dont want to change our grassroot system or even college system to match the rest of the world and we will develop players late because they aren't introduced to actual competitive football until they get out of college or skip it and go outside the US. Our grassroot system has always catered to get people into college which shouldn't be our goal for players, they should be pushing to get players at age 12-14yrs pushing to get into europe or academies for soccer clubs. We're starting to see it but not as a whole only a small select numbers. and to keep things brief... US Soccer will never be good cause it so money involved at the grassroot level that we don't find the next ronaldo, messi, ronaldinho... I mean when you listen to a lot of players you'll see that football was a means to get out of something/somewhere.... in America soccer is often played by the middle class or people with money so they can get into these clubs to get looked at. You hear stories about CR7 growing up poor and football was a way out for him and his family and he dedicated himself to it and look where it got him. We have more people in some states than the whole of portugal and we can't find/develop/produce an athlete like him? Somehow we produce top basketball and american football players....We don't have a scouting structure or a academy system that finds these kids playing pickup on the streets or at some random field. Soccer almost seems like its for the privileged and is moneygated unlike some other sports... we only have scouts at like ODP, or these expensive soccer camps or places where you only get there if you got money. I bet with the size of the US, i'd say about 40 states if they took the money and budgeted a system to act as an academy for the state and it was based off talent and not necessarily money.... these states could develop their own top professional football team with supporting academies and our national team would be #1 in the world, there's honestly so much more wrong with US soccer but those are the ones that come to mind
Great comment. But regarding American football..we’re the only ones that play, so there is nothing to compare our system too. The US thought it was great at making cars…until the Japanese got in the act. So I wonder what would happen if other countries played American football but developed them the same way they do soccer players…
@@Michael-cb5nm if they would and could we'd see more diversity just like we're starting to see in basketball. Globally basketball is starting to be more competitive with the US and you could say the same about women's soccer. The biggest weakness for the US and soccer development is it's pay gated so we will always lack the ability to find and develop the best players. Both national teams for the US lack diversity compared to what the US has to offer for a development pool. USWNT barely had any diversity before 2016, crystal Dunn and scurry the only two women of any color I can really recall .. Dunn been there forever representing!! But on either national team I say for the population pool the US has, were grossly under represented from the Latino community, never even seen an asian or Asian indian get a look at, and I'll say most of the player pool is coming for the women, those that went to college and for the men college or those plucked up and went Europe route at an early age or are multinational and picked the US over another country cause they know they weren't gonna get looked at.
@Michael-cb5nm Look at the makeup of our country and the American Football (NFL) players. Now tell me the European country that reflects the makeup of the US. No European country will ever beat our pro NFL players. Ever.
Were teans can play? There are no free field. All schools built fence around thier field and parks has guards to stop games. All government's field like schools and parks should be open for soccer games if we want to build strong soccer culture. If that doesn't happen talents will never grow and they drop out of team. Parents belive thier kids might be next super star but this bobble will burst when they find reality of US soccer.
1) United States is the 2nd largest South American country by population in the world
2) U.S. is the largest sporting culture in the world the diversity of sport is a strength not a liability
3) We have had our soccer culture imposed on us by the English and the Germans (can't take what should be an indigenous American culture and impose the English model)
4) the problem is a culture clash and a) Americans have a "sum of the parts" sport culture b) soccer is a "weakest link game" c) the English "pay to play" culture will not us talent rise if you didn't first fail in London then try here then you won't make it d) we dont know enough as a culture to send them packing e) it's not football it's futbol f) and its not futbol if you pretend to put on a Liverpool jersey every weekend and pretend to be in the EPL that's why kids quit at 14 they find out the English are full of it and you just can't take turns counter attacking each other!
Love this podcast. Sean does a great job. Wish the guests were a little more knowledgeable on the USA Soccer environment being they work in it. Check your Pulisic story if you’re going to tell it. MLS has 29 teams, USL Championship 24, and there are over 200 D1 Men’s College Soccer programs. And it’s called SOCCER by the way. Even Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher know that 😆
I just called Pulisic and he told me we got it spot on 😂
Call him back because he must’ve heard you wrong when you said his dad was Polish. And Claudio Reyna played over 100 caps for the USA 🇺🇸 national team, not Argentina!!!
@@topbenssoccer the main point is that Pulisic is the player that he is due to street football in UK, moving to Europe in his teens and his Dads influence being European by DNA. Pulisic building street football pitches in his home town to give kids the opportunity to play freely without a coach says it all. We apologize for the elements of the story that are beside the point. Good spot though! Gotcha moment 😂❤️⚽️
@@GlobalStreetSoccer you’re spot on with needing more unstructured free play at the younger age groups. The initiative is great to get kids playing in the “street”. A lot of people will watch or listen to this, and you’re obviously doing good things, so I think it’s important the little facts line up so that your message isn’t diluted or discarded. Oh and George Weah was most definitely World Footballer of the Year! 🙌 no need to think about that one :)
Loved the podcast. US soccer has coaches training that mimics the best countries soccer programs, but will take years for the coaches to get certified and implement the teachings. I think we will get there.
Counter argument, England has never won a major tournament, and I just heard recently that this Brazil team is the worst in generations. So I take everything with a grain of salt.
England won 1966 World Cup right ?
Literally won the 66 World Cup!
Are these sarcastic responses? Nothing matters in sports from 58 years ago. Did England have the best youth development then?
@danielwestlund9208 the sarcastic comments are from people who don't subscribe to a Finding Dorey mindset....the game has a rich and long history...and it all counts...go tell Uruguay their World Cups don't count 🤣 As for youth development in England, they have been highly successful despite not winning a Euro or WC...over the past two cycles they have consistently been among the best, and that's in large part due to their youth setups across the Prem and Championship.
Pay to win type of football 💀
There’s no “system”. Up to age 12, it should be mainly about ball mastery and understanding the fundamentals of space and positioning. But pay to play encourages lots of formal games on large fields with many players, basically turning youth soccer into glorified kickball.
Secondly, there is little need to worry about getting kids to pick soccer over American football. The physical attributes of the athletes diverge too much. Tell me, which American football position would Phil Foden, Messi, Siva, or a host of other world class soccer players have played if they grew up in the States? Answer…they would have played soccer because they would have been too small for American football. And they wouldn’t have become world class in our system.
So stop this nonsense about “the better athletes in the US don’t play soccer”. US soccer doesn’t have an athlete problem, we don’t lose games because we’re too small or slow. We lose games because we lack elite skill and decision making ability.
It’s pay to play for every other sport… and also for soccer overseas…. Minus pro academies which we also have in the US…
@@johnyoung823 Not to the extent it is in the US. The academy system, whereby developmental programs are funded by senior professional clubs at little or no cost to prospective players, is much more developed outside of the US. How else do you think all these talented kids with little means get spotted in these countries? And once in these academies, they are developed by professional coaches with age group expertise whose goal is long term development for the player. Further, there is the solidarity payment system which can result in the youth club receiving payments if one of their players is eventually signed for a large transfer fee. This further incentivizes a development approach across the board.
In contrast, the US youth soccer economic model is to have clubs unconnected to any senior pro team. Their main source of revenue is fees from parents. There is little to no solidarity payment system. Long term development is hard in this environment as parents generally judge the quality of a club based on its win record, and how many tournaments are entered. It is this completely different incentive structure and economic model, one that stifles development, that is the rule rather than the exception in American youth soccer.
@@johnyoung823Not true. For instance if you grew up in Holland, and were scouted by Ajax as a youth player and asked to train there, how much would your parents pay? Virtually nothing. The club pays for everything. As long as you continue to show promise, they’ll develop you with the long term aim of turning you into a professional that can play on their first team, or be sold on. This is how it works outside of the US…it’s a completely different economic and developmental model.
I don’t think there is a right answer, some kids learn better doing drill work and learning in a structured environment and some kids thrive in free play with very little rules. I feel the academies don’t adapt to the players they have, one way doesn’t fit all!
Y'all have to wait till puberty is over,
The best athletes play football, baseball and basketball. Soccer is not #1 here.
@@imawaylonfan1 The best athletes for these 3 sports are not interchangeable. Soccer involves manipulating a ball with the feet and playing continuously over 90 minutes. This imposes upper limits on size..soccer players rarely exceed 90 kilos. LeBron would be too large to play soccer, and conversely Messi or Modric are too small to play in the NBA or NFL. There is an entire class of athletes that are between 5’5 and 5’10 that soccer has a virtual monopoly on that are not really wanted by the major American sports. Yet they have never been adequately developed in the US soccer system.
The “best athletes play other sports” is therefore mainly an excuse that US soccer is happy to hide behind.
We all disagree with your comment!
I’m a soccer fan and player and coached most of my life. Just telling you the facts, majority of the better athletes in junior high and high school do not play soccer. You guys can think what you want but I’m going by facts.
@@imawaylonfan1 You have anecdotes, not facts. You still haven’t addressed the fundamental point that many world class soccer players are way too small to be considered for American football and basketball, so athletes like that by definition cannot be poached by those sports.
Also, the US men’s team are considered good athletes relative to other nations…their issues are technical and creative deficits. US players abroad are generally there because of their athleticism, not in spite of it.
Those are the facts, not your junior high anecdotes.
@Michael-cb5nm There are many great athletes who go on to play the big 3 sports in the US that could have been great soccer players. Because they are not of ideal size, they do not make it to the NFL or NBA. I can think of many college point guards that were 5'10" to 6' that were beasts but never made it to the NBA because of their size. Many great high school athletes who choose football are undersized and never go on to play at higher levels.... many of these athletes would have been ideal soccer players. That being said I agree that the biggest problem is player development/culture