DA rosters: internal promotion or new blood?
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Anonymous
If someone trained and played for a DA club for several years, of course, they can take credit. But take, Brooks for example, who never lived in the United States, how can DA take credit for developing him. Julian Green has the same story. Sure, the clubs in Berlin and Munich can take credit for developing these players, but DA has nothing to do with these guys. In fact, I think that the PP simply posted a list of players with American citizenship, which play with European clubs, but overlooked the fact that many players on this list either have zero connection to DA or minimal one. |
Anonymous
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Steve Goff of the Wash Post does a great weekly round up of all the US players playing abroad.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/26/how-american-soccer-players-abroad-fared-this-weekend/?utm_term=.15a0937bca74 If you can read through this and not think that the DA system has helped tremendously, I don't know what to tell you. |
Anonymous
You fundamentally don't understand the point. Every kid started somewhere and through sheer talent as well as development there was enough there for a European club to take notice. When someone graduates college and gets a high paying job, yes, the college trained them for their profession, but the High School helped prepare them to become succesfull college students. The pro clubs are essentially colleges or finishing schools for soccer, but they rarely start from scratch with a player. To dismiss the work by both the player and their initial clubs to get these kids noticed is tremendous accomplishment and can't just be brushed under the rug like it had no impact. |
Anonymous
You don’t seem to understand, it’s not that he can’t accept your point, he’s ignoring it. Because to admit it would undermine his (false, as people have tried to point out) premise that American soccer development overall is only getting worse over time. |
Anonymous
I think the key is that older players, such as Howard, Chrundolo, Dempsey, McBride, etc, were the key players for their teams. If we had them in their prime today, there is no question they would have been shoe-in starters on the USMNT. Out of the six modern players who somewhat approximate that status (even Pulisic with all his talent lost his starting spot in Bundesliga this year), three were developed in Germany. Out of the remaining three, Pulicic and Wood moved to Germany as teens and started to play in German youth system when they were 16 and 15, respectively. Only Yedlin can be considered a fully American "system" product. I think DA could legitimately claim credit for developing him, even though he also played for non-DA clubs, which filed a lawsuit demanding solidarity fees and training compensation. |
Anonymous
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A thread on how the DA clubs select their roster turns into another USA vs. the world vs. DA kind of thread.
Maybe we should put in brackets ('on point comments only please') on any thread related to the DA program. |
Anonymous
| I think a better measure would be how many homegrown players have been signed who have not washed out |
Anonymous
This detour started with a poster who claimed that DA is doing great job in producing professional players. |
Anonymous
Just making an observation. Not giving DA credit for players developed in Germany. |
Anonymous
+ 1000000 |
Anonymous
False, the detour started with someone dumping on the DA and US coaching moving the thread off topic at the top of page 2. Then someone chimed in talking about pro players after. I get the feel sometimes on this forum that people post piñata DA posts to then pivot and the bash. As PP mentions, seems to happen with every DA thread. |
Anonymous
| ^^^^ page 3 |
Anonymous
| Top of page 3 starts with a post about "weird disconnect" between the mission of DA to produce professional players and DA parents who are terrified of competition and complain when DA coaches recruit players from outside. I think it started with a poster who dissed DA parents and stated that DA's mission is to produce professional players and some DA parents don't get it. I don't think he/she was bashing DA or DA coaching or DA recruiting. If anything, he/she slammed DA parents, and by implication DA players. |
Anonymous
Not the first post. There is another below that sets it off. It honestly doesn’t really matter. The point carries in that the thread is about something entirely different than what it has turned into, another attack/defense of US soccer and DA. That’s not why it was started. At least nominally. |
Anonymous
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My only prior post in this thread was the one from last night that listed the US players in the top 5 leagues in Europe, and I appreciate that it was off topic. I was just trying to respond to the posters that were going back and forth about whether DA has achieved one of its primary purposes of developing players for a professional career.
To finish a point before the thread gets back to the topic of whether DA rosters should internally promote or bring in outside talent (  ), I think it is still a little early to judge DA's success in this area. I get the good points made my some poster(s) about the fact that perhaps a higher percentage of the 2008 US players were significant contributors to their teams (e.g., Dempsey, Friedel, Howard, Keller, McBride, Cherundolo, etc.), compared to the current US players in Europe that spent some developmental years with DA teams. However, to be fair to the other poster(s) defending DA's development, DA has only been around for 10 years or so (for the boys). As a result, the boys that have had an opportunity to play DA beginning in their early years (e.g., U13, U14) are just now turning 22-23 years old. And anyone who follows the top 5 leagues in Europe knows how hard it is for a player at that young age to get significant first team minutes. That is a large reason why I tried to show all of the younger players (18-22 years old) with EPL and Bundesliga teams, even if they are playing out on loan or with the reserve teams.
Because so many of these US players are so young, the jury is still out on whether they will ever become significant contributors for their teams (e.g., Sargent, Weah, etc.). With that said, it is a HUGE feather in DA's cap that two of their players, Pulisic and McKennie (both of whom spent 7 years with DA clubs, PA Classics and FC Dallas, respectively), have already played over 21 Champions League games so far in their young careers. Not only have Pulisic and McKennie played significant roles for their teams, but they have also scored game winning goals, and assisted others, in these Champions League games. And they are only 20 years old. As best my memory serves, Pulisic and McKennie have already played more Champions League games than Dempsey, Friedel, Howard, Keller, McBride, Cherundolo, Donovan, etc. played in their entire careers while playing in top 5 leagues in Europe. We'll see if those players, and the other young, former DA players in the EPL and Bundesliga, reach their full potential and become significant contributors for several years for their respective clubs, but the early returns are promising compared to prior generations of US players overseas. |