No World Cup on the United States’ Horizon
Every four years, when the World Cup comes around, we are given an assessment of the progress of American soccer. For over two decades now, since we enjoyed the honor of hosting the tournament in 1990, there has been a widely held view that the level of the sport is rising on U.S. soil, and that it’s only a matter of time before we are able to compete with the superpowers of world football. Unfortunately, as many people within the U.S. Soccer Federation know, that’s simply not true. While the standing of U.S. soccer is increasing, it is doing so at a slow pace, and without much in the way of conscious structural change.
If we really want to drive the progress of our national team and national league, we need to seriously restructure the systems we have in place for the development of players. Ultimately, even though its becoming a timeworn phrase, it all comes down to youth development. For a while, statistics about increasing AYSO participation and higher TV ratings were displayed as signs of success, but we need to set the bar higher than that. The pathway from schoolboy player to elite professional is too inefficient within our current system.
In order to make changes in our development framework, we should look towards the nations that are most successful in this aspect. As a perfect example, and one that is well-known within the soccer world, consider the Netherlands. This is a country twice the size of New Jersey, home to only 16 million citizens, and yet it continuously produces many of the superstars in the elite leagues across Europe.
The famed youth development programs in this country are the key to their success. Boys are identified by scouts of professional clubs at a very young age (as young as 5 or 6 sometimes), offered spots at academies at no cost to their family, and train with highly-qualified coaches in excellent facilities for their entire career. In comparison, a star US soccer player is likely to be coached by volunteers until he enters high school, play in teams not of his peers but of mostly inferior talent, and then spend 4 of his most critical development years in NCAA competition with a very short playing season.
There are, of course, cultural differences to consider. Many Americans would hesitate at the thought of putting a 5-year-old in the hands of a professional ball club, and with good reason. There is certainly a danger of exploitation lurking if such a program is not well implemented. But in reality, kids in the Dutch academies are very well off because the club wants to invest in them for the future. That means they are not overworked for fear of injury, they are provided the best equipment and supervision, and have private tutors for schoolwork.
However, the bigger obstacle to overcome in America is the ideal of the student-athlete. Almost all of our youth development infrastructure, in all sports, is tied to academic education. This fact is so deeply embedded in our nation’s history, with some of the oldest rivalries in the country existing between universities, that we scarcely are aware of the alternative. There are certainly merits to our system, with the goal of cultivating the intellect of a person along with his or her athletic prowess, but it has serious limitations as well. Ultimately, it comes down to our collective judgement as a nation, and what we decide is best for our young athletes. If nothing changes though, I wouldn’t put much money on us reaching the World Cup finals in my lifetime.
For much more on this subject, read this excellent NY Times article by Michael Sokolove.
lazyeyesports
jaaves
Chris
dafe
Julian
