Klinsmann's thoughts on U.S. Soccer's present and future

In a much less eloquent way.

On another note, I will now lose another two hours of productivity. I wasn’t planning on watching Uruguay v Ghana, but now that the Dutch made it through, I have to watch. They are my “grey” horse to win it all.

Parents would be idiots for pumping money into their kids in the mere hope of getting a college scholarship. This isn’t Football with its dozens of scholarships. This is the men’s sport second most likely to get get for Title IX compliance.

Steve, how many college programs are in the state of Texas, are they up to three now?

The college system is not the problem with American soccer. There may be as many professional (including semi-pro players) in the USA as there are full ride scholarships in the sport.

over kids’ soccer in the US? Both my kids play in our town’s local league — they practice twice a week each, rarely scrimmaging, mostly drills. When my 6-year-old’s team scrimmages, we play kids-vs.-grownups on their tiny pitch. Games are once a week for both kids. My daughter’s coach played organized soccer in Iceland (I’m not sure at what level). There’s one kid (10 years old, I think) from my daughter’s team last year who is genuinely talented — excellent touch, great eye/mind for the game, terrific, calm temperament. My son had a teammate (6 or 7 year-old) who was similarly talented on his team.

What I don’t know really is the relationship between our little town’s recreational soccer program, and US Soccer. If Gulati said, “Kids need to be doing more drills, and not focusing on games,” does anyone in my kids’ league have to listen? Can Gulati call the AYSO and get them in line with hit plans? I’m sure Klinsman has tremendous ideas about how to develop talent like my kids’ teammates, but even if he got to run US Soccer, from a practical perspective what would he do to make sure that those kids don’t just end up on a traveling team, playing 50 games a year?

Also, the US has been one of the superpowers in women’s soccer for well over a decade. Is the girls’ development system different from they boys? Do we dominate simply because so few countries invest in women’s soccer at all? Is there anything to learn from the success of US women’s soccer that could be applied to the boys’ development and the men’s team?

Seriously. This issue has been talked about for years. Maybe even decades.

Not much point in pointing it out yet again.

What I want to hear is suggested solutions.

Since so many people seem to want Klinsi for the next coach, I want to hear some answers from him on how he will push fixes.

mr. klinsmann since you have such great knowledge of the american soccer world come coach our team. please! but we cant pay you fabio money im sure we can pay you a nice sum

I’ve made the same point about basketball and inner-city kids. They’re good because they play, play, play. I read a Scientific American article a few years back about learning. The article claimed virtuosos are made, not born, and that it takes roughly 1,000 hours to get good at something, more to be excellent. You can’t get that sort of playing time in our hyper-organized youth leagues. They require (and suffer from) too much parental/adult involvement, too much structure, etc. (got to schedule games, get refs, travel, yuck; it burns out the adults!) and kids just don’t get to play as much as they could, and certainly don’t get to exercise their creativity, ‘cause they’re not doing it “right.”

Here’s what I’d like to see. Scrap all those mini-Premier-League style leagues where phenoms are coddled and everyone else sits on the bench, or, the alternative AYSO model where “everyone plays” but really everyone mostly sits around. Set up safe soccer havens where kids can play pickup soccer: 4-on-4, or whatever they wish (no traveling, no league, no season, no trophies). Make some coaches and referees available if need be, but mostly let the kids pick their own teams and do their own thing. Above all, let them play, year-round if possible. It’s the only way to get good.

So basically, what i am seeing is that most of you here belueve a change is needed to our youth structure for our soccer to improve. growing up in Southern California, soccer was always around. you walk down the street, and there was always a game going on at the local field by the Hispanics in the area. if you wanted to play, you just had to say something. like someone stated earlier, that is what is needed. these hot summer days where kids are bored to near tears – kick them out of the house with a ball and take them to a park. a game may well break out with OTHER kids. creativity and passion are formed right there. but of course, since this is America and we need to add structure to just about everything, it may take another eight years before something like that becomes acceptable.

i have seen this in the other countries that i have lived in (Germany, So. Korea, France, Holand, Belgium…etc), with kids playing wiith young adults, and it’s just about playing the game. that would make soccer grow AND have our future players develop that ‘first touch’. just a thought…works here where i am from in Riverside/Moreno Valley, CA.

typing fail

Do the best athletes in America grow up playing soccer? Maybe some of them do, but not most, in my opinion. Perhaps Kobe Bryant would not have made a good soccer player. Perhaps he would. Natural ability is not everything, but no amount of training would ever have made me an elite player. The same goes for most kids.

Tthe massive popularity of other sports, the fame and fortune they bring (compared to soccer in the US) and the long and storied history of them here make soccer take the back seat.

Couple that with the legions of people in America who feel it necessary to deride the sport at every opportunity for being “un-American” (it’s too boring/the clock moves backwards/it’s all foreigners/they’re all long haired pansies diving and faking injury/etc.) and you’ve got a problem.

Maybe as generations of soccer playing kids age, that will lessen somewhat. Unfortunately at the same time, generations of soccer haters breed generations of soccer hating kids to keep up the hating.

MLS started playing in 1996, 14 years ago. We all expected that to positively impact the development of the US a soccer power. With a real professional league, we would start to get players who lived and breathed soccer at the same level as other countries.

Simultaneously, the game has soared in popularity among youth, possibly in part because almost anyone can play (although not necessarily well.) It has been popular enough among kids for long enough that some of those same kids are now old enough to be playing professionally.

But where are the USA soccer superstars?

The US national team has not broken through to the next level. Two World Cups in a row, we’ve been knocked out by a nation with about 1/10th our population, which without question must have far fewer resources and opportunity to develop players.

It’s ridiculous that the USA can not develop and field a soccer team capable of defeating the one developed and fielded by Ghana.