Freddy Adu tweet on US soccer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The story that was mentioned about Pulisic is exactly the issue. In the US, we focus on the fastest and the strongest and bet that their skills will catch up. In Europe, they focus on technical ability and bet that the physical side will even out once everyone grows. Most of the time, the European bet wins. This is exacerbated by how few professional level academies per capita there are in the US - developing kids is to some extent a lottery, and they’re buying 1000 tickets for every 10 that we buy.

This is like 75% the way there.

Most academies in the US don’t focus on size anymore.

It’s really simpler - the best model is focusing on controlling the controllable. Teaching skill, soccer IQ, good teamwork etc is controllable. The physical side is somewhat, but the genetic component isn’t. So they just control what they can.

At the end of the day speed matters a lot at the top level. At the top levels everyone can do the technical requirements - it’s speed that separates those that keep climbing and those that don’t. Size helps, but it isn’t really a huge factor when you’re talking about a handful of inches in a sport largely played on the ground.

It's speed of play that increases at the highest levels. Not speed.
Speed of play is driven by IQ making quicker good decisions.

Not about how fast one runs.

It’s speed.

Speed of play is speed.
Speed of play certainly includes quick decisions…speed
Speed of play also includes quick movement….speed.

Speed also includes agility (for defenders especially).

Speed also includes deceleration, change of direction.

Soccer IQ is not speed.

You’re quibbling by pointing out a subset as defining, but it really isn’t just the subset.

Without high soccer IQ, how does a player make quick observations and decisions?

There are tons of youth players who make quick observations and decisions that are wrong …I guess that would be high soccer IQ by your definition?

Seriously?
Bad observations and decisions could be called High IQ?
In which bizarro world?

That was the point I was making. The PP was saying quick observations and decisions = high soccer IQ

The PP actually made it a point to use the words "accurate" and "good"

Where?

“Without high soccer IQ, how does a player make quick observations and decisions?”

I don’t see neither “accurate” nor “good” in that post. Lol

Good thing the truth is in the record

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

This isn’t true anymore. And hasn’t been true for a very long time.

I feel like I hear this all the time from parents whose who have inflated views of their kids abilities or skills.

You hear this complaint all the time because it's true not because parents think too much of their kids. I hope your fast and aggressive player gets to play in college. They will not go any farther than college and this mindset is why American soccer does so badly internationally. No other country treats soccer the way America does. Our men's team is absolutely abysmal for a reason... Are women's team continues to fall in the ranking for the exact same problems... Once other countries started investing in their women's programs magically the USA women's national team suddenly can't compete anymore. Why would that be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The story that was mentioned about Pulisic is exactly the issue. In the US, we focus on the fastest and the strongest and bet that their skills will catch up. In Europe, they focus on technical ability and bet that the physical side will even out once everyone grows. Most of the time, the European bet wins. This is exacerbated by how few professional level academies per capita there are in the US - developing kids is to some extent a lottery, and they’re buying 1000 tickets for every 10 that we buy.

This is like 75% the way there.

Most academies in the US don’t focus on size anymore.

It’s really simpler - the best model is focusing on controlling the controllable. Teaching skill, soccer IQ, good teamwork etc is controllable. The physical side is somewhat, but the genetic component isn’t. So they just control what they can.

At the end of the day speed matters a lot at the top level. At the top levels everyone can do the technical requirements - it’s speed that separates those that keep climbing and those that don’t. Size helps, but it isn’t really a huge factor when you’re talking about a handful of inches in a sport largely played on the ground.

It's speed of play that increases at the highest levels. Not speed.
Speed of play is driven by IQ making quicker good decisions.

Not about how fast one runs.

Not sure why you assumed speed was only defined as one’s running speed. If I meant running speed I would have said running speed.

You said speed separates
Every elite level club have fast players.

Speed of play separates. Not 40 yard dash times.

The id camp my kid went to was doing timed 30 yard dashes. It said a lot about the coaching staff….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The story that was mentioned about Pulisic is exactly the issue. In the US, we focus on the fastest and the strongest and bet that their skills will catch up. In Europe, they focus on technical ability and bet that the physical side will even out once everyone grows. Most of the time, the European bet wins. This is exacerbated by how few professional level academies per capita there are in the US - developing kids is to some extent a lottery, and they’re buying 1000 tickets for every 10 that we buy.

This is like 75% the way there.

Most academies in the US don’t focus on size anymore.

It’s really simpler - the best model is focusing on controlling the controllable. Teaching skill, soccer IQ, good teamwork etc is controllable. The physical side is somewhat, but the genetic component isn’t. So they just control what they can.

At the end of the day speed matters a lot at the top level. At the top levels everyone can do the technical requirements - it’s speed that separates those that keep climbing and those that don’t. Size helps, but it isn’t really a huge factor when you’re talking about a handful of inches in a sport largely played on the ground.

It's speed of play that increases at the highest levels. Not speed.
Speed of play is driven by IQ making quicker good decisions.

Not about how fast one runs.

Not sure why you assumed speed was only defined as one’s running speed. If I meant running speed I would have said running speed.

You said speed separates
Every elite level club have fast players.

Speed of play separates. Not 40 yard dash times.

The id camp my kid went to was doing timed 30 yard dashes. It said a lot about the coaching staff….

That they want metric based assessments? And they don’t want kids that are too slow to compete?

I am sure the only thing the coaches did at the entire ID camp was time the 30yd dashes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

This isn’t true anymore. And hasn’t been true for a very long time.

I feel like I hear this all the time from parents whose who have inflated views of their kids abilities or skills.

You hear this complaint all the time because it's true not because parents think too much of their kids. I hope your fast and aggressive player gets to play in college. They will not go any farther than college and this mindset is why American soccer does so badly internationally. No other country treats soccer the way America does. Our men's team is absolutely abysmal for a reason... Are women's team continues to fall in the ranking for the exact same problems... Once other countries started investing in their women's programs magically the USA women's national team suddenly can't compete anymore. Why would that be?

USMNT is abysmal based on what standard? It’s probably one of the best teams we’ve ever had. A lot of improvement over the years.

They are 16th in the world. Could we do better? I hope so! But “abysmal” is nonsense.

USWNT was/is a different issue - “can’t compete” is also nonsense. But they’ll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

This isn’t true anymore. And hasn’t been true for a very long time.

I feel like I hear this all the time from parents whose who have inflated views of their kids abilities or skills.

You hear this complaint all the time because it's true not because parents think too much of their kids. I hope your fast and aggressive player gets to play in college. They will not go any farther than college and this mindset is why American soccer does so badly internationally. No other country treats soccer the way America does. Our men's team is absolutely abysmal for a reason... Are women's team continues to fall in the ranking for the exact same problems... Once other countries started investing in their women's programs magically the USA women's national team suddenly can't compete anymore. Why would that be?

It’s true at the competitive non-elite and high school soccer tiers.

Slammers, Surf, PDA, Solar are some of the most technical teams in the country. Sure some of their age groups field a few big girls, but those big girls have have (or they wouldn’t be on their top teams). But the idea that these are teams filled with the soccer equivalent of hockey enforces is just silly.

There are some ECNL teams like that, and they get crushed by the top tier and highly technical teams. Like 13-0 crushed.

Your view point is just misinformed and outdated by sour parents and people that aren’t actually in the flow of elite youth soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The story that was mentioned about Pulisic is exactly the issue. In the US, we focus on the fastest and the strongest and bet that their skills will catch up. In Europe, they focus on technical ability and bet that the physical side will even out once everyone grows. Most of the time, the European bet wins. This is exacerbated by how few professional level academies per capita there are in the US - developing kids is to some extent a lottery, and they’re buying 1000 tickets for every 10 that we buy.

This is like 75% the way there.

Most academies in the US don’t focus on size anymore.

It’s really simpler - the best model is focusing on controlling the controllable. Teaching skill, soccer IQ, good teamwork etc is controllable. The physical side is somewhat, but the genetic component isn’t. So they just control what they can.

At the end of the day speed matters a lot at the top level. At the top levels everyone can do the technical requirements - it’s speed that separates those that keep climbing and those that don’t. Size helps, but it isn’t really a huge factor when you’re talking about a handful of inches in a sport largely played on the ground.

It's speed of play that increases at the highest levels. Not speed.
Speed of play is driven by IQ making quicker good decisions.

Not about how fast one runs.

Not sure why you assumed speed was only defined as one’s running speed. If I meant running speed I would have said running speed.

You said speed separates
Every elite level club have fast players.

Speed of play separates. Not 40 yard dash times.

The id camp my kid went to was doing timed 30 yard dashes. It said a lot about the coaching staff….

That they want metric based assessments? And they don’t want kids that

are too slow to compete?

I am sure the only thing the coaches did at the entire ID camp was time the 30yd dashes.

Some coaches at ID camps make players juggle in times tests too, or around timed obstacle courses! And time and count juggles!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

If you don't know why a U11 team with bigger, stronger, faster early bloomers can kick and run past technical smaller kids then you probably shouldn't be commenting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

If you don't know why a U11 team with bigger, stronger, faster early bloomers can kick and run past technical smaller kids then you probably shouldn't be commenting

Enlighten us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

I feel like an SYC parent made this comment. 😆 But there is some truth in this. Technical kids at some point may often not be better than a bigger less technical kid (assuming that’s based on whose team wins more).

The upside is the kids on the technical team will likely have a longer soccer career bc they have to rely on their technical skills so much. By the time puberty/growth happens for them, they’ll have the strength and speed to maximize their technical skills.

Not that bigger kids don’t have the technical skills, just that they’ve never been forced to rely on them or consider them an equal option when speed and strength has always been their go to. They become very predictable players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

I feel like an SYC parent made this comment. 😆 But there is some truth in this. Technical kids at some point may often not be better than a bigger less technical kid (assuming that’s based on whose team wins more).

The upside is the kids on the technical team will likely have a longer soccer career bc they have to rely on their technical skills so much. By the time puberty/growth happens for them, they’ll have the strength and speed to maximize their technical skills.

Not that bigger kids don’t have the technical skills, just that they’ve never been forced to rely on them or consider them an equal option when speed and strength has always been their go to. They become very predictable players.

So in Europe and South America by 17 only the technical kids see the field. The problem in the US is at 17 you have 98% of the players who would be cut overseas still playing. This translates in to a much slow speed of play. Slow speed of play allows space for one dimensional players. So a physical, a fast or athletic player can still play. As you move up levels college to pro these players weaknesses are exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

I feel like an SYC parent made this comment. 😆 But there is some truth in this. Technical kids at some point may often not be better than a bigger less technical kid (assuming that’s based on whose team wins more).

The upside is the kids on the technical team will likely have a longer soccer career bc they have to rely on their technical skills so much. By the time puberty/growth happens for them, they’ll have the strength and speed to maximize their technical skills.

Not that bigger kids don’t have the technical skills, just that they’ve never been forced to rely on them or consider them an equal option when speed and strength has always been their go to. They become very predictable players.

You're overlooking the fact that the bigger stronger and faster kids will pickup technical skills too. In the end, we still end up with poor performing USMNTs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The story that was mentioned about Pulisic is exactly the issue. In the US, we focus on the fastest and the strongest and bet that their skills will catch up. In Europe, they focus on technical ability and bet that the physical side will even out once everyone grows. Most of the time, the European bet wins. This is exacerbated by how few professional level academies per capita there are in the US - developing kids is to some extent a lottery, and they’re buying 1000 tickets for every 10 that we buy.

This is like 75% the way there.

Most academies in the US don’t focus on size anymore.

It’s really simpler - the best model is focusing on controlling the controllable. Teaching skill, soccer IQ, good teamwork etc is controllable. The physical side is somewhat, but the genetic component isn’t. So they just control what they can.

At the end of the day speed matters a lot at the top level. At the top levels everyone can do the technical requirements - it’s speed that separates those that keep climbing and those that don’t. Size helps, but it isn’t really a huge factor when you’re talking about a handful of inches in a sport largely played on the ground.

It's speed of play that increases at the highest levels. Not speed.
Speed of play is driven by IQ making quicker good decisions.

Not about how fast one runs.

Not sure why you assumed speed was only defined as one’s running speed. If I meant running speed I would have said running speed.

You said speed separates
Every elite level club have fast players.

Speed of play separates. Not 40 yard dash times.

The id camp my kid went to was doing timed 30 yard dashes. It said a lot about the coaching staff….

That they want metric based assessments? And they don’t want kids that

are too slow to compete?

I am sure the only thing the coaches did at the entire ID camp was time the 30yd dashes.

Some coaches at ID camps make players juggle in times tests too, or around timed obstacle courses! And time and count juggles!

Waste of time. If something is not done under pressure why do it? Let the kids scrimmage. You can pick out the top 1-2% in five minutes. Top 25% in 10 minutes. It’s not hard if you watch a lot of soccer and know what to look for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technical skill isn't important in America. They want ' athletic strong' aka large, fast, and really aggressive over skills. The amount of parents I've talked to who are extremely frustrated with coaches just flat out saying their kid doesn't fit on their roster because they're highly technical but on the smaller side is indicative of this. If you look at who dominates in ECNL it's West Coast and Texan players who are big and just throw their bodies at people over having actual foot skills. Sure, they can all blast the ball extremely hard to the back of the net; but then we wonder why we get obliterated in international play when actually technical players absolutely shut our national team players down in both men's and women's soccer. Anyone who disagrees with this can just watch an almost 40-year-old Messi absolutely dribble circles around an entire back line of American MLS players completely past his prime as though he's just taking a leisurely walk down the field before scoring.

Here's to hoping at some point we stopped treating soccer like American football in this country.

If the “technical” kids are getting destroyed by the bigger kids, maybe they are not that technical or good.

I feel like an SYC parent made this comment. 😆 But there is some truth in this. Technical kids at some point may often not be better than a bigger less technical kid (assuming that’s based on whose team wins more).

The upside is the kids on the technical team will likely have a longer soccer career bc they have to rely on their technical skills so much. By the time puberty/growth happens for them, they’ll have the strength and speed to maximize their technical skills.

Not that bigger kids don’t have the technical skills, just that they’ve never been forced to rely on them or consider them an equal option when speed and strength has always been their go to. They become very predictable players.

You're overlooking the fact that the bigger stronger and faster kids will pickup technical skills too. In the end, we still end up with poor performing USMNTs.

No I explicitly said that bigger players have technical skills too but they just spent years not relying on them in match play. All the extra training that kids do to remain technically skilled is useless if they’re not on a team that uses those skills at practice and game day.