Get rid of em'. The youth national teams can do better than this. Let them battle it out to see who will coach the San Diego Surf U-15, or some squid coaching job like that. They aren't fit to coaching these teams. Albertin Montoya > BJ Snow (wow, but true) Michelle Akers > Michelle French (and Akers doesn't even coach !!!!!!!!!!! (well, horse coach .... carriage) Would love to see Amanda Cromwell from UCLA promoted up to coach the U-17 team. She relates well with young players (teenagers). They cling on to her (and one of the reasons why she is a beast in recruiting teenage girls to attend UCLA). Would love to see Tom Stone coaching the U-20 team. He relates well with young college players, and gets the best out of ordinary, but not extraordinary talent. It makes you wonder, what can he do if he has extraordinary talent across the board? (instead of ordinary) Both of them are far superior to French & Snow. It's like the Grinch that Blowed Christmas.
She can do both. If the U-17 tournament is in the early to mid summer months. If not, then she'll only be there for a partial season at UCLA (if that). It just depends on when the U-17 tournament is.
I believe that, as a matter of policy, the USSF has decided not to have college coaches be head coaches of the YNTs.
I don't care what the policy says, they can always change it. Steve Swanson did it in 2012, by leading the U-2o team to a World Cup title, and still coming back to coach UVA.
Dude in 2012 the YNT coaches were not full time positions as they are now. Hence Swanson could pull double duty. Not happening today without giving up the day job. Aren't you the same guy who told me that I was ridiculous for suggesting that the 17s might have trouble with Ghana and Japan?
Snow shouldn't have had either job in the first place. French has been a joke since the day she was appointed. The coaching/scout selections for YNTs by Ellis and Heinrichs has run the program down. One WC win by the full team can't mask years of failure of the YNTs and the tough future ahead.
There is little accountability in our youth coaching ranks. It is more about having a country club where friends help friends. It is a cesspool.
Which why they need to clean them all out. If u leave Heinrichs and Ellis they r just going to repopulate from the same pool.
Results aside, the level of play of our team was not good enough. I've not been involved with youth coaching much, but don't players at this level have the wherewithal to read the game a bit better and adjust? Maybe I am asking too much for this age? Regardless, I think the coaching could have been better, unless the team was totally incapable of responding to the coaches' efforts.
The coaching has been deplorable, the player selection completely corrupt, the management of the overall development incompetent and the game strategy a complete failure. The Japanese completely embarrassed the US with technical skill and vision.....but hey, we won the the trophy that really matters right? Why change anything? Blow up the YNT and start over again....while your at it, show Gulati the door. This was a really poor performance. I fully expect similar results with the U20s, and these are girls that sacrificed their college season to chase a dream like a unicorn. embarrassing
I agree. This was supposed to be the wonderkind team to break the u17 curse. Poorest showing for a team that actually qualified. The selection process is indeed very corrupt, but despite this opinion, the USA is big enough and rich enough to have players in the top 100 in the USA find success at this age group. Snow keeps pointing to the undefeated history. All those games were only prep for this big event and he bombed out with them. Own it. He should resign. Yes starts with Gulati and his cronyism with a Ellis' dad. They good only boys and girls need to give it up. Time to give some of the 99ers a chance Michelle Akers would be my vote or bring in Spanish and Japanese coaches Ellis is showing some innovation with this latest camp, but if she doesn't clean house with the youth coaches now she deserves no respect.
I took a quick look at US soccer's financial statements. In 2015, $14,394,385 was spent on "Youth National Teams and Development". This number combines both boys and girls. Assuming 25% of that total was spent on the girls, we have ~$3.5 million spent on US youth girl development. NOTE: 25% is the same breakdown used for men senior vs women senior NT spending. I hope the breakdown is more than 25% for youth. What do we have to show for that money? A U17 WC team that was severely outclassed by Japan and Ghana and can't keep possession relying on hopeful long balls for attacking. A U20 team that in the last tournament spent very little time in the attacking third, and hardly had a single shot, let alone a shot on goal. One of those U20 matches was against England, a team who didn't even qualify for the World Cup. What exactly is this money being spent on? Based upon the matches I saw, it isn't being spent on teaching our girls, and most likely future NT players, how to play soccer. Our senior NT is going to be in trouble in a few years if these issues aren't addressed immediately.
They have already installed their fruends at all levels. Most recently, they put Englishmen Mark Carr in charge of the u15s. Carr has a rather unremarkable resume but he has connections out the wazzu. He was briefly down here in South Texas acting as part club shill, part scout. He would decline coach recommendations from competing clubs, put pressure on other kids to change clubs, etc. No pedigree, resume of success whatsoever but he is now in charge of arguably the most important age groupin US girls.
Whatever BJ Snow was doing while Japan was putting on a clinic for our girls, he certainly wasn't watching the same match the rest of us were: From the post match spin room here: http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...-u17-womens-world-cup-after-3-2-loss-to-japan “I couldn’t have been more proud of how resilient our players were in the first half and the second half, as you saw from the game, our girls never quit,” U.S. U-17 WNT head coach B.J. Snow said following the game. “When you play Japan, in order to win you have to expend so much energy for 90 minutes. And we’ve done it. We beat them three times in a row before tonight. We know what it feels like, and we know what if feels like to coach against them. It is ridiculously hard. You know you’re going to give up chances against Japan, that is inevitable. Our goalkeeper had a really great game, our defense had a great game, and in the end, you have to tip your hat sometimes. The chances that they get, they put them away. We had a couple that we didn’t put away. That’s how the game goes, you take care of your chances and you need a break sometimes. We didn’t get any breaks today.” We didn't get breaks today? Uhm yeah we did, it should have been 10-2 Japan.
He doesnt need to explain Japan, he needs to explain Ghana. Was he somehow surprised that an African team was athletic and physical? Does he think that Ghana was better than his team? If they dont get upset by Ghana he's not only still alive but on the weaker side of the draw and does no worse than a match up in the third place game.
Resilient Never quit Energy for 90 minutes They finished, we didn't Unlucky British Coachspeak BINGO! What do I win?
It's a tough crowd in here. Japan is always difficult--I assume they are the tournament favorites. There are a number of pretty good teams, it would appear. The loss to Ghana was our Waterloo, and I see that Japan destroyed Ghana.
Nice rant on Soccerwire http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/u-s-u-17-women-crash-out-of-world-cup-early-yet-again-what-now/
There are US kids, some of whom have even been called into a camp or two, who have the necessary technical tools and in game sophistication to have competed more competently in that World Cup. This is not a global American development problem. A different coach undoubtably could have selected a roster (and there would have been some overlap) and coached them in a style of play that could have at least competed with Japan. I am reminded of Caleb Porter's success at Akron. Tough school into which to recruit. Yet he had his team playing a terrific flowing, attacking, yet possession, game that shook up men's college soccer. We need someone like Caleb Porter coaching our youth. But I would also be thrilled if we went with experience and proven success from Japan or Spain -got anyone interested? I'll take a Brazilian -anyone excited to watch Americans, especially American girls, play Ginga soccer? If we have no one here let's look outside. Can't get any worse than what we are currently seeing. Kids in the system way too long without demonstrating adequate progression. Need someone who understands childhood development. Can't just pick the powerful 13 and 14 year olds who have already been through puberty without at least considering that they may peak at 14 and another late bloomer kid might emerge at 16 or 18 who has the tools to help the team succeed. One also has to be mindful that keeping the same kids in the system can cause a social dynamic that is far from welcoming of new kids into the "team". The coach has to provide some adult social leadership to ensure new kids aren't frozen out by girl's cultural cliques. They must encourage inclusion off the field and on the field. No passing to the new kids should be dealt with swiftly and it won't happen a second time as kids are vying to keep their spots. While I believe individual flamboyance should be a characteristic of an American style, I also believe that there should be 11 players on the field who possess the tools to take care of the ball, and the sophistication to provide movement off the ball so that there is always an option. We need youth coaches who are ever mindful that their job is to select talent, and again it's there, and develop that talent to win both now and for the future.