Wayne Rooney has many virtues as a player, but one of his lesser known capabilities is his ability to identify talent. And he said something that I think is arguably right on the money having watched Barcelona over the past few weeks: Andrés Iniesta is the best player in the world right now. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/?&cc=5901&redirect=false The stars are aligning for this guy. He's 25. He's field generalling one of the top clubs in the world. He is lightning quick (take a look at his fouls committed to fouls suffered ratio: the only way opponents can stop him is to hack him down). He has an impeccable first touch and ability to make the telling pass on almost every possession. And he wins. Every competition he comes out on top. He's about to head into the most important competition evah at the peak of his powers. Anybody wanna bet against him? I'd be very hesitant. I watch a player like that with incredible admiration and, at the same time, a deep sense of soccer melancholy. Will the USA EVER produce a player of his quality, skill, experience, and winning mentality? Where it all comes together at the right age and the right time? I am an optimist by nature but I feel the odds of such a player wearing a USA shirt is very very unlikely.
It is very unlikely. Watching Iniesta play.... I mean... he plays with the poetry of Zidane, and is faster. Iniesta is a very, very special player and I think any country in the world would be asking themselves if they'll ever produce a player like him. He's a cut above most everyone, even if he doesn't get the headlines of Cristiano, or Messi.
Ever is a long time, Karl, although I don't expect to see a US player of that caliber in my lifetime. Part of my reasoning is that soccer is still a team game, and we would have to raise the overall level of our game substantially to even know if we had an Iniesta on our hands. A good start, though, would be to shift the emphasis from bigger, faster, fitter - SPARQ scores, etc. - to technical ability. We'll continue to produce very athletic players, never fear, but we need a lot more players who treat the ball as their friend (and not as a hot potato).
completely agree. ever is a long time. so I answer yes, but not for a good many years. i suppose most (or at least a good part) of the issue is that the US ideally would benefit from a domestic club as good as or comparable to Barca (or one that is able to surround a player like Inesta -- or Edu or Torres for example -- with top quality players; I mean for as good as Iniesta is, he is certainly aided by having Eto'o, Henry, Messi, Xavi and others as club teammates and players like Fabergas, Villa, Raul, and Senna etc as countrymates) and also create a NT of the caliber that Spain has. players like Iniesta don't get produced in a vacuum.
Rooney is good at identifying grandma hookers - doesn't take much to notice Iniesta. Who knows if the USA will produce such a player... Not a very interesting question.
Well Iniesta is a product of the famed Barcelona Academy. You're better of asking if US clubs will ever have academies on this level, to which the answer is 'not anytime soon'.
No, it's a very interesting question, indeed, the most CRITICAL question, because if we don't produce a player like him, or one that approaches his quality, then we are going to continue to be what we are. As for this being moved to plain ol' USA men, I have no problem with that, and I am especially glad it made your day.
Yeah, because Uruguay set the world alight with Recoba. There's no point in producing a player like him. What makes Spain the best team in the world is that they have numerous players of quality like him. Xavi, Iniesta, Torres, David Silva, Villa, Senna etc. Those are all world class players. These elite countries produce them in bundles every generation while the US cannot produce one. It goes back to having clubs with good academies, which the USA will not have for many years to come.
Yes. Sometime after the following happens: MLS salaries are raised. The reserve league is brought back. Every MLS team gets their own stadium. Every MLS team has their own academy system. MLS stays the hell out of the every teams' business decisions.
The point is that they are all world class players. You need several of those to become a potential WC winning team. Take a look at France, Italy, Brazil, Argentina etc...
yes, we can. rossi, for instance, is american- at least, an american citizen-and he is a very , very good player- he is so good that he is an italian team titular. reyna, o`brian, even dempsey are -or were- VERY good players. i also remenber players like lalas, doyle, balboa that were excellent players. in my humble opinion, freddy adu has a phenomenal individual technique.Da marcus beasley is also an excellent player. of course, with proper academies, with a gradual elevation ou our current level of soccer practice we will surely develop many iniestas, or ronaldos, or rooneys. after all, we are 310 million people.
I think it can be argued that, after more than 100 years of top-flight football, Andres Iniesta is the only player Spain has produced that's as good as Andres Iniesta. Certainly if he's as good for the next five years as he's been for the last two, he'll win a couple POY awards and go down as the best native-born Spaniard ever to have played. Which puts the task Karl identifies into context, I think. From the Guardian:
And Soccer being the most played youth sport in America. According to 4-4-2's last survey, more people play soccer in the United States than any other country in the world. (Mainly because women play the sport here by the tens of millions as well). We won't develop a world class player until our youth programs across the country are more estabilshed. And I'm not talking about the 17 year old kids. I'm talking about the 12-13 year old age groups, where we've got dads and moms who don't know the game teaching the players. We need pros teaching at even those levels, like Argentina does. It won't be long until we develop a "world class" player, though (which is a subjective term anyway). My feeling is we already have in Brad Friedel and Tim Howard has a chance to be as well. Thoase two were both brought up in the old archaic US system. Claudio Reyna made a World Cup Best XI in 2002. That's not too shabby (although I don't think anybody would consider him "world class") It's not going to take as long as some Europeans think. Our current youth players are being snatched up at a good pace by top European clubs. Scouts are all over our U17 programs (and I'm not just talking about Bradenton). Sebastian Lletget just signed with West Ham, and we know what they can do with youth players. That's going to be the path. Train up the kids until they're 17-18 as best we can, and then send them to top European clubs. It's going to be a long long time before MLS starts to have youth academies in place to develop world class talents. (Of course Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu have been, but we don't know what their futures hold). After the upcoming U17 world cup we're going to see Joseph Gyau, Luis Gil, Charles Renken, Stefan Jerome, Jack McInerney and others snatched up by major European clubs. It's rumored that Gyau is going to Bayern Munich, Luis Gil has a trial (maybe already happened) with Arsenal, and on and on. People need to be paying attention to this stuff, because the early ripples are just starting. In 25 years there are going to be waves of these quality American youth players that European clubs are going to be falling all over themselves for. Those kids are going to make Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore look like Memo Gonzalez and John Wolyniec.
Fun with numbers: Average attendance in 2008 MLS 16,000 NHL 17,000 NBA 17,000 MLB 33,000 NFL 68,000 Keep in mind we still have tMLS eams without their own stadiums. MLS could very well surpass the NHL or NBA at some point. However, the harder part (and IMO what will be the turning point) will be when MLS surpasses them both in TV viewership (meaning more sponsorship money). I don't think we're eons behind in that regard to the NHL, but we've got a LONG way to go to match the NBA.
1. wont happen that drastically until the league becomes more popular... 2. hopefully sooner rather then later... 3. again, hopefully sooner rather then later... 4. once again, hopefully sooner rather then later... however, overall play in the US needs to improve before the academies have room to grow... 5. wont happen until the league itself is stable and even profitable..... atm they are making sure the league has constant cashflow... but perhaps they should start to remove their hands from certain cookie jars...
agreed, it wont improve until the club level (or academies, which ever you prefer) improve.... however, somewhere along the lines, the kid's interest changes.... perhaps its the money factor at club level.... but that argument is for another day true, but i have a feeling the OP is referring to a top Yank field player... exactly... we have a highly scouted U17 squad coming through the ranks... the growing trend of our youth being scouted is increasing.... dont forget the kid from CA who just had a trial with FC Twente... impressed, but not sign to academy.... they plan to keep a close eye on him.... in other words, the steps to that point are occurring.... however slowly they may be.... but as Clint said in the beginning, it starts with our youth development....
Sure, why not? People talk about MLS salaries, infrastructure and all that stuff. Maybe those are factors in growing the sport and increasing the overall level of talent. But creating a superstar is more 'personal' than that. That can happen anywhere ... at anytime. The REAL missing ingredient to developing a superstar of that magnitude ... is PASSION! Find a kid with passion, teach him to master ball control, let him watch all sorts of top level play on tv or in person, and find the right mentor, with knowledge, understanding, and experience. Teach him the 'how and why', train him and set high expectations ... allow him to have fun ... then set him loose. He'll do the rest. His passion will cause him to work hard and develop his skill. His passion will cause him to mimic the stars and develop his own 'flavor'. His passion will cause him to develop creativity and a winning mentality. Find that kid ... and there is our Iniesta ... Unfortunately, if we ever identify a player with that skill, our coaches will probably drive that creativity out of him and turn him into an 'average' player.