CONCACAF U-15 Boys Championship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is must watch for parents with kids in the US soccer system, at any age really. PLEASE watch the US team and you will see on full display what is wrong with our system in the US and the way we both recruit and cultivate talent.

We have a team of players that have good physical attributes. That assessment can be reduced to either speed and/or size. Not size dependent totally as there are some smaller kids on the roster (we had the smallest player on the field at left back) but speed and power are clearly the priority. Against Saudi Arabia in the first match, we were not the better team in the first half against a smaller, slower, less physical but FAR more technical team. They had 3 or 4 really good chances on goal in the first half and it could easily have been 4-1 for them at half time. But the goals didn't drop for them. But they had the quality to get the opportunities. They combined and passed well. First touches were noticeably better than ours. Decision making was also better. They just didn't have the physical quality to withstand our dueling. We were up 1-0 at half time but it was a really dismal display for the US team.

We couldn't string together more than three passes in the first half and our striker LITERALLY didn't have one touch in the first half. Not one. Many errant giveaway passes, over dribbling, over faking and moves, just too much of all the wrong things. It looked like we didn't understand the game and how to move the ball from one end of the field to the other to score. We scored another goal in the second half on a good through ball and someone just outrunning the defense. The Saudi team got a red card and had someone sent off after the goal and we couldn't score when they had a man down. Largely because it would require better passing and control to beat a very low block. Something we couldn't execute technically. If you have a youth player in the US please take note of these issues and show your player.

What you clearly see with this US squad is a system that is failing these kids. They aren't learning how to actually play soccer. They learn how to run hard, tackle the ball (like American football) and dribble and shoot. The quality of their fundamentals is noticeably lower and almost none of them have quality on their non dominant foot. So much so that they were predicable even to the Saudi team. Decision making is also really poor. Chipping, trapping with all parts of body, shielding, off the ball movement both in and out of possession looked marginally better than what you see in regular MLS next games and that is not good enough for international football.

I would offer that there is absolutely no way this US squad will win this tournament and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if they lost to Costa Rica today. I write this because I was just shocked when I saw this game and the quality (or lack thereof) and thought to myself, something needs to dramatically change in our country. We have so many kids playing the sport in this country and you're telling me this is the best we can do?? Of course we could have a whole conversation about the politics of team selection and we all know it is political. Even still, it HAS to be better than this.

I guess you called it. They lost to CRC, 2-1

is this US 15 group cream of the crops?

Are ignorant folks here thinking Costa Rica isn't a soccer playing country?

No jerk, wondering why we can't beat a country with a population the size of Houston Texas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is must watch for parents with kids in the US soccer system, at any age really. PLEASE watch the US team and you will see on full display what is wrong with our system in the US and the way we both recruit and cultivate talent.

We have a team of players that have good physical attributes. That assessment can be reduced to either speed and/or size. Not size dependent totally as there are some smaller kids on the roster (we had the smallest player on the field at left back) but speed and power are clearly the priority. Against Saudi Arabia in the first match, we were not the better team in the first half against a smaller, slower, less physical but FAR more technical team. They had 3 or 4 really good chances on goal in the first half and it could easily have been 4-1 for them at half time. But the goals didn't drop for them. But they had the quality to get the opportunities. They combined and passed well. First touches were noticeably better than ours. Decision making was also better. They just didn't have the physical quality to withstand our dueling. We were up 1-0 at half time but it was a really dismal display for the US team.

We couldn't string together more than three passes in the first half and our striker LITERALLY didn't have one touch in the first half. Not one. Many errant giveaway passes, over dribbling, over faking and moves, just too much of all the wrong things. It looked like we didn't understand the game and how to move the ball from one end of the field to the other to score. We scored another goal in the second half on a good through ball and someone just outrunning the defense. The Saudi team got a red card and had someone sent off after the goal and we couldn't score when they had a man down. Largely because it would require better passing and control to beat a very low block. Something we couldn't execute technically. If you have a youth player in the US please take note of these issues and show your player.

What you clearly see with this US squad is a system that is failing these kids. They aren't learning how to actually play soccer. They learn how to run hard, tackle the ball (like American football) and dribble and shoot. The quality of their fundamentals is noticeably lower and almost none of them have quality on their non dominant foot. So much so that they were predicable even to the Saudi team. Decision making is also really poor. Chipping, trapping with all parts of body, shielding, off the ball movement both in and out of possession looked marginally better than what you see in regular MLS next games and that is not good enough for international football.

I would offer that there is absolutely no way this US squad will win this tournament and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if they lost to Costa Rica today. I write this because I was just shocked when I saw this game and the quality (or lack thereof) and thought to myself, something needs to dramatically change in our country. We have so many kids playing the sport in this country and you're telling me this is the best we can do?? Of course we could have a whole conversation about the politics of team selection and we all know it is political. Even still, it HAS to be better than this.

I guess you called it. They lost to CRC, 2-1

is this US 15 group cream of the crops?

Are ignorant folks here thinking Costa Rica isn't a soccer playing country?

No jerk, wondering why we can't beat a country with a population the size of Houston Texas.

Because of all of the things stated in the original post. And yes, the original poster nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is must watch for parents with kids in the US soccer system, at any age really. PLEASE watch the US team and you will see on full display what is wrong with our system in the US and the way we both recruit and cultivate talent.

We have a team of players that have good physical attributes. That assessment can be reduced to either speed and/or size. Not size dependent totally as there are some smaller kids on the roster (we had the smallest player on the field at left back) but speed and power are clearly the priority. Against Saudi Arabia in the first match, we were not the better team in the first half against a smaller, slower, less physical but FAR more technical team. They had 3 or 4 really good chances on goal in the first half and it could easily have been 4-1 for them at half time. But the goals didn't drop for them. But they had the quality to get the opportunities. They combined and passed well. First touches were noticeably better than ours. Decision making was also better. They just didn't have the physical quality to withstand our dueling. We were up 1-0 at half time but it was a really dismal display for the US team.

We couldn't string together more than three passes in the first half and our striker LITERALLY didn't have one touch in the first half. Not one. Many errant giveaway passes, over dribbling, over faking and moves, just too much of all the wrong things. It looked like we didn't understand the game and how to move the ball from one end of the field to the other to score. We scored another goal in the second half on a good through ball and someone just outrunning the defense. The Saudi team got a red card and had someone sent off after the goal and we couldn't score when they had a man down. Largely because it would require better passing and control to beat a very low block. Something we couldn't execute technically. If you have a youth player in the US please take note of these issues and show your player.

What you clearly see with this US squad is a system that is failing these kids. They aren't learning how to actually play soccer. They learn how to run hard, tackle the ball (like American football) and dribble and shoot. The quality of their fundamentals is noticeably lower and almost none of them have quality on their non dominant foot. So much so that they were predicable even to the Saudi team. Decision making is also really poor. Chipping, trapping with all parts of body, shielding, off the ball movement both in and out of possession looked marginally better than what you see in regular MLS next games and that is not good enough for international football.

I would offer that there is absolutely no way this US squad will win this tournament and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if they lost to Costa Rica today. I write this because I was just shocked when I saw this game and the quality (or lack thereof) and thought to myself, something needs to dramatically change in our country. We have so many kids playing the sport in this country and you're telling me this is the best we can do?? Of course we could have a whole conversation about the politics of team selection and we all know it is political. Even still, it HAS to be better than this.

I guess you called it. They lost to CRC, 2-1

is this US 15 group cream of the crops?

Are ignorant folks here thinking Costa Rica isn't a soccer playing country?

No jerk, wondering why we can't beat a country with a population the size of Houston Texas.

So Australia and Russia should win the World Cup, jerk off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is must watch for parents with kids in the US soccer system, at any age really. PLEASE watch the US team and you will see on full display what is wrong with our system in the US and the way we both recruit and cultivate talent.

We have a team of players that have good physical attributes. That assessment can be reduced to either speed and/or size. Not size dependent totally as there are some smaller kids on the roster (we had the smallest player on the field at left back) but speed and power are clearly the priority. Against Saudi Arabia in the first match, we were not the better team in the first half against a smaller, slower, less physical but FAR more technical team. They had 3 or 4 really good chances on goal in the first half and it could easily have been 4-1 for them at half time. But the goals didn't drop for them. But they had the quality to get the opportunities. They combined and passed well. First touches were noticeably better than ours. Decision making was also better. They just didn't have the physical quality to withstand our dueling. We were up 1-0 at half time but it was a really dismal display for the US team.

We couldn't string together more than three passes in the first half and our striker LITERALLY didn't have one touch in the first half. Not one. Many errant giveaway passes, over dribbling, over faking and moves, just too much of all the wrong things. It looked like we didn't understand the game and how to move the ball from one end of the field to the other to score. We scored another goal in the second half on a good through ball and someone just outrunning the defense. The Saudi team got a red card and had someone sent off after the goal and we couldn't score when they had a man down. Largely because it would require better passing and control to beat a very low block. Something we couldn't execute technically. If you have a youth player in the US please take note of these issues and show your player.

What you clearly see with this US squad is a system that is failing these kids. They aren't learning how to actually play soccer. They learn how to run hard, tackle the ball (like American football) and dribble and shoot. The quality of their fundamentals is noticeably lower and almost none of them have quality on their non dominant foot. So much so that they were predicable even to the Saudi team. Decision making is also really poor. Chipping, trapping with all parts of body, shielding, off the ball movement both in and out of possession looked marginally better than what you see in regular MLS next games and that is not good enough for international football.

I would offer that there is absolutely no way this US squad will win this tournament and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if they lost to Costa Rica today. I write this because I was just shocked when I saw this game and the quality (or lack thereof) and thought to myself, something needs to dramatically change in our country. We have so many kids playing the sport in this country and you're telling me this is the best we can do?? Of course we could have a whole conversation about the politics of team selection and we all know it is political. Even still, it HAS to be better than this.

I guess you called it. They lost to CRC, 2-1

is this US 15 group cream of the crops?

Are ignorant folks here thinking Costa Rica isn't a soccer playing country?

No jerk, wondering why we can't beat a country with a population the size of Houston Texas.

So Australia and Russia should win the World Cup, jerk off

Think he meant population, not size.

So India and China should win all soccer games lol

[Anonymous]

Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

[Anonymous]

Also, #17 and a couple of other US players looked excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

This is dcum

Folks don't need to actually watch the match to give scathing uninformed opinions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you have kids in school? I do. Ask them the most popular sports or what they talk about with friends. It’s soccer at my DS’s school. American football and lacrosse still get the alumni and administrators’ attention. But the teen boys lean toward soccer in a way I never would have guessed until I asked why talks so much soccer.

So maybe, just maybe, the old folks on this chat don’t know as much as we think about what wil make soccer “better”. I have my opinions, but the sport is soaring like never before in the U.S. and worldwide.

Where do your kids go to school? Because that is absolutely NOT the case where we live in Virginia. My kids mostly play basketball around the neighborhood and they all watch and follow NFL. I see lots of football jerseys at the bus stop in the Fall.

We are in NW DC and I would the interest is 40% soccer, 30% basketball and 30% football.

Baseball should be worried. They are not even a rounding error. My kid gets the daily scores from Alexa but that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is fine the way it is. It will also never be very popular in the US. Most of the soccer watched in the US is from abroad (Premier League, La Liga, etc.) MLS soccer viewership is below the other major pro sports, but it's also below college football/basketball, and even sports like golf, car racing, UFC.

To give some context, ESPN's main channel is showing the little league world series all this month. A baseball tournament for 12 year olds is on major television. Not just the championship game but early regional rounds. Could you imagine a U13 Jeff Cup soccer tournament on ESPN?

Parts of the USYS championship just recently WERE on ESPN U.

[Anonymous]

US Soccer looks up to England as its guiding light. A country with a great professional league, but one that isn’t good at developing players, especially technical, high IQ players, and is demonstrably bad in international play - check their trophy count vs any of their peers (Germany, France, Spain, Italy). We are a poor facsimile of a badly underperforming footballing nation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:US Soccer looks up to England as its guiding light. A country with a great professional league, but one that isn’t good at developing players, especially technical, high IQ players, and is demonstrably bad in international play - check their trophy count vs any of their peers (Germany, France, Spain, Italy). We are a poor facsimile of a badly underperforming footballing nation.

Ah yes England -- That's the country with SY, not BY, isn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

Yes. I watched the game. I am the original poster.

Better than the match against Saudi Arabia but our quality in fundamentals was clearly lacking time and time again. Flashes of good play from individual players but no concept of how to work together and even less ability to consistently connect passes with both feet. One big sign of quality in a player is the ability to control crappy passes and messy play. We had much less of that in display. A few players did stand out and we didn't get dominated at all. We had a few more chances in the second half when the lineup changed but not much more. The goalie from CR was a beast. Seriously good. But still, the loss was deserved.

BUT for all of the time and investment the sport has in this country, even by the suckers on this forum who fork over big bucks each year to have their kids be average players at best, we should have WAY better quality than we showed today.

Costa Rica wasn't a bad team. But they definitely deserved to win and were the better side. Out of desperation tomorrow, I think the coaching staff of the US team will do everything in their power to get a result against Canada. To save face. But unfortunately, they can't rely on speedy players running by everyone or overpowering smaller players and that also won't work against Canada. Unless they play football, we will be out of this tournament in the group stage which will send a shockwave through our system. As it should. Unfortunately, this team isn't capable of playing a brand of football that can beat world class teams. Glorified kick and run with some individuals dribbling here and there. That is all. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

Yes. I watched the game. I am the original poster.

Better than the match against Saudi Arabia but our quality in fundamentals was clearly lacking time and time again. Flashes of good play from individual players but no concept of how to work together and even less ability to consistently connect passes with both feet. One big sign of quality in a player is the ability to control crappy passes and messy play. We had much less of that in display. A few players did stand out and we didn't get dominated at all. We had a few more chances in the second half when the lineup changed but not much more. The goalie from CR was a beast. Seriously good. But still, the loss was deserved.

BUT for all of the time and investment the sport has in this country, even by the suckers on this forum who fork over big bucks each year to have their kids be average players at best, we should have WAY better quality than we showed today.

Costa Rica wasn't a bad team. But they definitely deserved to win and were the better side. Out of desperation tomorrow, I think the coaching staff of the US team will do everything in their power to get a result against Canada. To save face. But unfortunately, they can't rely on speedy players running by everyone or overpowering smaller players and that also won't work against Canada. Unless they play football, we will be out of this tournament in the group stage which will send a shockwave through our system. As it should. Unfortunately, this team isn't capable of playing a brand of football that can beat world class teams. Glorified kick and run with some individuals dribbling here and there. That is all. Sad.

Hasn't multiple USYNTs in different age groups won several CONCACAF tournaments in recent years and international friendlies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

Yes. I watched the game. I am the original poster.

Better than the match against Saudi Arabia but our quality in fundamentals was clearly lacking time and time again. Flashes of good play from individual players but no concept of how to work together and even less ability to consistently connect passes with both feet. One big sign of quality in a player is the ability to control crappy passes and messy play. We had much less of that in display. A few players did stand out and we didn't get dominated at all. We had a few more chances in the second half when the lineup changed but not much more. The goalie from CR was a beast. Seriously good. But still, the loss was deserved.

BUT for all of the time and investment the sport has in this country, even by the suckers on this forum who fork over big bucks each year to have their kids be average players at best, we should have WAY better quality than we showed today.

Costa Rica wasn't a bad team. But they definitely deserved to win and were the better side. Out of desperation tomorrow, I think the coaching staff of the US team will do everything in their power to get a result against Canada. To save face. But unfortunately, they can't rely on speedy players running by everyone or overpowering smaller players and that also won't work against Canada. Unless they play football, we will be out of this tournament in the group stage which will send a shockwave through our system. As it should. Unfortunately, this team isn't capable of playing a brand of football that can beat world class teams. Glorified kick and run with some individuals dribbling here and there. That is all. Sad.

I coached at several medium and large clubs over the last two decades and the mantra we received (from coaching education, from USYS education, from the club itself) was always: ID the aggressive fast kid who wants to dribble and take everyone on. Give them extra chances, give them the nod for the next event, give them the extra teams to play on, etc. We can teach them everything else later! The only thing that matters is to find the aggressive fast kid who wants to dribble and take everyone on. I once had a very high level US scout tell the coaching staff at our club that learning to pass well is easy! We can just make great passers and high game IQ line-breakers later from all of these kids who want to dribble through 5 people over and over. Now, said scout had a nice accent, so ipso facto he must be correct.

This is the result of that mentality. So it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has been involved in the game as more than a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually watch the match? Interested to hear opinions. I checked out the start through Costa Rica's second (PK from an obvious foul). Despite being down 2 at that point, I don't think the US squad was seriously outplayed. they had several good chances on which the CR keeper made excellent saves. I wonder if they continued to create more chances than CR but were stymied.

Yes. I watched the game. I am the original poster.

Better than the match against Saudi Arabia but our quality in fundamentals was clearly lacking time and time again. Flashes of good play from individual players but no concept of how to work together and even less ability to consistently connect passes with both feet. One big sign of quality in a player is the ability to control crappy passes and messy play. We had much less of that in display. A few players did stand out and we didn't get dominated at all. We had a few more chances in the second half when the lineup changed but not much more. The goalie from CR was a beast. Seriously good. But still, the loss was deserved.

BUT for all of the time and investment the sport has in this country, even by the suckers on this forum who fork over big bucks each year to have their kids be average players at best, we should have WAY better quality than we showed today.

Costa Rica wasn't a bad team. But they definitely deserved to win and were the better side. Out of desperation tomorrow, I think the coaching staff of the US team will do everything in their power to get a result against Canada. To save face. But unfortunately, they can't rely on speedy players running by everyone or overpowering smaller players and that also won't work against Canada. Unless they play football, we will be out of this tournament in the group stage which will send a shockwave through our system. As it should. Unfortunately, this team isn't capable of playing a brand of football that can beat world class teams. Glorified kick and run with some individuals dribbling here and there. That is all. Sad.

Hasn't multiple USYNTs in different age groups won several CONCACAF tournaments in recent years and international friendlies?

And? Your point? We aren't talking about any other years. We are talking about this year and where things are today.