Funes Mori should be in MLS. But ...
The problem with US Soccer is not that we lack extremely talented players; we have them! There are loads of players with world class potential here. I see it every week at the youth level, and sometimes college.
The problem is we have ignorance and incompetence occupying the coaching and management positions at the higher levels.
The latest example is an 18 year-old player named Funes Mori who played with the U-18 FC Dallas academy team. Originally from Argentina, his family immigrated to the States when he was 10. In 2008, he won the “Sueno MLS” competition held in Dallas – a high profile MLS youth combine of sorts. Diaro Ole, a highly regarded publication in Argentina, reported the young player stating:
“MLS was supposed to make me a professional contract, but that never happened.”
So instead of landing back with the youth team, he packed up, jumped on a plane, and went to trial for River Plate in Argentina.
River, one of the greatest clubs in the world, debuted him on the first team this December! Last Wednesday, he started and played 83 minutes against Boca Juniors in what is one of the greatest “classicos” in world soccer. The stadium is always packed with hostile fans and the entire footballing globe tunes in to watch. What pressure for an inexperienced teenager who barely debuted several games ago …
He ended up scoring the game winner.
You see the difference? In Argentina they don’t mess around. First off, they know what talent is. Second, if you’ve got it, they throw you on the field. They don’t care if you’re a scrawny 18 year old that came from America or any other factors. No stupid bull shit or excuses! If you have it, you play; end of story!
How could US Soccer let a talent like this go? Simple. We are inundated with completely clueless morons who don’t know jack shit about the sport we love.
Exception?
If Funes Mori is an exception, it’s only because he left the country instead of having his talent go to waste here. There are tons of Funes Mori’s in the US (many better), who go unrecognized as he did. They either stop playing competitively after club because there’s no option for them afterwards, or end up rotting in some college soccer program – again unrecognized.
But what makes this story most remarkable, is that Mori was not an unknown like these other players I describe. The “decision makers” – the guys who could make something happen and make him an MLS pro – knew about him and watched him play. There’s no excuse!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing is he is not a US citizen and hasn’t been confirmed to be so US national team coaches can’t pout too much. However MLS dropped the ball on this kid big time.
Very true Jason and thanks for the comment.
This is more a direct stab at MLS (although the NT does suffer from the same stupidity). The same mistake was close to happening with Danny Mwanga, whose intention was to go overseas for trials – surely he was going to get picked up.
Although MLS had an eye on him, he was projected to be a late 2nd round pick (totally wrong!). Props to Nowak for recognizing his quality and making things happen!
When talking about the development of young players around the world as compared to the US, I like to point people to Inter’s academy website: http://giovanili.inter.it/aas/squadra?IDS=12&L=en (this is their youngest team: 8- and 9-year-olds). The main reason I do this is I know Inter has a nice website that lists all the kids and also goes into the structure of the academy program, but the reality is that almost every professional club in the world has something similar. What I’m trying to get people to understand is finding and developing young players in the rest of the world is a free enterprise that all clubs can participate in, not a hierarchical, structured, semi-governmental project like it is here. In Italy, the top youth players are trying to get noticed by Inter, Milan, Juve, etc., not ODP. Around the world, top quality 18-year-olds are making their debuts with first league teams, not waiting to make the roster of their college team.
If you’re an Italian, Argentine, Brazilian, Ghanaian, whatever, and you have serious talent, you’ll be brought into a professional environment from an extremely early age. At every step, you’ll be receiving coaching from professionals, physical training from professionals, and most importantly, you’ll be evaluated by professionals. If you’re not involved with a professional club at some level by the time you’re 16, then you know you’ll never be a pro and it’s time to consider other career options.
MLS clubs should be able to do the same. I’m a Sounders fan, and I’d love nothing better than one day see an equivalent web page on the Sounders site, showing all the rosters of their ten academy teams, and listing all of the staff that they have on hand to train and evaluate those kids. I don’t see how the US can keep up with the rest of the world until we have something similar here.
Wholeheartedly agree Carlos! This is something I at least believe US Soccer understands.
The introduction of the US Development Academy is their first crack at it – albeit exclusively at the U-16 & U-18 level for now. Most MLS teams are participating, and I’m sure Seattle will join the party soon. I applaud US Soccer for starting the process.
The biggest obstacle for success however, might be our current business model. This is a huge topic (think book length), so I’ll keep it simple. Essentially there is no incentive for youth coaches or clubs (MLS or otherwise) to develop players.
In other countries, the incentive is clear. Youth coaches are assessed in their capability of developing players for the 1st team or to the point where these players can be sold. It all translates into money for the club. If you have a bad pipeline, the club is going to be in trouble.
So, if a coach can’t produce, he’s fired. Hopefully we’ll approach it with this mentality, because as it stands now our youth coaches don’t have this accountability.
I just so happened to sit down and turn on FSC last night to hear the announcer say FUNES MORI! It immediately grabbed my attention and I was glued to the TV for next the 70 minutes.
I know several players who have participated in the Sueno MLS here in California for Chivas USA. One was a teammate of mine and one of them I coached. Both made it to the final 10 and one of them made even made it to the final 4! My teammate ended up playing on a very unsuccessful junior college for two seasons and now only plays mens league here in town. He got little to no publicity for achievements and because he is of smaller stature he wasn’t even considered for any college teams.
The player who made it to the final 4 had a very successful club season directly following the sueno MLS tryouts. He then had a standout season playing for his high school (which most top level coaches don’t give a shit about). As a last gasp effort I was emailing coaches BEGGING them to come watch him play and most turned me down and said to just send video. I was telling them that this 6′0” 160 pound goal scoring machine is DYING to play for any college level team… and they couldn’t care less. When we had finally made it our divisional semi-finals down in LA a coach finally came to watch, liked what he saw, and picked him up for his team. We had to drive 3 1/2 hours to get a coach to watch him when we are smack dab in the middle of two college “powerhouses” UCSB and CP-SLO.
As soon as he got his eventual college destination… They abused his large size and began using him as……… you guessed it…. a defender. Who gives a shit that he was a leading scorer for his silver elite club team for about 5 years in a row and set school records for goals and assists. He’s big, he can kick far, and he’s tough. DEFENDER!
This is a summarized response to several of your recent posts. I just felt like going on a rant.
P.S. I have two players who will be looking to keep training after high school season is done. Any idea which direction I should point them? There are no U18 clubs around here.
Hi John, thanks for the great post!
I share your pain man. We’re having somewhat of a similar situation with 2 of our former players. Both 18 years old. One of them just finished his freshman season with UCI and even though he received some recognition (All – American Rookie 2nd team), that doesn’t do him justice. He should have been a 1st round MLS draft pick.
Our other guy had a 6 month stint at Brugge from Belgium when 16. Came back to finish high school and then played his freshman college season at Cal State Fullerton – improperly utilized and no recognition. He just left to Creighton and will play his second season there. Much better program, but we’ll see if his true genius shines.
Both these players take a shit on every single midfielder that was in this year’s draft. And yet they are not there! We’re currently making plans to fly them out on either Spanish or Argentinean trials. We’ll see …
There are no clubs in your area? Wow! What city are you in? If there are no club or PDL options, I don’t know where else your kids can go.
I just read a story on Funes Mori in the respected Argentine newspaper Clarin. River Plate expects him to surpass Crespo who was a standout in the Argentine national team and for Inter and Chelsea.
Hi Marc. Yeah there’s quite a bit of praise going around in Argentina for the youngster. We’ll see if the potential gets realized.
The question is, of course, could he be better than Crespo if he’d stayed in MLS.
We’ll never know … but in my opinion, he would be left on the bench and hardly get playing time.
If he stayed in the MLS I don’t think that he would become better than Crespo. At least in River the level of coaching and competition would be a lot more intense. He has already scored two goals againmst Boca which automatically makes him a fan favorite. So as long as he keeps scoring he will continue to play against high level competition. I truly believe that the US should move towards the “sports club” template used in SA and EU, but I am sure that is only a fantasy.
I applaud Funes Mori for having the courage to go to Argentina, the intelligence to make such a wise choice, and for having confidence in himself. US Soccer will continue to lose great players to the rest of the world as long as we have these “morons” in charge, US Soccer. Let the flood gates open and allow the rest of the world to show us how it’s done. Maybe some of these players will come back to the US to coach and scout talent in the future. That’s if they are allowed to break the cycle of incompetence. Don’t hold your breath!
Thanks for the comment Oscar. I think you’re right, but I hope you’re wrong.