U-17's elsewhere ...

Discussion in 'Youth National Teams' started by beineke, Sep 7, 2003.

  1. beineke

    beineke New Member

    Sep 13, 2000
    How many competitive games do they really play?

    Here's what I dug up:
    In England, U-17's play a 22-game regular season, with a post-season of at most 6 games. I looked at one team (Arsenal 01-02) and saw scorelines of 7-1, 5-0, 5-1, 5-1, and 4-0. Clearly, several of these games were mis-matches.

    For the very best English U-17's, there is also the FA Youth Cup (U-18) and the U-19 team, but it's rare for a kid to log more than a couple of appearances for these teams. If a kid is good enough to join the U-19's, he stops appearing for the U-17's, so his workload doesn't increase.

    As I understand it, the philosophy is that a developing body shouldn't be subjected to the same kind of wear and tear as a grown-up's. So they get at most 25 games a year, of which maybe 20 are competitive. Some players also get a handful more games in friendlies, pre-season tournaments, or youth internationals.

    Do other soccer-school programs exist?

    Under new leadership, England has abandoned its Lilleshall residency program. This surprised me, as it had produced Sol Campbell, Michael Owen, Joe Cole, plus (IIRC) a few other outstanding players.

    I know that Nigeria's U-17's had a long residency program before the 2001 Cup; I believe that Japan and Korea also have kids in schools where they get a mix of academics and serious soccer training. I've heard about programs elsewhere, though I don't remember any details. Anyway, this kind of program appears to be quite commonplace.

    Corrections?

    I realize that I don't know much about training elsewhere, but I'd like to learn more about how Bradenton compares. So for those of you who know, here's a chance to describe what happens in another country.
     
  2. whip

    whip Member

    Aug 5, 2000
    HOUSTON TEXAS
    I just have the fundamentals but there is ground for improvement all over Bradenton, I love these idea of a soccer academy and I would not mind put a couple of buck on collection barrels on National games on the gate to help finance Bradenton and open couple more soccer academys may be Dalllas, L.A. USSF need more imagination or need somebody with more energy on this department. Sometimes what I do is to e mail USSF with any sugestion or Ideas, It wont hurt........
     

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