Argentina and Brazil seem to turn out great players more than anyone. I’m sure it’s because they have great youth academies and/or awesome coaches. Being the only sport also helps but I don’t believe our American coaches are as prepared tactically as they are in Europe and Latin America. You would think by now (or after 40+ years of organized youth ball) we would have turned out more great players but I’m sure the system is holding back the progress of the youngsters. Juergen Klinsman’s son Jonathan for example , was just demoted to being the 3rd GK despite his name. They are saying his progress has been slow and he has an American attitude which isn’t working. Gk is a specialized position but this is true of many other positions. Until very recently, the kick and run mentality was very prevalent. Even the Quakes of 2012 weren’t tactically sound as a team. The many late game comebacks of lobbing the ball into the box for Wondo , Lenny and Gordo was exciting and all but it wasn’t a great way to build a team. Sadly, it was short lived as everyone figured out how to defend that tactic.
I'm guessing it's because they go outside and play every day among themselves for love of the game, just like Canadian hockey players or American basketball players. " . . . Galaxy midfielder Marcelo Sarvas, who learned the game in Sao Paulo, said he rarely saw a grass field when he was growing up. Instead he played games of five on five, shirts versus skins, with a sandal or a rock marking the boundaries of the goal. "Teammate Juninho had a similar childhood. "'We all grew up playing in the street. That's the custom,' he says. 'With small goals in the street. And from there we got better.' "Getting good enough to someday play on a grass field was something Sarvas and Juninho aspired to. "'That makes you better,' Sarvas says. 'When you see all the nice stuff, the nice fields, it makes you hungry. All kids dream of becoming a professional soccer player.' . . ." http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-world-cup-brazil-kids-20140610-story.html
I was just talking to a fellow AYSO ref at the Quakes game, and he said that his region now has AYSO Club teams, 2 of which won CYSA State Cup. And every player plays at least half the game. I understand why kids (actually, their parents) play club. You only get better with better competition. My kids all played club. But I hate the way club now plays 100 games per year and academies don’t let kids play High School. The whole point of youth sports is to give kids a chance to have fun and develop themselves.
Too many adults involved in the US, which means that there are agendas beyond having fun, learning and having fun. These are the only things kids should care about until AT LEAST 14 years. I have come to hate the idea of U9, U10, etc. “select” teams.
I was harsh and generalized on AYSO. My apologies. In my area it's coached largely by folks who only ever played baseball or a little bit of soccer as a kid. One of my sons got lucky and played on an AYSO team when he was 8 that was well coached (coach had played pro soccer in Guatemala) and all the kids came from soccer families (this was an East Palo Alto team playing against Palo Alto kids). They were winning games by 20 or more goals. So the coach moved the squad to what was called the San Jose Hispanic Soccer League. It was all underground and the soccer was fantastic. It's where we all fell in love with soccer even though we were the only non-Spanish speakers in the league. The structure was similar to AYSO I'm guessing, but there were hundreds of people who'd show up to games for 9 year olds. It was a festival with food vendors, soccer equipment sales, a different world for me as an Anglo. After a couple of seasons of that that we moved back to AYSO closer to home and found that we could no longer play AYSO. They literally kicked my kids out after a few practices b/c they were too advanced. That's when we started looking at club soccer and realized it was worth the money.
I don't disagree. But from a practical point of view a child has no chance of playing for their high school without recognizing the reality of things. I'm a baseball guy myself. All I wanted was my kids to get good enough to play high school baseball. And it's as true of baseball as it is of soccer - the chances of making the high school team are close to zero unless you play club. Little League and AYSO just don't cut it. Same with swimming, water polo and basketball. Non-club kids have no chance by the high school years. My kids hated the elite culture of baseball but fell in love with everything soccer.
Can I just say that I love this forum? I'll pipe down for a bit, but I can't believe there's a place on the internet for intelligent soccer conversation focused on our region.
Actual Not in my experience (for soccer) unless you are talking about schools like Mitty, Menlo, Sacred Heart, Bellarmine, etc. I’ve been reffing HS soccer for longer than I care to admit, and most of the public schools have a small core of kids who play competitive club and a whole bunch of “recreational” players.
Yeah that also has a lot to do with it. When you play in dirt lots with rocks and glass or on a sandy beach, its a lot easier when you step into a stadium. When my cousins came here from England, Germany , France and Italy they were amazed at our grass fields at the local parks, elementary , junior and high schools. When I showed them the local colleges, West Valley, De Anza, SJSU and SCU, they said with maybe the exception of the bigger clubs, the majority of Division 1 clubs don’t have anything we can offer.
Defender Josh Morton Joins Roughnecks I think Josh Morton (who was with the Quakes development academy in high school) is the second possible homegrown the team has passed on who turned pro, after Kendall McIntosh who is the #3 goalkeeper for the Timbers... What's interesting is Morton was teammates with Christian Thierjung in college at Cal. Both also played for the Burlingame Dragons. The Quakes drafted Thierjung last year and didn't sign him. He played for Tulsa last year, before signing with the Quakes affiliate Reno this year. And now Morton is going from Cal to Tulsa... maybe he'll end up in Reno next?
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/03/21/baer-10-players-watch-2018-generation-adidas-cup Gilbert Fuentes (San Jose Earthquakes) Fuentes was one of two Homegrown teenagers signed by the Quakes this offseason and the central midfielder has been playing with the Under-19's during this Development Academy season. The 16-year-old completed 83 percent of his passes during GA Cup qualifying, when San Jose went winless in six matches.
Josh Pynadath is another local kid (like Lynden Gooch from Santa Cruz, Jonathan Gonzalez from Santa Rosa, etc.) who didn't play for the Quakes academy... but he's actually from the South Bay 👦🏻16 jaar🇺🇸 USA O17⚽ @RealMadrid & #Ajax🗣 'Ik wil de Champions League winnen' Check hier het verhaal van Joshua Pynadath 👉 https://t.co/LfslMQkwXe pic.twitter.com/PQ7RVC6Ffx— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) March 20, 2018 Joshua Pynadath (16): 'I want to win the Champions League' Joshua Pynadath is only 16 years old, but has already had a whole journey behind him. The speedy winger played matches for clubs in the United States and Spain, but ended up in Amsterdam more than 2 years ago to play football in Ajax's youth academy. Time to get to know the American with Indian roots. California - Madrid - Amsterdam Pynadath played his matches for the American clubs Red Star FC and DeAnza Force FC, but this changed quickly when the Pynadath family had to move to Spain. "My mother works at a large software company. She was transferred to Madrid in 2013. I moved from California to Madrid, and so I ended up in the Real Madrid youth academy. It was a big step." Barely 2 years later, another big move for the Pynadath family was awaiting. "In 2015 my mother went to work in Amsterdam. Then we all moved to Amsterdam. Eventually I ended up at Ajax."
I think I remember when this kid went to the Real Madrid academy. That was 5 years or so ago? What caught my eye is that he is of Indian descent. Don't remember what state the Quakes academy was in back then, but it was certainly in a lot more of a nascent state than it is now. Is it just good fortune that his Mom happened to get a work transfer to Madrid, and then to Amsterdan!? "On no, we have to move again. Maybe we'll be able to find a nice academy for you to train with...
Fuentes, Akanyirige lead Quakes U-17s to victory in Generation adidas Cup Competing in Group C of the Premier Division, the duo helped San Jose get off to a fast start on Friday. Fuentes tallied the game’s lone goal while the Akanyirige-led defense pitched a shutout against the Chicago Fire. The Quakes are currently in first place, with the New York Red Bulls and Mexico’s Tigres playing their first match tomorrow. The Earthquakes will take on the Red Bulls on Sunday, March 25 at 5:30 p.m. PT before facing off against Tigres on Tuesday, March 27 at 7 a.m. PT. Neither game will be streamed, but follow the @QuakesAcademy on Twitter for live updates.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...-should-know-after-2018-generation-adidas-cup Gilbert Fuentes (San Jose Earthquakes) Fuentes came in as one of the players to watch, as he had already signed a professional contract with San Jose in the winter. Despite playing with a team that was near the bottom during qualifying, Fuentes was able to lead the Quakes to a respectable 1-3-1 record. He scored two superb goals while playing as an attacking midfielder, though he is likely to play in a deeper role as a professional, and his technical ability was second to none.
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Nice comfort and willingness to play through the back instead of looking for a corner to dump it off into.
I’m not sure if anyone can open the below link or not as you may need a subscription but this article on youth club vs. high school soccer seems to capture the very essence of American youth sports. What I think US soccer should do is try and work closely with both the high school and college programs instead of against them. The high school model for example places 14 year old kids against players who are age 18 and colleges from players who are from 18 to in some cases 23. That could be in theory a lot better for development than youth club players who have age limits on players. Playing with and against older more experienced players has to make you a better player in some aspects of the game. The way most youth clubs are now is you have U14’s, U16’s and U18 or 19’s. The only problem with school soccer that i see is their season is just too short but most of the time (as opposed to past years) , the best local players are all playing for their high schools and the best players across the nation are all playing college soccer. I mean you take away the select few GA players who land a pro contract and maybe another 30-40 players who may get a picked out of HS or college but the rest for the most part , most player go on to college even for 2/3 years. If the USSF was smart, they should start looking to high schools and colleges to start grooming their players. It would be a benefit both the students and the future pro players in my opinion. U.S. Soccer blundered badly on high school soccer 04/20/2018
What a night for Sophie Jones!U.S. Soccer’s Woman of the Match✅First International goal✅Top of Group B✅ pic.twitter.com/AAXp1enHnz— Quakes Academy (@QuakesAcademy) April 21, 2018 Fun Fact: Sophie gets her celebration ideas from @FortniteGame pic.twitter.com/U3R1ktlhKB— Quakes Academy (@QuakesAcademy) April 21, 2018 While some goal-scoring celebrations are timeless, some other ones are specific to a specific generation of players. I'm so not surprised from where a current young person like Sophie Jones' celebration was inspired from (even though her celebration isn't actually shown in either of these two tweets). GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2018/05/08/academy-qa-getting-know-u-12-midfielder-jorge-uribe There are so many kids male and female in the Salinas/Soledad/Gonzales, and to an extent Monterey area that have the skill, but the "high" level coaching from the "elite" pay teams miss due to money. It's nice to see one get a chance.
After the California Jaguars folded, I always wondered why another team didn't go in there. USL, PDL, NPSL or now the new NISA league. I’m sure they could develop a following at the Salinas Sports Conplex...