With the Gold Cup finished, many eyes and questions have been pointed towards the US soccer system and the way in which it develops, or doesn’t develop, its players. The US is a powerhouse in almost every other sport and is always in the top two nations for the Olympics, so why isn’t it competitive on the international stage? I dug deeper in the pursuit of that answer.
I’ve been looking into this topic for a while now, even prior to the US’ Gold Cup loss to Mexico, and feel that there are a number of issues with the US’ youth development system.
In the European and South American systems from a very young age, players are taught the technical skills required to become successful in the sport on the international level. They work specifically on touch and control as demonstrated by their respective national teams, along with passing the ball around and retaining possession until an opportunity comes up and then going towards goal. Whereas, in the US system, starting from a young age, the most physically well built and fit players will succeed, and the style of play is launching it up the field for the fastest and biggest striker to chase down the ball and score.
If you watch the US national team play, you’ll see that their touch isn’t anywhere near that of superpowers, and consequently, their overall play suffers as well because of it. They then have less time to look up and pick out a pass, if the ball is played into a dangerous area and they can’t control it, a goal scoring opportunity is lost, and at the end of the day, the team who has the worst first touch will never be as good as the team who can control the ball. Just look at Barcelona; arguably the greatest side ever assembled, and while they don’t have the most physically well built players (i.e. Messi and Iniesta, both of whom were told they wouldn’t succeed due to their small statures), they do have the best first touch and they pass the ball around until the opportune moment.
Then you compare that to the tactic that is employed by the US which consists of launching the ball down the field, but unlike in the youth system, our strikers then come up against world class center backs, and you only have to look as far as our goal scoring record (or lack thereof) to see that this style of play doesn’t work. Not only do we lose possession of the ball and gift the other team with it, we also then make ourselves run more. In the semi-final vs Panama, there was a small stretch in the game where the USMNT passed the ball around and made Panama do the chasing, but unfortunately, our own fans started booing. I feel that this shows the impatience embedded into our culture. We want to see goals, and expect to see them be as frequent as a hoop in basketball or a touchdown in football, when in reality, there aren’t all that many in a soccer game.
We need to teach our players from a young age the importance of holding onto the ball and how you don’t need to charge up the field every time you have the ball in an effort to score as quick as possible. While I know it will take time to employ this type of coaching into our system, I feel that if we do adopt a more European and South American style of play, including much more emphasis on technique, the US will one day become a world superpower in terms of the Beautiful Game.
I feel a recommendation a friend gave me is one in which we can bring this change about, which is making our young players focus entirely on football. You see all the top professionals of the game starting from a young age attend football academies where they first play football, then study. While we wait for our talents to emerge after college, and then after a few years of play thrust them into the USMNT fold in their mid to late twenties, top footballing nations give their young players experiences on the international stage, something that can’t be taught. Take for example Jack Wilshere, who after great performances for Arsenal was handed an invaluable first team cap for the Three Lions. He was learning how to play on the biggest stages as a teenager, including the UCL, EPL, and at the international level.
While building the MLS will take a while, I feel that something that can be done now is give our younger players appearances in our international friendlies. In terms of building our domestic league, the MLS, even though the league has taken strides in the past few years, there is still a very long way to go before we can compete with the European leagues. This difference in quality is demonstrated by the majority of the USMNT plying their trade abroad, many of them only making it to the smaller European leagues.
The US needs to emphasize and work on building the domestic league so it can become a pool of talent which can compete at the World Cup, or at the very least the Gold Cup. Some ideas that have come up in regards to this include building football academies modeled after those in Europe. The IMG Academy is the first of its kind in the United States, and more of them need to be created are we to develop our young players. A way in which we could carry this out is create a youth league which would consist of all the MLS clubs and their young academy players, and they would then compete with each other. This would also be beneficial to the first teams because they would then be able to pick out talents in their youth sides and call them up at a young age. Going back to our players lacking real experience, this would be another way to combat that as these players would be competing with professionals as opposed to other high school players. While this would require the American soccer organization to abandon their current structure which essentially keeps players from playing professionally until after they finish high school, and for many college, it would be hugely advantageous to the US system as a whole because it would help breed our players young and groom them into becoming champions.
Just look at the players we send to college; they come out as 23 year olds who haven’t played on the professional stage, while in contrast, Lionel Messi has already won a FIFA World Player of the Year at that same age along with a few Champions League and La Liga medals. He’s a product of the legendary La Masia, the farmhouse, which is the place where some of the world’s greatest players developed. Half of the Spain starting squad that won the World Cup attended La Masia at one point and then got moved to big clubs or were called up to Barca’s first team, including Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, and Gerar Pique and many more. Spain look like they’re only going to get stronger due to the high level of their development of young players, as demonstrated by their U21s winning the European Championships. The US needs these type of development programs and locations to become successful.
Another thing we have to watch out for in regards to the development of our players is ‘over-hyping’ them when they are young. It seems like with every new teenager that shows promise, we give them the label of being the savior of the US soccer. The perfect example is Freddy Adu. While he is nowhere near finished contributing to the USMNT as he showed in the Gold Cup, he’s been a scapegoat for the past 5 years due to his not becoming a global superstar. He’s had the huge burden of having to ‘single-handedly’ make the US a competitor on the global stage, and look at what it’s done to him. We need to realize that this (producing teenagers with talent) should become the norm, and we don’t have to dub every single one of them the LeBron James of football.
While the US still has a long way to go, in just a few decades it’s gone from being an infantile footballing nation to a quarter finalist (2002) and round of 16 (2010) World Cup side, so I have hopes that one day, the US can become a true player on the footballing stage and go on to win the World Cup.
About Ben Perkins
Tim Howard needs a good defense an example is the last goal Mexico scored in the gold cup Tim Howard was the only one trying to stop the play while his defense just stood there and watched . Another thing wrong with the us soccer system is that for kids who are good enough to play abroad or in the mls they have to got to college. But if they can’t pass a class in high school they won’t go to college and the likely hood they will turn pro Is almost zero.
WU-TANG
I don’t think that the US is terribly far behind. Landon Donovan had an outstanding loan spell on Merseyside, and Clint Dempsey has consistently shone in the Premier League for the last three seasons at the heart of Fulham’s team of overachievers. Tim Howard has been one of the Premier League’s best keepers for the last couple of years, and together the three of them constitute a core component of the USMNT’s spine.
Being Canadian, I find it hard to support any American national team regardless of sport (especially hockey), but I have been very impressed by the vast improvement of the United States and their footballing adventures. Their run in South Africa was a highlight for not just the country, but for Concacaf, too, who has had a rough 12 months. The Americans can no longer be considered small time players anymore, and Bob Bradley has been crucial to that development. What he has done with the team over the last 24 months is phenomenal and if our Canadian team could take a leaf out of his management book, we might find ourselves winning a couple of games.
I’m not sure that academies are necessarily the solution. Look at England – their top 30 players all came through the country’s elite footballing academies and at times they look like a bunch of schoolboys at Wembley. The same can be said of France and Italy, too. Perhaps the USMNT’s supporters do need an education in football (again, if they think that they’ll come close to emulating Spain, then they’re more than hopeful), as football does not tend to produce MLB, NHL, or NBA-esque scorelines for starters. Nor does the US dominate Concacaf anymore, as a young Mexico team undergoes one of its most rewarding renaissances. A new generation and type of USMNT fan is evolving and it will demand very high standards from its national representatives.
Perhaps the advantage that Spain holds over most of its international competitors is the familiarity of the players with one another. As you pointed out Ben, half the national team has come through La Masia, while the other half learnt their trade in the shadow of the Santiago Bernabeu. These players play with each other week in week out and know each other, very much like club teammates. The United States will struggle, I believe, to replicate that kind of atmosphere and mentality (as will many international teams) with the diversity of top teams in the MLS and abroad in Europe or even in South America. That won’t stop them though from reaching toward that goal of cementing their place among the top 20 footballing nations in the world.
Their runs in the last three World Cups are encouraging, and though I acknowledge that their Gold Cup defeat to neighbours Mexico was disappointing, it should be a good indicator of how far they have come along, and where they need to go as they prepare for Brazil. Best of luck in qualification!
Howard has a good starting defensive line. but there is definitely a lack of depth. as soon i saw bradley sub borristein into the game i told one of my buddies that mexico would win and sure enough the first goal scored was because of an error by borristein. if borristein is our next option at a defensice sub then i dont see us winning any games in the future
The simple fact is that the most athletic kids in the US want to play football, baseball, basketball, etc. In most other nations, the athletes want to play soccer.
A common argument that I disagree with. We also have 350 million people, which is a vastly greater population than Holland, Spain etc. I don’t believe our talent pool is thinned by the tiny percentage that play professional football, basketball etc. I believe something like 18 million US children play soccer, so it must be the way the talent is developed in the US system, not a thin talent pool. We simply don’t have the soccer culture yet.
maybe they are only playing for the money and dont really care if they win or lose. when they win its probably so they wont look bad. OR they just need more experience and more love of the sport
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot. I believe it boils down to our culture and maybe even the large size of the US. In most countries kids are playing football on their own, in the streets, here the kids never have impromptu games. In these street games will learn the first touch associated with close quarters games, gain confidence on the ball, and try moves that they would never try in a regimented practice due to the fear of failure. We definitely need more youth academies and people need to accept that college is not mandatory for all athletes. A NYtimes article examined this same issue a year or two ago and sited that in the US we tend to focus on winning, where as most international youth teams focus on developing the individual player and skills. From a motor development perspective I do believe kids should play multiple sports, but they should also play football year round. The American culture is also built around entertainment and most fans havent learned to love the slow build up involved in football, all they want is goals. In reality the better comparison is chances on goal in football compared to actual points in other sports.
If they all learn technique at an early age, then the most athletic players will shine through, but with the required ability for world-class football. It’s no secret that many players are naturally athletic.
I agree with your points, and the women’s side of the game emphasizes the huge gap between American’s technical ability and the rest of the world’s technical ability even more.
The problem is that we are a “win first” country. At young ages, parents want their kids to win every single game even if it comes at the sacrifice of developing technical ability. If the team doesn’t win, they leave and find a team that does. Also, at young ages there are naturally huge differences in body maturity from one child to the next, so the kids that are larger and faster make the rosters for elite teams because they are large and faster and win when matched up against a small player. The smaller, more technical players are told that they are not good enough/fast enough and fall into the cracks of the youth system or quit the sport entirely. As a coach that is just starting out, I have seen a few talented players be told that they are not fast enough or big enough, even though they could do wonders with the ball at their feet and had an amazing ability to read the game compared to their peers. I disagree, but I’m just starting out and have little authority so there is nothing I can do. It’s very sad when I hear that those players are not playing the game any more.
A problem is the mentality of our parents and coaches and the “win first” attitude. I’ve heard other coaches complain that there is no “soccer culture” in our area when there are kids who live and breathe the sport and spend all their free time playing. Those same coaches are the ones that tell these kids that they will never be good enough. Why they would say that to a 10 year old is beyond me. I think if we change the mentality of youth coaches and parents, then we will see improvements at the top level.
The whole “pay-to-play” club setup is another problem.
There are so many problems, it’ll be tough to reorganize the sport. I have hope that we can do it, but I think that it will take a long time.
Do you see a future in the increase of MLS youth teams?
I think that it could if the recruiting staff look for more than just physical attributes when they are looking to bring players into the program. I think teaching recruiters what to look for will take some time and we won’t see results any time soon.
Also, the MLS youth system will only work if each team gets adequate funding. If you look at the Columbus Crew youth system and how much money it gets, it dwarfs what the DC United youth system gets.
When I saw El Salvador play in the gold cup it was like deja vu; the majority of my school’s varsity team is Salvadoran including the my coach, and the layout and playing style which is to dominate possession by using simple passes and outrunning the opposition, was identical to what our team plays like. So, if the U.S. already has decent control when needed, the team just needs to rearrange it’s layout and engineer their playing style for speed and controlling possession. This means dumping the outdated long-balls, counterattacks, and possibly Bob Bradley.
When I saw El Salvador play in the gold cup it was like deja vu; the majority of my school’s varsity team is Salvadoran including my coach. The layout and playing style of the Salvadoran Team, which is to dominate possession by using simple passes and outrunning the opposition, was identical to what my team plays like. So, if the U.S. already has half-decent control when needed, the team just needs to rearrange it’s layout and engineer their playing style for speed and controlling possession. This means dumping the outdated long-balls, counterattacks, and possibly Bob Bradley.
Want to know whats wrong? American football, baseball and hockey. That’s what’s wrong.
ive experienced this first hand in regards to the U.S. youth systems selection of players for odp region teams. they always pick the big black kid who plays up top that just tries to run people over rather than the small kid that has more skill and is honestly better. hes just smaller so they dont pick him. if you are smaller in this country you already have a disadvantage when it comes to being selected or scouted. messi, robinho, aguero, iniesta, xavi, etc would never have made it hear in the u.s. as kids because for one they wouldn’t be the same players and they would also never be given the chance. a young altidore would be picked over a young robinho, aguero, or messi. and here in the u.s when it comes to center mids for some reason they prefer the ordinary ones. adu and jose torres are perfect examples. they are creative yet bob bradley prefers to play his son who has no creative instinct. trust me there are creative players with elegant technique and touch here in the u.s. they just don’t get picked. i know first hand. im one of them