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Top Drawer Soccer

Has the Panthers 17th in their men's rankings this week. ACC teams ranked 3 through 8, plus 13 and 17.

Is that what they use for "official" rankings meaning will there be the number 17 in front of Pitt on the ESPN3 broadcast on Friday?

Unrelated, can you link that site you saw that listed the best USMNT players by birth year? I cant find it. I'm trying to figure out who should be completely out of the team, at least for the next 2 years. I respect a guy like Michael Bradley a ton, but IMO, he's too old to be taking the spot of a younger player in friendlies. If he is playing at a high level in 2020 when qualifiers start and he can help us qualify for Qatar then I'd go back to him. Generally, I wouldn't call in anybody older than 28 right now. I'd even give a shot to young pups like Weah and Sargent.
 
My guess is that the soccer committee uses RPI even more than the basketball people do since there really is no "eye test" since the games aren't on TV.

Oh, I would think so too for tourney selection purposes.

But for the ranking next to the graphic on TV. I think they'd use the coaches poll.
 
SMF, here is your link:

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/the-missing-years-u-s-soccer-s-development-gap


Basically, here are the early-mid 90s players by year:

1990: Darlington Nagbe, Joe Corona, Brek Shea, Bill Hamid, Matt Hedges, Ethan Finlay, Miguel Ibarra
1991: Greg Garza, Kelyn Rowe, Gyasi Zardes, Steve Birnbaum
1992: Bobby Wood, Sebastian Lletget, Ventura Alvarado, Perry Kitchen, Joe Gyau, Juan Agudelo
1993: DeAndre Yedlin
1994: Jordan Morris
1995: Matt Miazga, Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola, Cristian Roldan, Lynden Gooch, Ethan Horvath, Jesse Gonzalez
1996: Emerson Hyndman
1997 and beyond: Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Jonathan Gonzalez, Josh Sargent, Justen Glad, Erik Palmer-Brown, Nick Taitague

1990 through 1994 basically suck. You get one or zero good players in all of those years. Nagbe's the best of the 90 bunch, and he's been something of a disappointment for me at the national team level. Nothing much in 91, really only Bobby Wood in 92, only Yedlin in 93, Morris in 94 and Hyndman (potentially) in 96. 95 has the potential to be good, as does the 97 and beyond group. But those early 90s guys should have been the bulk of the best players for this World Cup cycle, and it is sorely lacking.
 
SMF, here is your link:

http://americansoccernow.com/articles/the-missing-years-u-s-soccer-s-development-gap


Basically, here are the early-mid 90s players by year:

1990: Darlington Nagbe, Joe Corona, Brek Shea, Bill Hamid, Matt Hedges, Ethan Finlay, Miguel Ibarra
1991: Greg Garza, Kelyn Rowe, Gyasi Zardes, Steve Birnbaum
1992: Bobby Wood, Sebastian Lletget, Ventura Alvarado, Perry Kitchen, Joe Gyau, Juan Agudelo
1993: DeAndre Yedlin
1994: Jordan Morris
1995: Matt Miazga, Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola, Cristian Roldan, Lynden Gooch, Ethan Horvath, Jesse Gonzalez
1996: Emerson Hyndman
1997 and beyond: Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Jonathan Gonzalez, Josh Sargent, Justen Glad, Erik Palmer-Brown, Nick Taitague

1990 through 1994 basically suck. You get one or zero good players in all of those years. Nagbe's the best of the 90 bunch, and he's been something of a disappointment for me at the national team level. Nothing much in 91, really only Bobby Wood in 92, only Yedlin in 93, Morris in 94 and Hyndman (potentially) in 96. 95 has the potential to be good, as does the 97 and beyond group. But those early 90s guys should have been the bulk of the best players for this World Cup cycle, and it is sorely lacking.

Yea, more than anything, the lack of talent in that range is to blame. However, USA is still the 2nd most talented team in CONCACAF so finishing 5th, even with a lost generation is unacceptable.

I thought your link would list more players. I am interested to see what players they use going forward. If you dont count the Gold Cup (which you shouldn't), this team wont play a meaningful game until WC Qualifying starts in probably March 2020. Id play the young kids. If we're not going to the World Cup, leta use these next 8 games (2 Nov, 2 Mar, 4 June vs WC teams) to get the pups some experience.
 
Yea, more than anything, the lack of talent in that range is to blame. However, USA is still the 2nd most talented team in CONCACAF so finishing 5th, even with a lost generation is unacceptable.


I think that you could make the argument that considering players in their primes that Costa Rica is more talented, and in any event it's pretty close. But yeah, neither Honduras or Panama has more talent than even this weakened US team. And it's not even really all that close.
 
The United States need to find a better evaluation system. The development stuff is linked to the pro teams, but there is still something missing. Who is really out there evaluating and looking for players. Our country is so big, we have millions of kids playing soccer, yet this is all we can find. Klingsmann for all his warts, identified a huge lack in talent, and it continues.

The unfortunate thing, too much of this involves mommy and daddy having the funds and the right connections, instead of finding players at the age of 8-10 and grooming them like they do in Europe. Much of this is because we are too large of a country where many hidden gems are never found. We also have kids that are so talented at other sports, that if soccer were the true national sport, we'd have a larger group of talented players as well. Imagine some of these college football players who are ridiculous athletes, if they were kicking a ball instead of catching, who knows how great they'd turn out. But again, many of those kids come from tough areas where they have zero money to get into the yuppy soccer sport. America treats soccer as a yuppy sport, where Europe and Africa find kids in the slums and in between and groom them.

As much as I hate Alexi Lalas, he was absolutely correct in his assessment of the American soccer pro mentality. This all starts from removing many factors that eliminate potential players that could really develop.
 
The United States need to find a better evaluation system. The development stuff is linked to the pro teams, but there is still something missing. Who is really out there evaluating and looking for players. Our country is so big, we have millions of kids playing soccer, yet this is all we can find. Klingsmann for all his warts, identified a huge lack in talent, and it continues.

The unfortunate thing, too much of this involves mommy and daddy having the funds and the right connections, instead of finding players at the age of 8-10 and grooming them like they do in Europe. Much of this is because we are too large of a country where many hidden gems are never found. We also have kids that are so talented at other sports, that if soccer were the true national sport, we'd have a larger group of talented players as well. Imagine some of these college football players who are ridiculous athletes, if they were kicking a ball instead of catching, who knows how great they'd turn out. But again, many of those kids come from tough areas where they have zero money to get into the yuppy soccer sport. America treats soccer as a yuppy sport, where Europe and Africa find kids in the slums and in between and groom them.

As much as I hate Alexi Lalas, he was absolutely correct in his assessment of the American soccer pro mentality. This all starts from removing many factors that eliminate potential players that could really develop.

Player retention is a huge issue. Every kid starts out playing soccer and then they "graduate" to football, basketball, or baseball. US Soccer has to create some retention incentive for the local "school district clubs." For example, at the end of each season, give US Soccer a list of the Top 5 or 10 players by birth year. If half don't come back, you lose some US soccer funding. This will incent clubs to treat its better players better and to recruit them to come back out for soccer.
 
One issue is that the whole Olympic development program is fed by so called "Cup" teams. You need to have money to put your kid on a team like this. One big reason why soccer loses out on a lot of athletes. The ODP is also full of biased "coaches" whose own kids seem to make the cuts.
 
Imagine some of these college football players who are ridiculous athletes, if they were kicking a ball instead of catching, who knows how great they'd turn out.

There's no guarantee that any of them would play soccer better than the current players had they played from childhood, some would, probably most wouldn't. This idea that all the football players or basketball players would surely have been soccer stars had they played from childhood, is ridiculous.
 
Player retention is a huge issue. Every kid starts out playing soccer and then they "graduate" to football, basketball, or baseball. US Soccer has to create some retention incentive for the local "school district clubs." For example, at the end of each season, give US Soccer a list of the Top 5 or 10 players by birth year. If half don't come back, you lose some US soccer funding. This will incent clubs to treat its better players better and to recruit them to come back out for soccer.

This "school district club" isn't all over the USA, it must be a PA thing. In Maryland you can play for any club you want, they don't care what your address is. Who kids can play for has nothing to do with where they live or what school they go to.
 
There's no guarantee that any of them would play soccer better than the current players had they played from childhood, some would, probably most wouldn't. This idea that all the football players or basketball players would surely have been soccer stars had they played from childhood, is ridiculous.
When you take US sports, we have very good athletes spread across a boat load of sports. In many countries of Europe, soccer and cycling have been the primary sports for generations. It's a fact. Go to some countries and count the number of baseball fields and american football fields, you find none. Count the number of soccer fields. Europe grooms kids from the start, and it has nothing to do with mommy, daddy, or the size of the bank account.

Show me kids from the hood in the US who have excelled in soccer at the highest level? Now find kids from the hood who have excelled in basketball and football.
They don't play soccer. Which goes back to my point of we have so many great athletes who were groomed to play football, basketball, and baseball. Imagine what would have happened if soccer were accessible, cheap, and easy for those kids to get exposed to high level soccer.

It's not ridiculous, if you actually understand how soccer in Europe is developed, versus soccer in America.
 
One issue is that the whole Olympic development program is fed by so called "Cup" teams. You need to have money to put your kid on a team like this. One big reason why soccer loses out on a lot of athletes. The ODP is also full of biased "coaches" whose own kids seem to make the cuts.
While that's true, it's also true for many sports these days. Volleyball, lacrosse, baseball, hockey, wrestling. It's all pay to play.
 
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Imagine some of these college football players who are ridiculous athletes, if they were kicking a ball instead of catching, who knows how great they'd turn out.

There's no guarantee that any of them would play soccer better than the current players had they played from childhood, some would, probably most wouldn't. This idea that all the football players or basketball players would surely have been soccer stars had they played from childhood, is ridiculous.

I disagree 100% with you. Soccer in the USA has a lot of issues, and right at the top are that the VAST majority of top-tier athletes don't play soccer or quit it at a young age. Don't tell me that an athlete like Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd wouldn't have been a top-tier soccer talent if they grew up in Paris. An athlete is an athlete and athleticism in basketball and foot football translates to soccer if skills are developed at an early age.

I believe US Soccer needs to invest heavily in fully-funded inner-city academies.
 
One issue is that the whole Olympic development program is fed by so called "Cup" teams. You need to have money to put your kid on a team like this. One big reason why soccer loses out on a lot of athletes. The ODP is also full of biased "coaches" whose own kids seem to make the cuts.

Lots and lots of issues. Pay to play is a big reason why US Soccer sucks. How to eliminate this obstacle is easier said than done. People say US Soccer should pay for it. OK, but so you realize the cost of putting tens of thousands youth coaches on the payroll. Its too expensive.
 
I disagree 100% with you. Soccer in the USA has a lot of issues, and right at the top are that the VAST majority of top-tier athletes don't play soccer or quit it at a young age. Don't tell me that an athlete like Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd wouldn't have been a top-tier soccer talent if they grew up in Paris. An athlete is an athlete and athleticism in basketball and foot football translates to soccer if skills are developed at an early age.

I believe US Soccer needs to invest heavily in fully-funded inner-city academies.
Disagree with me or other poster?
 
I disagree 100% with you. Soccer in the USA has a lot of issues, and right at the top are that the VAST majority of top-tier athletes don't play soccer or quit it at a young age. Don't tell me that an athlete like Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd wouldn't have been a top-tier soccer talent if they grew up in Paris. An athlete is an athlete and athleticism in basketball and foot football translates to soccer if skills are developed at an early age.

I believe US Soccer needs to invest heavily in fully-funded inner-city academies.

I'll tell you that, and I'll tell you that LeBron James wouldn't be an all pro TE if he concentrated on football, oh he might be in the NFL, but there are no guarantees. The skill sets are different for different sports, I don't buy this stuff that NFL players would automatically have displaced all the soccer pros had they chosen soccer at a young age. Who knows? Maybe Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd might of been all WPIAL soccer and played at Slippery Rock, maybe, but there's no guarantee they'd be MLS even.
 
I disagree 100% with you. Soccer in the USA has a lot of issues, and right at the top are that the VAST majority of top-tier athletes don't play soccer or quit it at a young age. Don't tell me that an athlete like Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd wouldn't have been a top-tier soccer talent if they grew up in Paris. An athlete is an athlete and athleticism in basketball and foot football translates to soccer if skills are developed at an early age.

I believe US Soccer needs to invest heavily in fully-funded inner-city academies.

I'll tell you that, and I'll tell you that LeBron James wouldn't be an all pro TE if he concentrated on football, oh he might be in the NFL, but there are no guarantees. The skill sets are different for different sports, I don't buy this stuff that NFL players would automatically have displaced all the soccer pros had they chosen soccer at a young age. Who knows? Maybe Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd might of been all WPIAL soccer and played at Slippery Rock, maybe, but there's no guarantee they'd be MLS even.

I'm saying if they grew up in Paris where they would have played soccer against good competition every day.

Here's a rule of thumb: If you take an elite athlete and have him ONLY train for 1 sport and have him play against top-competiton, he will go very far in that sport. LeBron was 1st team all-state as a Sophomore TE. He certainly would have been one of the best TE's ever. He is a freak athlete.
 
I disagree 100% with you. Soccer in the USA has a lot of issues, and right at the top are that the VAST majority of top-tier athletes don't play soccer or quit it at a young age. Don't tell me that an athlete like Shady McCoy or Darrelle Revis or Tyler Boyd wouldn't have been a top-tier soccer talent if they grew up in Paris. An athlete is an athlete and athleticism in basketball and foot football translates to soccer if skills are developed at an early age.

I believe US Soccer needs to invest heavily in fully-funded inner-city academies.
Disagree with me or other poster?

Pitt79
 
I'm saying if they grew up in Paris where they would have played soccer against good competition every day.

Here's a rule of thumb: If you take an elite athlete and have him ONLY train for 1 sport and have him play against top-competiton, he will go very far in that sport. LeBron was 1st team all-state as a Sophomore TE. He certainly would have been one of the best TE's ever. He is a freak athlete.
That's no guarantee of anything. Best TE ever? I'd bet against it, Maybe he'd make the NFL, maybe not. A few other top college basketball power forwards, Chevy Throutmann for example, thought they could be NFL TEs and it didn't work out. LeBron is a better basketballer than them, but no guarantee he'd make the NFL. Go look at lists of kids that where all state anything as sophomores, many never made it in college let alone pros. THEORETICALLY, you have a good point, but there's no guarantee best athlete alone means they'd be best in every sport. I remember once I think it was you, saying Messi would be a hall of fame 2B if he had played baseball! WOW! That is ridiculous, there is no correlation at all between the two sports. I agree though, yes it's possible, that a great athlete in football or basketball could have been good in soccer, had he trained in that sport since childhood.... BUT, same goes for a great soccer player, It's POSSIBLE, MAYBE but nothing is 100% sure.
 
Question for you then, What if Renaldo, Messi or Wayne Rooney had grown up in Texas playing American football since age 8? Would they be pros or D1 players. Messi is small I know, but there have been small RBs and WRs etc. What if Pulisic had concentrated on American football in PA? Jozy Altidore? He's a big bruising dude who can run? Or did guys like Pulisic or Altidore only play soccer because they couldn't hack it in football as many Americans insinuate?

Or is it just the football, basketball AMERICAN sports guys that would be able to do the crossover?
 
That's no guarantee of anything. Best TE ever? I'd bet against it, Maybe he'd make the NFL, maybe not. A few other top college basketball power forwards, Chevy Throutmann for example, thought they could be NFL TEs and it didn't work out. LeBron is a better basketballer than them, but no guarantee he'd make the NFL. Go look at lists of kids that where all state anything as sophomores, many never made it in college let alone pros. THEORETICALLY, you have a good point, but there's no guarantee best athlete alone means they'd be best in every sport. I remember once I think it was you, saying Messi would be a hall of fame 2B if he had played baseball! WOW! That is ridiculous, there is no correlation at all between the two sports. I agree though, yes it's possible, that a great athlete in football or basketball could have been good in soccer, had he trained in that sport since childhood.... BUT, same goes for a great soccer player, It's POSSIBLE, MAYBE but nothing is 100% sure.
Let me break it down very simply for you.

We have millions of athletes spread across football, baseball, basketball, swimming, soccer, cross country, volleyball, golf, etc etc.
Europe has millions of athletes spread across essentially one primary sport. A 3 year old in Europe is given a soccer ball to play with, an american 3 year old is given a wiffleball set, basketball, glove, football, and soccer ball. This means the pro teams that have developmental programs can pluck kids very early on and groom them in that program. The kid is hand picked, and treated to world class training starting very early. We don't have that. We have some of our best athletes playing 3 sports, and getting groomed for 3 sports until they finally pick their best sport very late in the development.

The US will allows suffer for this very reason. Our country is too large, too spread out, too political with sports, too far behind with soccer philosophy, too focused on mommy and daddy with money (ODP is a money scam), and we don't have the structure in place yet to even come close. It is getting better with the MLS development programs, but MLS sucks compared to European leagues, which again puts us way down the pecking order.

The United States will never win the World Cup, ever. Getting out of group stage will forever be the biggest challenge. They were very lucky getting out in the last world cup, and here we are not even making a sniff of it. This falls on the US structure of development as primary problem #1. The second, is to stop the politics of soccer. Stop allowing mommy and daddy with money influence decisions. And as long as football, basketball, and baseball are primary over soccer, soccer will always suffer.
 
Question for you then, What if Renaldo, Messi or Wayne Rooney had grown up in Texas playing American football since age 8? Would they be pros or D1 players. Messi is small I know, but there have been small RBs and WRs etc. What if Pulisic had concentrated on American football in PA? Jozy Altidore? He's a big bruising dude who can run? Or did guys like Pulisic or Altidore only play soccer because they couldn't hack it in football as many Americans insinuate?

Or is it just the football, basketball AMERICAN sports guys that would be able to do the crossover?
These cats don't have the body structure for football or basketball. But I bet they'd excel at other sports that don't involve being 6 foot 7 or 250 pounds.

The US has one Pulisic, England, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Brazil, have 20 of him, and 20 more waiting in the wings. And they have programs finding those players and grooming them.
 
These cats don't have the body structure for football or basketball. But I bet they'd excel at other sports that don't involve being 6 foot 7 or 250 pounds.

The US has one Pulisic, England, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Brazil, have 20 of him, and 20 more waiting in the wings. And they have programs finding those players and grooming them.

Altidore and Renaldo are around 6-1, 190, they couldn't be DBs or WRs? Rooney is 5-10, he couldn't be a RB or WR? Actually these guys are big enough and fast enough, so why wouldn't they're superior athletic skills make them football players if they started young?

The reason I ask, is there seems to be this bias that everyone in football and basketball is superior and could easily take over soccer, but guys who dominate soccer and are great athletes could never play football?
 
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Let me break it down very simply for you.

This means the pro teams that have developmental programs can pluck kids very early on and groom them in that program. The kid is hand picked, and treated to world class training starting very early. We don't have that.

What about late bloomers, I know she's a girl, but my daughter played rec until 8th grade, then was cut trying out for travel that year, now is a starter on her high school team after growing bigger and stronger all of a sudden. And some kids identified as studs who played travel at age 10 are out of the sport at age 16.
 
Let me break it down very simply for you.

We have millions of athletes spread across football, baseball, basketball, swimming, soccer, cross country, volleyball, golf, etc etc.
Europe has millions of athletes spread across essentially one primary sport. A 3 year old in Europe is given a soccer ball to play with, an american 3 year old is given a wiffleball set, basketball, glove, football, and soccer ball. This means the pro teams that have developmental programs can pluck kids very early on and groom them in that program. The kid is hand picked, and treated to world class training starting very early. We don't have that. We have some of our best athletes playing 3 sports, and getting groomed for 3 sports until they finally pick their best sport very late in the development.

The US will allows suffer for this very reason. Our country is too large, too spread out, too political with sports, too far behind with soccer philosophy, too focused on mommy and daddy with money (ODP is a money scam), and we don't have the structure in place yet to even come close. It is getting better with the MLS development programs, but MLS sucks compared to European leagues, which again puts us way down the pecking order.

The United States will never win the World Cup, ever. Getting out of group stage will forever be the biggest challenge. They were very lucky getting out in the last world cup, and here we are not even making a sniff of it. This falls on the US structure of development as primary problem #1. The second, is to stop the politics of soccer. Stop allowing mommy and daddy with money influence decisions. And as long as football, basketball, and baseball are primary over soccer, soccer will always suffer.

One thing we do great is 3, 4 and 5 year old soccer. Kids at that age can kick a ball, but they can't hit a baseball or shoot a basketball.

Our club had two one hour sessions each week. 30 minutes of fun skill building activities and 30 minutes of a 'game'. For games, kids are split into more aggressive (better) and less aggressive (worse) groups. With the exceptions of the very best and most timid kids, they are moved around a lot from one day to the next so tbey don't figure out which is which - or that there is any difference. This also gets almost all of them a chance to be good and a chance to struggle. Games are 3 v 3 on small fields with hockey sized goals and no goalies. Score isn't kept, and it would be meaningless to do so. Most of the kids can't count. Even if they could, coaches restart play. This opportunity is used to help whatevet team or kid may be struggling. It really is a fun way for the kids to get out, have fun and learn soccer and life skills.

The only mistake that gets made, is the coaches are encouraged to hold back the best kids if they are dominating. This does send a very bad message and I am sure hurts retention of our best athletes.
 
What about late bloomers, I know she's a girl, but my daughter played rec until 8th grade, then was cut trying out for travel that year, now is a starter on her high school team after growing bigger and stronger all of a sudden. And some kids identified as studs who played travel at age 10 are out of the sport at age 16.
Selecting kids before puberty is very dangerous. Really need to have multiple paths for both late bloomers and ones that figure out at 14 their best sport is soccer.
 
Altidore and Renaldo are around 6-1, 190, they couldn't be DBs or WRs? Rooney is 5-10, he couldn't be a RB or WR? Actually these guys are big enough and fast enough, so why wouldn't they're superior athletic skills make them football players if they started young?

The reason I ask, is there seems to be this bias that everyone in football and basketball is superior and could easily take over soccer, but guys who dominate soccer and are great athletes could never play football?
Very few are talented enough to play two different sports at the highest levels. How do ai know this? How many pitchers can hit at a MLB level? Very, very few.
 
Very few are talented enough to play two different sports at the highest levels. How do ai know this? How many pitchers can hit at a MLB level? Very, very few.

This is my belief. Soccer needs athleticism, but a different kind, LeBron and LeSean McCoy are great at what they do, but who's to say they would be just as skilled or dominant if they had to play with their feet and no hands? There are different skills.
 
Selecting kids before puberty is very dangerous. Really need to have multiple paths for both late bloomers and ones that figure out at 14 their best sport is soccer.

My funniest memory to be honest was my daughter's 1st year of high school JV. I was shocked she made the team and she didn't start-I felt so confident she wasn't good enough based on past experience, I warned not to get to upset if she was cut. This one woman was bragging about her daughter, who was playing travel since age 8, she'd tell us that she had sent her to camps all over the country and had paid to have specially made professional highlight videos to send to college coaches, and would be pissed that her daughter didn't get much playing time. Then in 10th grade, this woman went ballistic and stormed the field on the last day of tryouts when her daughter was cut! WOW! It was crazy. Meanwhile, my daughter who could never even make any tryout based team until 8th grade, made the JV and now starts on the varsity, even scored a goal as a mostly defensive player this year, I bet this kind of stuff plays out all over the place with the pay to play system and the inexact science of identifying how good 8 year olds are at a sport.
 
Altidore and Renaldo are around 6-1, 190, they couldn't be DBs or WRs? Rooney is 5-10, he couldn't be a RB or WR? Actually these guys are big enough and fast enough, so why wouldn't they're superior athletic skills make them football players if they started young?

The reason I ask, is there seems to be this bias that everyone in football and basketball is superior and could easily take over soccer, but guys who dominate soccer and are great athletes could never play football?
Ronaldo is not 190, maybe the Brazilian Ronaldo was 190, maybe 250 now. Ronaldo (Portugal one) would be one hell of a DB. He has all of the physical tools, and intelligence. But let's say Ronaldo was playing football for the local youth team, and a scout sees him running the ball or playing defense. They instantly get him situated with the local club program where he plays football all day with expert coaches. He does this everyday in a controlled environment. You will get one hell of a football player.
A guy like LeBron if he only focused on being a TE, would be a top level TE. The point being, he focused on both sports and eventually settled on one. Our youth are being exposed to 3-5 sports before they settle on one, but it's too late in the development.

Europe targets kids very early, hell pro teams are signing 8 year olds and placing them in the development programs with special attention. They train all day with tactical training, skill training, physical training, and study at night. Our kids go to school for nearly 8 hours, go to soccer for 2 hours, next day go to karate, next day go to basketball practice, have a soccer game on Saturday and a swim meet on Sunday. They are spread across too many sports. Which again influences their growth in one specific sport, hence putting our kids way behind.
 
What about late bloomers, I know she's a girl, but my daughter played rec until 8th grade, then was cut trying out for travel that year, now is a starter on her high school team after growing bigger and stronger all of a sudden. And some kids identified as studs who played travel at age 10 are out of the sport at age 16.
It happens, but rarely. Will your daughter play college soccer? Will she make the US Women's U-17 national team?
 
It happens, but rarely. Will your daughter play college soccer? Will she make the US Women's U-17 national team?
Maybe, she was actually contacted by a college coach this year, CC but still pretty cool IMO. Then again, the whole purpose of all sports isn't just to develop the 20 people that end up on the national team. There should be leeway for someone to enter late, even if all they ever can be is a high school player.
 
Ronaldo is not 190, maybe the Brazilian Ronaldo was 190, maybe 250 now. Ronaldo (Portugal one) would be one hell of a DB. He has all of the physical tools, and intelligence. But let's say Ronaldo was playing football for the local youth team, and a scout sees him running the ball or playing defense. They instantly get him situated with the local club program where he plays football all day with expert coaches. He does this everyday in a controlled environment. You will get one hell of a football player.
A guy like LeBron if he only focused on being a TE, would be a top level TE. The point being, he focused on both sports and eventually settled on one. Our youth are being exposed to 3-5 sports before they settle on one, but it's too late in the development.

Europe targets kids very early, hell pro teams are signing 8 year olds and placing them in the development programs with special attention. They train all day with tactical training, skill training, physical training, and study at night. Our kids go to school for nearly 8 hours, go to soccer for 2 hours, next day go to karate, next day go to basketball practice, have a soccer game on Saturday and a swim meet on Sunday. They are spread across too many sports. Which again influences their growth in one specific sport, hence putting our kids way behind.
EPL teams sent out creepy old dudes to scout 6 year olds for their pre-academy programs. They sign them to contracts at 8.
it is a really bad idea on many levels to copy their system. First, our laws ban buying and selling children. Second, the psychological damage done to the kids kicked out at 16 is tragic. Third, England hasn't done much better than the US st World Cups.

Since we can't sell kids, we are 'stuck' with pay to play. The good news is that all sports are basically pay to play. We do well at all, but soccer so this really isn't a good excuse.
 
It is way to early to identify future greats at age 8. Many studies have shown that. One very good study showed that taking 6 grade basketball players that were starters on their 6th grade team an following their progress. By high school varsity age only 1 out of 5 were still considered to be in the top five of their age group.
My grandson lived in Germany and played German soccer for 3 years. Age 9-13. There was very little difference in the training for youth soccer in Germany than in the US except the kids grew up playing soccer on the streets and in their yards. Each little town/village had their own soccer club for which my grandson played. Each club has fields, club house etc where kids and adults hang out eating, drinking(lots of drinking) and playing soccer. From 6 year olds all the way to adults. The best story was watching my 11 year old playing with all these kids speaking German only with the coach on the sideline drinking a beer and Smoking a cigarette while coaching.
There were no 8 year olds signed to play pro soccer. Kids there played to the level that that they played to.
 
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