Hence the need for academies with pro-pathways. The whole VRSC GA thing is ridiculous at first glance, and the vision and infrastructure jokes are spot on, but what if their IMG-lite residential school academy checks out. Rumor is new USLSL franchise will train out of Loudoun FC facilities but couldn’t their youth academy be the farm in Loudoun? |
https://sports.yahoo.com/us-soccer-girls-youth-development-ecnl-000044659.html |
https://sports.yahoo.com/uswnts-loss-mexico-program-in-decline-164149335.html Ouch! The US played like the system that created them. |
| USWNT needs to partner with BRAVE for more players |
| It's robotic. But that's what this system builds, robotic players. |
ODP should be the only route to USWNT. |
But now ODP is a shell of itself. It's just pay to play 2.0 nowadays. |
True, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In terms of developing player, the European model is not the only way. What are they doing in Brazil and Argentina? |
Sending kids to develop in Europe? |
Players emerge from everywhere. The last thing we need is more gatekeepers blocking talent |
| All roads should lead to the national team. Single umbrella underneath the USSF, merit based pro/rel and everything aligned with FIFA rules. |
How does that work when there is nothing preventing other people from forming leagues? Are you going to bar parents from forming rec leagues under other or no umbrellas? Will college coaches be forbidden from recruiting kids in leagues not sanctioned by USSF? For the overwhelming majority of kids playing soccer in the us, the road does not run to the national team. Even for elite players, roads run to college, not the national team. To be exceedingly generous, there are maybe 100 people contending to be on the national team at any one time. There are 10s of thousands of youth players. No sane system will focus on those few players at the expense of the majority, and if a system does, then expect a competing system focused on the majority to emerge |
Yep. There is a side by side comparison of a Spanish player vs a US player from u17 to present. The Spanish player was at Barca at 19 playing in their system, under great coaches, playing against top talent at practice and in games, playing in Champions league games with 90,000 people, etc. The US player was in college soccer. |
That's BS. The top American 19 years olds are playing in Europe |
Under that model, the system will work and filter itself over time naturally. Are there going to be barriers of entry? Of course. But not like what's going on now. MLS needs isolation to function as it does. As do most other leagues that are closed with no real opportunity to get in the game and let the play do the talking. Of course the national team isn't a place for everybody but it should be viewed as the very top of the landscape. Anywhere else in the world it's an absolute honor and privilege to wear the crest of one's country. But below that? There's plenty of opportunity to continue to play. The US, with a country as big as it is only has 94 pro men's clubs for a population of about 335 million people. So about 1 club for every 3.5 million or so. Brazil in comparison has 203 million people and 124 pro men's clubs. About 1 club for every 1.5 or so million people. There's room for growth here if done the right way, there's already so many clubs at the youth level and with more leagues getting D1 status from USSF we see it's growing. Just need to also make sure that things are aligned and working together, not competing against each other. |