Is US Mens/Boys Soccer Dead or Dying

[whatithink]

This is so true. It's one of the biggest failures in our soccer development. Soccer coaches believe speed can't be taught, which is completely untrue. You won't go from slow 100m Olympic level, but you can dramatically improve speed through training. Even if kids were just taught how to improve first step, it would make a big difference.

I'm still taking soccer players in agility, which is still more important than straight line speed, although still very valuable.

There was a Ronaldo program a while back where they measured multiple skills of his. One was speed and he was up against an Olympic (Spanish I think) sprinter. Straight line, he lost, but they also did a zigzag, which he won. Combining Ronaldo was "faster". He is exceptional mind ...

 

[whatithink]

For speed, the math would be interesting and would vary depending on how good the program at the HS. If it's a good program, the WR might pull up the average to make up for the offensive and defensive linemen who tend to be heavier set. Really the overlap on the football field of athletes really are the WR, TE, QB, RB...maybe a DE.

Cornerbacks and safeties are built for soccer.

 

[whatithink]

I do think coaching is a big problem. I'm not saying all youth coaching is bad. But for a country our size, we need MORE top level coaches and we simply don't have it.


So since we are trying to field a USMNT team vs the best of the world, I'm going to discount most of that 1.5 million.

What we need is more academy teams. In London - I was talking to a coach who moved from there - there are like a dozen fully funded teams. Was talking to a different French guy and same thing - dozen or so fully funded teams in and around Paris.

And due to smaller size of the countries, these academy teams play each other all the time. Whereas in our big ass country, we get a national showcase a couple of times a year. Yes, LA Galaxy and LAFC play other MLS Next clubs but minus a couple other teams in each age group, it's really not a challenge.

But we can't force more academy teams... force more MLS teams... there needs to be a demand and we simply don't have the demand for it in the US... I've posted somewhere else but it's FARRRRR behind other sports in terms of popularity and money vs NFL NBA MLB and even behind college football and basketball...

So how does a country like Croatia have such success over such a long period with a population of just over 4M. Its pro league has 10 teams in it, and obviously its best talent plays in the top Euro leagues. What are they doing with a similar or smaller number of players and yet they can get to WC semis, finals etc.

 

[Grace T.]

So how does a country like Croatia have such success over such a long period with a population of just over 4M. Its pro league has 10 teams in it, and obviously its best talent plays in the top Euro leagues. What are they doing with a similar or smaller number of players and yet they can get to WC semis, finals etc.

It’s the intersection of the best athletes and academy theories. The country is fanatical about soccer and has a very robust free to play soccer tykes Rec program around ages 5-9. They are also an eu member so the academies from Germany, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands are prowling down there for prospects. And those academies also trust the Croatian academies which have a knack for developing talent. They don’t do it here because they can’t even if the fifa rules became more flexible due to the immigration laws.

 

[whatithink]

It’s the intersection of the best athletes and academy theories. The country is fanatical about soccer and has a very robust free to play soccer tykes Rec program around ages 5-9. They are also an eu member so the academies from Germany, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands are prowling down there for prospects. And those academies also trust the Croatian academies which have a knack for developing talent. They don’t do it here because they can’t even if the fifa rules became more flexible due to the immigration laws.

I don't know, I just checked a few of the better-known (to me) players and all of these played their youth soccer in Croatia - Modric, Livakovic (GK), Perisic, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Brozovic. Certainly, some do go abroad, but it doesn't seem to be that definitive. From my very brief reading, its seems that Dinamo Zagreb & Hajduk Split develop the talent, and they are renowned for that.

Certainly, Croatian are all in on soccer, but they are also all in on water polo! It seems to me that they have an excellent identification and then development system in place, with clubs relying on it to help them financially.