One of our best members and posters, @ussoccer97531, hasn’t posted here or on Twitter for almost a month. I hope he’s doing well. I really appreciate all of his many contributions to US youth soccer scouting/research.
Maybe he's just taking a breather after all the prospect rankings he did... he may not have posted in a month but his account is still active: ussoccer97531 was last seen: Friday at 2:15 PM
That's good to hear. Perhaps it's a much earned detox from this place. I know I need one every once in a while. Usually, it's hard not to come back after a while just to check in and say hi to everyone, I hope everything on @ussoccer97531's side is alright.
If I was @ussoccer97531 I’d need a break too. Does the most agnostic work of any USYNT scout with no player/club specific agenda and takes too many shots from bums. These young imposters do not put in the shift and show the work - just copy/paste guys. @ussoccer97531 work is irreplaceable. If something worse, be/get well!
I kinda hope he found someone - team or website - to pay him for his knowledge and the time he spends on American youth soccer prospects. That, or he finally got himself a girl, mate. (Or both.)
I don't always agree with his process or conclusions (many times I did) but I respect his commitment and passion. It would be nice for one our kids grow up and graduate to a well paying job doing what they love. After all he'll be my part time in to help him with some of the tracking. It's like a kid breaking through in Hollywood and buying his parents a new house.
He's an adult and has handled his own business well over his time here. I think he dishes just as much as he takes. Not a fault just a fact. Just because he puts in alot of valuable work that needs to be commended doesn't mean he should remain untouchable and above any recourse. With that said, I hope he's closing his big deal to become a scout for an MLS team at some level. Good Luck kid and don't forget us and get too big for your britches.
Thank you all for the support and kind words. I don’t like talking about myself, but since so many are wondering I will give an update. I’ve had a lot wondering what happened and how I am. I simply stopped posting on big soccer and Twitter for about a month. This was 100% planned. End of 2022, I was done. I needed to step away. It had become too much work. I didn’t tell many people because truthfully I would’ve felt I’d need to tell like 100 people and then also post updates here and on Twitter. I didn’t have time to do that and then also give my soccer opinions. I’ve looked through all my messages in various places a few times, and 68 people have contacted me since. I still have people sending me messages daily, so it’ll continue to multiply. I’m not explaining this individually to 68 people when I’m on a hiatus that might be permanent (more on that below), so this’ll be my explanation and if anyone cares to they can read this or share it with others that want to know. I didn’t hide this from anyone that asked in the lead up. I had planned this out months in advance, so in passing in the discussions I had I ended up telling probably three people this was coming, and definitely hinted to one or two others, so I’m surprised it hasn’t been figured out by now. Why did I leave? It became too much work. The simplest way to explain it is it’s the equivalent second full time job, but I didn’t make a cent from this. Doing this for about a year was absolutely exhausting. It made my life extremely difficult in many respects. My quality of life has been so much better the past month. It was so much easier before I expanded it to Twitter. Before I expanded it to Twitter, it was like a hobby on the side. Think about your favorite hobby (fishing, reading, puzzles, golf, video games, running, swimming). That was no problem. It has become completely not-a fun-hobby anymore. It’s become almost like a job. I probably spent 20 hours over the course of 2022 tracking down the story of the former RSL GK. Completely depressing situation. One of the best young players we had quit the sport. There was another situation I won’t relay because the situation is sensitive that I probably spent like 15 hours during the latter part of 2022. It’s another completely depressing situation for American soccer. The terms are unfortunately negative. This is part of the work this role requires. A lot of it is not going to have any payoff for American soccer or American soccer fans. A lot of people want to ramble with their opinions on things that waste my time. A lot of my discussions are about players who have no realistic USMNT upside and I know that most games I watch do not include players that will play for the USMNT. Where does it go from here? I don’t know yet. My plan was initially to leave and not come back. I’ve enjoyed being able to focus about 15-30 minutes on American youth soccer per day the past month instead of 5-6 hours. At the same time, the coverage of American youth soccer is still lacking, even if it’s gotten better. There are still things I’ve stumbled upon with barely any searching that the best sources I’ve been reading every day are missing and then I know the coverage of actual games is going to lack too. January happens to be the least busy month for that. I also am still an American soccer fan. My interest did not go away the past month. It is not going to go away if I leave permanently. I might not know all the up and coming players anymore, but I will still have an interest in American soccer. I’m not under the belief that I’m naturally better than anyone else would be at covering American youth soccer, but I’ve been told enough that I’m the best and how big my impact is in doing this that it’d be hard for me to deny that I’m leaving a void. I simply put time into this that no one else was doing. I’m aware of that, and I will take credit for that, even though I stress I don’t think I’m irreplaceable in doing this. Unfortunately no one else has stepped up yet and put those hours into it. So the void I leave is a consideration. At the same time, my own personal life is another consideration. I don’t want to get into that too much, but I am not about to convert my career to being a soccer journalist or a soccer scout or agent. I’ve said that a lot and while I won’t say never because I can’t predict the future, it’s not something I’ve seriously considered changing, even though I’ve had a lot of people approach me over the years about doing so. No disrespect to anyone that does those jobs, but I don’t believe its for me for reasons I won’t get into. If I come back, it will be something on the side. However, if I come back I am not going to do this for free anymore. I don’t believe it’s fair to anyone to put 40 hours a week into something and not get paid for it, especially if that work has real value. Judging by all the reception I’ve received, I know this has some value. I was willing to do close to a year for free of this because I thought it was important to fill a void that existed, and for a few additional years I definitely did close to half of that work too. What my decision won’t be is covering American youth soccer in a half-baked way. I’m either going to do it fully with the same amount of work (or very close to it) as I did prior or not do it at all and stop being part of the American youth soccer community. I’ve seen the evolution of the knowledge and hours I’ve put into it in the past year or two compared to years prior and I feel I’d be doing a disservice to everyone (myself included) to put a half-baked effort into it. If I go, I will completely disconnect. I’m not going to be able to be found or reached easily. I do not want to keep in touch with people outside of the work I do for this because I don’t want my mind clouded in a partisan way. I’ll give one quick story that illustrates my point. I had one person send me a message early January that one of the bigger names in the ‘08 age group was suspended by his club for a substantial amount of time because he was misbehaving at school and this person seemed to think some of this should be portrayed. I don’t want to know stuff like this if I can’t investigate to know the full story. I’d rather be a naive ordinary fan with no extra knowledge than one with a flawed picture of the truth or an especially partisan one. I’m going to be selfish and make the best decision for myself. I mean no disrespect to anyone by that, but just as I’m not going to judge players for the international decisions they think are best for their life, I will make the best decision for myself. I’ve thought about what I will do and still don’t know what I want to do. However, I am warning people that there’s no guarantee I will stick around for the long-term, even if I return. Just as I was ready to leave after 2022, I won’t hesitate to do that again if I think it makes sense for myself. I mean no disrespect to anyone in saying I know it left a void that I’ve been away for the month of January, but ultimately I can’t be worrying about that. I don’t want to drag this decision out and I was hoping that the fact I left would be quickly forgotten as opposed to emphasized. However, I see people are wondering what happened. So I’ll either return soon enough or I won’t return.
Thanks for posting, @ussoccer97531. I think I can speak for everyone in this forum that your contributions have been greatly appreciated. With all the effort and detail you put in, I honestly don't know how you did it. You need to take care of you, and do what you need to do for your own health and welfare. If you don't post here any more, you will be missed, but others here will have to pick up the slack. Best wishes and blessings to you, what ever you decide to do.
Amen! Marcus Chai has been doing this for a minute and is now getting paid @PrepSoccer for his effort. He's good but he’s no @ussoccer97531. I hope you sit out longer to make the void painfully obvious. Get paid! The MLS may not be a fan of your unbiased scouting but I know Europe takes notice and Universities hang on your research. Better yet, make it subscription based with teaser links here. "Build it and they will come."
Glad to hear this was a choice and not something bad, @ussoccer97531 . As for the rest, you gotta do you (and this is said in a positive way). I took some time to pursue a career in an area of interest, and while it had a lot of high points, it can be really put a taint on something you love as something you have to do. It sounds like even without getting paid, that came true for you -- it's not enjoyment if it is an obligation. I'd just say this, though. If you decide not to go the career route, I hope you can find a middle ground where you can still enjoy the sport but not feel you need to do write-ups, etc. If you need a place to talk it without having the pressure of being an "expert" Big Soccer will always be here.
I have only been here for like a year as part of the "younger generation" and I would like to say thank you so much for your contribution because dude the rankings that you do are amazing and I hope someday you are able to do this as a hobby and get seriously compensated for it. I know the people here will always be welcoming to you and keep this as a safe haven for all of us that have the dream to keep US Soccer growing. Good luck mate and whatever you end up, doing I hope you find happiness in whatever that is.
Glad to see you are safe and healthy. Always appreciate your stuff and I hope you can enjoy the upcoming youth Championships
Good to hear from you! Even if you stop contributing, always feel free to stop in every once in a while and say hello.
Good to hear you're alive....You seem like an all or nothing type of guy. It's ok to be a part time fan and visit here or there of varying amounts to contribute. Like most of us do. You are a good addition to our community. Not that you have to listen to me but if you had no end game to monetize or develop as a scout or web guru you should have never put so much into it in the first place. I thought in our limited off line online discussions you had told me you did want to get involved in the game within scouting. It then made sense for you to show on this site your skills and information...which is why I thought you were doing it. Maybe things changed over time as life develops. You would make a great scout on commitment and work ethic alone. I know we disagreed some times but I always respected that you had a point of view. Just want to throw out the perspective that you can stick around be a fan of the game, be a fan of soccer development, still post and have a positive impact on our community but with no pressure to re-enact any scouting reports for the U15 LB of the Sacramento Republic. I understand because I can be obsessive about doing things and doing things completely and well. I won't explain some of the detailed spreadsheets I've done for family finances and investing....Any way good luck to you and if you want you can post back or PM me for a few phone conversations about the exciting world and growth of soccer in our country, it's exciting and we need any and all fans to have a voice. Stick around and still have some fun with us. PS I just noticed I'm handling this like some 'it's me and not you' type breakups in my life.
If you do decide to come back, there are soccer publications that I bet would clamor to hire you as a freelance journalist. Chasing a Cup, Prep Soccer, Top Drawer Soccer just to name a few. Freelance journalism seems like a good way to monetize your hobby without committing to a rigid amount of hours per week. Treat it like a non-binding side gig where you can be compensated for what you contribute to this community. Additionally, unlike on social media platforms you won't be bombarded with people's personal gripes with your takes. You can just put content out there and people can choose to subscribe if they like it or not if they don't.
This is like a soap opera.. I hope he get things straight no matter what he does. This constant changing of the mind and then public disclosures seem like a sign of something more considerable. For some reason he feels like he has to go nuts on player evaluation to post on a silly soccer fan website. You are good enough just to post a few times a week without being so obsessed with scouting every last youth player in the country. Good luck to him.
Hi, I’m back! Only to own this clown. There’s a bigger audience for fans to want to know who is coming up next in American soccer than to see you trash your friend’s teammates or see your sourced news w/ a 10% hit rate. Youth soccer isn’t for you? Then stay in your own lane. https://t.co/e8p5TzZ14g— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) July 14, 2023 Stands up for Marcus Chairez in a frankly weird Twitter spat with 29. Just posting here because it made me happy to know he’s still following along even if he’s done contributing.
I enjoy this Mendoza dude saying someone else is weird. "I make up shit on the internet and get my friend in trouble at his job so I can feel special."