[FONT="]The US has and has had, in the past, a lot a young talent, but the way the league is set up stifles the talent and prevents growth, in most cases. First, is the calendar schedule, because the MLS season is in the summer intol fall, if a club from Europe wants you, by the end of the MLS season, the transfer window is closed, and by January, the player hasn't been playing, and most likely won't get picked up then. Second, a player can't go to Europe until they are 18 years. And third, and the biggest problem, MLS is a single body, when a foreign club wants a player, they don't deal with the MLS club they deal with MLS, the MLS sets the transfer fee, usually more than foreign clubs are willing to pay (ploy to keep the talent here), and they can deny a request, not the players club. This happened with Sasha last season, Taylor Twellman a few seasons ago, and if Freddy Adu was allowed to go when he turned Pro at 14, he would be a better player today. And I think he is still talented and still young, I think he's only 19, but his career is stagnant, he can't get a game nowhere that he has been. Next to Lando, Jozy, Dempsey, and now Holden and Davies, Adu is still 1 of the USA's most creative and technical players. At this point, he may need to come back to MLS, so he is at least players, and make another try at Europe when he is like 25,26. I mean, the USA has the largest number of registered youth players in the world. But something happens from there to adulthood. What do you guys think? What is the state of the state, what can be done to cultivate creative, technical players? [/FONT]
Well I disagree with some of the reasons , like the transfer window and the time of the Year. I just came Back from another DC United game this one was a long hiatus, and still nothing has really changed much on the cultural impact im my opinon . You still have the Soccer moms and MLS do More catering to Latino groups and the few Eurosnobs who wants to change the league to benefit them, and not everybody... all around the World there are profession soccer teams, But I assume Most Players would want toPlay in europe despite being stable leagues here in the US and else where around world, I think Its just alot more competitive in europe more than ever in comparison to the US or in North America... Now Mexico for a long time has done well keep thier majority of top players in thier League but maybe at a price that some say they need more mexicans to play in europe so the NTs to be better???? Maybr the USMNT feels the same.. But for MLS to benefit as a League they need to figure out how to make it worth while for thier players as well. Also MLS need to do better Job Making soccer More appealing for kids to even be more consistant in the game of soccer.
Yeah, and the salary cap has to be raised, they don't have to get rid of it completely, but it needs to be raised. Young players shouldn't have to retire because they are making -20K a year and can barely survive. It's a fact, players get better when they play in Europe, mainly England and Spain. But I would like to see Americans playing in the Mexican league and Argentinian leagues too, if you can't get to Europe. There are a few, but not many. I don't think many Americans want to go to Mexico or Argentina though, and have to live there.
I can say this though... the USA being the Biggest comsumer to sports than anybody else put together. If Soccer was consistantly Popular Lets say top 3 Maybe Lets Factor the influence of the NASL and the Appeal America Brings to foreigners Majority of the time, MLS could Be the Best League in the world, But From Soccer History there is that Missing element, I beleive its ore the domestic background(fans and culture). Soccer in America(MLS, USSF inparticular) need to Figure that out, I beleive the development of Youth is fine, heck we have the largest Player pool in the world, but american sprit into soccer is not as big. If any thing i beleive well be a force to be recoken with Because the depth and physique and other elements of our Players, but we dont have a strong fan abse to support, and its still in development, if Soccer is viewed from a politcal standpoint then the US would qualify as a 3rd world country.
I disagree with the vast majority of the OP. The timing of our season? So what, other leagues have the same season as ours, look at the Scandinavian leagues for example. The league is being run as it is so that it can be successful - and it is. The salary cap does need to grow, wage structure come up, independence enter in. And they will (and are) with time. But if we throw all of that out there right away and the league dies in two or three years what good have we done ourselves? They are being wise (if a little too cautious at times, but slightly there). Yes we have tons of youth participating in the sport but most of those drop out by 12, and most of the good trainers/training only take place in the older ages. Most of those younger kids playing are being taught by parents who have never played and have no idea whatsoever about the game. I mean totally clueless in many cases. But, we are getting better about giving what training we can to parent coaches, we are getting more coaches who know whats up, our academy systems (helped by the MLS in many cases) are improving. I have been involved in youth soccer for 15 years as a coach and I can tell you that today's quality of player is MILES better than the product that we were putting out just 10 years ago. I mean vastly, astronomically better. We are hitting walls in some areas, we have some issues to address - coaching to win instead of develop players, a lack of developing real striker talent (which I think comes down to our attitude and training methods at times), still needing to raise the bar of the quality of our coaches from the bottom all the way to the top. But it's not an overnight thing, it's a process and real progress is being made. Have some patience, life is long, and we don't deserve anything we don't earn. It's coming, in due time it is coming.
''I don't think many Americans want to go to Mexico or Argentina though, and have to live there.'' Maybe the american latinos do, but problably not too many american americans
What happens is that the youth players quit long before they even get anywhere near pro soccer. We have quite a few sports that are simply more popular than soccer. The MLS salary cap does need to go up, and the reserve league needs to return, but a lot of the other accusations leveled against MLS are red herrings. Whether MLS or the clubs decided on transfers is really immaterial: the offers for Twellman and Kljestan were horrendous low-balls. (If anything, I suspect that MLS is more likely to sell than any club would be, because the league office doesn't especially care about the fortunes of New England or Chivas or any other club.) It's all well and good to want American players to be playing at the highest levels possible, but in the end MLS is a business and isn't going to take lowball offers just because a big club is making those offers. As for the season, probably a third of all the national first-division leagues on the planet play the same season as MLS. This includes all of Scandinavia, virtually all of East Asia, and even Brazil. (Brazil could be said to play year-round, but a Euro offseason transfer falls in the middle of the Brazilian season.) That's not preventing transfers from any of those leagues.
I was amazed, i read somewhere that charlie david said "yes we can" win the world cup. i think he is a great player. now is he the real deal? is he the real freddy adu we dont know yet? is he the "maradona" or "pele" of american soccer? to say "we can" win the world cup, thats big boys talking right there, really big words... somebody should send this video to espn. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D29Oq0X_rkc&feature=related"]YouTube - Charlie Davies - American Forward[/ame]
I agree that MLS is stiffling development, but not for the OP's reasons. MLS needs the reserve league to give young talent someplace to show their stuff. The rosters should be larger, so that teams can try-out more players and add competition to the bottom part of their rosters. In addition, teams should have full rights to all of the players in their academies, be it to sell those players to other clubs or to sign them without fear of losing others in their program. Basically MLS needs to make it easier for teams to develop/improve their talent from within. Another major issue is how easy the road appears to be for the best players. It amazes me on the number of stories about the best US young players going to Europe to sit on the bench because they don't act like professionals. These players have learned how to be lazy while being coddled in the US system, so they end up behind lesser talented players who work their @$$ off all over the field in training. The number of youth players in soccer is definitely an exaggerated figure. Most kids now participate in soccer as their first team sport before moving onto bball, fball, baseball, etc. It's improving, but there's a long way to go. IMHO we need to focus less on selection and more on development of all players. You never know if that great athlete you've selected will stick with soccer or move to another sport. Instead, find better ways to improve the development of all players and let competition decide who will be the best.