Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Just get sponsors? How stupid are you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

The lack of soccer culture really is a huge issue. many kids don't watch professional soccer to see how it's supposed to be done, or the level of creativity brought to the game by elite players. The lack field awareness and game IQ because they've not seen it done or have no one to emulate. I'd compare it to a chef who specializes in French cuisine and cooks straight from a cookbook but has never lived in or immersed himself in the culture to taste/grow up with the food. Sure, you can follow the recipe and the steps but there'd be a level of authenticity missing. That's US soccer. It's textbook, boring and lacks panache.

I've heard Tom Byer, an American who has been working for decades in Japan to promote and develop soccer there, talk about his philosophy of "soccer begins at home" and how Japan, a country without a soccer culture, has succeeded in developing technically proficient competitive players on both the men's and women's sides. His perspective is interesting, but the main takeaway is that kids need to develop technical skills from a young age outside of competitive situations. American soccer, which prioritizes speed and strength and focuses on competition and outcomes, devalues technical development and skill acquisition that should be prioritized in young players.

https://www.socceramerica.com/tom-byer-on-the-intriguing-comparisons-between-us/

I'm a big fan of Tom Beyer and own his book. And I don't disagree with anything that he's said about the importance of very young kids developing their soccer skills. What I find interesting is how this same dynamic is not so much at play with other sports -- you rarely (if ever) hear anyone focusing on very young kids developing technical skills in basketball, baseball, or American football. In those sports, kids seems to be able to get away with just being good athletes who pick up technical abilities in those other sports later in childhood.

This seems to indicate that highly developed soccer skills really are uniquely difficult -- after all, using your feet rather than your hands is not natural for humans -- and that soccer really is the Beautiful Game and the most popular sport in the world for a reason.

That's one way to say that you don't have kids playing those sports

I'm a DP, but I agree with the PP. That's not to say that kids build skills in those other sports from a young age. However, there are athletes who take up sports like basketball and football as teens and are able to compete at high levels. These athletes tend to have specific physical attributes that are advantageous in the sport. You rarely, if ever, hear of a late-to-soccer athlete who is able to excel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

The lack of soccer culture really is a huge issue. many kids don't watch professional soccer to see how it's supposed to be done, or the level of creativity brought to the game by elite players. The lack field awareness and game IQ because they've not seen it done or have no one to emulate. I'd compare it to a chef who specializes in French cuisine and cooks straight from a cookbook but has never lived in or immersed himself in the culture to taste/grow up with the food. Sure, you can follow the recipe and the steps but there'd be a level of authenticity missing. That's US soccer. It's textbook, boring and lacks panache.

I've heard Tom Byer, an American who has been working for decades in Japan to promote and develop soccer there, talk about his philosophy of "soccer begins at home" and how Japan, a country without a soccer culture, has succeeded in developing technically proficient competitive players on both the men's and women's sides. His perspective is interesting, but the main takeaway is that kids need to develop technical skills from a young age outside of competitive situations. American soccer, which prioritizes speed and strength and focuses on competition and outcomes, devalues technical development and skill acquisition that should be prioritized in young players.

https://www.socceramerica.com/tom-byer-on-the-intriguing-comparisons-between-us/

I'm a big fan of Tom Beyer and own his book. And I don't disagree with anything that he's said about the importance of very young kids developing their soccer skills. What I find interesting is how this same dynamic is not so much at play with other sports -- you rarely (if ever) hear anyone focusing on very young kids developing technical skills in basketball, baseball, or American football. In those sports, kids seems to be able to get away with just being good athletes who pick up technical abilities in those other sports later in childhood.

This seems to indicate that highly developed soccer skills really are uniquely difficult -- after all, using your feet rather than your hands is not natural for humans -- and that soccer really is the Beautiful Game and the most popular sport in the world for a reason.

That's one way to say that you don't have kids playing those sports

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

Do we have mega-stars in every sport played internationally?

Yes - basketball, baseball, skiers, swimmer, gymnastics, crew, snowboarders, track and field, ice skaters, tennis, golf...we usually top of the country standings at both Olympics

No - hockey, soccer, rugby, cricket

The NHL is the highest league in the world and 16% of player come from the US. That's second only to Canada

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

Do we have mega-stars in every sport played internationally?

Yes - basketball, baseball, skiers, swimmer, gymnastics, crew, snowboarders, track and field, ice skaters, tennis, golf...we usually top of the country standings at both Olympics

No - hockey, soccer, rugby, cricket

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

The lack of soccer culture really is a huge issue. many kids don't watch professional soccer to see how it's supposed to be done, or the level of creativity brought to the game by elite players. The lack field awareness and game IQ because they've not seen it done or have no one to emulate. I'd compare it to a chef who specializes in French cuisine and cooks straight from a cookbook but has never lived in or immersed himself in the culture to taste/grow up with the food. Sure, you can follow the recipe and the steps but there'd be a level of authenticity missing. That's US soccer. It's textbook, boring and lacks panache.

I've heard Tom Byer, an American who has been working for decades in Japan to promote and develop soccer there, talk about his philosophy of "soccer begins at home" and how Japan, a country without a soccer culture, has succeeded in developing technically proficient competitive players on both the men's and women's sides. His perspective is interesting, but the main takeaway is that kids need to develop technical skills from a young age outside of competitive situations. American soccer, which prioritizes speed and strength and focuses on competition and outcomes, devalues technical development and skill acquisition that should be prioritized in young players.

https://www.socceramerica.com/tom-byer-on-the-intriguing-comparisons-between-us/

I'm a big fan of Tom Beyer and own his book. And I don't disagree with anything that he's said about the importance of very young kids developing their soccer skills. What I find interesting is how this same dynamic is not so much at play with other sports -- you rarely (if ever) hear anyone focusing on very young kids developing technical skills in basketball, baseball, or American football. In those sports, kids seems to be able to get away with just being good athletes who pick up technical abilities in those other sports later in childhood.

This seems to indicate that highly developed soccer skills really are uniquely difficult -- after all, using your feet rather than your hands is not natural for humans -- and that soccer really is the Beautiful Game and the most popular sport in the world for a reason.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, OP. My son doesn't play MLS Next but the few friends he has who do are pretty damn good.

I use to think this way till “our” went to Spain. OMG we got destroyed by what would be considered the 3rd and 4th teams. They pretty damn good but there are many levels up the top leagues in the US youth travel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

The lack of soccer culture really is a huge issue. many kids don't watch professional soccer to see how it's supposed to be done, or the level of creativity brought to the game by elite players. The lack field awareness and game IQ because they've not seen it done or have no one to emulate. I'd compare it to a chef who specializes in French cuisine and cooks straight from a cookbook but has never lived in or immersed himself in the culture to taste/grow up with the food. Sure, you can follow the recipe and the steps but there'd be a level of authenticity missing. That's US soccer. It's textbook, boring and lacks panache.

I've heard Tom Byer, an American who has been working for decades in Japan to promote and develop soccer there, talk about his philosophy of "soccer begins at home" and how Japan, a country without a soccer culture, has succeeded in developing technically proficient competitive players on both the men's and women's sides. His perspective is interesting, but the main takeaway is that kids need to develop technical skills from a young age outside of competitive situations. American soccer, which prioritizes speed and strength and focuses on competition and outcomes, devalues technical development and skill acquisition that should be prioritized in young players.

https://www.socceramerica.com/tom-byer-on-the-intriguing-comparisons-between-us/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

Do we have mega-stars in every sport played internationally?

In sports that we care about? Yes

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

The lack of soccer culture really is a huge issue. many kids don't watch professional soccer to see how it's supposed to be done, or the level of creativity brought to the game by elite players. The lack field awareness and game IQ because they've not seen it done or have no one to emulate. I'd compare it to a chef who specializes in French cuisine and cooks straight from a cookbook but has never lived in or immersed himself in the culture to taste/grow up with the food. Sure, you can follow the recipe and the steps but there'd be a level of authenticity missing. That's US soccer. It's textbook, boring and lacks panache.

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

The problem starts at grass-youth soccer.
Coaches not knowledgeable or properly certified or doing ongoing education in youth development.
Parents not knowledgeable, don't really care, didn't come from soccer culture.
Kids don't know what they don't know.
Terms like 'elite' acceptedly misused and abused
Parents with money and corporate influence but dunce to high level soccer calling the shots
Clubs happily accepting mediocre as long as the right pockets get lined. Repeat for the next batch

By the time physicality is no longer an advantage and tactics/philosophies get complicated, the gap widens between us and elsewhere.
One or two diamonds will always make it out of the coal-mine

Anonymous wrote:our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

Do we have mega-stars in every sport played internationally?

our population is almost 10x that of most European countries that are soccer powerhouses. So if they have 1 mega-star (Messi, Mbappe, Klose, Ronaldo, Bellingham, Haaland etc.) per 30M people, the law of averages would mean that we should have 10 mega-stars, i don't think our best player(s) crack the top 100 in the world right now.

So something is severely broken in the transition between youth and men's soccer in the US.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

Have you been paying attention to what the US youth national teams have been doing in international competitions recently?
They have been competing well and winning.
U15's boys just beat Morocco, Croatia and Japan to win a tournament

The true big issue is the transition from youth to Senior men's

We don't have a domestic professional league that our players can strive for. MLS? there's a reason why it's called the European retirement league. There is a huge issue that our best players have to go overseas to develop - most of the Men's National team now plays in Europe (awesome for them) but we should be able to do that on our own. But if they can't make it in Europe then their development stalls and our national team continues to suffer.

The best players have to go overseas in most countries...there's only about four or five that don't. There's no reason we need a top five league in the US for our national teams to be successful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All MLSNext and "academy" teams are, for the most part, made up of mostly boys whose parents have the financial means to make donations to their clubs and keep the directors and coaches happy. The coaches that want to select talented players are shut down by directors. If we really wanted to produce quality players the clubs would get sponsors and provide skilled players, regardless of financial means, 100% free admission. But I guess that would not make the not-for-profit soccer clubs any money very quickly.

Just look at your club and tell me I am wrong.

And so, with this model, we will continue to produce mediocre soccer players representing our country in World Cups. College is a joke. All foreign students getting free tuition are the players on the team and staters.

The truth.

Yawn. Thanks for this post from 20 years ago.
The MLS Next/Academy system has worked very well, and most of our National team, many of whom are quite successful in Europe, went though that system.
The US isn't a top team yet, but they've been steadily moving up in the rankings, and steadily producing more and more top players.

Why is it that the US is so successful in most international sports but they're not successful at soccer? The summer Olympics? we're solid. The winter Olympics? we're solid. Baseball - great. basketball - great. Based off our population we should have the athletes to compete - so that speaks to a deeper issue of developing talent. We suck at developing our youth soccer talent, why? because it's a Pay-to-Play model

Have you been paying attention to what the US youth national teams have been doing in international competitions recently?
They have been competing well and winning.
U15's boys just beat Morocco, Croatia and Japan to win a tournament

The true big issue is the transition from youth to Senior men's

We don't have a domestic professional league that our players can strive for. MLS? there's a reason why it's called the European retirement league. There is a huge issue that our best players have to go overseas to develop - most of the Men's National team now plays in Europe (awesome for them) but we should be able to do that on our own. But if they can't make it in Europe then their development stalls and our national team continues to suffer.

We can only do that on our own if there is enough interest here. Broadcast money is what drives it all and it doesn't exist here. Soccer viewership is small.