# PROS AND CONS BETWEEN YOUTH SOCCER IN THE USA AND EUROPE



## Azzurri (Oct 16, 2018)

*What Are The Differences in Player Development Between Europe and America?*
Albert Puig is a former FC Barcelona Youth Technical Director and now the Assistant Coach of New York City FC. A globally respected leader in player development, Puig’s famed La Masia developed the likes of Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and Lionel Messi. Puig is the founder of APFC Courses – a program to help educate soccer coaches.

https://www.soccertoday.com/pros-and-cons-between-youth-soccer-in-the-usa-and-europe/


----------



## Azzurri (Oct 16, 2018)

*The Soccer Syndicate and North America’s scouting problem*

*https://ussoccerplayers.com/2018/10/the-soccer-syndicate-and-north-americas-scouting-problem-soccer.html/amp?__twitter_impression=true*


----------



## focomoso (Oct 17, 2018)

Haven't read the articles yet, but the biggest difference between the US and Europe when it comes to soccer is that soccer is the default sport in Europe. Everyone plays it and every kid has the opportunity to play everyday right outside their house / apartment. In the US, except for a few cities, you have to choose soccer over other sports and get driven to practice by parents who can afford the time. Until this changes, we will be at a continual disadvantage internationally.


----------



## Grace T. (Oct 17, 2018)

focomoso said:


> Haven't read the articles yet, but the biggest difference between the US and Europe when it comes to soccer is that soccer is the default sport in Europe. Everyone plays it and every kid has the opportunity to play everyday right outside their house / apartment. In the US, except for a few cities, you have to choose soccer over other sports and get driven to practice by parents who can afford the time. Until this changes, we will be at a continual disadvantage internationally.



I agree it's a difference.  It's not the only difference though.  England, for example, has a lot of competing sports and they have the same latch key kid problem that we do (it's just that soccer over there is like our basketball, which I agree makes a differences).  Two other big ones is that our system is designed to produce college players, but the academy systems in Europe are designed to produce pro players...if you are in the academy system you are in a professional track.  But the flip side of that is that they ruthlessly weed out boys from the professional track....the U.S. refuses to be that ruthless.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/06/football-biggest-issue-boys-rejected-academies


----------



## focomoso (Oct 17, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> But the flip side of that is that they ruthlessly weed out boys from the professional track....the U.S. refuses to be that ruthless.


Why would you say that? The academy system cuts huge numbers of boys every year. The number of teams reduces and the age ranges widen as they get older.


----------



## Grace T. (Oct 17, 2018)

focomoso said:


> Why would you say that? The academy system cuts huge numbers of boys every year. The number of teams reduces and the age ranges widen as they get older.


Falling off of the DA track in the US means, for most, that they'll have to look for other ways to get into college other than on a sport scholarship or using the soccer "hook" if the player chooses to stop playing and there are other teams below the DA level if the player wants to keep playing.  Falling off the Academy track in England means that if you've aged pretty far up, you are already off the college track because you haven't done the work you need to do for your A-Levels (which is why the article references that some use their football experience to go to college in the US, where they can get in using the soccer scholarship or hook).  In Europe it's even worse...Europe tracks its students and doesn't have the American notion that every kid should go to college....you get sorted out early in life to go the sports route, the dance/performing arts route, the professional route, the academic route, or the trade school route (if your parents have means and you don't like your out is having your well off parents send you to the U.S. for school).

In England, falling off the Academy track means you've torched your chosen career.  In the US, it means maybe you have to rejigger your college ambitions.


----------



## rainbow_unicorn (Oct 18, 2018)

focomoso said:


> Haven't read the articles yet, but the biggest difference between the US and Europe when it comes to soccer is that soccer is the default sport in Europe. Everyone plays it and every kid has the opportunity to play everyday right outside their house / apartment. In the US, except for a few cities, you have to choose soccer over other sports and get driven to practice by parents who can afford the time. Until this changes, we will be at a continual disadvantage internationally.


...and soccer is by far the most lucrative professional sport Europe.


----------



## LASTMAN14 (Oct 18, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> Falling off of the DA track in the US means, for most, that they'll have to look for other ways to get into college other than on a sport scholarship or using the soccer "hook" if the player chooses to stop playing and there are other teams below the DA level if the player wants to keep playing.  Falling off the Academy track in England means that if you've aged pretty far up, you are already off the college track because you haven't done the work you need to do for your A-Levels (which is why the article references that some use their football experience to go to college in the US, where they can get in using the soccer scholarship or hook).  In Europe it's even worse...Europe tracks its students and doesn't have the American notion that every kid should go to college....you get sorted out early in life to go the sports route, the dance/performing arts route, the professional route, the academic route, or the trade school route (if your parents have means and you don't like your out is having your well off parents send you to the U.S. for school).
> 
> In England, falling off the Academy track means you've torched your chosen career.  In the US, it means maybe you have to rejigger your college ambitions.


Jeremy Gunn the head coach at Stanford is a good example of a player from the UK who fell off the pro track in England and utilized his soccer prowess to come to the US and play in college. I remember playing against him and schooling us.


----------



## espola (Oct 18, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> Falling off of the DA track in the US means, for most, that they'll have to look for other ways to get into college other than on a sport scholarship or using the soccer "hook" if the player chooses to stop playing and there are other teams below the DA level if the player wants to keep playing.  Falling off the Academy track in England means that if you've aged pretty far up, you are already off the college track because you haven't done the work you need to do for your A-Levels (which is why the article references that some use their football experience to go to college in the US, where they can get in using the soccer scholarship or hook).  In Europe it's even worse...Europe tracks its students and doesn't have the American notion that every kid should go to college....you get sorted out early in life to go the sports route, the dance/performing arts route, the professional route, the academic route, or the trade school route (if your parents have means and you don't like your out is having your well off parents send you to the U.S. for school).
> 
> In England, falling off the Academy track means you've torched your chosen career.  In the US, it means maybe you have to rejigger your college ambitions.


What proportion of MLS players came up through US DA track?  Or same question for proportion of National Team?


----------



## Grace T. (Oct 18, 2018)

espola said:


> What proportion of MLS players came up through US DA track?  Or same question for proportion of National Team?


Interesting article highlighting the best of the DA:

https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/mls-top-academies-and-the-players-who-make-them/

On the other hand there's the LA Galaxy, where Jameson is really the only homegrown player getting any minutes of substance.  I think it may be a little too early to really analyze the impact of DA on our ability to grow professionals, but so far the results are mixed.  I think you also have to analyze the MLS-affiliated academies with the non-MLS affiliated academies separately, and one of the question that needs to be examined by the youth task force is whether extending DA to non-MLS clubs was a mistake and whether its further expansion should be limited.  Is the DA intended as something to develop pros, or is it intended as something to get players ready for college? 

Interestingly, both the MLS and Premiere League seem to have the same problem with academy grown players-- that they are being squeezed out and playing time limited due to the import of foreign-born players.  This has benefited the play of countries like Panama, Costa Rica, T&T enormously, but at the expense of U.S. players.


----------



## LASTMAN14 (Oct 18, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> Interesting article highlighting the best of the DA:
> 
> https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/mls-top-academies-and-the-players-who-make-them/
> 
> ...


Barcelona is funneling fewer and fewer players into the first team squad. There is a reluctance to trust with winning at stake. They are choosing to buy.


----------



## Grace T. (Oct 18, 2018)

LASTMAN14 said:


> Barcelona is funneling fewer and fewer players into the first team squad. There is a reluctance to trust with winning at stake. They are choosing to buy.


France is consolidating its academies into fewer superacademies...fewer academy players playing against the best of the best only.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/sam-wallace-french-lesson-for-academy-system-takes-a-leaf-out-of-lilleshalls-book-1794288.html


----------



## sweeperkeeper (Oct 18, 2018)

I don't think that soccer not being the default sport is a major issue.  The issue (IMHO) is that what it takes to compete at the highest level (national teams, EPL, ect) is significantly different than what soccer is structured to do.  

We have a friend with a DD competing for a spot on the national team in gymnastics.  The parents had to pull her out of traditional school in order to devote the amount of time/energy it takes to develop top tier talent.  This mentality hasn't come to soccer yet.  Even Pulisic had to leave the US to get the type of training and structure needed to get to the top levels of the sport.  To get outlying results you need outlying methods.  I highly doubt that the top talents in South America or Europe are sitting in school for 7-8 hours a day during their middle school or HS years while many of our soccer players are doing just that.


----------



## espola (Oct 18, 2018)

Grace T. said:


> Interesting article highlighting the best of the DA:
> 
> https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/mls-top-academies-and-the-players-who-make-them/
> 
> ...


Too early?  They have had 10 years to accomplish what was supposed to be a 10-year plan.


----------



## Grace T. (Oct 18, 2018)

espola said:


> Too early?  They have had 10 years to accomplish what was supposed to be a 10-year plan.



I did say "may" , but point taken, and I agree the window is closing on that rapidly.


----------



## Not_that_Serious (Oct 22, 2018)

LASTMAN14 said:


> Barcelona is funneling fewer and fewer players into the first team squad. There is a reluctance to trust with winning at stake. They are choosing to buy.


Read the Marc Bartra article: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/marc-bartra-the-day-our-lives-were-split

Ruthless. The difference is the experience they get from Barcelona Academies can lead them to soccer professions if they choose that route. Falling out of US DA doesnt hold the same clout or opportunities.


----------



## Messi>CR7 (Oct 24, 2018)

LASTMAN14 said:


> Barcelona is funneling fewer and fewer players into the first team squad. There is a reluctance to trust with winning at stake. They are choosing to buy.


That seems to be the case, but I would say Barca Academy's unreal success in the last 15 years was a generational event and impossible to duplicate.  It's hard to imagine we can have another group of short little masters (Messi, Iniesta, Xavi) of the balls all come up at the same time playing for the same club for 10+ years together.

@NTS, great read on the Bartra article.


----------



## younothat (Oct 24, 2018)

*Alex Mendez*‏  galaxy academy  & II player with the U20's has turned pro with @scfreiburg in the Bundesliga

Hearing Uly Llanez another galaxy academy & YNT player has been discussing a deal to sign with Wolfsburg

The choice is clear if you have one IMO


----------



## Not_that_Serious (Oct 24, 2018)

younothat said:


> *Alex Mendez*‏  galaxy academy  & II player with the U20's has turned pro with @scfreiburg in the Bundesliga
> 
> Hearing Uly Llanez another galaxy academy & YNT player has been discussing a deal to sign with Wolfsburg
> 
> The choice is clear if you have one IMO


Also if you see its one or two players out of these academies. Not a consistent flow of kids. A lot of kids coming in and then leaving to go other places because the system has dropped off in quality - parents also more informed and not all drinking the kool-aid.


----------

