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Post by justwatching on Aug 3, 2021 8:39:58 GMT -5
Great results for the last two major tournaments for our men. I am curious of people's opinions... does that success halt or go back to where it was in a few years if our youth soccer clubs do not commit to a full year training schedule?
My opinion is the success of the men will not last long term or continue in a positive trajectory if half a year club soccer and half a year HS soccer wins out. This applies for the girls too. You can see what used to be an enormous gap for the women is a lot closer as other countries start to invest in their women's programs and they come over to play for US college programs. Other countries do not and will not only compete Jun-Dec. at the "highest level". Not to say HS soccer is not training but it is a much different level of players and coaches in that environment. Also I think HS sports are great and develops other skillsets that kids need so I am not trying to disparage HS sports but I don't think it helps the quality of the play in the country and am curious of what the long term affect will be if we continue down that path. At what point do we see the consequences of our decisions to go down that path result in stagnant soccer progression? Or does it never happen and the 1-2% of the kids that really have the ability to compete for US National team spots and will make or break the country's national soccer success already follow a different path e.g. MLS academies, Europe, USL, etc.?
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Post by Soccerhouse on Aug 3, 2021 8:50:43 GMT -5
I don't think the men's trejectary has anything to do with high school. The problem is they constantly shrink the player pool.
They have to continue to look for the Matt Turners and Robinsons' who went to college vs the immediate pro route. Kids that didn't/don't play for MLS academies. Always search for the best players to compete for spots at every position. to me it has nothing to do with highschool. Tim Howard played midfielder (i thought it was striker) in high school and played high school hoops.
Broaden the player pool by always looking for the best players at every position regardless of where they currently play. The MLS also has to up their salary game
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Post by mightydawg on Aug 3, 2021 9:05:27 GMT -5
How many of the players that played in the Nations League tournament and the Gold Cup played DA? Is DA the source of the current "success"?
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Post by atv on Aug 3, 2021 9:40:57 GMT -5
I don't think the men's trejectary has anything to do with high school. The problem is they constantly shrink the player pool. They have to continue to look for the Matt Turners and Robinsons' who went to college vs the immediate pro route. Kids that didn't/don't play for MLS academies. Always search for the best players to compete for spots at every position. to me it has nothing to do with highschool. Tim Howard played midfielder (i thought it was striker) in high school and played high school hoops. Broaden the player pool by always looking for the best players at every position regardless of where they currently play. The MLS also has to up their salary game Key to everything is an expanded player pool … Berhalter got it right with the 2 team, expanding player pool experiment. He had the guts to do it and it paid off. Should come as no surprise the US is deeper than initially thought |
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Post by justwatching on Aug 3, 2021 9:49:53 GMT -5
How many of the players that played in the Nations League tournament and the Gold Cup played DA? Is DA the source of the current "success"? For the 23 man Gold Cup Roster based on a really quick search best I can tell is the three goalies might have played HS soccer and I think 2 field players (Robinson and Dike). All others were products of DA. |
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Post by justwatching on Aug 3, 2021 10:19:25 GMT -5
and for the 23 man Nations Cup Roster you have 5 that played Internationally as youth and everyone else was a product of DA. There were 0 players that played HS on the roster.
So of the 42 players on the two rosters (4 were on both rosters) 2 field players and 3 goalies looked to have participated in HS soccer while the others trained in DA or international environments.
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Post by mightydawg on Aug 3, 2021 10:34:01 GMT -5
If we are finally starting to see the fruits from DA, makes you wonder why U.S. Soccer cut the funding to DA.
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Post by 04gparent on Aug 3, 2021 10:38:27 GMT -5
and for the 23 man Nations Cup Roster you have 5 that played Internationally as youth and everyone else was a product of DA. There were 0 players that played HS on the roster. So of the 42 players on the two rosters (4 were on both rosters) 2 field players and 3 goalies looked to have participated in HS soccer while the others trained in DA or international environments. Thanks for doing the research... |
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Post by 04gparent on Aug 3, 2021 10:39:41 GMT -5
If we are finally starting to see the fruits from DA, makes you wonder why U.S. Soccer cut the funding to DA. It was political more than anything else. I think US Soccer wanted to get out of the girls side but knew they would catch major backlash for ending girls only. Plus they were facing a huge budget shortfall due to Covid and began to cut all non essential expenses... |
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Post by rifle on Aug 3, 2021 20:04:20 GMT -5
HS soccer is really good in a lot of places. Some HS soccer is really good in GA. DA was great because it was the undisputed top of the food chain. While it lasted. Multiple alphabet leagues does widen the pool but too many leagues also means the pool is kinda shallow. What US Soccer needs is scouts who can identify talent not just the ones who were really good at 14-15 (who often are early bloomers).
The last years success for MNT is great but the real test starts this summer and fall in WCQ. Hopefully the team continues to play like it matters
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