Comments on: Bradenton Academy Impact on USMNT: You Decide

By: Alejandro RUiz

Alejandro RUiz — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 06:40:17 +0000

Ummm.…..Torres and Jozy learned their game in the US. They just did it in immigrant communities, not in some white-bread upper-middle class dominated suburban league. Actually, that goes for Dempsey and Donovan.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:30:01 +0000

England doesn’t have a national academy and yet they are so much better than the USA. I’ve never heard of 90% of these guys. What a joke. Every English player that comes out of top clubs academy are a serious professional while these guys are mostly jokes. Even the guys I have heard of suck other than Altidore and Adu. And those two don’t do well because American coaches have no idea how to play them.

By: Earl

Earl — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:12:02 +0000

After seeing this list is it any mystery why we’re in the pickle we find ourselves in??????

By: George H

George H — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:50:21 +0000

Good post. After reading this, I couldn’t help, but think back to why negotiations between Klinsmann & USSF broke down a few years ago. It came down to him wanting to have full control of this organization which included youth development. Gulatti was not willing to give this up and I’m sure that this comes down to politics. Specifically, USSF wants to retain the ability to make appointments throughout its organization based upon the wishes of its board members as well as its major sponsors. It comes down to pure political partonage. The USSF makes a ton of dough and they want to ensure that this continues even if decisions made are not the best for the overall development of the game in this country.

I think for the most part, most countries who have tried to have this national academy have not succeeded. It’s very difficult to do, primarily for the things that have prevented it from happening here in the US.

I think that youth development is best handled at the club level where the intentions are definitely clearer. The clubs make investments in players who they think they will get the best return from.

Now as far as whether we have good enough coaches to develop players in this country, I’m not so sure. I always laugh when I see the adverts for UK Soccer camps on Setanta. Anyone who follows the game in England understands that there is a crisis in that country over being able to develop top players and a lot of that comes down to coaches not knowing how to develop the technical & tactical skills of players.

By: Jeff D.

Jeff D. — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:48:19 +0000

Jack’s comment is spot on. The technical ability that many US players posses was either learned on the youth level before Academy or somewhere else. Also LI Matt’s comment on another thread about English influence is very true also. Why for example is Michael Pankhurst not selected. Oh he’s too small. Are Iniesta and Xavi too small?

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:01:17 +0000

US Soccer should be embarrassed. I bet alot of these kids had superb potential but either didn’t get the proper technical training or were forced to run around cones one time too many. Doesn’t Raul Diaz Arce now have something to do with this USSF Academy in Florida?

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 08:39:07 +0000

I think that the youth side focuses to much on results and not enough on improving the technique and skill. I believe this because most if not all of our players who have some technical skill(Adu, Altidore, Torres) didn’t really learn the game in the US. It is amazing how few players lack the ability to find ways to beat defensive pressure. Is there a single player who you sit back and think you know without the academy in bradenton he would not be as good as he is today? We seem to overemphasize size, speed, strength instead of who knows how to actually play the game. The US has improved as a soccer nation but still has a lot of room left for improvement.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:10:58 +0000

Offensive players need to be more technical and dribble more individualism is a big plus for U.S. Soccer to grow. Landon Donovan only has speed. Young players like adu and altidore need to play freely they are the best technically dribbling the ball.

By: TTB

TTB — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:41:21 +0000

This list tells me precisely why our talent pool hasn’t gotten any deeper in ten years. We don’t develop the guys we hand pick and other talented players never get the right training or attention because they are left outside the system. It all make s sense.

By: John

John — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:25:29 +0000

Seriously about half these guys should be national team player pool members, because they were the chosen youngsters who were given allegedly the best training and best tactical coaching. Since maybe 10% of this list has been capped and few are professionals even today I think the verdict is easy to come by. No debate needed at all here.