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[quote=Anonymous][quote=RantingSoccerDad]Officially? Sure. U.S. Soccer rolled out a "curriculum" in the early 2010s that had detailed charts about teaching ball skills at the earliest ages and then moving promptly to a fluid passing game. Development Academy clubs were, at least for a while, judged harshly on whether or not they were playing as much like Barcelona as they possibly could.

The curriculum has gone by the wayside, but as someone noted above, other initiatives such as the build-out lines are geared toward possession soccer. And that's not the main reason they outlawed heading at early ages (that was subconcussive-trauma fear, spurred on by a lawsuit), but one by-product of that change is a greater emphasis on keeping the ball on the ground.

Specifically in women's soccer, the desire to play more of a possession game dates back at least to the hiring of Pia Sundhage in 2007. They didn't go full-bore into it because you can't completely abandon the direct style when you have Abby Wambach up front.

So yeah -- U.S. Soccer wants to play possession.

The difference between here and Germany is that youth coaches, even the paid ones, often don't do what the federation wants them to do. Also, we have college soccer, which has free substitutions and therefore tends to be more of an athletic contest.

You often can't even say a particular club is coherent. Alexandria may be the most insistent on playing possession soccer -- they've collected passing stats in U9 games. Elsewhere, one coach in a club may take a completely different approach than another. I saw two Vienna teams in the same age group on back-to-back days last year -- the first (the B-team) played nice fluid soccer, while the second (the C-team) had parents cheering when the goalkeeper punted the ball the length of the field to the opposing keeper.

In rec soccer? There's only so much you can do. You have a wide range of talent -- some certainly good enough to play medium-high level travel soccer, some with actual movement disorders. They're all supposed to play at least half of every game. (Right, coaches? You all do that, right?)  You may get some pockets of players who can combine to string together a few passes, but then the ball will eventually get to a player who's overwhelmed and just trying to get the ball somewhere. [/quote]

And lets not forget a few other things at play as well:

1. The ability to see international leagues on TV, especially LaLiga, where possession can be seen at the highest levels has an influence. While the Premier League is a bit more physical and direct, Man City walked away with the title by playing a strong possession style game.

2. On the women's international side soccer nations are starting to pour resources into the women's game and these nations are using the same methods to train and develop as on the men's side. Our ability to dominate through sheer athleticism and overall player pool will no longer be enough to maintain dominance.

3. Parents are more educated and are beginning to demand a better soccer training environment.

What we still lack are ENOUGH demanding parents and ENOUGH quality coaches committed to teaching possession at the earliest ages. [/quote]

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