It’s been 5 long years of this: “It was our B-team.” “The players were tired.” “Bradley’s tactics were spot on.” “Bradley’s tactics were off.” “Bradley should try the youth.” “Onyewu never recovered from his injury.” “The ref sucks.” “We just don’t have the players.” “Give him time.” “We’re making progress.” “We beat Spain.” “We tied […]
Problems
Apparently Clint Dempsey is World Class. Who Knew?
First, let’s get something out of the way; 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 […]
The Importance Of An Identity: The 13th and 14th man.
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 […]
US U-20 World Cup Qualification Failure: Who Cares?
I’m a bit late to the U20 topic, but this is not a news outlet; it is an education outlet. In case you’re not up to speed, we lost to Guatemala and were eliminated from the U20 World Cup for the first time in 8 cycles. And as with most US Soccer failures, many across […]
Requirement For Mass Player Development
There can be no player development factory without monetary incentive. First let me be clear; without competent coaches, all the money in the world will not develop a quality player. So assuming there’s a capable coach, what makes you think he will do everything in his power to develop his pupils? And I assure you, that’s […]
Winning vs Soccer Development? Part II
This winning vs development argument always seems to revolve around technique. I discussed a bit in part I of this series how a coach can only go so far in technical development. But people talk over and over again about how our professional player’s lack of technique is the biggest problem. Again, we’re missing over […]
Is It Difficult to Identify Elite Soccer Players?
After I published the US needs a high level coach, a great discussion ensued in the comments. Today I want to focus on a particular topic that arose. Specifically, is it difficult to identify an elite player? And if so, why? The answer is quite involved, but I will offer a good starting point. At […]
Thank You Ghana! You Are The Savior of US Soccer.
For anyone who is a fan of US Soccer or has a child that aspires to big things in the sport, you should say: “Thank you Ghana”. I know I made my position clear last week, but this can’t be emphasized enough. Thank the lord the US lost to Ghana on Saturday! Or in the […]
US Soccer Development Academy: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Academy is a step in the right direction. There’s a list of things that are correct – many of which have been mentioned within the soccer community. The Good A unified national league. Virtually year-round. Extra day of training. Level competition. MLS teams involved. Better logistics for scouts. Phasing out of high-school. Abolishing crazy […]
Funes Mori: Example of US Soccer Failure
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 […]