The current state of our youth national teams

This idea that it's beneath Earnie and Gregg to be in minimal contact with the top prospects in the YNT pool is crazy to me. Ledezma and Mendez, if they hit as pros at PSV and Freiburg, will *upgrade the way our national team can play.* Not to mention that it should be important to every NT fan that we eventually have a bona fide Mexican-American star on the USMNT (with all due respect to Herc Gomez).

Personally I think Ledezma and Mendez are likely to stick with the US. They love their U20 teammates, they like Tab, and they're glad for the opportunities USSF has given them. But like most Mexican-Americans they feel a pull to El Tri. They grew up rooting for El Tri, their friends and family root for El Tri, their social media gets filled up with Mexican flags. They identify as Mexican and American. It's complicated for them. And as soon as they start making first team appearances for their clubs they'll hear from the FMF.

Let's make it simple for them. Let them know their progress is being tracked by senior NT officials, and lay out a path for them to the U.S. senior team. I get the logic of the "no special treatment!" argument, but let's be pragmatic. It takes so little effort for Earnie to send Mendez or Ledezma or Dest an email. Sure, send one to Chris Richards too. Maybe Soto, maybe Pomykal. Why not? I don't get why not. In four years, there's a much greater than zero chance that Ledezma and Mendez will be more important players than half the guys in January camp.

 

Yes, but the players we're talking about were key parts of that WCQ domination (Mendez and Llanez) or are among the most impactful likely additions to the WC team (Ledezma). So you bet I'm excited about how we're performing, but there's absolutely nothing from keeping any of them from filing a one-time switch to represent Mexico on the senior level, even if we manage win the U-20 WC. The concern is that the senior USMNT situation is so unsettled and USSF is so inept that the door is open to just that nightmare scenario.

 

I wonder how these kids process the political BS around Latin American immigrants right now. I mean, you have a US president who is completely open in calling most Mexican immigrants criminals. Regardless of whether anyone on this board thinks immigration should be higher or lower, it feels like the fact that a lot of people seem to think that kids like Alex Mendez and Richie Ledezma aren't real Americans and don't belong here has to be on their mind in some way.

 

I'm a high school teacher, so I've learned the value of a quick 1v1 conversation. Knowing that somebody is paying attention and cares about your progress can have a huge impact on kids. You can get an incredible return on minimal investment in terms of rapport, loyalty, motivation, buy-in, etc.

To be honest, it just seems like poor communication between management and players is the norm much of the time in soccer. Especially among the old-school crowd.

I'm not even talking about dual national recruitment battles. Over the years I've read so many stories about players who got benched or frozen out but never received any feedback from their club manager in Europe. It seems like a real waste. Communication is good and healthy.

I don't see the downside to a quick check-in now and then. I think some the pushback may be rooted in the history of people advocating for some crazy pandering to dual nationals, and the subsequent reflexive opposition to that. Calling what you are describing as a "writing love notes" is, IMO, grossly unfair.

 

What was te Kloese's role with Mexico?

Te Kloese was director of the FMF youth national teams. Hence..............the equivalent of Tab Ramos. In that capacity he was recruiting players like Efrain Alvarez starting in 2014.

After that he was promoted to director of all Mexican national teams, both men's and women's. The equivalent of Earnie Stewart with even more responsibility. I don't think he continued his scouting and recruiting of dual nationals then. How could he? Maybe with 1 or 2 cases that he had starting to recruit while the youth director.

I have no problem with the USMNT coach doing this recruiting as well. Klinsmann chipped in. Berhalter just started, though, so I'm cutting him some slack.

 

I think all this is true. And we complain (I'm including myself) that the approach the USSF and MLS take to look for talent is done wrong. What they are doing is working so much that if you look at MXYNT they usually have 1 or 2 Mex-Ame on their squads and those they have are difference makers in either NT. Example are Alex Alcala at MX U15 and Efrain Alvarez at MX U17. I refuse to believe that their isn't better players in Mexico than they are in the US, it is just that in such a short period of time our Federation have taken giant steps in finding domestic talent that Mexico takes advantage of that too.

 

I take it you aren't a Mexican-American. Since you are not then you don't know the derogatory names other Mexican-Americans use against those Mex-Ame that do say that they are Americans. You hear it from peers, family, and others you don't even know just for the simple fact that you support and/or feel American. That is why I said on an earlier post, it is not something so simple to explain. But to try to blame it on "political reasons" has nothing to do with it. Obama was President for 8 years, a president that according to Latinos was pro Immigration, and God forbid any Mexican American claimed to be American in those times because here comes the name calling like little kids. Look at Herculez Gomez, he can criticize the USMNT/MLS but if he criticizes MXNT/LigaMX he gets lots of hate and gets called out by Mexicans and Mex-Ame alike, for thinking he is "American" (which he is) or "gringo" and not Mexican.

 

I see it like working on a major project at work. You are part of a group with a single goal in mind, to complete the project early and under budget. Once the project (YWC) is over the elite members are going to move on to bigger and better projects (MNT). If a member feels it was overlooked, that person (Gonzalez) will leave the company no matter how satisfying it was to completed the project.

If USSF don't watch it, it will happen again.

 

There are only so many spots in the bigger, better project. Some of those guys will see the writing on the wall and move on.

 

No. What I'm saying is that folks are acting like the USSF isn't in contact with these players. Tab Ramos is in fact one of the most important figures in the USMNT/USYNT hierarchy. Arguably the 3rd most important after Berhalter and Stewart. He's the person the USSF has hired to be youth technical director, in other words the man hired to interact with youth players! He's their current age group coach on top of that.

How can folks say we're not in contact with these players, while the ones we're talking about (Ledesma, Dest, and Mendez) are ROUTINELY called up to USYNTs. They interact with the USSF and US coaches on a routine basis. After just spending a month with the U20s at the CONCACAF Championships, Mendez requires a text from Earnie Stewart to retain his commitment level? What? I give them more credit than that.

It would be one thing if folks were upset that the USSF wasn't in touch with a dual-national that we're trying to recruit INTO the program. Like say, a Gedion Zelalem in the past. These are kids already in the program. It's mindless.

 

Part of the problem right now is that there doesn't seem to be much integration between the YNTs and the MNT. Vermes talked about it at the coaching convention in Chicago, said we've "lost" an opportunity for vertical integration. Tab is nominally the youth technical director but he reports directly (in the org chart) to Asher Mendelsohn and Nico Romeijn, who are equal to Stewart in the org chart. So Tab's at best the 5th guy in the USMNT/USYNT hierarchy.

Te Kloese, as director of the Mexican national teams, was clearly monitoring and interacting with players in the Mexican YNT setup. That may start happening with Stewart, but it doesn't appear to have been happening much in the first 6 months of his tenure. We'll see, I guess.

 

We're probably not going to lose them. But if Mexico's head coach & TD are calling, and ours aren't, it's very easy to imagine a kid thinking "well, it's clear one program wants me more than the other."

This is all very similar to college basketball/football recruiting.

It's not.

It's also not necessarily existential. But it's definitely not mindless.

 

They probably have to hire somebody for that

 

Earnie was fired up and ready to start the week off right this morning.

 

Found this article by Charles Boehm talking about the state of the search for the various youth coaches. He says that they're down to two finalists for the u-17s, but says that generally it's been tough to fill the positions, since the youth coaches are expected to be in Chicago too. I thought it was excessive to expect the USMNT coach to move to Chicago, and it seems especially excessive to require youth coaches to move there for what are mostly, I'd imagine, part-time gigs, particularly for the non-u-17/20 ages.

 

They absolutely have enough time to keep in periodic touch with a decent sized pool. National team coaches have soooo much less work than club coaches.

There's time.

 

And what are you going to tell the kid? "We are watching you", "Good job" etc? If they don't get called up to the USMNT what then? You can only have so many players per National team and that includes Mexico. Mexico also produces good players and getting panicked because several Mexican Americans are good and say they will join whoever comes first should not be the way to go about it. Look at Jonathan Gonzalez for example, he pulled the trigger too fast. He still has hope to some day play for Mexico because he is young but he has a lot of competition. Same thing will happen with Llanez, Mendez, Alvarez and many other Mexican-Americans coming up, Mexico can't and won't have them all.

 

Yes. "Hey, Uly/Alex/Richie, I watched some video of your last match. Really love how it's clear you've worked on your left foot/tracking back on D, whatever. How's the family? What have you been working on? Have you been practicing X -- I think that could really open up your game."

And in some cases, You interested in playing in the Olympics, etc?/I'd like to call you in, but I think we should let you get settled -- if things progress, how about November for a camp? No promises on PT...

This isn't that hard. It's just changing a mindset from "Everyone should be begging to play for the team" to "We want to do everything we can to have the best team we can."

 

This is not some kid who is in the process of being overlooked. He's been invovled consistently on multiple levels over the past year as a 17 year old.

He was part of the U-20 CONCACAF Championship team in November.

He was part of the first U-23 camp of the 2020 cycle.

He was on the roster for the 2019 U-20 World Cup - LAST MONTH

That's a lof of investment from U.S. Soccer and an amazing amount of opportunities. There is no reason to feel these opportunities are going to dry up. He's eligible for the 2020 Olympics, the 2021 U-20 World Cup, and the 2024 Olympics. Then, of course, there is the senior national team.

He's firmly in the mix right now for multiple U.S. teams and by any measure he's on an accelerated path in U.S. Soccer..

I am not conviced it's true but if he truly considers Mexico and the USA right now to be on equal footing in terms of where his loyalty lies despite all of his very recent involvement with the U.S, does that really reflect well on him?