It's a reality that those squalities are not appreciated in US soccer. All you have to do is watch College soccer and see how none of those are evident in the "close your eyes and kick the ball to the corner" game.
Seriously, are we going to now criticize the USSF for missing out on proper "scouting" of a 14 year old? How many millions and millions and millions of 14 year olds play soccer in this country..........and how many scouts do we think the USSF has to look at them? And how many slots are there on U14,15 national teams? Are 14 year olds now going to start pressuring Mexico or the US to call them up to absolutely useless U15 national teams............or threaten to switch allegiances? What's next? Do we now need to dump vast amounts of resources into the scouting of 11 year olds so that we can keep them out of the hands of Mexico? Perhaps we need parents to sign waivers when kids come out of the womb indicating which national team their future superstar kid is going to play for. I mean this whole issue is mind-blowing in the vastness of its stupidity. Really, the earliest any of us should care about these kids is when they're 16-17. 99.9% of 14 year old "superstars" from 8 years ago are working the fry-o-later at Dairy Queen as we speak. And that's being generous.
I have a dream.... one day US will pick apart the many different cultures it has, and create a different style, similar to the pass and go latin american style, but with some physicality thrown in there, given the size of americans, same goes with our tough as nails defense. A hybrid style if you will. It all begins at the youth level, and continues at the Pro level. NCAA is irrelevant. I wish they'd do away wiht college soccer, and leave it up to the clubs of this country (at all divisions), to develop players taht WANT to play pro ball, or want to play soccer and get paid, use that money to study at a local college while developing as a pro player.
Messi was found, and brought on by Barca' at 12-13. Now he is one of the worlds greatest players. Great talent evaulators groom kids at like 9- and above, and keep them til they are in their teenage years, like you say at 16-17. Thats many players 'growing' years, where they start developing into men, and IMO players always have skills, its just learning how to adapt it to a different game is the key. Big teams in ARG. scout kids as young as 8-9 maybe younger, and bring them to youth teams, and work them up til their mid to late teens. Thats when they move on to the Reserves of the big teams, and develop into the players we see now. Same goes in england, and any big country wiht great talent development.
I'd assume MLS clubs in the future, when they develop into their OWN entities, or MLS gives them more money (in return from future revenue) to develop better youth players, and better scouts that will scour the local land to find that diamond in the rough.
How little you know about youth soccer development. If you could see the "inferiores" of River in Argentina, you would probably keel over and die. Recently they finished building their University. Yes Collegiate level school for their "youth programs". I guess. You'll be at the Dairy Queen's of the world, talking to the has beens.
Yes..........that's Argentina. Yes, I know Messi started at Newell's when he was 9. Who in the US is paying for that right now? Yes, in fantasy land some day MLS will pay for it. But that's not happening for quite a long time. Especially when most MLS clubs are losing money as it is. So I'm supposed to be upset that we lost one of the 14 year olds WE DO KNOW ABOUT to Mexico? He's 14, and playing at that level for them won't cap-tie him anyway. Good luck to him.
^^^ Not upset, but upset with the scouting and the way youth soccer is planned out in this country. I grew up playing here all my life, yet my skills are more comparable from what you see in south america than here. Why? Because of the coaches around me, i was coached by ex tahuichi coach (built jaime moreno, marco etcheverry, among other bolivian stars), and was taught to play that style of soccer. Not very compatible with the US style, and i feel the same can be said about the kids that the US look over. I was looked over by ODP and I now see that I when younger wasnt the only one (im 24). Now these stories are making more news, and is not surprisingly showing a side of the US youth soccer many didnt hear about before the internet. I hope US soccer changes, and brings coaches who are more open minded to posssesion soccer, and more open to creativity rather than looking at it as 'rubbish' and 'ball hogging'. I feel that is why many kids get looked over in the US system. They only see a finished product, not a work in progress. The exact opposite in countries like Argentina or any country which has a well built talent development.
What happened to you has happened and will continue to happen in this country. Unfortunately soccer seems like the last great white hope. Coaches and development people need to get their heads out of EPL and SPL and to a lesser extent Germany and see the world for what is it. For the love of god, the best team in the world is Barcelona and they play possession. Until the USA learns how to tap into this resources (hispanic kids and style of play), the USA will always be a second tier soccer country.
I agree with what you're saying but you're missing something. It IS changing right now. The US Soccer Federation IS emphasising possesion soccer more. Have you seen the the U-17's play. It's all posession soccer. They blew everyone out of the water during the U-17 qualifiying. Why do you think half of the US team are getting signed by huge European clubs? I suggest you watch one of their games.
I havent seen U17, I read how they did well on their tour of south america. I remember reading about a colombian-american that got caught with his GF in his room and got kicked out.... i want to say his name is Martinez? Carlos maybe is his first name?? I heard he is the next big thing! So yes, i forgot about them, but have yet to see them, only read about them . Hopefully our youth program stays in that direction. I plan to coach one day, and hopefully contribute to US soccer.
Anyone who's watched the U-17's or the U-20's under Rongen knows we don't play that "kick-and-rush" ball that these guys are describing. But that's at the elite youth levels. Most 12-13 year olds are taught the game by dad the accountant after he gets home from work. And that's just the way it is. Good for Boca and River that they have the money to start "universities," so that they can become football factories. Right now there is neither the A) money or B) incentive for MLS teams to do that. Maybe 25 or 50 years from now there will be. And this discussion started because one of the kids we HAD IDENTIFIED and was playing with the Dynamo decided to explore playing for Mexico. And don't tell me that the USSF hadn't picked him so the US "hadn't identified him." The US soccer establishment which is MLS had certianly identified him. In Argentina does every player who ends up being good......play for the national U15's? No. Do people sit around in Argentina and panic over whether Chile is going to steal some 14 year old nobody has ever heard of away from them? No.
Carlos Martinez is back at Bradenton. And if he hadn't explicitly broken team rules......then he wouldn't have been kicked out in the first place.
Yes this has started happening since Wilmer Cabrera became the head coach and started bringing in more hispanic players. Obviously possession ball is going to be played. Change the coach and watch how quickly all that dissipates.
The US soccer program i garuntee you, has alot of money but they just need a long term goal, along with a partnership, like a clear one between MLS clubs and players frmo around the area. #1, the best players are IMO still hidden out there. The players that make it, and get seen by scouts have to have money, because to get there they have to have money, as travel soccer is EXPENSIVE! #2 - the NCAA has to be taken out of the picture for the majority of it all, because players like in all other countries, have to decided whether they will go pro (if they think they are good enough) or instead play more of the secondary NCAA ball to get money for school. Although i hope in the future the reserve league could be 17-18yr olds going to college on some kind of sponsored work/school thing like many jobs have now, to raise your profile. NCAA should be left for players that will NEVER become pro, or rather go to learn a trade or get a degree. We should never have our top talent in college, playing under non fifa rules, and coaches which are obselete. There is ton's of money in this country, the competitive edge internally is so crazy, that parents want their kids to WIN first and develop somewhere else down the line. It shouldnt be that way, that mentality should also change frmo the youth levels all the way til they are old enough to play as reserves for pro sides, even then they can still develop under these head coaches of the pro clubs, training with pros alone will develop them. Yes, now that you bring it up, i do remember them letting him back on. He is talented, but like many, hormones sometimes are too strong, same goes with puppy love. I remember my first GF... i would do crazy things for her. EXACTLY! Play only comes down to the DT aka Coach, pull that colombian coach out of the picture, and we will get some NCAA/ MLS reject who probably never grew up watching pro soccer, or knowing much else than what they learned when they were kids/ when they were pro's learning from outdated coaches who still looked at the old english style as their prime example on 'how it should be done'. We need foreign coaches who know the game in this country, and later on players that develop from those coaches will be ready to follow in their patch. We need variety.
Ballas dont hate! Didn't Ronaldo (WC Winner) say that sex before games improved his game? I say they bring the Bradenton High cheerleaders to Nigeria!
^^^ I think i saw some like thing on mythbusters, or something like that, where they tested that myth on a boxer, and found that it was completely false. It at worst didnt do anything to have before an event or match. His results showed it improved his performance.
This is often tossed around and there is truth to it but in Dallas at least (I would guess it's the same everywhere) many kids that don't have money get scolarships every year and never pay a dime. They have to be good but with 30-40 teams at each age group I'm not talking about being a top 5 player. Also of the four developmental academy teams here three are mostly free now.
I know. It's the same crap over and over again. Where are all these hidden treasures that US soccer is missing? In my lifetime the only player who wanted to play in the US program, that was good enough for the US program, was overlooked, and ended up playing for another nation.................was Edgar Castillo. And he's probably going to play for us any time now. (Guys like Rossi and Subotic didn't want to play for us....they dont' count) The American Messi isn't sitting in Des Moines being ignored by US soccer. I live in Fort Worth, Texas right now. There are plenty of opportunities for kids of all income groups to play the game. If they demonstrate that they have talent.....they're moved up the chain. (The quality of the coaching they receive is a diffferent topic altogether.) People tell me all the time that US soccer is missing out on all of these hispanic stars! They tell me that kids in the parks in LA could play in MLS right now!!!? Their skills aren't appreciated!!! It's all complete nonsense.
But Clint, my son has incredible talent (I should know, I taught him myself) and didn't get selected for ODP for political reasons! Now I'm thinking of taking him into the Northern Irish YNT unless Cabrera does something about it...
Please do. Then he can go play for the Dungannon Swifts for a couple of years until he's old enough to work at Foot Locker with Joseph Lapira. (I know you're joking.)
Despite the protests of those who talk about all of the missed talent, US soccer, clubs and ODP have been providing scholarships to talented kids who can't afford the costs for years. I'm in my 30s and we had a very talented kid on my club team in the 80s who had no money but had skills. He made both the state team and the ODP regional team and the tabs were always picked up by someone else. He didn't pan out as a national team level player, but it wasn't because he didn't get the opportunity. My sense is there's even more of this going on now than back then. If a kid is truly talented, teams will find a way to get him on the roster.
No its not. There aren't thousands. But there are more talented soccer players in this country than most people think. Felix Garcia Jorge Flores How many like them have missed out?
How exactly did the US soccer establishment miss out on Jorge Flores and Felix Garcia? I hear this all the time. Seems to me like an MLS club found one of them and a PDL club found another. If you're good..........and take this sport seriously.......you'll be found. If all you're doing is playing in the park on Saturday with the boys.......how is US soccer supposed to find you? Annonymous tips from park rangers? The idea that it's the USSF's job to uncover all of these kids is nonsense. That's not how it works in the rest of the soccer-playing world. It's clubs that identify these players, and that's what happened in those two cases.