Anonymous wrote:Clint Dempsey is who they’re looking for and he was in a sand lot in Texas. Obed Vargas was in Alaska.

The players they need could literally be anywhere in the world on any level team and may not even play on a team.

Anonymous wrote:Clint Dempsey is who they’re looking for and he was in a sand lot in Texas. Obed Vargas was in Alaska.

The players they need could literally be anywhere in the world on any level team and may not even play on a team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another one that makes no sense.

Leagues generally have one person per geography that's the manages that areas Talent ID. Usually every club in a league gets 1-3 Talent ID invites per age group.

In my kids league there 10is teams and 3 clubs tend to always win it all. If you were US Soccer wouldn't it make more sense to just take all the players on the teams that win and ignore the rest? Obviously they know how to win and likely have Talent. Why even waste your time with players from clubs that consistently lose?

No it's doesn't. Do really think the 5th best player on multiple winning teams is going to be one of the top players in the nation? No of course not. It's either top players on winning teams or it's top players hidden on losing teams.

Teams that win, win for a reason.

Teams the lose, lose for a reason.

Leagues distribute Talent ID invites mostly evenly to all clubs because that's what the clubs are paying for. US Soccer is then forced to look through all the duds to find the talent.

Do you really think US Soccer wants to waste their time looking at a player from a 2-15 team?

Why would they waste their time looking at the 5th best player on a winning team when they are looking for the best players in the nation?

Most youth soccer players are constrained geographically. That's means a top Talent player is going to play on the best team within driving distance, which very well could mean the rest of their team isn't as good and they could sit near the bottom of the division.

Waste of time. Sure you can dig through the bargin bin looking for talent or just go to the top team that wins and take the whole team.

Anonymous wrote:I get that some people will argue that there might be a unicorn on a 2-15 team. Statistically there will be more unicorns on teams that win and less on those that dont. It's usually why they win. Teams that are ranked the highest in the nation need to be the best at all aspects of the game. You're not going to consistently win just because you have a hot forward that scores. This is why all players on top teams should attend Talent IDs and maybe 1 or 2 from the losing teams.

Anonymous wrote:The lack of transparency about the selection process and the decisions that are made about how many players are selected from any given club as well as the players that are selected vs those who aren't from clubs are baffling.

Seeing more players receive invites from a middle of the pack club, while a team at the top of the conference receives significantly less invites, makes no sense.

Inviting players that are injured and can't participate makes no sense. Particularly those that have been injured for awhile and a scout hasn't seen them play in months.

And as a general statement, across clubs, you see players receive invites who you know are not considered to be the top player(s) on the team.

It boils down to club politics having far more to do with the selection process than actual talent. Which means it is a meaningless accolade.

Anonymous wrote:The lack of transparency about the selection process and the decisions that are made about how many players are selected from any given club as well as the players that are selected vs those who aren't from clubs are baffling.

Seeing more players receive invites from a middle of the pack club, while a team at the top of the conference receives significantly less invites, makes no sense.

Inviting players that are injured and can't participate makes no sense. Particularly those that have been injured for awhile and a scout hasn't seen them play in months.

And as a general statement, across clubs, you see players receive invites who you know are not considered to be the top player(s) on the team.

It boils down to club politics having far more to do with the selection process than actual talent. Which means it is a meaningless accolade.

Anonymous wrote:Politics 100%! If USYNT was really scouting talented players, we could see invitations to players from any team regardless of club and TD with connections.

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever heard of an ERA, RBI, error, battering average, hit count? Little league has been collecting this using paper and pencils for decades. And with AI it's even easier to count and compare regardless of the game outcome.

Soccer is a fragmented system that doubles down on confirmation biases and self fulfilling prophecies -honoring the heroic player whose preceding poor choices are easily forgotten.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another one that makes no sense.

Leagues generally have one person per geography that's the manages that areas Talent ID. Usually every club in a league gets 1-3 Talent ID invites per age group.

In my kids league there 10is teams and 3 clubs tend to always win it all. If you were US Soccer wouldn't it make more sense to just take all the players on the teams that win and ignore the rest? Obviously they know how to win and likely have Talent. Why even waste your time with players from clubs that consistently lose?

No it's doesn't. Do really think the 5th best player on multiple winning teams is going to be one of the top players in the nation? No of course not. It's either top players on winning teams or it's top players hidden on losing teams.

Teams that win, win for a reason.

Teams the lose, lose for a reason.

Leagues distribute Talent ID invites mostly evenly to all clubs because that's what the clubs are paying for. US Soccer is then forced to look through all the duds to find the talent.

Do you really think US Soccer wants to waste their time looking at a player from a 2-15 team?

Why would they waste their time looking at the 5th best player on a winning team when they are looking for the best players in the nation?

Most youth soccer players are constrained geographically. That's means a top Talent player is going to play on the best team within driving distance, which very well could mean the rest of their team isn't as good and they could sit near the bottom of the division.

Waste of time. Sure you can dig through the bargin bin looking for talent or just go to the top team that wins and take the whole team.

So what you're suggesting is basically only people in Hotspot soccer areas should get scouted?

I would use the ranking app and limit recruitment to top 50 nationwide teams.

So you are going to guarantee that you overlook talent in order to ensure that everyone selected is at least at some minimal level of talent. The current approach is already going to catch all the top players on winning teams, so digging deeper on those teams seems like it will achieve nothing.

Anonymous wrote:The US has to pull in "x" amount of players at each age group per year. Somewhere around 60-65 (this does not include the Talent ID Center players). A small core group of players is usually invited (like 6-8), but even this group rotates as the players age (the US may decide the player is better off training with a NWSL team than being called into camp, etc.). Still, it seems like they are trying to really expand the pool of players and do a deeper dive into each age group.[/quote]

Agree with this comment. There have been more ID Centers and even holding them at U16, as well with more localized players. Meaning an ID Center at U16 with only VA based players. This is only a good thing to see a larger pool of players overall. Plus, they have been having events on both coasts with the younger age groups as well inviting 80 or so players. Even at the older age groups (U15 and up) the player pools at camp seem to be expanding a bit as well which is a good thing overall. Meaning same number (24) being invited but not always the same names over and over.