Where does US soccer need to improve?

Where does US Soccer need to improve?

Every 4 years, we need to stop and review where we are at, post-Mortem, and discuss where we need to improve and what directions we need to go. Even though, I am the most optimistic about this program after exiting the World Cup, I firmly believe in the adage: if you’re not improving, you’re stagnating.

As an example of program stagnation, we just have to witness Germany and Belgium. Add Mexico to that list. And we experienced it on our own in 2018. The worst sin that we can commit as a soccer program is not do a deep dive on where we can make improvements.

 

Opportunities, Opportunities, Opportunities ​

As a soccer nation, where we are emerging is that our first and second generations of the modern era have retired out of the playing game and moving into their post-playing careers. And there is no doubt there is a surplus of job opportunities for these former players to be key figures on us improving our games.

What I envision are five initiatives that I want to see former players move into once they hang up their boots:

(1) Coaching/Developing

(2) Ownership/Networking

(3) Journalism/Broadcasting

(4) Scouting

(5) Mentorship


COACHING

On coaching, this one seems self-explanatory. Players who have an eye for it, when they reach the twilight of their playing careers, we need to offer coaching camps and what not, in order to help these players transition into coaching either at the youth or senior level.


Although many of MLS jobs will be hard to jump into as the head coach, there will still be plenty of USL, MLS reserve, and academies that are going to need quality coaches. Even college. Even middle school and high school coaching clinics.


Furthermore, I would like to see US soccer to add something to the game by borrowing from our other football by even have coaches go into coaching specialties. For example, I’d say that Berhalter would be considered a great defensive coordinator. But we need someone who is a great forward coach. And so forth. Of course, goalkeeping has always been its own specialty in coaching, but one thing that the 2022 cycle showed is that the USMNT needed someone who could have helped Berhalter with the offensive/final product of the game.


So, I would tell these players who are reaching their retirement years. There are more than enough jobs available. Probably too many jobs than what we can fill. But we need to get the ball rolling on helping those older players transition into coaching/developing.


OWNERSHIP/NETWORKING

We still need players who can help grow the game. We need former players to help us spread high level soccer to all corners of the United States.


This makes me think of Tim Howard with Memphis 901. Landon Donovan with San Diego. Beasley with Fort Wayne.


Former players will help add credibility and quality to these expansion clubs as we look to grow and stabilize USL and other levels of the game. And we need these former players to bump elbows with the owners with the deeper pockets to help persuade them to invest more in the game.


JOURNALISM/BROADCASTING

Who is going to be the next Stu Holden? Taylor Twellman? Clint Dempsey? Mo Edu? etc. that former player who wants to get into the booth and create the stories and hype the game as we need them to do?


There is plenty of opportunity for more former players to get into journalism or broadcasting. While MLS and USMNT seem to be okay, we still have all of USL, college soccer, MLS reserves, and so forth. There is still plenty of soccer to go around and it helps to have the color commentator who can motivate the fan base.

On this, with the advent of affordable streaming and social media, we’re not in the dark ages anymore where you can’t follow your favorite team or your local team. Therefore, we really want to improve the quality of our commentary.

The more stories we get, the more grow the game. The more entertaining we can make every level of the game, the better it’ll be for all of us.


SCOUTING

We all know this. The USA is a BIG country. We aren’t the Netherlands where you can drive from one end of the country to the other end in a couple hours.


We need former players who will make those drives to scout this player or that player, even if he is play in Nacogdoches, Texas. It’s important that we don’t leave stones left unturned if we want to reach that next level. I’m sure there have been plenty of Clint Dempsey’s who have already existed but we didn’t reach them because they never were scouted.

MENTORSHIP

The human element. How do we expect young players to move across the world and not provide them a support system? We’ve got to help bridge the gap and support our players wherever they are.


Think of it this way, if you’re a parent, would you want YOUR child to go to a foreign country or even live so far away from home without knowing that they’ll be supported. I wouldn’t. One of the most important things to me as a parent is what kind of environment my child is going to be in. And if we’re talking about someone 25-35, okay, yes, they still need support to, but it’s not quite as shocking as it is for someone who is 15-25, and this is their first experience away from home.

Simply put, there’s room for former players in the area of sports psychology. I see it as a major benefit to US soccer if we employed former players to receive some education in psychology/social work, and help mentor our young players to become better players and better adjusted persons.


What I would envision, for example, we have one hub, or resource center, in every country where there is a staff on hand that follow and support the American players in that country or territory. Someone who goes to these player games, help them talk to their coaches, someone who tells them “good game” and “keep your head up” or “try working on this or that”. Someone who will take you out after a game and hear you out. Someone who will talk to your parents. Not someone who is their agent who is just invested on the financial aspect of their career, but someone who is invested in them and their well being.


Happier players become better players. Sad players need a pep talk every now and then. We need players who can be that guy, that mentor, for all these young players coming up. And the last thing that I ever want to hear from one of our young players, “I haven’t heard from anyone from the US staff.” That’s unacceptable. These players should always feel like someone is there for them and has their best interest at heart.


Although, I think we need to offer this in the US too. We need to understand that we’re asking players to move across an ocean and be completely uprooted in their young lives. If you’re born in London, you’ll never experience that culture shock. You’re from the culture that you’re playing in. And I don’t think our young Americans abroad are necessarily depressed, but it’s only going to help them out if they know they have a mentor and a role model who is individually invested in them.


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Now, how does the US soccer federation pay for this? Besides the obvious ticket sales, TV deals, and merchandise. Ask any non-profit in the world how they raise money and they will tell you the same answer: you have to ask people.


Personally, this seems pretty simple. You can send our social media messages who wants to help support US soccer federation by donating to one of these initiatives. Heck, I’d pay $20/year or whatever, to help pay for these things. And in return, maybe I’ll get a discount or something for being a member. You get the idea. But I don’t think money is the problem here. The issue is that we just have to do it.

 

MLS, USL, & RESERVES​

MLS has finally reached a level where you could say that it’s mostly met it’s mark when it hits 30 teams. Most teams have academies, reserve teams, stadium deals, etc. You know, the things that used to hold us back.


I still believe that MLS won’t quit expanding until it reaches 36 teams. 18 West, 18 East. Home/away. 34 games. East and West meet in the playoffs. The writing seems on the wall for that to be the ultimate target in my lifetime.


Those expansion teams, that I have shortlisted are Las Vegas (30), Phoenix (31), Detroit (32), Indianapolis (33), San Diego (34), Louisville (35), Sacramento (36), San Antonio (37), and Tampa Bay (38). Yet, there is still Birmingham, Milwaukee, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, El Paso, New Orleans, and so many other legitimate markets.

Whenever MLS doesn’t go, USL needs to gobble up the remaining TV markets. And there are still plenty to form a legitimate second division.

Ultimately, MLS/USL expansion is the main vehicle to advance US soccer. When every American can feel like they have a local team to support, a team that is stable and has a solid academy, TV deal, stadium deal, etc. We will be cooking with gas.


The issue is not that we will dilute the talent pool. That’s not our problem. Our problem is that we don’t have enough outreach to reach the ceiling of our potential. We aren’t fully developing our player pool. Because so, we need to expand, expand, and expand. We just need that expansion to be good expansion.


There is so much room for growth. And we are nowhere near close to the point that we need to worry that we have diluted our talent pool.


USL AND MLS RESERVE LEAGUE NEEDS TO BE PRIORITY


MLS is no longer in the dark ages. Yes, there’s still room for improvement. But where at a point that now is the time to prioritize the stabilization and growth of USL and MLS reserves. That’s where we’re going to take that next step.


Let me focus on MLS reserves as it’s almost unbelievable that we are only entering the sophomore year of its conception.


Now, let me tell you my lofty goal: I want the MLS reserve league to become the best u21/u23 league in the world. That should be doable. And, I would heavily, heavily invest in its infrastructure no matter how young it is.


Better coaching. Better TV. Better stories. Better marketing. We’ve got to start there. People need to know what’s at stake, who’s playing who, who’s ahead and who’s not. Give reason for players to play for our youth league, and we’ll start getting bigger and better players in our youth league.


There needs to be a tournament at the end of it. We need to be able to better track the stats of the players and teams. Who is the next big thing? If you’re interested in youth development, this should be a little easier and a little more available for you to follow.


Maybe MLS reserves needs its own website. But whatever last year was, there did not seem much reason to follow it. That’s a shame. We can do better in how we sell MLS Next Pro (needs a better name, for a start) to the fan base. In a way, MLS reserves should be what college football is in our country.


Aside from selling MLS reserves, we need to be sure that we stress that our reserve system is attached with higher learning. You will be expected to get a college education while you’re in this system.


In a way, MLS reserves needs to be the premier league, and serve the function that NCAA men’s soccer fails to serve. That said, there is still a role for college ball. But we need to scout these college teams and pick the best players in order to better prepare them for the pros, while still offering them a scholarship and a stipend while a part of the program.


From there, scout the hell out of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Europe if we can convince these players to experience America. Get these best players before they try to go to Europe. Offer them a more viable pathway than they can. We want to see a significant improvement in the quality of players in the MLS system from ages 16-21 over the next few years, and want to earn the reputation of being the premier place to develop as a player.


That’s going to require better coaches and better resources. Although these things aren’t cheap, this is why we must do better at marketing and outreach. If we invest in the system, it’ll pay off.


And, the way I would sell it to our ownership groups is to appeal to their competitiveness for MLS to catch the Big 5 leagues without having to drop billions of dollars to buy the talent of Real Madrid and Manchester City. We’ll let them buy up what we build. Until our infrastructure is in place.

Now, when it comes to USL.

We need to see USL where we saw MLS in the early 2000s. And we need to try to approach this league with a similar strategy. Get good ownership groups. Stadium deals. TV deals. Academies.

It’s okay if it’s a scaled down version of MLS, but it needs to be professional. We can’t be playing on high school base ball stadiums with poor quality TV and with boring announcers. No one is going to watch that.

Maybe we need to invest in DP’s in USL. Some way to get butts in the seats. Even if it’s a late 30 something or 40 something, but someone who fans know and will buy their jersey and go to their games. And someone who will hopefully turn around and invest in the league. Be it in coaching or ownership. I’m sure there are enough players at their twilight of their careers who would be interested in a vanity project where they could have their hands in building a club in the United States.

But the main thing is academies. I want USL to be the second arm on developing the next Christian Pulisic in American soccer. Because if you’re from South Georgia, you should see a pathway to MLS by starting out at the u10’s with Tormenta. And so forth. Besides, selling players to MLS and abroad should be good business for USL clubs if these owners see where they stand to profit in doing so.

As a country, if we can get to a point that not only does every MLS team have a successful professional academy system, but also USL, we’re going to reach that next level. We can flood the global market with a constant supply of player talent.

And here’s the thing. Let’s take Netherlands for example. There’s Amsterdam, and maybe Rotterdam, The Hague, and Eindhoven, and that’s about it, right? Their ceiling is very low on what they can produce. Meanwhile, our potential is to have 50 x what the Dutch can produce if we can reach our potential when it comes to youth development.


Frank Lebeouf said it best the other day. USA should have no excuse when it comes to developing talent. We have the kids playing the game. We have more kids playing soccer in America than there are kids playing soccer in France. The difference is that French kids have greater access to this higher quality of development.


Of course, all this is going to take money, but more importantly, time. I would not expect to see drastic changes right away.


But this is next step in our progression. If we think we’re seeing the evolution of US Soccer now, with players like McKennie and Pulisic popping up, imagine, what we can reach when we have 2-3 x the infrastructure that we have now.


MLS NEEDS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

We know this. We know we’re working towards this. But international competition doesn’t mean playing in Guatemala and Costa Rica. We need to play against the Big Boys.


I think a partnership with Liga MX and CPL is headed in the right direction. There’s enough financial opportunity, drama, and competition with Mexico that it’s in our best interest to work with them.

Is this going to be that suggested August break for this hypothetical tournament? World Cup style tournament? That would be interesting and give enough storyline to the league.

At this point, I’m not sure what the right answer is, but I know that the wrong answer has been for MLS to stay inside its own bubble. We don’t grow that way. We remain isolated and stagnated. We need another force that challenges us to continually improve and to allow us to assess if we’re where we should be.


But whatever comes out of it, make sure that it’s on TV and available to you. We may as well not have it if we don’t market it appropriately.


Finally, let me remind everyone, soccer’s main selling point is it’s us versus the world appeal. It’s attractive. It’s entertaining. It’s how you get casual fans to tune in to your product. But the problem with the World Cup, for the American audience, is that it’s only every four years. We need something, every year, that appeals fo our deeper emotions which other American sports can offer. Us v them.


Eventually, if it’s successfulI wouldn’t mind also seeing if we could get Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc. in on this action. Especially, if we can’t get into the European or South American market. Of course, it’s down the road. But it’s something I would consider.


WHEN ARE WE GOING TO TAKE OFF THE TRAINING WHEELS?

Don’t get me wrong. The salary cap has been a useful instrument to elevate this program because we’ve been able to assure the development of programs across this country without 1 or 2 programs cannibalizing the rest.


Most who are in favor of the salary cap, historically, stress the legacy and failure of NASL as the reason to prevent these super clubs from developing within the league. I get why that was necessary.


But here’s the thing: I think we are at or nearly at a point where it’s no longer necessary to handicap the ambitious teams from becoming big owners. Most MLS clubs are stable now. Maybe not stable enough to survive a relegation to the netherworld. But I believe we mostly have good enough fan bases that we aren’t going to see this collapse if they aren’t able to keep up. And even if they were, there would be enough rich owners willing to probably buy them out and get into MLS now.


In other words, I think we are approaching a point where our clubs don’t need to be afraid to become big clubs.


And here’s the thing: it’s only when we have some big clubs in MLS are we going to see a significant improvement across the board.


For example, let’s say NYCFC, Atlanta, Seattle, NYRB, Galaxy, LAFC, Inter Miami, and maybe a couple others say, you know what, I want my club to be more respected on the international stage and I think I can bring in the talent to get to that level.


Let me tell you, that’s not going to hurt Houston Dynamo. That’s going to help them. That’s going to make MLS more appealing across the board. And that’s because every fan in the world knows a league by the best teams in that league. If we don’t have some super clubs, we’re always going to be playing with a handicap.


As a league, I think it’s time we start envisioning what it’s like to take off the training wheels. I don’t think it’s a good idea to plan for this strategy that we’re going to permanently handicap the growth of our teams. We want our teams to grow. We want our teams to think they can become the next Real Madrid. We want kids in Thailand to be wearing our shirts, not Man City shirts. We’re only going to do that when we allow it.


Furthermore, this is going to be the only way that we change the image that we don’t take soccer seriously in this country. It’s hard to convince others to take us seriously, when we don’t even take ourselves seriously. Kids in America need to know that an American club is one of the best in the world. That’s how you get that kid to dream to join that club. And until we allow it, we’re not going to reach that level. And I firmly believe that we have the ownership and rich enough owners that believe that we could go out and improve this league overnight, if we would let them.


Again, it served its purpose. Maybe it’s still necessary for now. But it’s not going to be necessary for that much longer. We need to be ready to change, grow, and compete if we want to smash in the door to say that we belong in the conversation of the best league in the world.


Honestly, we just need to believe we’re ready. That’s it.

 

COMPETITION ​

Arguably the worst thing that ever happened to US soccer was the Nation’s League. We went from being a soccer program that could reliably count on a few marquee match ups every year against the best teams in the world. This helped us knew where we stood. Where we needed to improve. And everything else.


The Nation’s League set us back in a terrible way. We went from playing Brazil in a friendly, to playing Grenada. If not them, we played Canada or Mexico for the thousandth time. To the detriment of all of our programs.

We already have two Gold Cups. Plus World Cup qualifying. We do enough for CONCACAF. We need to get the hell out of CONCACAF. And I want to see the USSF to have the conviction to even threaten to leave CONCACAF if we remain hostage to them.


This NL deal is a horrible thing for us. Nothing good comes from it. Just another match up against Mexico. Diluting its importance when we do play them.


If we are at all serious about improving as a soccer nation, it is mandatory that we abandon our participation in the Nations League, and I imagine that Canada and Mexico will join and support us on that decision.


If we can’t get games against European teams, we need to look to South America. If we can’t get games there, it still would be more worth it to look to also add Asia and Africa within our sphere of influence. But I don’t think that option has to be our first choice.


A TOURNAMENT TO RIVAL THE EUROS


4 years is too long in the American sports landscape. It’s this problem that has held soccer back in this country, arguably more than anything else.


Meanwhile, the Gold Cup is not competitive enough to capture the imagination of the American fan. It just ends up being a Mexico-USA (now Canada) tournament. That’s not big enough. That’s not going interest anyone except the most hardcore American soccer fan.


We need to play against a greater ranger of better teams. Mexico and Canada are good for that. But we need more respectable teams. We need to play Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. If not then, Japan, South Korea, or Australia. Or even Nigeria and Senegal. Someone who stands out. Teams that are at the same level at us or better.


USSF this is on you. You’ve got to broker this opportunity for our program because you realize that we’re never going to advance without it. We’ll remain a team that can’t get past the round of 16, unless we manage to play another CONCACAF team, every 30 years or so.


Every year is, perhaps, unnecessary given the way soccer works across the globe. But 2 years is a must.


Either this needs to be a return of the Confederations Cup, which should be expanded to 16 teams; the combined Copa Americas; or some other variation where we approach Asia and Africa. With the talk of the World Cup every 2 years, it seems some solution can be considered and even promoted.


CONFEDERATIONS CUP - PROPOSAL

I don’t know why the Confederations Cup was killed off, but I don’t understand why this is not the best solution for everyone.


Seems straightforward....


All confederations have their own tournament on the first year of the cycle.

The Confederations Cup is on the second summer of the cycle.

World Cup qualifying in the third year.

The World Cup in the fourth year.


And if we can have a winter World Cup in Qatar and expand the World Cup and hold it over 3 nations, it’s not impossible to approach FIFA with this solution.


Personally, I would suggest though that the Confed Cup go to 16 teams. 3/North America, 3/South America, 3/Africa, 3/Asia, 3/Europe, and 1/host or +1Europe.



COPA AMERICAS - PROPOSAL

The Copa Centenario had all the potential in the world to be a tournament at the same level, or near it, of the Euros. How did we screw this up?

Either way, I cannot believe that we can’t fix this issue. US soccer depends on something, and we should be willing to humble ourselves if we have to. And I don’t see how the CONMEBOL nations wouldn’t want this greater media and competitive exposure.

At some point, we need to make the phone call. Let’s get our heads together and make this happen. And let’s go ahead and plan for it the following cycle and thereafter.


APPROACH ASIA AND AFRICA - PROPOSAL

If CONMEBOL gives us the middle finger and FIFA shuts down the Confed Cup, the third alternative is to realize there’s still some good competition in Asia and Africa.


For example, would you watch a tournament of....


Group A: USA, Australia, Nigeria, Ghana

Group B: Canada, South Korea, Senegal, South Africa

Group C: Mexico, Iran, Morocco, Egypt

Group D: Costa Rica, Japan, Tunisia, Ivory Coast


That’s a pretty good tournament in my eyes. You can play with the structure of it too. I wouldn’t mind even giving CONCACAF an extra two or four teams, and same with Asia. Then, just let the top team advance. Or just take four teams from Africa. Point is that you can make it work.


Now, if FIFA gave us a big F you to that, then, I would go full time insurgent and start creating an alternative to FIFA. With all the scandals and unhappy members, I’m sure that if we were cunning enough we could mastermind a destruction to FIFA if we were so inclined to do so.


Either way, as it stands now, I don’t think the US program can survive as it stands isolated within CONCACAF. We must break out of it somehow. And I would feel confident enough that FIFA needs us more than we need them. Trust me, they like these American dollars. And we need to be bold enough to say that we aren’t going to remain at the kiddy table for them.


But, I think if we actually stand up for ourselves, show how our plan benefits everyone. I think everyone will play ball. But we need to be the ones who take the initiative to do what’s best for our program which is find greater competition outside of CONCACAF.


We must play the best to be the best.

 

Thanks man, I always appreciate your commentary!