US Soccer and a better World Cup: it's not just athletes

The top tier of sides at the World Cup are simply playing a different game than the US plays. Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands…I see them the way Spanish basketball fans probably saw the Dream Team back in 1992. The Netherlands’ first goal against Cameroon, which IIRC was a kind of 3-person passing game on the edge of the box that ended with a feed to van Persie for a right-footer between the GK’s legs…the Netherlands puts together something like that every single match, even if the shot doesn’t always go in. It was very nice, but nothing remarkable for the Oranje. If the US scored a goal that way, my jaw would hit the floor. Pure first touches, sequences of no-look passes that hit the target in stride…American players virtually never do that stuff.

It’s also noticeable on defense. When Portugal gets the ball near, or even in, their penalty area, they feel perfectly comfortable holding it or passing it to a teammate, rather than just blasting it out for a throw-in. That kind of skill from backs is one of the ways that those teams dominate possession — you get one chance to score, and if you cough the ball up, that’s it. Those guys are on the attack. Okay, maybe Portugal isn’t on the attack, but you get my point.

And he’s a pretty good athlete- but Robben is the fastest player on the pitch for that team. The USA doesn’t have horrible ball skills, but we don’t seem to make the simple passes, what’s called the “final pass.” We have had some fantastic build up play, just the final pass has eluded us.
This whole thing about “Athletic” is misleading- what makes you an exceptional athlete for football is different than for American football or Baseball (perhaps for baseball the term athlete is itself misleading- long armed fatboy is far more accurate). Some players, Luis Fabiano and Maicon are the current examples, are very athletic and that’s a big part of their game. Even a player like Tevez is considered more of an “athlete” and athletic player than Forlan, who is more of a creator/ classic #10. The definition of athlete is different. In fact, the goal of the Everton Samba Academies was to create players who maximized both athleticism and ball skills.
Americans need to recognize that the type of athlete that is optimal for football is far different than that in other sports- one of the most ideal athletes that the sport produced is Dennis Bergkamp (second fastest on the Arsenal team, fantastic touch, great measurables and intangibles), and he wouldn’t fit well into any American sport.

Heard a well respected sports-talk guy from my area saying this exact thing the other day, “The U.S. needs better athletes to go further.” I told the friend I was with that I completely disagreed and that we need better technical ability and first touches. Yes, athletes will help but we have athletes, we need to be better technically.

Good piece Steve.

Skill is a tough thing to develop, of course some people are naturally talented. The point where the gap begins to widen between US players and European, South American players is technical skills. If you watch some of the better strikers in the World Cup the reason they are so successful is they are able to literally maneuver themselves out of tough spots by outsmarting the defender and being able to outsmart them, in other words, they are mentally prepared to be two steps ahead. Now that is just one of components of being a great player, but being able to take good shots is also vital. Ball handling skills, shooting, and dribbling are where it gets tough for American players, many of these players are pushed into full games in their childhood without honing these essential skills.

Neglecting skill development is really one of the biggest reasons why we aren’t able to keep up with the Juggernauts (Brazil, Argentina, Germany, etc.)

That’s the crux of it. American youth soccer has the nasty tendency of falling into two extremes. When the kids are really young, we don’t teach them anything, simply tossing the ball out there, and a herd of kids surround it and tromp up and down the field, rarely passing, never spacing out, and learning nothing.
When a kid shows promise, many times they’ll get shuttled into “elite” programs, that travel around playing tons of games, but never get the space to experiment because their youth coaches are most concerned with wins, not overall development.
Both of these stunt the soccer brain, and both are eneimies of joga bonito.

First one is the athlete excuse. While this does come off as an excuse there is validity. The best athletes in the United States play football or basketball, not soccer.

The other problem is that this team is the first one that grew up in a revamped youth program. When I played soccer (traveling/high school) the coaches weren’t world class. The traveling coach was a parent of a player and the HS coach played in a D3 school in college. We’re finally seeing Claudio Reyna and Tab Ramos running youth programs. This will improve the future teams.

And I’d bet 3/4 of the positions on the US team are held by better athletes than the Spaniards. Look at David Villa. Athlete? Nah. But he can sure finish. Iniesta? Shrimp! But he’ll slice open a defense like a can-opener opens a can. Xavi? ditto. And so on. So they were able to starve Portugal of the ball and make their lead stand. It was a masterful display of skill, not athleticism.

This is thanks to the “soccer brain” Mr. Davis is talking about, and it comes from skills honed over thousands of hours. Leo Messi thinks so fast the rest of the players might as well be practice cones.

I think the problem we have is that we have a hyper-organized “development” system where playing and winning games and being an “athlete” are at a premium. But when you play in organized leagues you don’t get much touch on the ball, or much latitude to experiment with creativity. The first time someone attempts a cheeky backheel that results on loss of possession the coach will yell at or bench the player.

Kids need to play. They need to play often and without much adult interference or imposed structure. When I lived in Brazil we would go out and play, not an adult in sight. 3 on 3, 4 on 4, and so on. Those who were full of themselves would try all kinds of outrageous stuff. Even those of us who weren’t that good got a lot of ball-time. That’s why Brazil is so good. And Argentina. And Spain. Kids get to play a lot. Incidentally I think this is what happens with basketball in the inner cities. Lots and lots of play time. It’s not that white men can’t jump, it’s that black kids play a lot

I put my 4 year old in kiddie kick here in MD, and I got some one on one time with the guy who ran it one day and he simply stated that practice is the answer. Most of the time the kids were out there practicing with the ball at their feet, and there was very little actual game time (a short match at the end of every session). Training is where its at for kids and as everyone above has said, once a kid is any good, hes jumped up to where they play too many games and theres not enough practice time.

When I was a soccer playing kid, (80s) there was no professional soccer league and I had a dim awareness of foreign leagues. Now I see school groups walking by (a lot, live near DC) and I see the kids with Brazil, Italian, Barcelona etc. jerseys. Kids are now aware of the big leagues, aware of their own MLS and know that there is money to be made in soccer. This will make a difference.

That’s what we need more of. More D’s.

And the biggest D we were missing DEFENSE!

I wish the US fans could have gotten the “DE-FENSE” chat going, but to be fair, the other team would have already socred after the US turned it over by the time any chant could start.