|
There seems to be a weird disconnect on what the point of the DA program is.
It's not to improve the skills of your kid, it's for US Soccer to produce professional players. In other threads, people complain that the US doesn't do enough to produce professionals, and that our training programs are terrible compared to European programs. In this thread they complain that coaches are doing everything in their power to bring the best players into the program. Being a pro is about competing with everyone around you on a daily basis, and if someone else is a hair better, you'll be lower on the charts. |
This discussion proves that DA is attracting and produces the wrong kind of players, soft, entitled, etc. DA has been in existence since 2007, i.e., over 10 years. How many DA graduates are currently playing in the top five leagues in Europe? |
No, it's producing the wrong kind of parents. The players are doing well. Far more US players in top leagues than there were ten years ago, and most of them went through the DA program. |
| The problem is with the coaches US has terrible coaching, level of coaches and qualifications are significantly less than Europe. It’s not the kids, our coaches aren’t good at selecting and developing kids. |
Totally agree |
| While I agree with the purpose of the DA and the reality of some players being better than others, what I object to and what I think OP was getting at was the fact many clubs promise a ‘chance’ at the DA to many team 2 players when the reality is they will never get promoted. I think every club has a few players on team 2 who are there only for this hope when the reality is they should try another club where they may be more valuable. |
It is an unsupported assertion. Name 10 DA players that are starters in the top five leagues (La Liga, Premier league, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1). Take EPL, for example, about 10 years ago. We had Beasley, Bocanegra, De Merit, Dempsey, Donovan (part time), Feilhaber, Friedel, Howard, Guzan, Hahnemann,Holden, Eddie Johnson, Jemal Johnson, Jermain Jones, Keller, Eddie Lewis, Kirovski, McBride, Onyewu, Reyna, Spector, etc. |
| Rather predictably, another thread devolving into a trash job of DA and US Soccer. My God it gets old on this forum. I'm seriously beginning to wonder who is financing this crap, because no sane person would spend so much time on the attack, from so many angles. |
Well, it’s not “one” same person. It’s felt by so many veterans in the sport and thus you have many different posters with similar positions. Newcomers/first generation soccer families are the optimistic ones. They buy it. Others have been watching the same sh@t different branding for 30-40 years. |
According to Wikipedia, the following US players were in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 ten years ago (i.e, 2008): EPL 1. Bocanegra - last year at Fulham; first year at Rennes 2. Convey - last year at Fulham 3. Dempsey - Fulham 4. Feilhaber - Derby County (one and only year in EPL) 5. Friedel - Aston Villa 6. Guzan - Aston Villa 7. Howard - Man U 8. E. Johnson - Fulham 9. Keller - Fulham 10. Lewis - Derby County 11. McBride - last year at Fulham 12. Spector - West Ham Bundesliga 13. Arguez – Berlin 14. Bradley – Borussia M'gladbach 15. Cherundolo – Hannover 16. Donovan – Bayern Munich (really should not be included since he was loaned to Munich in 2009 calendar year and made 6 appearances, but I'll include him) 17. Jones – Frankfurt 18. Zizzo – Hannover Ligue 1 19. Adu - Monaco [u]La Liga 20. Altidore - Villareal [b]Serie A[/u] None The following is the current list of US players with teams in in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 in 2018. I also included young Americans on U-23 (etc.) teams, since someone with more time than me can figure out whether they were former DA players. To be fair, if this information was readily available for 2008, I would have included it in the 2008 list above. EPL[/b] 1. Austin - Tottenham (U23) 2. Cameron - Stoke City, which I appreciate was relegated in the Spring of 18. Now at QPR 3. Carter-Vickers - Tottenham (but on loan) 4. de la Torre - Fulham (U23) 5. Konopka - Cardiff City 6. Hydman - Bournemouth 7. Olosunde - Man U (U23) 8. Miazga - Chelsea (but on loan to Nantes in Ligue 1) 9. Palmer-Brown - Man City (but on loan to Breda in top league in Netherlands) 10. Ream - Fulham 11. Robinson - Everton (but on loan) 12. Scott - Chelsea (but on loan to Telstar in Netherlands) 13. Williams - Huddersfield 14. Yedlin - Newcastle 15. Zelalem - Arsenal (U23) Bundesliga 16. Brooks - Wolfsburg 17. Chandler - Frankfurt 18. Flores - Dortmund (U23) 19. Gloster - Hannover (U23) 20. Klinsman - Berlin 21. Jones - Schalke (U23) 22. Johnson - Moenchengladbach 23. Johannsson - Bremen 24. Mendez - Freiburg (but too young to play until 2019) 25. Morales - Duesseldorf 26. McKennie - Schalke 27. Pulisic - Dortmund 28. Richards - Bayern Munich (U19, on loan from FC Dallas) 29. Rugova - Nurnberg (U19) 30. Sargent - Bremen (U23) 31. Scott - Cologne (U23) 32. Soto - Hannover (U19) 33. Stanko - Freiburg 34. Taitague - Schalke (U23) 35. Tillman - Bayern Munich (on loan to Nurnberg in Bundesliga) 36. Young - Bremen (U23) 37. Wood - Hanover 38. Wright - Schalke [u]Ligue 1 39. Siebatcheau - Rennes 40. Weah - PSG [b]La Liga 41. Akale -- Villarreal 42. Moore - Levante in Spring of 18, when they were relegated. Currently on loan to Reus Serie A[/u] None If you exclude the players on U23 or younger teams, as well as players on loan to other teams not currently in one of the top 5 leagues in Europe, so that you get an apples-to-apples comparison of first team players, then you get 20 US players on first teams in 2008, versus 23 US players on first teams in 2018. A small increase, but an increase nonetheless. However, if you include all of the young players currently on loan or playing for the U23s or younger, then there appear to be a significantly higher number of US players in the top 5 leagues in Europe in 2018 than there were in 2008. I appreciate that one could still take the position that DA is not primarily responsible for the increase in US players in top 5 leagues overseas, as there are several other reasons behind this increase (e.g., more money being spent by those clubs in scouting the US, etc.). |
| A lot of American players in Germany |
We are a “multi-generational” soccer family and I feel things, while not perfect, have gotten much better over the past 40 years. Especially on the girls side (I know the thrust of this thread is the boys). |
And a lot of them are products of German youth academies and other European academies, Brooks, Johnson, Chandler, Green, Johannson, etc. But rest assured, the some will give DA credit for developing them. |
You have to exclude the players that were not developed in DA system. It would be preposterous to suggest that guys like Weah, Green, Brooks, etc are products of DA. Out of two guys listed for Spain, it is difficult to make a case that either of them was developed by DA. Moore had a total 4 months of "development" with FC Dallas before moving to Spain, while Akale spent his last four years in Spain with Villarreal academy and first team. |
And what about the development that got these kids noticed in the first place? We just ignore that? |