how appropriate

Happy mad-libbing!

_______________ (Possession/4-3-3/Passing out of the back) like __________________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) would never work for a __________________ (Mid-low table Premier League/Major League Soccer/NCAA Division I) team. The __________________ (British/American/American College) game is too ____________ (Fast/Physical/Aggressive) for a ________________ (British/MLS/College) team to play like that. The only reason ______________ (F.C. Barcelona/Spain/Ajax) can play like that is because all of their players were ______________ (impoverished street kids/sons of former professionals/one-of-a kind phenoms) who spent thousands of hours playing ______________ (street football in Brazilian slums/at an inhumane brainwashing academy like La Masia/Ajax Academy). That’s how they all learn to ____________ (dive/cheat/properly control a 15 yard pass). And besides, in ____________ (British/American) culture, we value ________________ (hard work/impatience/violent mediocrity) way too much to ever teach our teams to play like that so that we could actually ____________________ (win a World Cup/win a European Championship/not struggle against third world Central American national teams).

This was an excerpt from an article at recently launched blog, Football Garden, by past 3four3 contributor Jacques Pelham. Head on over there to read the excellent context this is given.

Oh, and please ‘tweet’ or ‘like’ this post!

3four3 camp pic (12/28/11)

During the holidays we held a 4 day camp for them.

It was a pilot program really, as we have never done such a thing, but I was pleased with the turnout.

Here’s the list of attendees and some status:

1. Jose Gomez (Creighton’s #10 and currently training with Espanyol de Barcelona, Spain)
2. Jonathan Prieto (reporting Jan 18 to Seattle Sounders for preseason)
3. Bryan de la Fuente (Chivas USA)
4. Carlos Alvarez (UCONN)
5. Orr Barouch (Chicago Fire)
6. Jacob Barron (Penn State)
7. Victor Sanchez (Racing Club de Montevideo)
8. Carlos Hernandez (Santa Ana JC)
9. Ernesto Hinojosa (Cal State Bakersfield)
10. Everett Pitts (UC Irvine)
11. Cesar Zamora (Chivas USA – waived)
12. Jose Altamirano (San Diego State, former U20 NT)
13. Abraham Villon (San Diego State)
14. Richard Menjivar (Cal State Bakersfield, Seattle Sounder combine invite)
15. Andy Contreras (Rio Hondo College)
16. Danny Rogers (Barcelona Academy youth coach)
17. Tomislav Colic (La Blues, Anaheim Bolts)
18. Miguel Sanchez (Anaheim Bolts)
19. Shion Jahangiri ()
20. Marco Franco (UC Irvine)
21. Oscar Aguero (Cal State Fullerton)
22. Christian Ramirez (Concordia University)
23. Tarek Morad (UC Irvine)
24. Alex Fitchen ()
25. Ruben Gonzalez (German 4th division, former U20 NT)
26. Nick Shackelford (Saint Louis University)
27. William Lopez ()

Now that we’ve validated there are players at this level that are both interested and committed, it’s going to be full steam ahead with this effort.

Yes we have, and we should all be happy for it.

However, it’s easier going from 40% to 70%, than it is from 70% to 100%.

The first jump involves broad strokes. You know, the “common sense” stuff.

The second jump involves the details. You know, where “common sense” is no longer common.

The “what’s wrong” topic is always around and maintains a certain level of attention. Then, when our national teams flounder, the topic spikes and dominates the discussion.

And of course everyone and their mom has an opinion. Errrr … I mean verdict.

Well, the truth is nobody (at least that I know of) has mapped out all the issues we face. It’s not one, or two, or six. There’s a whole bunch of them with varying degrees of influence on each other, and on the final product that is our professional soccer player and teams.

So to get us started:

1. Poor player selection at the professional and national team level.
2. Low-level professional and national team coaching.
3. College soccer is the main pipeline to MLS.
4. No sporting accountability for college soccer coaches.
5. Shortage of powerful player agents with a credible global network.
6. European and south american clubs do not shop for players here.
7. College soccer season is short.
8. Coaching at the youth and collegiate level is pathetic.
9. Pay-to-play at the youth level filters out much, if not most, of the talent.
10. Parental influence at the youth level.
11. Coach employment and club prosperity at the youth level is overly dependent on winning records.
12. Business objectives are not aligned with player development at the youth level.
13. We have people with no real soccer DNA occupying influential positions at all levels.
14. The American soccer media, from match commentary to bloggers, lacks a rich understanding of the game.
15. Thin scouting network.
16. Unsophisticated scouts.
17. An obsession with statistics.
18. A docile fan base.
19. Logistical problems due to US geography.
20. MLS operates under a single entity structure.
21. No promotion/relegation at the pro level.
22. No significant MLS reserve league.
23. No 3rd party ownership of players allowed within MLS.
24. “Speed, strength, and power” is preferred over “technical, intelligent, and tactically rich” players.
25. “Popularity” of the sport.

Again, there is no singular answer to the “what is wrong” question. They can all be supported or rebutted with anecdotes and, in rare cases, with pretty convincing data points.

This is going to be my base – the place I’ll be referencing in an attempt to map out the pathologies that keep us down. Each one of these items needs to be thoroughly dissected on its own, and its influence on the others understood.

It’s not simple, but I like challenges! How about you?

The following is perhaps the most accepted as insurmountable.

Soccer in the Home

The scapegoat is usually of the “soccer isn’t popular” variety. Which of course implies that daddy wants to play catch with the kids; not kick the ball. And even if all those daddy’s chose to help their kids with soccer, they never played the game themselves, so what can they possibly teach them? The game just doesn’t flood the household. So by induction, our kids fall far behind the big soccer nations.

That’s pretty much the argument, right?

Well it’s a good one. Those kids are at a disadvantage.

But this neglects something. It neglects a large slice of the US population – around 15% – that does not suffer from that cultural problem.

That puts us at roughly 45 million. And even if you want to come up with reasons to chop that number down, you would still end up with a hefty pool of potential quality players. Players who were born with a soccer ball. Have daddys who played and are teaching them whatever they know. Players who don’t give a hoot about the Dodgers or the Kansas City Chiefs. Indeed, we have soccer players. A lot of them!

If the common household culture is pointed to as being insurmountable in the near term, then shouldn’t more focus be placed on the community that doesn’t have that dilemma?

We don’t need 300, or even 45 million soccer lovers, how does 10 or 5 million sound? Because we’ve got that.

hmmm...

I don’t know if real accountability for player development is possible.

What are the metrics?

• Is it how many players you place in college?
• Is it the number that get called to youth national teams?
• Is it the number of professionals you’ve touched while they were amateur?

Certainly these things are important.

But we need to be careful, because they can also be explained with reasons other than player development.

So the real problem is:

Who’s going to judge?

Thoughts? Ideas?

I think people are getting it confused. Hiring a manager who actually has a clue will not get us the World Cup final, and perhaps not the quarters this cycle either.

That is not the discussion we should be having. That is not the appropriate metric to use.

Defenders of the entourage – or those with difficulty piercing through the fog of scorelines – are stuck citing this or that result as a sign of progress. And then subsequently stuck searching to find reasons for adverse results. What escapes them are the fundamentals, and hence the capacity for seeing our trajectory.

2 Fundamental Signs of Progress

You want to take a real step forward? Well, our entire philosophy must change – from what defines a quality player to how a team should play.

That is what elite level management at the Senior and youth National Teams can begin correcting. It’s a process. How one plays, and at what club level a country’s top players play, are good indicators of the current state and future projection of a nation’s program.

If the new management can:

1. Implement a discernible style and
2. Select players of true quality who then end up actually playing at top flight clubs in the best leagues

then that’s a good measure of progress!

Once we have 2, 3, 5 Americans starting for Champion’s League level clubs, then we can say proper work has been done towards being a legitimate contender.

That is what the expectation of new management should be. That is a good and fundamental metric of success, not tying Argentina in a friendly, a fluke against Spain, or limping through to the WC round of 16, quarters, or even semis.

Adjust your mentality!

And no, results are not abandoned.  We should still expect CONCACAF dominance and getting past the WC group stage. Except that now there is a real platform from which to aspire to greatness.

It’s exhausting! You guys could fill the Library of Congress with this stuff …

The Gold Cup Final is No Exception

Let’s start by saying Bob Bradley was a genius.
* He started Freddy Adu – a Turkish 2nd division player. And guess what? Freddy had a good game. What do those lame Benfica guys know about soccer anyways? Genius!
* Not starting Donovan the last 2 matches and injecting him from the get-go here. Genius!
* Dempsey and Donovan swapping up top. Genius!
* Overall game “tactics” … GENIUS!

And rest assured there would be other proclaimed genius moves had the US held off Mexico and won the Gold Cup.

Except we didn’t. We got abused and made Giovanni dos Santos look like f’ing Messi!

So now we talk about this little incident or that little substitution. Now the coach, who remember had been a GENIUS the first 20 minutes, all of a sudden had a lobotomy?

Come on guys! Stop see-sawing after every tournament, every match, every substitution, every play.

You know you’re guilty of it. Tell me you didn’t think BB was brilliant at 2-0.

So what is it? Is the guy a quality international coach or not?

After 5 years, if you still can’t provide a black or white answer and linger in some grey zone that changes hue with every result, then your understanding of the game is suspect.

I mean really, 5 years is not enough to form a coherent, all encompassing diagnosis?

Here. I’ll help out by giving you a 3rd choice:
* Bradley is an average level coach.

Except that it’s really not another choice, is it?
If he’s average, then he’s not quality.

So what the hell are you doing supporting that! Isn’t our ultimate goal to reach the class of “contender”. To have style, to be fluid, to have a roster worth at least $100 million, to be widely respected (don’t kid yourself here). Isn’t that the goal? Project 2010 anyone?

Stop accepting mediocrity, making excuses for it, or searching for the bright side.
Start demanding quality and Storm the Bastille!

This country has the players for the product we desire. You just don’t know it.
And the federation has the resources for a quality manager, but as long as you continue to flow with the changing tide of every game, you’ll never get one.

So I guess what I’m saying here is this:
A big reason Mexico has firmly reclaimed its CONCACAF throne, is on the US Soccer apologists. It is you who give the federation just enough political capital to continue doing what it does.

3four3 gives you a thumbs up too man

Let’s get something straight right off the bat: Dempsey is a quality player. He is one of the few worthy of representing our country. He has a good touch, a good brain, and is highly valuable to his club. But World Class?

I know we want one of these badly, but people are reaching and trying to rationalize someway to place that label on one of our guys. It’s utter silliness, and borderline irresponsible.

While I’m not aware of an existing standard definition of world class (perhaps that’s something I should take on), I can say this: when a player has achieved that level, there seems to be a degree of consensus (across the entire globe) that is usually backed up with some of the heftiest price tags. These players are globally known, not just in name but in detail, and are regularly talked about – again GLO-BAL-LY. And there’s a reason why. They are SPECIAL! Clint Dempsey?

The other day this post labeled him as world class upon which I commented:

“Yeah, let’s be careful with the world class label please. To progress in the game, we need to have a solid grasp on where our team, coach, and players truly stand at the international level.”

to which they replied:

“Don’t think this is guilty of that problem, with all due respect. Ad hom attacks from other reader aside– the claim was that Dempsey is a “world class” player. To me, that means one of elite fifty or so players in the world. There’s absolutely no argument he isn’t in that category. Is he in the All-World 11– no ? Should he have been in the All EPL 11 this year- given that Fulham is relegated without him instead of finishing 8th…absolutely. We should have a firm grip– that also means recognizing when we do have something great.”

There’s so many things I could respond to here, but let’s stay on point and use their idea of world class. That is; “one of the elite fifty or so players in the world”.

Not only is there an argument against Dempsey being in that category, it’s incredibly easy not to include him.

Here’s a list of 30 EPL players alone. Which one of these guys is worse than Dempsey?

Berbatov
Tevez
van Persie
Kuyt
Malouda
Van der Vart
Drogba
Rooney
Kalou
Lampard
Maxi Rodriguez
Nasri
Torres
Nani
Arshavin
Balotelli
Toure Yaya
Vidic
Gerrard
David Silva
Alex Song
Essien
Fabregas
John Terry
Giggs
Nigel De Jong
Evra
Scholes
Ferdinand
Wilshire

Tough right? If it’s not, then we have a much bigger problem! Seriously though, which one of these guys does Dempsey displace?

Ok, now add to that the entire Real Madrid roster.
Whoopsy! What just happened? Is Dempsey out of the top 50 yet?

No? Ok, add the FC Barcelona roster.
Is he out now?

If not, we’ve got some serious delusions on our hands …

But oh well, let’s say we live in la-la land. Should I start looking at the rest of La Liga and players in the top 5 teams in Germany and Italy? How about Holland, Portugal, or France?

Is he better than all the other players in any Champions League squad?
Hmmm …

Oh wait a second, I still haven’t looked into the badasses in Brazil and Argentina!!!

Look, Clint Dempsey had a great season, but to say “there’s absolutely no argument” that he’s among the top 50 in the world is frankly ridiculous. He’s not even in the discussion.

Notice I didn’t even place Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez in the list above. Here’s a player who was first considered worthy of the Man United jersey, then goes on to become a scoring machine in his first season at barely 22 years of age – displacing Berbatov, the leagues top goal scorer from the starting 11 in both domestic and European competition. Wow!

All that, and “soccer people” would still be hard pressed to place him in the top 50 at this point! Incredible season! Incredible story! But let’s see what happens next year.

Think of it another way; if any of these guys on the list (and tons more across the globe) were American, imagine what would be said!

Let’s try an exercise.

Take one of the players you discarded from the list above. If you didn’t get rid of anybody, pick someone anyways.

Ok. You got him?

Now try to understand that player’s value. Consider the team that has contracted his services. Think of his trajectory, accomplishments, international recognition, etc … And if you are remotely capable of judging player quality, more power to you.

After you soak all that in, just try to imagine if that guy were American. Holy crap, right? We’d be bursting with pride, the likes of which have never been experienced!

That’s how far off Dempsey is. The US does not have a world class player! Not yet …

Donovan and Dempsey, the best to survive our broken system, are good. They are a cut above what’s currently in our National Team pool and what’s in MLS. They are special AMERICAN players, but not special GLOBAL players.

p.s. The cited article also stated Steve Cherundolo is world class! I don’t know guys … do you see the inertia we’re up against here?

Tiki-taka vs ???

There are factors beyond the individuality of players that shouldn’t go unrecognized. And this Champion’s League final offers a good backdrop for illustrating the point.

Barca has the support of an entire philosophy behind them. A very clear and precise way of playing that has been engrained and rehearsed over years into oblivion. It is their way of life.

Every player knows exactly their role, has zero doubts, and does not deviate from it. And while it’s obvious there are individual phenoms on the pitch, the identity is the glue that ties them together into a single organism with a single brain. It is the best and strongest adhesive.

The strength that comes from this is similar to playing at home and having the crowd be the 12th man – only far more important.

It’s why having a true team identity and a real, tangible, style of play is critical.

From Brazil’s unrivaled technical flare to Spain’s tiki-taka, the greatest and most consistent soccer powers all have a clear and unwavering style one can point to.

Can this Manchester United say the same? Does your team of choice have an obvious identity?