[Bushnell] A ‘broken’ system, nascent culture: Why the U.S. has never had a world-class men’s soccer

You can if you document it correctly and make an emphasis in that area. Coaches who are certified to coach let’s say, U8, should have a distributed set of required skills that they address over the course of a week. Those skills can be apportioned by % time. USSF’s role is to clearly explain what exactly needs to be taught and how much of it needs to be taught. They can set guidelines on what progression should look like. Those things can be measured. Those measurements can be attested by signature from team parents. Where milestones are not met, the coach should be able to explain why they weren’t met. Coaches who continue to fail to meet guidelines could lose certification.

These are things that coaches should be doing naturally. Obviously a volunteer coach is different, but a person seeking certification should be able to prove that they can actually, you know…coach.

 

I think Japan is in a very similar situation to us. Affluent country that spends a lot on the sport, has lots of players in Europe..........................and has a very difficult time getting over the hump from contender to elite.

This is a highly, highly, highly competitive situation.

I say it again.

Four teams (of the eight) that have won a World Cup got no farther during the WC26 cycle than we did. Germany, Brazil, Italy, and Uruguay.

There's no manifest destiny here. We can triple the players we have at big clubs in Europe. We can have 3 players finish in the top 30 of Ballon d"or voting . We still could lose at the stage we did.

Look at Germany's roster. All players at big clubs. They haven't even been to the Round of 16 in the last 3 events.

Brazil, has been past the quarterfinals in one of the last six events. Once since they won the thing in 2002. For their fans, that's a catastrophe.

I do read these threads and think they're some variation of American exceptionalism. That if only we invested more, of course we'd be World Champions. Why? Nobody has really given a compelling reason other than "because we're America."

 

Volunteer coaches need to be certified. Obviously a lower level. As the kids age the level of coaching required increases. From what I remember one of the problems is finding enough qualified people who are able and willing to teach those classes.

 

I think the big difference were soccer the number one sport here is that all of the schools grade school through college would have teams and coaches who know what they are doing (mostly). Soccer would be treated in schools how football and basketball are now. That would bring in every kid that is interested no matter poor they are. Would that be enough? It would sure enlarge the number of players exponentially.

 

Our top athletes have already entered soccer. After two decades of reciprocal locker room visits, a dozen players have taken ownership shares in European soccer clubs. The salary cap for NFL and NBA players is about same as what FIFA took in for its world cup with most of the money going to the top 20% of the players instead of the FIFA model that spreads to federations, clubs, players, and so on.

The saying to the invest in what you know and many of the clubs also have basketball and running teams. Additionally, the women sports offer an opportunity to add flag football, which many NFL players have be instrumental with growing. Kevin Durant described his PSG deal as a marketing one, which many of these players or previous generations have done for the brand awareness of many colleges.

Many storied college programs started with coaches that originated from these athletic neighborhoods. It was the bidirectional flow of athletic talent and coaching that has led to these neighborhoods outproducing the the rest of the country. Within these communities, they preach that some of the most athletic don't make it due to lack of sports IQ and/or the work they put in to hone their crafts. It's the work ethnic and productivity at honing their craft that matters. A wishful goal for European teams was to tap into the US athletic base and now these communities have their own access to Europe, where they will get an opportunity to merge athleticism with technique.

The Bushnell article could have been written anticipating the impact as the top athletic communities bypass the existing soccer hierarchy. Barnwell's article highlights how soccer deviated from the norm as less kids participated/competed in 3 traditional large sports. After getting knocked out by basketball player sized Netherlands and Belgium, perhaps, our national team needs more players in the the pipeline that can match up with the modern size of players. These articles along with the USSF limited comments regarding college soccer should be closely evaluated by those participating. A few years ago, there was the college scholarship scandal with coaches selling acceptance to their university with parents paying full tuition plus bribe. With college soccer having limited revenue potential, will coaches need to obtain full tuition rate to sustain a program after parents spent lots of time and money on pay to play junior programs?

Chad Johnson has a podcast, The Late Run; and his interview with Landon Donovan had a number of insightful points. A lightbulb went off for Chad when Landon explained he started kicking a soccer ball before the age of one. Chad is among the many NFLer that played soccer until HS and has explained he has had to 'rewire' his running for soccer as most US sports train their legs to support upper body balance and executing on a skill for that sport. This is significant obstacle as our pro athletes aspire to have the US version on the top European league players. It's their access to top players that can shorten it while their availability within their communities will steer potential players to find their game regardless of sport.

Below is a video of Tyreek Hill when he worked out with Paul Pogba prior to doing speed work on Univ of Miami track as he was attempting to race Noah Lyles around this time. As they walk off the field (at the 10 minute mark), Tyreek vents about being tired after the soccer workout. Pogba quickly offers an explanation and demonstrates the differences in movement between sports. This bidirectional flow of information between top European football players and their American football counterparts with their large presence of working with children should led to European soccer tapping into the US athletic base that may be a near miss for NBA or NFL level.

 

That would be ideal, it’s just really tough to do that with someone who is volunteering their time and effort.

I had to erase the “coaching” that one of our volunteer dads instilled in one of my kids. He had no soccer background. Shouldn’t have been helping out, but volunteered. Ironically the guy thought he knew everything but it was clear he had never played before.

 

Our athletics are exceptional, or at least they had been prior to the current iteration of American young people.

We have dominated the Olympics over the past 4 decades. There is reason and data to suggest that we should have climbed to the top of the soccer stack. The world expects it of us because of that data.

 

There was a funny comparison somewhere that said Haaland is such a monster in soccer but is essentially the same height and weight as Jared Goff. Though Haaland is definitely way more athletic of course.

As for Lebron who knows but he was also a star football player and is super athletic so maybe in a soccer obsessed culture he ends up as a goalie or a Neil Pierre type center back. But he’d also have a way different build if he played professional soccer.

 

Haaland is an outlier in terms of height and weight. He's one of very few top-level pros over 200 lbs. Most of the biggest guys on a professional soccer field are under 190 (and really, mostly they top out at closer to 180).

 

Applying data from other sports to make a case for the USA to rise in the soccer ranks is stupid as fok, because most of those sports have zero relation to what is needed for soccer.
But let's look at those Olympic sports that do have resemblence with soccer needs...like field hockey/rugby/soccer.
If it's correct the last time a USA field hockey team made a good impression was in 1986 with a bronze medal in the FIH world cup.
In handball.....
In rugby..........
So basically in team sports with soccer like needs you suck.

Dunno in what phantasia world you live, but we don't project things on nonsense, but on on the pitch results and accordingly rank the USA.

 

My main criticism of the ESPN is when people are talking about best athletes that means lots of people who are more appropriately sized for soccer. Not our best athletes are 6’5 or higher.

A lot of people have mentioned someone like Allen Iverson and he’s a great example but he’s not the only one.

The true underutilization though is the guys who would be great athletes for soccer but don’t quite have the size for the NBA or NFL but are playing those sports anyways and not quite making it professionally.

And of course we’d still need the sort of development system where such athletes could develop the skillset needed to play soccer. It’s not just about rolling the ball out there and nothing else.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7479517/2026/08/05/us-soccer-plan-fix-pay-play-youth-development/

On USSF developmental plans going forward.

 

This where I was suggesting on another thread that some friends of the billionaires that already donate to the cause can find a few more friends to donate to youth in some way. Like this. That is how the US can use an advantage it has to improve itself. How many billionaires do we have?

 

Does USA Baseball, Hockey or Basketball have any involvement in player development? Pretty sure that's a big NO. So, I don't really understand why people think US Soccer can?
US Soccer's budget was $268 million and we're expected to get another $100 million for hosting the WC. But.... there's 4 million kids playing soccer in the US. That's about $87 a kid.
The FA budget last year was 551 million pounds and the French FF was 287 million Euros (I think, because their website is in French so who knows what I was reading.).
Where do people think US Soccer will get the money to do what they want them to do?
Development is going to come from the clubs. And we don't have nearly the club saturation like Europe and South America have.

 

Exactly..............................development happens at the clubs.

We need these Ken Griffin-like billionaires to invest in the club game in the states.

There are roster rules that prevent excessive spending on the first team rosters.

...............there are no limits to what an MLS club can spend on youth development or coaching.

They must do their patriotic duty. Elon Musk needs to put his money where his mouth is.

And, by the way, the youth infrastructure keeps building year after year after year after year.
We're doing it. Its just not going to happen overnight. Particularly on the coaching end.

 

I don't understand where people think the money's coming from.

It has to come from somewhere.

None of this is free in Europe. Somebody is paying. In Europe, the clubs are paying.
That's what we're doing here in the United States. Its just going to take time to build it all.

Or do people expect the US government to be giving money to the USSF?

 

Indeed.
In Germany about 2.2 million children are in a soccerclub, in the UK the number is around 5.1 and for France it is about 2.1 million.

 

If there's one thing that USSF has done right in recent years, it's been the hiring of JT Batson as CEO. Since he's been there, USSF has really gotten its ducks in a row from a financial and organizational management perspective, including hiring Helfrich. These guys know what they're doing as far as that goes, and Batson at least seems eager to listen to the soccer technical guys. He's not a soccer professional, but he's a guy who genuinely loves soccer.