definitely not true in every country.....a lot more extreme in the USA than anywhere...bc there arent any cultural mores left other than self gratification. plus, the geography of the USA is a big reason why this is happening....so much sprawl.....which is obviously very bad for soccer culture.
Some American coach is doing well in the Bundesliga. Some other American coach appears to have had zero job offers before being handed the US job a second time.
It impacts the quality of the USMNT, so whether it's aim is what mention or not, it's a system with consequences for the quality/availability of quality players for the USMNT.
The point is we haven't had a real professional development system throughout our entire pyramid,with reliable talent identification through all social classes until....checks notes...apparently we still don't.
I don't know what everyone expects from some kind of nationwide development system. We're not Belgium, or Holland, or England where everyone is packed into a couple mega cities and it's only an hour or two drive between them. I don't think we can have some kind of homogonous, all-encompassing system. 1 - whose job is it to identify and develop talent, the federation or individual clubs? Basketball and baseball have world championships and the Olympics, but no one thinks the federations should do any of the heavy lifting required to develop the player talent. So why do we think soccer should be different? It all comes down to money. Who has it and who doesn't? The federation doesn't have nearly the amount of money it would take to identify and develop talent across this country. How would you get a federation scout to go watch some kid in small town Texas or California? Who's paying for that? I think we have finally moved passed the best kids going to college and now signing professional contracts as teens. The parents are more aware of how soccer develops, and the money is now worth bypassing college. Clubs (big clubs) are now more important than high school teams as well.
I can't find it but Mikey Varas did an interview and he discussed some of the changes they've had to make in regards to kids not playing outside nearly as much as they did. It was an interesting read if anyone knows the interview and could share it. One particular thing I remember was talking about how certain movements need to be "taught" to kids, such as climbing over fences. The stretch of lifting your leg over to go over a fence was something kids just had but now kids don't have that flexibility as often because kids just aren't hopping fences these days. I may have messed up the wording, but along those lines.
The system we have is the product of everything about our country, and is not primarily the result of federations actions. Of course there are choices that could be changed, but it's at the margins in large part. Lack of popularity, lack of parents who played seriously, lack of professional teams due to popularity, lack of government funding, lack of a informal play, and parent's desires for achievement at pricey costs have led us to where we are, not any conscious actions. We need to understand and work within the constraints and advantages of our culture and situation. There's no way for a soccer federation to rewrite that shit.
There also isn't much free play for kids once they are in 4th or 5th grade because almost every sport besides football has an extended season, or 2 seasons with breaks in between and kids are playing multiple sports at the same time. When I was a kid we didn't have the option of playing 2 sports at a time because seasons didn't overlap. Now almost all sports overlap and if the kid is serious about sports and is athletic, they could easily have 4-6 practices and games a week. They don't have time to go mess around at the park. I have 3rd grade clients who are playing 2 sports right now at the same time.
Uhm, there's a resilient misunderstanding we have a nation wide development system. The whole "system" simply is a local/regional network of clubs, where kids start at amateur member clubs and dependent on their abilities are sifted within the club into teams of comparable qualities. The best get noticed by pro clubs or are mentioned by the amateur club to an affiliated pro club in the region. The only thing that's nation wide is the love for the 4-3-3, but that's not part of a system, but simply a nation wide obsession. Clubs do their thing locally, nothing nation wide directed. You could do the same thing in a metropole area that's more condensed than the Netherlands with about 10 million citizens, if you had the base of it, the member/volunteer run amateur clubs.
Sorry, didn't mean to imply there was a nationwide system. Just meant it's much easier scouting and passing along information in countries as compact as Western Europe. And there's no need for a nationwide system since the clubs scouting and talent development are some of the best in the world. I can't imagine anyone in the states thinks it's U.S. Soccer's job to scout and unearth 15 and 17 year old players.
It is US Soccer's job to scout and unearth players starting at 14 years old. Why do you think we have a Sporting Director and an entire hierarchy and infrastructure? https://www.ussoccer.com/teams/u-14-national-development-program
Now that the U-15 C'CAF championship is youth cap-tying I would hope that this is the case. They typically do a decent job. Pulisic, Wright, Reyna, Busio, Slonina, Scalley and others were identified by U-15.
How big do you think this infrastructure is? And how much of it is directed at scouting kids? How many full-time scouts can US soccer employ? The US is over 3 million square miles and millions of kids play soccer. How exactly is US soccer supposed to effectively scout all of those kids? Most likely what happens is the local coaches contact US Soccer and tell them about a kid they should look at. Thus, the local coach is the actual scout. How many kids on the Boys national teams come from big youth clubs? Probably over 90%. How many boys on teams over the U-17 have not signed professional contracts? Probably very few. US Soccer scouts from the top clubs who have already done the scouting in their regions and pulled in kids from the outskirts. US Soccer is not watching some 15 year old kid play 3 hours outside of Dallas or Atlanta, clubs are doing that.
This is what you posted: "I can't imagine anyone in the states thinks it's U.S. Soccer's job to scout and unearth 15 and 17 year old players." Start here and contact if you want actual answers to your questions. https://www.ussoccer.com/talent-identification
Did you actually read all of the sections on the website? Like the one on Talent Identification Centers: https://www.ussoccer.com/talent-identification/talent-identification-centers Or the Frequently asked questions: https://www.ussoccer.com/talent-identification/frequently-asked-questions How can I sign my son or daughter up for a U.S. Soccer Talent ID Center? Players are identified by our scouting network and invited based on their performance with their respective club teams. Players must first prove they can be successful in a competitive club environment before being invited. Recommendations from club coaches and directors are accepted at scouting@ussoccer.org. What is the next step? Performance on the field is the best way to get the attention of our scouting network, so continue to train in a competitive, well-rounded environment.
Right and due to resources and geographical spread they'll focus on players in MLS Next and those at professional clubs in particular which limits the pool. There's no way that a non-profit like USSF can scout every high school.
The purpose of your post is what exactly? If you have question for US Soccer please take it up with US Soccer.
Not likely to be many U14s in MLS Next or professional clubs nor do they have to scout every high school.