The current state of our youth national teams

Okay, that's fine what you said but what if you don't call him at the end? The end game after all is the USMNT not some USYNT. Don't get me wrong I want them to play us. But like I said, Mexico can't have all of them, they just won't fit as space is limited. Same thing for us, space is limited. Everyone's goal is playing the WC representing either country.

 

I don't see why the US has to feel pride in this situation and not look like they're pleading for him. That's the only argument I've seen people make against these phone calls. If he is a bad kid who is just toying with national teams (and he certainly seemed like an extremely intelligent kid but also extremely genuine), then who cares? Just don't call him up in the future. At least you didn't just throw away a great prospect to direct opposition because you're above recruiting.

I legit think that the interviews @zlebmada does, the videos @ShaftBrewer makes, and the communication that @CreightonMCFCjoey has done have significantly helped our dual-national recruiting a ton. It's always eye widening how much these kids want to recruited, and how happy they are to discover that they have dozens of fans on these boards or on Twitter. Look at this example on Nico Carrera's twitter post tonight (and shouts to @kba4life1):

A little message goes a long way so thank you!!

— Nico Carrera (@NicoTeamCarrera) July 24, 2019

The original post of his is just one you'd scroll by and not care, but some random US fans congraulted him, and he ate it up. It's pretty obvious it makes a difference. Here's what Uly's dad also had to say in relation to Julian's conundrum:

I really appreciated when tab flew thousands of miles to speak to uly and mendez Mendez,ledezma,araujo,ochoa,llanez

— Sr. Ulysses Perez Llanez (@ULlanez) July 25, 2019

If the dad who grew up rooting for Mexico can be convinced that his son's future will be in good hands and then he'll tell his kid he doesn't care which one he chooses, you can be sure that's helping us get a more talented team. If Tab can fly across country for a U20 roster, the full coaches and directors can send texts across the country for the full national team. I see absolutely no good reason why they shouldn't.

 

Different things, actually. I would appreciate the visit, but see through the email
"Hi Bobby/Omar/Whoever, How are you doing man. Huge admirer of your Leftfoot/Head/Bigass."

 

But here is the thing about recruitment, or at least my thoughts.

I understand a lot of contact with U.S. Soccer is necessary when a player has been playing for another country or grew up outside the United States and is pretty unfamiliar with everything. It was necessary that Gregg Berhalter call Tyler Boyd to sell the U.S. program to him. It will probably be necessary to bring a kid like Matko Milijevic on board after playing for Argentina recently (and it being several years since his one and only U.S YNT call-up).

But at some point the program needs to sell itself. Guys like Araujo, Mendez, and Llanez are USYNT regulars and hardly a window goes by when they aren't involved with U.S. Soccer at some level. Those call-ups and the experiences those players have, that's the true sales pitch on having them want to play for U.S. national teams.

I speak to these kind of dual nationals all the time. I am convinced that if a player is playing regularly for important U.S. youth national teams in major tournaments but yet is very willing, eager, or even open to leaving the program for another national team, then calling him, sending text messages, or even mailing him fruit baskets isn't going to change his mind. If those experiences he's had with U.S. don't sell the program to those players, what can? A comfort text message?? Really?

Right now it is July. The last time Araujo, Llanez, and Mendez were on an important U.S. roster was June. Any talk of them being ignored is crazy.

Specifically with Araujo, he has been playing a ton for the United States in recent months and will continue to do so. If that doesn't sell him on leaning strongly to the United States, what makes you think a Kreis love letter will?

I read someone talking about how U.S. Soccer should take a Nick Saban-like approach to recruiting dual nationals. OK, fine... but Araujo isn't similar to recruiting some hotshot high school senior at the moment. Araujo's current situation is more similar to Saban trying to convince his starting sophomore wide receiver not to transfer to Auburn. That's not recruting. It's a little off-putting that the player would even consider doing that after having played for Alabama in bowl games.

I get that his family had affinity for Mexico. But all Mexico can do with Araujo is talk to him and try to sell him with words. The U.S. has actually shown they're interested with firm call-ups while giving him great experiences by putting him on the roster for important tournaments where he's playing up a cycle. Talk is cheap and Mexico can't offer him more than what he's actually been getting with the U.S .. If that's not enough to keep him in the program and these U-20 World Cups and U-23 call-ups don't sway him, then we all need a reality check and understand that a few phone calls and text messages aren't going make any sort of a difference either.

 

I don't disagree that giving these kids opportunities should be enough. But at the end of the day, you've got to be practical, control what you can control and then live with the outcome.

Companies don't spend millions of dollars on marketing and then cheap out on the sales process and neither should we. Our goal should be to maximize the opportunity for positive touchpoints with these prospects and their inner circle with the goal of improving our chances to ultimately secure their services for the senior team.

Here's the general kind of things a recruiting coordinator should be conveying:

- being complimentary of a player's progress and accomplishments;
- relating it back to how US soccer is improving as well and how he's a big part of that;
- selling a vision of how he fits in the short- and long-term and especially how it helps his career;
- relaying positive feedback from the relevant coaching staffs when they don't have time to do it themselves and generally serving to augment the coaches own recruiting efforts;
- smoothing over any perceived snubs and negative treatment of the player.

P.S. As an aside, USSF should do everything possible to 1) implement programs that help improve a player's career prospects in both a real and perceived way, and 2) have more joint camps across age levels that provide bonding opportunities and exposure for the younger players.

 

And btw, talk of fruit baskets, love letters and gift certificates is overly cynical and frankly misses the point.

Just about every single one of these dual nats seems to say that they will go with the team that provides them the BEST OPPORTUNITIES IN THE FUTURE. They're basically signaling that the past relationship doesn't matter much, that it's a business and what they primarily care about is which program will help them take the next step in their careers.

USSF would be wise to listen and put in place a recruiting apparatus that assures that our value proposition, which is quite good, is being delivered as effectively and as often as possible.

 

I can see both sides. If you're calling up a kid regularly, giving him opportunities, and he switches to another country just because he's not getting weekly texts or coaches visiting him, well then maybe that's not the sort of player you want long-term anyhow, regardless of the talent level.

On the other hand, I think USSF should make sure prospects know roughly where they stand. Maybe they do this already, but a lot of these anecdotal stories coming out seem to suggest otherwise. Especially with someone like Araujo, he's been called up for all of these different levels, but also kinda seemed like roster filler for the u-20s and u-23s. I think it's fair for him to ask if they really rate him or where they see him fitting in. Does he have a real shot at the Olympic team? Is he hanging out waiting for the next u-20 cycle? Given that someone like Cannon, with whom he might be on par in terms of club performance, is getting caps at the senior level, how close is he to that?

I'd say that goes for all of the recent u-20 grads to some extent. If they haven't already done so, it'd be good to touch base with all of these guys and just remind them that Olympic qualifying is coming up, they're being considered as part of that pool, here's what they could do to help their standing, etc.

 

Coming in late and haven't read all the earlier posts, but your last point is the one I came here to make. Don't focus just on the dual nationals, who might bolt - focus on all the young prospects.

And language is important. If you call it hand-holding, babying, coddling, etc. you've already closed your mind. Think of it as encouragement and support, at a very low (relative) cost.

 

I’m not interested in creating a big debate here, but this non-communication seems to be strictly an American thing.

I’ve seen it at top DA Academies and we see it with our NT set up. There seems to be a culture of “leave the soccer stuff up to us (coaches) and don’t ask questions. I am not sure when/where this started, but it’s rampant.

Compare that culture to many of the European Academies where there is an extreme importance on family. Most developed Academies will tell you the most vital piece of developing a player is their family. Because of this, there is constant conversation between the club, player and parents.

I get this sense that here in the US, most clubs and coaches don’t want anything to do with parents and hold a view that they are beneath them. Why this is, I have no idea.

There are methods of communicating to parents and players to let them know how good they are without guaranteeing them anything. I know many parents that are scared out of their mind to pick up the phone and call a coach or DA director if they have questions or concerns. This shouldn’t be the case, there should be an open channel of honest, unfiltered communication.

If a coach or director is even halfway decent, they should have no issues being honest with players and parents as to where the player stands. Do many parents and players think they are better than they really are, sure. But handing out compliments seems to have gone by the wayside in our soccer culture.

Our YNT and MNT staff should have no issues picking up the phone and telling a young player they are playing well and they are watching their progress. This can be done without making any promises to the player. Why is it so hard for them to show a level of interest in a kid?

 

It kind of goes unchallenged that flipping Jonathan Gonzalez was a huge coup for FMF, but isn't a young dual national just as likely to see it as a massive cautionary tale? The dude's national team situation is in complete limbo -- on the outside looking in on the youth level and nowhere near the picture on the senior level. What's attractive about that?

 

That was my take too, although I end up with the opposite conclusion. If there is no loyalty to country or program, then they'll play for the US if it's the better opportunity and they won't if it isn't. So if it's all about the bottom line, then the recruitment really doesn't matter.

 

What if you don't call him? Nothing is certain but I am willing to bet that maintaining a strong relationship helps retain players. It's not the #1 thing -- national identity and opportunity seem to be the top things and I don't think a recruiting relationship comes near those.

My bigger question is why NOT call him? You have time between camps -- that time should be spent watching tape of players and teams, refining tactics and coaching methods ... and yes, communicating with players and potential players to prep them for future games.

My biggest issue here is that I think reasons why the USSF doesn't do this is: "Playing for the USMNT is an honor that a player should work their ass off for; it's not something we'd sully by recruiting or begging. If you don't want to play for the US, we don't want you."

I understand some of this. You don't want a player who doesn't actively want to be there.

But the rest of it? Ridiculous. An undecided dual nat doesn't necessarily not appreciate representing the US, but it's more complex than that. It's not 50% patriotism ... it can be 100% of a 200% total, if that makes sense.

And you don't have to beg. You can be honest. Critical. Clear. It's appreciated. I'm not suggesting we send bags of cash. But if Julian Aruajo doesn't feel that he has a good shot to be a USMNT starter someday if he keeps working and does XYZ ... that's a huge issue. Because you can sure as heck know that Mexico will give him that clairty.

More importantly, forget dual nats. Why wouldn't we be in touch with everyone in the pool. To evaluate them? Help them improve. Maintain the relationship.

Don't just call when you want something.

 

I usually agree with you about this topic, but I think this circumstance should be looked at differently. Whether we agree with him being mad about it or not, Araujo was left off the U-20 WC team and then didn’t play a game when he was recalled. It was clear in the interview that being left off has close to equal weight on him as the recall once Akinola was injured. The kid was upset and he had every right to be. He deserved to be on that team. Should it cause him to switch to Mexico? I think you explained why it shouldn’t, but it’s his decision.

This is different than Jonathan Gonzalez being left off a U-20 WC team that no one thought he’d make. Araujo has been a big name for years, and I think everyone agrees that he’s in that elite tier of players in the system. I don’t think we can afford to cater to every Mexican-American because they are willing to play for other team, but there are certain players that aren’t just the dime a dozen prospect that is only a punt if their career pans out or not. If Tyler Adams was eligible for England, you’d hope that USSF is doing everything to keep him in the system. Araujo is not yet as established as some of the young NT stars, but I think everyone expects him to be one of those players in a few years. I’ve yet to see anyone who questions his ability.

You can’t be so inflexible with the players in your system. If Araujo has more of a reaction from the initial snub and not playing at the U-20 WC than a positive reaction from being on the team, you have to reason with the kid and try to keep him within the system. You don’t do that for the 20th ranked 16 year old, but when it’s one of those recruiting battles you don’t feel like your program can afford to lose, you have to treat the situation differently.

 

To me it all has to do with a lack of "vertical integration."

Why hasn't Berhalter contacted Julian Araujo? Because he doesn't view him as a USMNT player right now. So in his mind its more appropriate for the U20 coach and the U23 coach to be in contact with him. And they have been. The US youth technical director has been in contact with him.

I honestly don't think we're framing the discussion right anyway. I know that folks freak out about dual-nationals. But in reality the USMNT coach does have time to scroll thru a rolodex of young players once or twice a year to call them. Regardless of nationality status. Just to say "We're interested and keeping an eye on you."

It doesn't even have to be Berhalter, it can be an assistant coach as well. Or Earnie Stewart. They can divide up "the list" and tackle it that way. And not 500 kids. 100.

Not so difficult.

I would say that a player who's been called up to our U18, U19, U20, and U23 teams over the past year and a half like Araujo (not to mention the U20 World Cup).......................shouldn't need that call to know he's on the radar. I mean, how insecure do we think he is? He was just at a U23 camp in Spain. But we know this is the way we need by coddle teenagers in 2019. We should just send tweets with daily affirmations of our love.

To me Jonathan Gonzalez was a special case. He needed assurance about his place in the program at a time when we had no USSF president, no technical director, no permanent USMNT coach, and no U23 coach. The youth technical director, Tab Ramos, was the only person available. He did talk to him, but could only say so much about the future. He had no idea what was going to happen. And folks always whine about Gonzalez not being called into that Portugal friendly. Ultimately, the interim coach used at the first camp to bring in Adams and McKennie. Seems like the correct call by a long shot......................

 

Raphael Wicky should be on pink slip notice.

LA Galaxy Academy standout Jonny Perez and FC Dallas Academy starlet Jona Gomez are training with the Mexico U16 BNT this week.

— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) July 25, 2019

 

I think at this point it's important to point out that where a player plays is just as important as recruiting and probably more so. Our big loss, JoGo, plays in Mexico. Yeah, he was recruited but above all he plays in LMX, is familiar with the style and is well known by the FMF coaches. In the end, we probably have a bigger advantage than we think just by the fact that most of the players have been developed in the US and play in the US.

 

Everybody mentioned in the recent posts is a good player with some MNT potential. There are 20 more kids like that with dual citizenships. The only two that are game changers are Dest whom we need to cap tomorrow and Balogun whom we should call and play in November, but I'm not sure that he'd play for us even if offered NT games. The rest you win some, you lose some.

 

Most of these kids are in high school situations. They're known athletes who know the football, baseball, basketball players at their school. Pretty much all of them, know someone who is being recruited by a college. Probably not big time SEC schools but even just JUCO, NAIA, D3 etc. Even at that level, actually probably more so at that level, coaches and schools reach out to recruit. They stay in touch, text, phone, etc. Hell the girls are probably way more in demand than most of the boys at any given school.

So even though soccer is completely different these kids know someone who's being recruited and they want the same. Right or wrong way to approach it, hiring someone at USSF to text and communicate, to request film from their club, to splice together highlights and post on a damn twitter account is hardly too expensive or asking for too much from the federation.

With an official youth twitter, men's twitter communicating to players and parents, plus re-tweeting guys like @ShaftBrewer's work makes kids and even seasoned veterans feel loved. You don't have to beg or plead. Just make sure these guys know they're being watched and share their contact info with other players, especially the guys who aren't Mexico eligible so they talk about what they're going to do as a group together for the USA.

Each and every one of the guys who's gone over to Europe recently talks about how important it was to be in contact with their fellow Americans. They all play for different clubs in different countries but they talk about their struggles, their triumphs, their day to day lives. Fostering that communication, that brotherhood between players makes a huge difference.

We missed the WC. Continuing to shoot ourselves in the foot with the very players we need to move forward as a program because the fed just can't be bothered is horrendous optically, not to mention plain dumb.

 

at the end of the day changing youth setups is one thing, turning down money by rejecting a senior national team callup is quite a different one?

 

This is definitely true. You win some, you lose some.
And over my 30 years of fandom we've lost very few prospects that would have been "difference makers."

Its just frustrating when you feel like it's the easy stuff like communication and organization that are a problem. We should never have a young high-end prospect not know that our program is highly interested in their services. If they choose Mexico after we've done all we can, then so be it. You win some, you lose some.

 

People need to get it through their head that this is the international soccer version of College Football Recruiting. You aren't done until they officially sign on and are locked into their choice. We can make a pretense of this, that or the other, but it's a global game with innumerable players having potential connections to multiple nations. The whole argument about pride etc, it's just old hat. Those days are over with dual nationals. It's also worth noting that having a connection to Mexico even Pre-Trump was easy as pie. As I've mentioned before, in nearly 20 years of work in education, and having worked at more than 50 schools, I've met 1 Mexican-American that would support the USMNT vs Mexico in a H2H match EVER. 1. How many on the other side? Several hundred.

It's totally inexcusable that our fed is this inept at keeping connections with players. Somebody needs to start shadowing the top recruiters in college ball, whether it's guys associated with Urban Meyer's regimes, or Nick Saban's, get a freaking clue, and learn how to do this properly. I understand what bshredder is saying, but that's not enough anymore, quite clearly, and we can either sit on our hands, or fold our arms and hold our breath until it changes (and it won't), or we can wake the hell up and recruit properly. I'd go with the latter.

 

I feel a "rep" isn't enough for this post. This is spot on and very well said.

 

LOL... So whenever there's a dual national we want, we're going to throw them massive parties with all the booze, drugs and girls they could want, bribe their coaches, get USSF donors to hire their parents for no-show jobs, buy them new cars...?

The top recruiters in college ball are not just, like, really persuasive people. They're doing a massive amount of incredibly shady shit.

 

This was good for a laugh and I agree with you. Text the kids a few times a year, call them on their birthdays and throw them a snapchat or tweet every now and then and be done with it. Let the kid make his decision based upon the opportunities you can give him.

 

Did I mention Louisville and Rick Pitino?