Anonymous wrote:Didn't FCV produce the #1 pick in the women's draft this year? I guess DMV talent is just fine for women. lol

Thank you for changing the conversation to women's soccer but would you like to have any input on men's soccer?

Didn't FCV produce the #1 pick in the women's draft this year? I guess DMV talent is just fine for women. lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either place still isn't getting our best talent. Until we get our best athletes playing soccer we won't be the best.

I agree with you but before we change the topic, let's go back to it. DFW is producing some of the best players in the US Soccer population. There overall population is larger than the DMV by about 1 million people, but, they also have to compete with a much bigger youth sports culture (football). Why is is the DFW is able to produce so many top players but the DMV has been unable to?

Because a larger percentage of both their players and coaches are international (significantly LatinX). Less BS with big kids running over each other to score goals and more emphasis on skills and moving the ball.

Anonymous wrote:Either place still isn't getting our best talent. Until we get our best athletes playing soccer we won't be the best.

I agree with you but before we change the topic, let's go back to it. DFW is producing some of the best players in the US Soccer population. There overall population is larger than the DMV by about 1 million people, but, they also have to compete with a much bigger youth sports culture (football). Why is is the DFW is able to produce so many top players but the DMV has been unable to?

Either place still isn't getting our best talent. Until we get our best athletes playing soccer we won't be the best.

While DFW has about another million people than DMV, they also have to compete with the Texas culture of football. At some point, you're going to start questioning why DMV just isn't producing talent.

https://twitter.com/FCDallas/status/1401951467137871876

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Except that on the woman's side, the world is catching up to us and may surpass us soon in soccer.

I don't understand this "catching up" narrative. The US hasn't always had the best women's team. There was a long stretch where Germany was the best team. The US got killed by Brazil in 2007 and was lucky to beat them in 2011. We did not go into 2015 as the favorite. Even in 1999 China was even with us. But in 2019 the US was the favorite from start to finish and won every game for the first time. The competition is definitely getting deeper, but the US was more clearly the best team at the last World Cup than at any WC in the past.

The US women have dominated for a long stretch. However, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years with younger female players in the US and internationally. As an example, in the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup, the US women did not advance out of the group stages (although to be fair, they were placed in the Group of Death). In the U-20 age group, the US women last won a World Cup in 2012, with current mainstays like Erz and Dunn, plus Morgan Brian. I watched that 2018 World Cup, and the Spanish team that won exhibited technical ability, creativity, and soccer IQ on and off the ball that is missing from the current crop of young American players, both male and female.

If you watched the Super League or women’s Champions League, its clear the center of women’s soccer has shifted. There are 4-6 women’s club teams that would beat the USWNT pretty easily and these are the club teams without American players. The game is much more sophisticated and the speed of play is a big step up. We just do not train for speed of play like they are doing.

Watching the USWNT’s game last night, it was the players who played in the Super League who combined to score the goal. As a side note it is time to move on from the old players and let the next generation shine. That was a very bad showing against the 29 team in the rankings. The age is showing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Except that on the woman's side, the world is catching up to us and may surpass us soon in soccer.

I don't understand this "catching up" narrative. The US hasn't always had the best women's team. There was a long stretch where Germany was the best team. The US got killed by Brazil in 2007 and was lucky to beat them in 2011. We did not go into 2015 as the favorite. Even in 1999 China was even with us. But in 2019 the US was the favorite from start to finish and won every game for the first time. The competition is definitely getting deeper, but the US was more clearly the best team at the last World Cup than at any WC in the past.

The US women have dominated for a long stretch. However, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years with younger female players in the US and internationally. As an example, in the 2018 U-20 Women's World Cup, the US women did not advance out of the group stages (although to be fair, they were placed in the Group of Death). In the U-20 age group, the US women last won a World Cup in 2012, with current mainstays like Erz and Dunn, plus Morgan Brian. I watched that 2018 World Cup, and the Spanish team that won exhibited technical ability, creativity, and soccer IQ on and off the ball that is missing from the current crop of young American players, both male and female.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of it is the decentralized system, with a million unconnected leagues. The top players often don't play the other top players, and there is no incentive to develop versus poaching talent. This is why our ECNL teams get crushed by the NC and SC teams. Those are mega-clubs where the cream rises to the top, and all of the area's talent is playing together.

Could not have articulated this better myself. DMV should consolidate Clubs to get REAL talent on one team and not a hundred talented players all in different clubs/leagues. Then it would tell the story of how talented this area really is.

That would be horrible for development. Development is not about picking the best players for the age group to win. Consolidating into one team for the DMV is opposite of development. Look at the super stars u12 or u16 players who disappear never to be hear from again. They get eclipsed by other players by 18-20 year old. This is when the one dimensional players get left behind. U16-u17 is not the pinnacle of development for a soccer player. It’s just the start of the next phase.

Development is about throwing as wide a net as possible, keeping kids in the sport, having options both in terms of style of play and coaches and age appropriate development. You do not know if the “big” clubs are developing talent or just selecting players that fit the system. Many of the clubs “develop” players that would develop at any club. The question is is the club developing all the potential players to their highest potential? Does the club take a 100 players and develop 5 or 20?

Agree that many boys are not developed at U16/17. Some of the USMNT players have said at that age they weren't even routinely picked for camps, showcases, the last place they thought they would end up was on the field with the USMNT.

Unfortunately, in this area---development is over long before then. The Clubs have thrown out and demoted some of the kids with the best potential by 18/20. Look at a lot of the rosters in this area and the big changes in these age groups. American style picks by dumb untalented coaches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of it is the decentralized system, with a million unconnected leagues. The top players often don't play the other top players, and there is no incentive to develop versus poaching talent. This is why our ECNL teams get crushed by the NC and SC teams. Those are mega-clubs where the cream rises to the top, and all of the area's talent is playing together.

Could not have articulated this better myself. DMV should consolidate Clubs to get REAL talent on one team and not a hundred talented players all in different clubs/leagues. Then it would tell the story of how talented this area really is.

That would be horrible for development. Development is not about picking the best players for the age group to win. Consolidating into one team for the DMV is opposite of development. Look at the super stars u12 or u16 players who disappear never to be hear from again. They get eclipsed by other players by 18-20 year old. This is when the one dimensional players get left behind. U16-u17 is not the pinnacle of development for a soccer player. It’s just the start of the next phase.

Development is about throwing as wide a net as possible, keeping kids in the sport, having options both in terms of style of play and coaches and age appropriate development. You do not know if the “big” clubs are developing talent or just selecting players that fit the system. Many of the clubs “develop” players that would develop at any club. The question is is the club developing all the potential players to their highest potential? Does the club take a 100 players and develop 5 or 20?

Anonymous wrote:

Except that on the woman's side, the world is catching up to us and may surpass us soon in soccer.

I don't understand this "catching up" narrative. The US hasn't always had the best women's team. There was a long stretch where Germany was the best team. The US got killed by Brazil in 2007 and was lucky to beat them in 2011. We did not go into 2015 as the favorite. Even in 1999 China was even with us. But in 2019 the US was the favorite from start to finish and won every game for the first time. The competition is definitely getting deeper, but the US was more clearly the best team at the last World Cup than at any WC in the past.

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

RantingSoccerDad wrote:I hadn't really thought about this until it came up in the PAC thread of all places, but is the DMV failing to produce good players?

The only player I could find who has been near the men's national team recently is Bill Hamid. The WNT is a bit better -- Andi Sullivan, Midge Purce, Emily Fox and Ali Krieger.

SoCal is always going to be the biggest source of players. But the DMV is trailing Colorado and Atlanta, among other places.

Are we doing something wrong? Or is this what we would expect?

You need to do a bit more research.

Agreed. There are many more but that would not support his "expert" analysis.

Name them.

Joe Gyau, Jeremy Ebobisse, Gideon Zelalem, and Nicholas Gioachinni have all spent some time with the national team.

Not recently for Gyau, though it's unfair that injuries have held him back.

Ebobisse is at least on the radar. Zelalem seems to have fallen out -- his career has declined quite a bit.

Gioachinni wasn't here that long, but the DMV can claim partial credit if you like.

Kyle Beckerman
Dominque Badji

Maybe you should just not come onto anonymous forum if you don't want to engage anonymous randos.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of it is the decentralized system, with a million unconnected leagues. The top players often don't play the other top players, and there is no incentive to develop versus poaching talent. This is why our ECNL teams get crushed by the NC and SC teams. Those are mega-clubs where the cream rises to the top, and all of the area's talent is playing together.

Could not have articulated this better myself. DMV should consolidate Clubs to get REAL talent on one team and not a hundred talented players all in different clubs/leagues. Then it would tell the story of how talented this area really is.

hmmm..., If we only had a way to pull all the talent from different clubs and leagues together... Laugh if you want, but wasn't that the original intent of ODP Region1?

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of it is the decentralized system, with a million unconnected leagues. The top players often don't play the other top players, and there is no incentive to develop versus poaching talent. This is why our ECNL teams get crushed by the NC and SC teams. Those are mega-clubs where the cream rises to the top, and all of the area's talent is playing together.

Could not have articulated this better myself. DMV should consolidate Clubs to get REAL talent on one team and not a hundred talented players all in different clubs/leagues. Then it would tell the story of how talented this area really is.