The Systemic Problem: Part Two

Yesterday, we featured Part One of our Systemic Crisis in US Soccer article. It focused on some of the happenings in the youth game. Today’s focus will be on the professional setup, which is clearly showing to be as flawed as the youth setup. 2,000 words is hardly enough to touch upon the issues which are plaguing US Soccer(and Canadian soccer—Ya’ll got issues too), however it can serve as a starting point for an open discussion where anything and everything should be on the table as it pertains to soccer discussion.

When we look at the professional and semi-professional game in the United States, there is smashing good that has come out of the last twenty years off the field. Major League Soccer is maturing in terms of number of franchises, soccer stadiums, academies are (slowly) getting started. The USL has found its footing and is increasing its footprint every year. The NPSL and PDL are healthier than they have ever been and also will only continue to grow. The NASL and USL have both announced intentions to field third divisions in the coming years, adding to the soccer depth. There is a growing push for merit based promotion and relegation in US Soccer. We are talking about how academies can improve. All good things.

Then there is the bad. MLS is over 50% foreign. The NASL is struggling to keep teams, both in the league(Ottawa,Tampa,etc…) and afloat(Fort Lauderdale)and fans coming through the turnstiles. The headway made by the Cosmos with Raul and Senna has slowed to a halt, which is not good for the NASL. The NASL needs a strong New York Cosmos brand, a superstar or two on the roster, even if they’re Raul aged. The USL is packed full of MLS reserve sides, clogging the league and preventing independent markets from latching on and further expanding the footprint. Our national team missed two Olympics and a World Cup.

Where does one even begin? The good is the good. MLS is approaching 30 franchises. The USL is almost there as well. The NPSL is producing foreign pros. Good stuff. The bad? Well, let’s start with point one, the foreign player, for it may be the most important of all of them, outside of those concerned with pro\rel, and we begin in MLS.

With Major League Soccer having a push to be one of the “top leagues in the world” we have seen an influx of foreign talent into the league. Sure, foreigners have always been here. The difference, however, is now, if you look through the lists of national teams of direct CONCACAF rivals, our leagues are flooded with national team level talent. Some may say, “Why is that bad? They’re good players! Quality leagues need good players!” The rebuttal, from this perspective, is “Why should we bring in a Honduran player from a sub standard club that has poor weight rooms, no training facilities, poor medical facilities to nurse injuries, etc… and bring him into say, Columbus Crew, with access to endless resources in the USA when we should and could be focusing on a young American player from Gahanna or Youngstown or why should Montreal Impact sign him instead of focusing on young Quebecois from Trois Rivieres or Brossard?”

We have become our own worst enemy. We have given national team level talent from direct CONCACAF rivals, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, T&T and the rest everything that most clubs in their country could only ever dream of offering to their players. We provide steady, guaranteed pay; first class weight, health and medical facilities; proper training grounds in almost every MLS market; a high standard of living; all the creature comforts a player could now desire. We have given our opponents the edge over our own players, at every club in every pro league by signing large numbers of CONCACAF national teamers. Look up the opposition national teams on Wikipedia. Look where many of them play or have played. Right here in America and Canada. We have given them the better platform to perform on and they have taken full advantage of it at all levels.

Have we sent our better players to a better platform? Are they in Europe? Are they playing in the Premier League, Championship, Bundesliga, 2 Bundesliga, Serie A, Serie B? Are they even in Denmark? Holland? Belgium? Switzerland? Hell, are they in Greece? Croatia? Poland? Russia? Not lately. The bulk of our talent is playing at home in MLS. Our best players took massive paydays to come home in the middle of their prime, taking steps down in terms of opposition level. Many have never even thought of leaving MLS. If we are importing CONCACAF talent, we need to then send our players to higher levels abroad.

The base of the article is this: The easiest way to cut off our direct CONCACAF rivals is to simply do what Liga MX does: Not sign their players.

If you analyze the foreign contingent in Mexico, they are from CONMEBOL for the by and large. They are not doing Costa Rica any favors by signing their players. If this is deliberate or not, we will never know, but it seems to be working. They’re surrounding their players with higher skill foreigners from a region Mexico does not tackle until the World Cup. Combine that with their top shelf European talent, and they sat atop the Hex in relative ease. The United States? Our leagues are packed with CONCACAF talent. Our best players are almost exclusively in MLS on DP contracts. That superior talent level in our domestic league is not necessarily there across the board. Throw in that MLS pays, on average, less per player than Liga MX. We are sitting home.

USL has found a solid footing in many markets with dedicated ownership. The MLS partnership has been great for them, but the inclusion of MLS reserve sides in the league drastically hampers its ability to reach out into the soccer landscape. USL has successfully poached several NASL teams recently, namely Ottawa, San Antonio and Tampa Bay Rowdies. These are rock solid markets that with the USL marketing plan, should continue to grow. However, many USL sides also have a reliance on CONCACAF players. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, in theory, could start up to 6 players who are national team pool players from the Caribbean, mostly from Jamaica. If they wanted to, they could feature an XI with only one spot for an American and 10 foreigners. They rarely feature such an XI, but the potential is there based on their current roster.

The NASL finds itself in an equally tricky situation. They are bleeding teams to the USL, struggling at the gate and may face further shifts of clubs in the off-season once again. Their teams have an equally global and foreign flavor to them. Yes, these leagues are trying to put their best foot forward talent wise and want to bring in some players with name recognition or a bit of a resume. All well and good, but we have done so in all of our leagues at the expense of American and Canadian talent, which is where our focus of development should be at all three leagues.

The NPSL and PDL may be sending players overseas faster than all of our professional sides combined. How much of that has to do with the fact that our professional league is clogged up with players from other countries, specifically CONCACAF rivals? Why do we not have space for young Sachem Wilson to develop at a USL or NASL club instead of in Slovenia? Why does Junior Lone Star send players off to Sweden and Finland? Shouldn’t we have a place for Anthony Allison here? I have watched plenty of soccer in my time, and these types of players are as good or better than any of the foreigners I have seen in USL.

The reliance on foreign born, non US or Canadian national team eligible talent has to be observed better. There is nothing wrong with a Panamanian or a Jamaican wanting to play at a higher level, have a better life, etc… However, with this current dilemma being right in front of our faces in US Soccer, it is time to think: Are we the place, from a soccer perspective? Yes, we are the greatest, most powerful, most free nation on earth, all are welcome in this place..Yet from a CONCACAF perspective…Do we want to give our direct rivals a leg up by having access to our setup, which is so clearly better financed and organized at the professional level than their own setup, thus giving them a competitive advantage? While we would like to see foreign born talent, maybe it is that we, like Mexico, should be signing Argentinians, Brazilians, Paraguayans, Chileans, Peruvians. Players we won’t see in World Cup Qualifying, but raise the bar instantly. More players from the Spanish Segunda. The Championship of England. Fringe Premier League players. More players from Legia Warsaw like Nemanja Nikolic. Perhaps that is the route we need to investigate for the US\Canadian setup, rather than giving our rival CONCACAF players a boost.

This may not be the answer, but it can be a part of the greater answer. The craziest part of the whole argument is this: It gets more complicated. This is the “easy” article to write. Pro\Rel? That’s a doozy… Academies? For another day. Coaching certification? Don’t start. We have to consider so many things in the USA and Canada right now, but this is the first. This series can continue, it probably will. Perhaps the focus inward for a few cycles can figure this out. Les Rouges and the Stars and Stripes need to figure it out. Sooner than later. 

The Systemic Problem, Part One

The United States has failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The dust has begun to settle, the factions have separated into their theories as to why this sporting disaster occurred. The issue appears to be the need for a massive systemic shift in American(&Canadian, because our leagues are in both countries) soccer. There are hundreds of topics that can be discussed, will be discussed and should be discussed from the flawed weekend-warrior youth setups of traveling soccer, to poorly coached church and municipal league teams, kids not simply “playing” in the yard or street or park as they do elsewhere, practice times and number of sessions for youth teams being inadequate, school-boy soccer being a total mess, high school soccer being a sprint of 18 matches inside 2 months, college being much the same, flawed academies, poor coaching education, promotion\relegation incentives for competition, and on….and on…and..You get the point. It’s a system-wide problem. 

There is only so much ink to spend at one time, so rather than go through it all in one long, annoying article, this will be a multi-day feature, broken up into several parts, outlined below:

October 12: Youth Soccer Issues

October 13: Pro Soccer Issues

The youth soccer business is one of the biggest sporting business ventures in North America, and its also one of the most flawed. Every week, millions of kids are “playing” in church, municipal and traveling leagues and tournaments. Parents have paid their dollars to sign up little Johnny Doe to knock around some ‘footy with his friends in the local church or town league, or forked over thousands for little Johnny Doe to get “training” and “exposure” from “experts” on traveling teams. Shall we analyze this? Yes. Let’s.

Church and municipal leagues can prove to be a great entry point to the game and serve as a fine youth development system in many areas, specifically rural areas where competition might be 150 miles away, if organized properly and staffed with coaches whom are dedicated to recognizing that when kids are in those situations, it is not about winning, but teaching skill, allowing creativity and focusing on the repetition of motion necessary to create a player skilled on and off the ball in the long term. Too often, these leagues are un-organized, under-staffed with volunteer coaches and too often staffed by a Dad who doesn’t know the game and just read “Soccer for Dummies” and screams “Score! Kick it! Win! Win!”. Too often, there is not enough practice time available or scheduled, and teams gather together on Saturday morning for one match a weekend, surrounded by parents equally clueless as the coaches, screaming at their children to “Kick it! Win! Win! Win or die!”

This is not just the case in the church and municipal leagues. Traveling soccer is also a part of this poison. It is well marketed as a “higher class” or “better level” of competition. It is well marketed with “Exposure tournaments” and “challenge classics”. Coaches who sat through the joke of a licensing course or played a little D3 or even a D1 and think they have done it all and still know next to nothing in most cases are out there flaunting their USSF 3.14159265(I love Pi) badge to the un-informed soccer mom or dad-who-wished-Johnny-played-football-instead. The result is thousands of dollars flushed down the drain every year by millions of parents for what amounts to one or two training sessions a week and a boatload of weekend travel with half a dozen matches bashed into a Saturday and Sunday, draining the kids mentally and physically to the point where by game..TWO…It’s a worthless endeavor for everyone but tournament organizers and profiting youth systems that are participating. Traveling soccer is just as flawed as the church and municipal system.

High school and college soccer are equally flawed. The concept of soccer being a “Fall Sport” or a “Spring Sport” is not how you develop a soccer player. Soccer is an all year sport. High schools that play in the Fall are permitted, at most, 30 days of organized practice time prior to the season in most states. The season is then a sprint of 3 games per week for 7-8 weeks, then the playoffs. In New Jersey, theoretically, if you fail to make the playoffs, this is your season: Practice starts August 15. Season starts early September. 18 games maximum allowed by the state. Fail to qualify for post season. Season over last week of October. Two months. If you qualify for the playoffs, maybe you get to a full three if you make the state final. That’ll give you maximum, in Jersey, of maybe, MAYBE, 25 or 26 games…In 3 months. Players bodies are battered by the end of the season, and injuries mount fast. Then balls are put away for 10 months. 10 MONTHS. Sure, there’s “traveling”—Which keeps battering the body with the 6 game weekends. School soccer is equally flawed  on its coaching level. It’s too long been seen as an “activity”. Coaches are often teachers. This makes them nearly impossible to remove, specifically in public schools. Some of them simply do it because of the stipend.  College is nearly exactly the same. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you get to Thanksgiving if you’re in the national final, then that’s it. Sure, there’s the NPSL and PDL, which provide another “Pray nobody gets hurt” type of summer sprint, but is that really the best way to build soccer players? It leaves quite a bit of individual time or complete shut down time. The NCAA, NAIA and the rest have to change this ASAP or we will continue to fall behind. Only so many academy players are on MLS rosters. There are thousands of college soccer players that need more practice time, more game time, all year long. We'll produce more pros that way, both at home in our leagues and overseas as well. The more players out there, the deeper the talent pool. 

The high school and college seasons needs to mirror the European pro seasons, and there is no reason it does not. Sure, people use the “multi sport athlete” phrase in high school. Soccer players need to play soccer. All year. A better format, I propose, would be, as mentioned, to follow the European or Global model. Train 4-5 times per week, play one match on weekend. Some will say “oh weather in the north”. My answer: Go the Polish, Russian, etc route. You train all of August. Season begins September, running through first week in December. Games shutdown from December until mid-March. Training indoors 2-3 times per week during the winter while allowing injuries to heal. Season begins again in March and runs until last week of May. June and July are down time or individual training time to prepare and heal for the next year.

We are not supposed to use “I” in journalism, formal historical writing, etc… but this is the type of article where personal stories seem appropriate. I played church league soccer and municipal soccer,basketball and baseball in my youth.

 Municipal baseball was a disaster. I was eight years old and attended only one practice. The coach spent 90 minutes screaming at us all to “run faster” or “dive” or “slide” and was over-the-top, in-your-face to the point that I told my father I wouldn’t be back for the game on Saturday and when I explained why, he didn’t question my decision. Baseball was ruined for me as an 8 year old. I played some in high school and got by using knuckleballs and changeups, until Point Pleasant Beach lit me and a friend of mine up for 20+ runs in a JV game.(We won…Yes..We scored over 20 runs after surrendering 20 runs and I recorded the last out on a fly ball---In right field—Where the coach put me after coughing up 10 runs in the last inning).   

The parish soccer and basketball went much better. Speaking to soccer, specifically, coaches from Kindergarten thru 8^th grade could care less who won or lost, it was more about teaching the sports and raising skill levels each year, but I believe myself and my friends were blessed with volunteer fathers that KNEW the game, truly KNEW the game. They were not former pros. Not a one held a USSF 3.14159265 license. They did, however: live, eat, sleep and breathe soccer all day, every day. My father was my coach all the way through 8^th grade. From 5^th grade forward, it was systematic from the coaches. We never focused on wins and losses. The score didn’t matter. Almost all of the teams trained 4 times a week for 120 minutes. We played once on Saturday. Practice was made enjoyable but educational. We would spent 60 minutes working on skills. Cone drills, passing, how to properly head a ball, moving off the ball, learning to communicate on the field, etc.. and the last 60 minutes would be spent in active playing, though we would be stopped to have more instruction or be corrected on errors. The man who refereed these games told the coaches that the parish games were more competitive than the traveling games he officiated. The difference in the two was perspective and coaching, he said. The fathers coaching us in the parish league made a conscious decision to say “It’s not about winning.” My father never once muttered the term “Win” or “Victory” to us. Instead it was “Communicate”, “Vision”, “Movement”. This echoed through the whole system, even if the coaches had different playing styles. One coach grew up in Scotland and employed the long ball. My father did it the Dutch way, a little bit of “Total Football”, we all knew every position. The end of the day, we all learned and came to love the game. It’s a passion that everyone I’ve kept in touch with from that league still has. The results of that collective philosophy were impressive within our age group: Out of the 80 or so kids on the teams, 60+ of us were multiple year varsity players in high school, most were 3-4 year starters, almost a dozen played college soccer and they even produced a pro out of the group. The faucet got turned off in town when they stopped coaching us after the 8^th grade and didn’t go back to a 4^th or 5^th grade level, as business lives and families began to ramp up as the fathers were climbing the NYC\NJ corporate ladder. The league hasn’t produced, to my knowledge, that depth of talent since then—Almost 20 years ago. There’s your “Lost Generation”. No USSF 3.14159265 course and traveling side can prepare you to do what those fathers did, because soccer was a lifestyle to them, and became one for many of us.    

Yes, we all want little Johnny Doe to have fun, but we also need to make sure that if little Johnny pans out long term somehow, that Johnny can compete with Jose Rodriguez from Panama who lived, ate and slept soccer the first 18 years of his life and broke into the starting XI at FC Tauro and moved to a better side outside Panama at 21 and playing for their national side by that point… All while Johnny was off knocking about at a college for 3 months a year, summering in the PDL or NPSL trying not to get hurt and then having a few beers and chasing girls at football games or frat parties in the off season.

At almost 2,000 words, the surface has not even been scratched on youth soccer. We did not discuss pay to play, access to the game in poor urban AND rural areas of the country(Everybody focuses 100% on the urban poor..Nobody focuses on the rural, and  we need to help them too, in dozens of ways, different yet the same as the urban poor—We need to help Belpre,Ohio develop players just as much as we need to help the Bronx develop talent, because you never know where the next national team star comes from--This will get its own article. I've seen soccer in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Parkersburg and Belpre are more organized than just about anyone I've seen as far as municipal and organizational soccer.)

We have to tackle the philosophical, tactical and many other coaching an development related issues issues. This could hit 100,000 words and still not be done…With youth soccer. However, this is a short take, with a personal story to it. Tomorrow, it’s the pro game that gets tackled, albeit in 2,000 words. It’s not the whole story. It is not the whole debate. It’s just the beginning. It’s simply talking points. We ALL have to change. US Soccer Federation, MLS, NASL, USL, PDL, NPSL, colleges, high schools, youth traveling sides, municipal and church teams, coaches, volunteers, parents, broadcast media, written media, fans. This is our wakeup call. It’s time to evolve US soccer again. If that means a new head at the top, a new national team coach, foreign player rules in the pro game, ownership roster philosophies in the pro game, pro\rel, whatever it may be that is a topic of discussion…We have to discuss it all. Everything should be in play right now because right now, at this moment: WE'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WE'RE NOT TOUGH ENOUGH. WE'RE NOT SMART ENOUGH. WE. MUST. CHANGE.