Highlander
SILVER ELITE
This is one of many reason I was happy to see Tyler Adams leave Leeds and the Championship. That league is brutal!!!
Spain Women and thoughts on ECNL
- Thread starter Highlander
- Start date
This is one of many reason I was happy to see Tyler Adams leave Leeds and the Championship. That league is brutal!!!
This is all that is wrong with girls soccer. This has become a sport for upper middle class parents to brag about their kids and get them into the "right" school that most of the time they could afford to send them to anyway regardless of scholarship. It is not made to develop nor discover talent.
How it should work is this: Bring back DA but make it regional and club independent. A pyramid on top of the pyramid. Region would depend on distance and density of the population. For example SOCAL region would get 5 teams, NORCAL 3 and Arizona 1 . These teams then play each other in events and tournaments. Tryouts every year to avoid complacency and to look at new talent. Have regional scouts as well attending games and tournaments looking for players and inviting them to tryout. Rotate the scouts to different regions so they don't get into particular clubs pockets and to get a fresh look at existing talent. Club politicking needs to be reduced as much as possible. The goal for the clubs should be to send the most players to DA. This will put a premium on development and not winning. Clubs would be rewarded for recruiting the best coaches not the best athletes. Make the DA free and have all the Regional DAs teach the same curriculum. DA would then teach local club coaches so all participating clubs would teach the same. In the curriculum should be age appropriate skill training requirements. I think a program like that would solve our problems.
Skip AZ. Just add another CA team.
Exactly the same result as what clubs in Europe do with a Transfer Fee.
The problem with what you're proposing is DA or whatever you want to call it this time isn't paying $$$ to lower level clubs to push up players to a higher level. Without money changing hands everything breaks down and becomes a buddy system or even worse parents start paying to get their kid pushed up to the next level.
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. ;-)
They do. They just are not selected. Are not brought into camp or into the player pool. They are there.
Last edited:
Parents chasing the win is because soccer is many things in the US besides developing pros. For a large portion, it's just little league so winning is literally everything.
theres corruption and nepotism in the European system too. The money helps but does not eliminate it. Kids of Ronaldo or zlatan get recruited on the hopes the genes pass on. The reality is though especially on the continent they start much earlier than mls next. They can thus build a soccer player from the ground up and hope they hit the genetic lottery (and if not they are always looking for prospects that can get into those open slots both at home and abroad). My son had a friend who did the trials in England…it’s much harder to break into if you aren’t in the initial crop.
the other big factor is parental motivation. In Europe the parents know this is a long shot pro not a college track. It appeals only to the Luis andres of the world who are willing to make such a gamble and have some reason to be confident in the roll.
There's a big difference between a player that doesn't work out on a national team and a player that doesn't work out at a club that just paid 100k for his/her transfer fee. This is what I'm talking about when money becomes involved at Academies.
Think of it this way...
What's the repercussions for a coach or club that recommends a u14 player to the USM/WNT and they don't pan out? The answer is nothing.
What's the repercussions for a coach or club that sells a u14 player to a higher level team via transfer fee for 100k and they don't pan out? The answer is that the higher level club will never buy from the lower level club again because they can get the same result identifying talent themself. Also because there's money on the line clubs are much more detailed in the vetting of potential talent.
No matter what it is whenever money is involved. Everything becomes more serious. Say a club like Surf had 3-4 players they were able to sell off to a higher level club. Do you really think those players would play against the crappy ECNL teams that just want to fight + take the other team out? Right now those players play in all games because the club wants wins, they've already paid for the season, and there's no immediate need to keep them healthy.
dude... seriously. We produce... have 3 on uswnt now including Ertz.
My bet is the USWNT keeps betting on bigger, faster, stronger.
Not my favorite style of play, but it can work. It helps if you actually are faster and stronger. Give caps now to the players we need developed for 2027.
soccermom74
BRONZE
In addition a player on the 07 team and a couple of 08's.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
It's not up to the players...It's US Soccer. Doesn't matter how technical/tactical players are...US Soccer has shown that they value athletic, direct, aggressive, heads down dribbling, lower IQ players from an early age. US Soccer would need to completely overhaul their approach and system of play and I don't see that happening anytime soon. We'll need to get humiliated at another 1 or 2 Olympics/World Cups for that complete overhaul to happen.
Agree x10000 on this one US Soccer is inept + doesn't know what they're doing.
Here's an example. My kids team is highly ranked locally and nationally but nobody on the team has been approached about USWNT ID sessions or anything like that. I know this is occurring at other teams that are similarly ranked and age groups. Im sure if I wanted to chase down whoever the Socal recruiter is I could generate some interest in the team/players. But, that's not my job its US Soccers responsibility to find talent. I'm sure if we changed clubs suddenly more opportunities would become available. If my kids team is experiencing this type of action from US Soccer how many other teams experience the same? How much talent is being overlooked?
Either way it doesn't matter US Soccer sucks + what they fielded in the World Cup is the result. Things won't get any better until the USWNT gets pummeled multiple times and the losses force change.
You can't make people change when they're fat and happy doing what they think works. I'm sure US Soccer views USWNT results this year as pretty good + they can't be the campions every World Cup. But when you look at the number of US soccer players compared to other countries they should be ashamed the available talent pool is 100x the size of our competitors.
I was told if I pulled my kid from the now failed GDA and the #1 club and actually supported her playing High School Soccer she would be banned and blacklisted by the assholes in charge. We have some selfish fathers that got their hands on the Holy Grail. 99% want college for their kid and getting on that U14 List is gold bro. That list goes to all the top Big U coaches and then the rest is history. Something smells rotten. I really love our country and love fair competition. We really need to get "rich dad" out of the sport. This guy pulls all the strings because he's worth millions. Pay for Play is real.
Code
GOLD
Absolutely, Free Market system results will beat a Socialized system every time.
Desert Hound
DA
I think what happens is what we are starting to see on the mens side.
Go back and look at rosters for our world cup teams over the last 30 yrs. Initially they were almost all from college teams.
Over time that started to change. And you start to see more MLS players on the rosters. Later you start to see players playing in Europe (mainly 2nd tier leagues).
And in the most recent world cup a major percentage of the team was playing with teams in the top divisions in Europe. The quality of the team was noticeably better vs years past. Much higher skill level in my opinion. Better ball movement, etc. For comparison in the most recent Gold Cup a month or so ago the roster was comprised of almost all MLS players. The quality of play was noticeably different vs the World Cup squad which consisted primarily of US players playing in Europe.
I think what we are seeing is the MLS is getting better. As it gets better, the best players are getting looks in the Euro leagues. That experience helps tremendously.
Right now it appears the best leagues for women are in Europe. As our NWSL gets better, the best talent will move to Europe and play there. In time that will help the US become better.
Great takes Hound
Nice info pull Luis
And this is the problem. The USA youth system has a women’s version of a Pirlo—the slowest player on the field. They need 2-3 players like Pirlo ( or Iniesta to name another) who is a great passer, technical player, tactical genius and reads the game so well. The USWNT wants players who can run thru a brick wall, who lack touch, and create breakaways. Until the USWNT figures this out, they will lose to the Spains and Japans of the world.
How many players from Japan would have made the USWNT roster for this World Cup? Zero.
This mirrors what I saw with Benfica when they held a camp at PLNU.
The coaches knew exactly what they were looking for + the type of player that would work in an Academy system.
There's definitely opportunity in Europe starting to happen for girls/women.
It's not just smaller clubs. It's any club that isn't in US Soccer's good graces.
That is the truth. US Soccer is lazy. If your kids stands out in the GA, NPL, ECRL or at a lower level ECNL team, US Soccer isn’t gonna watch them play….ever.
If they are good enough, put that player into the big pond and see how they do. You have to play against the best to get better.
Using SoCal as example, if your child is good enough to make the first team at Koge or Surf, then they will be seen. I‘m not as good as Luis pulling info, but the Surf website grades success based on players called up for the youth and senior national teams, professional call ups, players placed into college, and national titles…in that order.