If the two are overseeing and controlling almost all of the selections -- which I'm guessing is true although I don't know it for a fact -- I agree this is a tendency. The extent of the tendency depends on the two, but with the current selectors it's a big concern for me. I'm wondering, is this different than what's going on elsewhere in the world? Or is there a difference in the quality of the selectors elsewhere? Are you referring here to the selectors having the incentive to select the same players because they might feel that selecting others for a different camp/event would suggest -- in their minds at least -- that they might have made mistakes with the first group and they don't like admitting mistakes? You referred to that as a problem, so I'm just wanting to clarify. It does seem like the group gets narrowed pretty quickly. How does that compare to what other countries are doing? My impression is that they narrow their groups at a very young age and with their selected players spend a whole lot of time on technique and tactics. Am I wrong, are they holding off on narrowing the group until the players are significantly older than when the narrowing occurs in the US? One of the issues that concerns me is the emphasis on winning at a young age v developing. That's something that's built in to US youth soccer, probably as a product of US culture generally. It could be a contributing cause to making early selections, as in, "I don't want to take a whole different group since they might not do well and then people would say it's my fault for making bad selections." An emphasis on winning at all costs makes it very difficult (impossible?) to have a good developmental program. For example, even at the highest level, look how often critics of Jill Ellis cite the US going out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarter-finals as evidence she's a poor coach. That's the first year of a new World Cup cycle, yet people are tearing their hair out about the results. I think people in this country aren't very good when it comes to deferred gratification.
I agree with most all of your post, and I'm definitely not a possession soccer snob. Direct soccer done well can be very attractive, and so-called possession teams that pass the ball 100 times per game across their back line and complete a ton of negative passes just for the sake of tracking their players' pass completion percentage are NOT fun to watch either. My only problem I have is with the mentality behind the quote above. It's collegiate. We want to produce the kind of players that WOW people enough to PAY to watch them play. It's not enough to win the equal pay lawsuits so that a tiny few get guaranteed income from USSF. At some point the game has to capture eyeballs of true fans, not just little girls ingesting media crafted heroes. The U17WC Japanese team from a few cycles ago played some of the most beautiful soccer I've ever seen. I would've gladly paid to tune-in and watch them play. Those type players are born out of a love for the game that doesn't have much to do with their economic options. I read a study a few years back debunking the myth that a majority of the world's best players had poor parents and grew up playing in dirt with socks formed into soccer balls. I just think passion drives the best players, not scholarship options, and don't really see how our system keeps pace with the world without providing a pathway for these type players, even the ones with other financial means, to "sell out" for soccer. Good discussion though. Based on your last post I think we're preaching to the choir on most of this.
We agree !! the lack of passion is killing us. Really cool to debate without insult. Props to you my friend
Great points. Elsewhere the narrowing is based on talent. ie can this kid play for us as a pro. Here there is no accountability . You can pick the same kid over and over and no one is going to question you
Well stated! I have made a number of points without seeing that root cause there, passion. Exactly right, our existing structure kills passion, rather than cultivates it. Bravo.
interesting that the USSF has recently had a u-20 and U-17 camp and the actually information regarding them is almost non existent. Not roster releases and/or limited coverage of the actual games. the U20s just played 3 games in a hotbed of womens soccer and there was almost no word that the games were on. Stands should have been packed with kids watching. They were not.
Disappointed in the perofrmance of the u17s last cycle, especially in the coaching of Mark Carr? Too bad, he is still with the group at u20. April Heinrichs final goodbye touch, to keep this routine flunky in a paying position. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...an-diego-for-training-camp-and-two-friendlies
The only thing I could find about the Nordic Tournament is in Norwegian: https://www.fotball.no/landslag/norge-kvinner-u-23/2019/u23-slik-starter-norge-mot-usa/#3643813
I found some info on the Rich Laverty's twitter account (he seems to be an English woso journalist): #USWNT XI:Casey MurphyEmily FoxAlana CookSam StaabMadison PogarchJordan DiBiasiHaley Hanson (C)Savannah McCaskillSimone CharleySummer GreenImani DorseyBalcer, Mace and Vincent listed as unavailable.— Rich Laverty (@RichJLaverty) August 30, 2019 35 mins and US take the lead. Give them one chance and they hurt you. Square ball intercepted and seconds later Dorsey fires home after being played through.#USWNT— Rich Laverty (@RichJLaverty) August 30, 2019 FT: England 0-1 USA.Good performance from the youngsters against a strong US side. Just struggled to create the necessary chances.#YoungLionesses #USWNT— Rich Laverty (@RichJLaverty) August 30, 2019 There's a bit more on subs and such on his twitter feed if you want to check it out.
Thank you lil_one. My interest is to see how our young NWSL players are doing in this tournament and playing together, Balcer, Viggiano, Cook, McCaskill, Boyd, etc. It is unfortunate that you can't find anything from US Soccer about this. Oh wait, their money-making "Victory Tour" is going on so they are too busy counting the cash to pay attention to the future.
I, for one, am happy that we use NCAA/college soccer as a main--though not only --training/development ground. Of course if you join or are invited to a pro-club development academy and do nothing but play football every day for four hours a day, from age 10, you are likely to develop considerably as a soccer player. But what about as a person? I LIKE that our college players often come from good schools and have a pretty solid educational background--and are getting more education in college--AND a lot of them are damn good soccer players. They are well-rounded and not just tatooed street urchins who will be lost if and when their pro career doesn't pan out. And it let's emphasize the point: Most of the European and SA boys who sacrifice years in club development academies will be cut and will not become successful pro players. And a lot of them have problems when they are cut or playing in some 3rd-tier pro league for no money. I believe that nearly all of the players on our World-Cup winning roster save for Horan and Pugh went to college. They've done pretty well, I'd say. U.S. pro sports is more oriented around college athletics as a development ground than in other countries. Will that become a problem in the years ahead as European and other regions devote more resources to their female clubs and players? Maybe, we'll have to see. The USSF started its DA program a couple of years ago--no doubt wanting to emulate, to a degree, the European club development model. I think there is a certain amount of over-reaction to Youth NT tournament defeats. North Korea is very good at youth soccer--and a nothing at the senior level. In the end, we're not going to dominate women's soccer forever, no matter what we do. The U.S. just has to remain very good--and I've no doubt that we will remain very good with players who played in college mixed in with a some who have not.
i believe it does not have to be one or the other. More options is a good thing. Not every kid wants the college path and not every kid that doesn't is a tattooed street urchin. There are plenty of college educated wastrels out there as well. Restricting the pathways to success benefits no one. Obviously there are financial constraints to girls going the full pro route. the GDA does not come close to replicating it as the only entity that makes money from it is the Club and it has very little incentive to go for quality over volume. I love the College system for girls and I feel the pro system needs refining to account for more inclusivity. As an aside,College kids who want to play/train outside of the College season to improve have almost no realistic options. The USA is very game intense and not so well balanced vs training. College season is compressed and is high load for players. Not much time to train when you are playing 2x per week, managing a class load and trying to stay healthy
You could also find some data on the Swedish FA website, the English FA did not even put anything on the tourney as they played it behind closed door.
Next US U-18 camp (January 21-Feb 1) will feature a four team tournament in Florida with China, Norway, and the Netherlands participating. Laura Harvey will coach. Not just a rumor anymore.January 21-February 1 in Florida.Four team tournament:USA 🇺🇸, China 🇨🇳, Norway 🇳🇴, Netherlands 🇳🇱 https://t.co/tRgFEHsxTZ— Anthony DiCicco (@DiCiccoMethod) December 30, 2019
Its official: Laura Harvey is the new U20 WNT coach. https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...as-new-head-coach-of-u20-womens-national-team
Markgraf is staying busy. Matt Potter has just been hired as U23 head coach. BJ Snow has moved on. USSF has appointed Matt Potter head coach of the #USWNT U-23s (often viewed internally as the senior side's feeder team). Potter spent the last eight years as coach of Oklahoma University...who just hired Mark Carr as head coach -- who left his role as U-20 USWNT coach. pic.twitter.com/IkpO23nzX9— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) January 9, 2020
U20 roster for January camp which runs January 9-20 in Florida (last camp before WC qualifying, which starts Feb 15): GOALKEEPERS (3): Claudia Dickey (North Carolina; Charlotte, N.C.), Julia Dohle (Penn State; Scarsdale, N.Y.), Meagan McClelland (Rutgers; Kearny, N.J.) DEFENDERS (8): Michela Agresti (Boston College; Swampscott, Mass.), Samar Guidry (FC Dallas; McKinney, Texas), Shae Holmes (Washington; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Smith Hunter (Seattle Reign Academy; Seattle, Wash.), Emily Mason (PDA; Flemington, N.J.), Bria Schrotenboer (Michigan State; Holland, Mich.), Natalia Staude (Virginia; Atlanta, Ga.), Kennedy Wesley (Stanford; Rossmoor, Calif.) MIDFIELDERS (8): Talia DellaPeruta (FC Köln; Cumming, Ga.), Maya Doms (Stanford; Davis, Calif.), Katelyn Duong (Minnesota; Portland, Ore.), Avery Lockwood (Indiana; Grand Rapids, Mich.), Brianna Pinto (North Carolina; Durham, N.C.), Alexa Spaanstra (Virginia; Brighton, Mich.), Astrid Wheeler (Concorde Fire SC; Atlanta, Ga.), Summer Yates (Washington; Pasco, Wash.) FORWARDS (6): Catherine Barry (NEFC; Hingham, Mass.), Mia Fishel (UCLA; San Diego, Calif.), Rebecca Jarrett (Virginia; Clifton, N.J.), Sydny Nasello (South Florida; Land O' Lakes, Fla.), Jenna Nighswonger (Florida State; Huntington Beach, Calif.), Trinity Rodman (SoCal Blues SC; Laguna Niguel, Calif.) https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...rs-to-pre-qualifying-training-camp-in-florida
US Soccer and OU trade mediocrity...hilarious if it wasn't sad Potter's finished two years with horrible losing records and overall 143-137-46 in college soccer. His resume doesn't scream best of the best at all and his teams style of play prove his coaching is beyond poor. He wasn't even the best college soccer coach in Oklahoma. Mark takes his superb record of getting fired and mediocrity at San Francisco to a huge D1 job, out of the blue. American siccer gets more absurd by the day.
Why is this a surprise? The implication is that a USSF coaching job is the pinnacle and it is far from it. The best coaches have much better opportunities and to get them out of those situations you would need to pay them more, give them more flexibility in location and give them absolute autonomy. The profile of a person who accepts these jobs is either a person willing to live under those conditions and/or a person looking to add some international flavor to a resume before moving on.
The first game of this tournament is underway. US U-18s playing China right now. Second half up. You can watch live on US Soccer's YouTube channel: (I recommend hiding the chat.)
Next Match v. Norway on Tues. January 28 at 6:30 ET. How are you supposed to be in two places at once??!!??