Comments on: Are we serious with that, United States?

By: BMalo

BMalo — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:18:17 +0000

I wish I knew more people who don’t care about soccer so I could talk to them about the NBA finals. But every time I bring up Boston vs. LA, they always just seem to spout some random shit about some soccerballerZZZ named Serena and Venus losing in France.

By: hotdog

hotdog — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:24:41 +0000

Freddy didn’t do a whole lot on the field, but he wasn’t the worst player by any stretch of the imagination. When he came on, the team had all but given up.

By: Constable Echelon

Constable Echelon — Thu, 29 May 2008 04:57:18 +0000

I wish I knew someone from England so I could ask them about Euro right now.

By: Sager Bombs

Sager Bombs — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:22:50 +0000

I had to listen to the game on BBC Sport while at work (thanks for sucking, ESPN 360!) and the limey announcers were SAVAGING Adu throughout the second half. Was this just standard issue British exaggeration, or was he really stinking it up? They gave the impression he was the worst man on the field.

By: Hose

Hose — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:45:27 +0000

Fig Jam, my references to the youth program are based on the experiences I had. While I went on to play in college, I quit the Olympic Development Program around my junior year of high school, because it was evident that player selections from the district to state level and then state to regional pool were based on little more than name recognition, and very little talent evaluation is done. Club soccer seems to be light years behind AAU when it comes to pushing the talent pool, and with college recruiting being done mostly on a regional level, there are many kids who fall by the wayside. For the most part, unless a kid is very proactive about getting his name out there, the only colleges that will likely recruit him are local. Since college is the largest feeder into MLS, and most college players have little interaction with the National team pool, there are large gaps in the process.
Basically, other countries get the highest level players into their professional programs before they ever toy with college. Combine this with a professional league that has international talent, and the national team pool should hope to steadily improve. My hope is that the MLS development will continue, thus improve our national team

By: hotdog

hotdog — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:40:47 +0000

I also think MLS needs to do more to promote itself to kids. You know how in Little League, all the teams are the Cubs or the Yankees or the Reds? They don’t do that for soccer.

If MLS proactively approaches the state youth soccer associations and gives them replica jerseys, it’s much more likely for American kids to catch on to the game and keep at it past age 12. That would expand the player pool by, I believe, a substantial margin.

The United States, with the collegiate system, already has a great system for identifying talent. Problem is, by then it’s already too late. Other countries have their players in soccer-intensive academy by age 16. The jury is still out as to whether the MLS youth academies can fill that role, but it doesn’t look good so far. The ROI isn’t there yet.

By: hotdog

hotdog — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:32:50 +0000

Yeah, I’m thinking that some players weren’t released from their MLS teams for the friendlies - that might explain some of the curious personnel decisions.

Kenny Cooper’s been a juggernaut for sure - good call.

Robbie Rogers is a bit young, but he’s finding the net as well. You can’t tell me Twellman isn’t a better choice than Wolff. Chris Rolfe’s also decent. However, those guys are all reaches.

MLS is requiring teams to meet certain minimums for youth academies, although the results don’t look real promising yet. Sounders have some grandiose plans for how their going to develop their youth system - clinics, camps, and all that.

You’re right though - as of now, it seems the only players in the national team pool went through Bradenton. You can count the exceptions on one hand (Feilhaber for one).

One player, and I’m really hopeful this works out, that might contribute one day is Seattle’s Ellis McLoughlin. He looked outmatched against U-23 competition in Toulon, but he’s only 17 and set to join Hertha Berlin’s youth academy. He’s young but he’s someone who could contribute at striker for the national team someday.

By: Fig Jam

Fig Jam — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:28:16 +0000

I kinda agree that we need better youth programs, but I’m not totally convinced it would solve the problem. There is a ton of youth soccer being played in the United States. Stands to reason we could come up with 20 world class players out of the millions that are playing select level soccer in the United States. I think the talent just needs to be identified sooner. That, and kids need to view soccer as a legitimate path to fame and glory. Right now if a kid is the fastest/quickest on his team he will be playing soccer until the football coach notices him, at which point he will be a receiver/cornerback.

By: Hose

Hose — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:53:12 +0000

Absolutely atrocious outing. Where was Altidore? Why are we trying to use Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey together, when they can’t even combine for a tally on the club level? Makes me wish McBride hadn’t retired from the international game.
Someone who deserves a chance up front is Kenny Cooper, of FC Dallas. Big kid who could actually hold the ball and be a force in the air. He was picked up from Man. U. back in 2006, and is currently 2nd in the MLS in goals scored. He likely would have been in a similar position last year if not for the fact that he broke his leg.
Bottom line, there were few bright spots in this subpar performance. The youth development programs of the US are broken, several notches below those elsewhere. We need to develop sporting academies, that function both as K-12 schools and serve as feeder programs into the professional leagues. The current Olympic Development Program is far too political (see Freddy Adu) and does nothing unless players actually try out, which many don’t.