Youth Mexican National Team

Eusebio said:
Actually reminds me of about 80% of the goals that are scored at the youth level between the ages of 9 - 12 where the keepers get swallowed in oversized goals.

It's also why you often see "superstar" 11 year-olds scoring goals left and right, but these same goal-scoring machines seem to disappear around 15-17 years-old. So many of the U-Little goal-scorers are predicated on launching the ball in that 18-36 inch space between the keeper's reach and the cross-bar. It's good for winning U-Little trophies, but it's useless for developing or identifying goal-scorers for the latter age groups. Just looking at the video posted above, at the Senior level 90% of the goals would have been stopped on the men's side by a 6'5" keeper. On the women's side, at least 70-80% of those goals would have been stopped by a 5'10" keeper.

I'm not picking on those girls from the Asian tournament, that's just a 10 goal sample that someone selected for a highlight video. It may not be fully representative of all the types of goals that were scored. But as parents on this forum, we have all seen a ton of goals just like that at the U-Little level and it's doing our boys and girls a disservice. They really need to shrink the goals for U-Littles. I'd shrink the cross-bar so an average height 10 year-old could touch the cross-bar, and then exaggerate the width a bit. Encourage players to actually aim for corners and keep the shots low instead of just launching balls like field goals anywhere in the vicinity. And for heaven's sake hopefully stop players from taking shots off kick-off.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe in one of US Soccer's mandates it was to have smaller goals. But it seems like it was more of a loose guideline because I still see 10-11 year-olds playing in oversized goals occasionally. I know it's expensive for clubs/facilities to get new goals, but any legitimate club should outfit their fields with proper sized goals. And people wonder why the US can't produce world-class goal scorers. Unless US Soccer has a hard mandate on goal size (after an appropriate transition period), then it'll continue to be a mess and we won't properly identify and develop goal scorers. The 10 year-old that's actually willing and able to shoot towards corners, but lacks the kicking power is often thrown back at defense or on the bench. Yet the 10 year-old who has almost zero accuracy but can shot from near half-field, that's the one that plays full-time at center-mid under our current system. By the time the system course-corrects, 5-6 years have gone-by and the first kid missed out on years to develop as an attacking player. Second kid has 5-6 years of bad habits. Neither kid is developed anywhere close to their full potential. US Youth development in a nutshell.
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That's why futsal is so great. Small goals. Ball on the floor. Skill based.
 
Eusebio said:
Actually reminds me of about 80% of the goals that are scored at the youth level between the ages of 9 - 12 where the keepers get swallowed in oversized goals.

It's also why you often see "superstar" 11 year-olds scoring goals left and right, but these same goal-scoring machines seem to disappear around 15-17 years-old. So many of the U-Little goal-scorers are predicated on launching the ball in that 18-36 inch space between the keeper's reach and the cross-bar. It's good for winning U-Little trophies, but it's useless for developing or identifying goal-scorers for the latter age groups. Just looking at the video posted above, at the Senior level 90% of the goals would have been stopped on the men's side by a 6'5" keeper. On the women's side, at least 70-80% of those goals would have been stopped by a 5'10" keeper.

I'm not picking on those girls from the Asian tournament, that's just a 10 goal sample that someone selected for a highlight video. It may not be fully representative of all the types of goals that were scored. But as parents on this forum, we have all seen a ton of goals just like that at the U-Little level and it's doing our boys and girls a disservice. They really need to shrink the goals for U-Littles. I'd shrink the cross-bar so an average height 10 year-old could touch the cross-bar, and then exaggerate the width a bit. Encourage players to actually aim for corners and keep the shots low instead of just launching balls like field goals anywhere in the vicinity. And for heaven's sake hopefully stop players from taking shots off kick-off.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe in one of US Soccer's mandates it was to have smaller goals. But it seems like it was more of a loose guideline because I still see 10-11 year-olds playing in oversized goals occasionally. I know it's expensive for clubs/facilities to get new goals, but any legitimate club should outfit their fields with proper sized goals. And people wonder why the US can't produce world-class goal scorers. Unless US Soccer has a hard mandate on goal size (after an appropriate transition period), then it'll continue to be a mess and we won't properly identify and develop goal scorers. The 10 year-old that's actually willing and able to shoot towards corners, but lacks the kicking power is often thrown back at defense or on the bench. Yet the 10 year-old who has almost zero accuracy but can shot from near half-field, that's the one that plays full-time at center-mid under our current system. By the time the system course-corrects, 5-6 years have gone-by and the first kid missed out on years to develop as an attacking player. Second kid has 5-6 years of bad habits. Neither kid is developed anywhere close to their full potential. US Youth development in a nutshell.
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My daughter tends to shoot AT the keeper. Pisses me off.
 
Sheriff Joe said:
My daughter tends to shoot AT the keeper. Pisses me off.
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Tell your daughter to aim with her hips.

I told my daughter she would get a reward if she got a shot on goal that's toward the corners and not at the keeper. She gave me a look and said, "That's basically a goal...." And I said, "Exactly".
 
Missing school is tough but if your child is called up for the US or Mexico national team, this would give them more exposure to college scholarships (assuming that's their goal).
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
Missing school is tough but if your child is called up for the US or Mexico national team, this would give them more exposure to college scholarships (assuming that's their goal).
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What if they are already committed to a college or attending one? Some kids love to miss school, and some it's like pulling teeth to get them to miss a day let alone a week. I always suggest that my player goes when she is called in but she is a science major and I understand why she doesn't want to miss a chemistry test. The one thing that I have working for me is that her coach usually insists that she goes (unless she is injured).

It is a honor to get called into a camp but truly only about 2-6 players per birth year in the entire US gets called into a full WNT camp and maybe 2-3 per birth year that will see a US Soccer contract. A kid has a much better chance of succeeding with her brain. I'm okay with chasing the dream but a kid should have a plan "B" (or in my house a plan "A" because soccer is plan "B"). Good luck to you and your player.
 
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