GO USA!!

[UCFWayne]

I agree money is key. Deandre Yedlin is the perfect example. They flashed a bunch of money in his face and he left a starting spot in a premier team in our league to go ride the bench for 2 overseas clubs so far. He's an afterthought in just 2 years of being in Europe. His development stalled, his stock dropped, but his pockets got fat as fukc. Can't say I blame him for chasing the money, but I would hope that these kids would think about what is best for them as a player and not as a person.

Now, as far as the league itself, I think the MLS is making a mistake in growing so much and in trying to mimic an economic structure by copying the NBA and the NFL. The pool isn't deep enough to spread a lot of talent around. They would be better served staying at 20 teams and having 5-10 teams be super amazing and rich while having the others suck monkey dicks, just like baseball. Have one really good team in New York, California, Texas, Florida and Seattle. Make sure those teams in those markets have a bunch of money to pay for good foreing players in their prime and to keep young, up and coming talent from leaving. When your best teams are in Oregon, Ohio, Utah, etc, it doesn't benefit the sport.

Yedlin was a starter for Sunderland last season, and they want him back. He is in talks with multiple clubs right now.

I think you are right about MLS. It will start to water down the American/Canadian talent pool in the next couple of years. That said, they can always add more international spots to help keep the play better.

I disagree with the removal of parity though. Why would anyone start following a terrible club? That just wouldnt help the league grow. I get that having some of the bigger markets be the best teams, but thats on the owners to figure out.

 

[KnighttimeJoe]

Maybe Tim Tebow should play soccer. He could probably start for Manchester United right now.

 

[jetsaholic]

Yedlin was a starter for Sunderland last season, and they want him back. He is in talks with multiple clubs right now.

I think you are right about MLS. It will start to water down the American/Canadian talent pool in the next couple of years. That said, they can always add more international spots to help keep the play better.

I disagree with the removal of parity though. Why would anyone start following a terrible club? That just wouldnt help the league grow. I get that having some of the bigger markets be the best teams, but thats on the owners to figure out.

The league will always be an afterthought compared to the leagues elsewhere. Instead of trying to compete with EPL, La Liga, etc, it should try to develop and keep the best homegrown players available.

Yedlin started 21 out of 45 games. Unless there were some injuries, which I don't know if there were or not, that's terrible for a guy that was starting every single game in Seattle. Forget the higher level of competition factor, he rode the bench for half a year. Got paid a shit ton for it, but didn't play. How is he going to improve, practice? I'm talking 'bout the game.

The MLS needs to understand that its long term success is tied to the USMNT success. In today's USA sports world, one can't survive without the other.

 

[UCFWayne]

MLS needs to focus on being the best league in North America. They need to get better than Liga MX. I think if MLS' quality can be better than Liga MX, then people will watch on a regular basis.

 

[jetsaholic]

MLS needs to focus on being the best league in North America. They need to get better than Liga MX. I think if MLS' quality can be better than Liga MX, then people will watch on a regular basis.

It won't if it keeps adding teams and diluting the talent pool.

 

[Bob the Citronaut]

It won't if it keeps adding teams and diluting the talent pool.

More teams = more money. At least theoretically.

 

[mach3ucf]

Minus the Arg. Match we looked good..
Also get a rematch vs Colombia Sat..

I would say overall we did well, just got outplayed by a team, that we went out and looked Scared, and Star Struck against.
Argentina has the best player on the planet, and a team that has so much talent that I would say the entire Argentina Bench if they were American very good chance not only would they start, but possibly be our best player..

I would say not having Wood, Jones, and Bedoya hurt, but it would not have made up the 4 goal difference..
I would say that our depth and theirs are a good solid generation apart..

We have good Players, they have Great Players..
When it comes to talent pools as of now.. Our best Athletes play 3 or 4 other sports. Then Footy. In Argentina the best Athletes play only 1 sport.. It happens to be very close to a religion.

USA is taking the right steps though! We need to continue to push towards youth development.. Bring in better youth coaches, to make our players better when they reach the national team..

GO USA, beat Colombia Sat Night!

 

[Knight_Light]

It all comes down to compensation. Kids today see NBA/MLB/NHL/NFL players making a ton of money. They dont see MLS players making money. I know most kids are more aware of the bigger European stars so there is hope some of those kids think they can make money overseas. But realistically, the base pay in MLS needs to drastically increase as well. Thats not going to happen any time soon. Thus the USMNT wont drastically increase in talent any time soon.

At least American kids today can easily watch All-World Stars in the EPL, Bundesliga and Champions/Europe Leagues every week now on multiple TV networks...something that really easily available in the USA till just a few years ago....so they know that if somehow they can be the best of the best...they could cash in...but odds of an American doing that are pretty slim.

Bottom line, for the US National Team...the best still have to play in Europe...as you can see some of the young players that have been in the EPL and Bundesliga (heck, Bundelsiga 2 ala Bobby Wood), that are developing/improving...much more so than most in the MLS (then again, many in the MLS on US National Team are towards the end of their careers).

Had this conversation just yesterday...in how MLS should go after more aging World Wide Stars (i.e. some that are 30 or older), that Americans want to see play...much more so than a 22 year old from Trinidad & Tobago or even a recent US college grad (actually, could be same person, as many international players end up at US Schools).

Challenge for US's future is that in most nation's in the world...the best of the best all-around athletes generally tilt toward soccer...whereas that's usually not the case in the US. (Then again, USA has a huge population advantage against most...so US just needs to find a few needles in their unlimited number of haystacks).

 

[Knight_Light]

I agree money is key. Deandre Yedlin is the perfect example. They flashed a bunch of money in his face and he left a starting spot in a premier team in our league to go ride the bench for 2 overseas clubs so far. He's an afterthought in just 2 years of being in Europe. His development stalled, his stock dropped, but his pockets got fat as fukc. Can't say I blame him for chasing the money, but I would hope that these kids would think about what is best for them as a player and not as a person.

Now, as far as the league itself, I think the MLS is making a mistake in growing so much and in trying to mimic an economic structure by copying the NBA and the NFL. The pool isn't deep enough to spread a lot of talent around. They would be better served staying at 20 teams and having 5-10 teams be super amazing and rich while having the others suck monkey dicks, just like baseball. Have one really good team in New York, California, Texas, Florida and Seattle. Make sure those teams in those markets have a bunch of money to pay for good foreing players in their prime and to keep young, up and coming talent from leaving. When your best teams are in Oregon, Ohio, Utah, etc, it doesn't benefit the sport.

Tottenham obviously ended up as one of the best teams in the World this past season...so odds of him finding PT there was slim...hence his loan to Sunderland AFTER the season started...as Yedlin missed all of Sunderland's camp plus the first 4-5 games of the EPL season...as Yedlin got his first start for Sunderland in their 8th EPL match of the year (they were 0-5-2 at the time) and after that, Yedlin was pretty much a regular player in their final 30 matches..where Yedlin started 22 of the 24 games he played...and now Sunderland has put in an offer to buy the full rights for Yedlin from Tottenham.

No clue if Yedlin will end up as a great player or not...but if he can stay a starter in the EPL...that will still do more for his development vs being a starter in the MLS.

 

[HuffyCane]

I don't disagree that improving the pay and competition of the domestic league would help.

I was talking pay and bonuses paid by the national teams. We are no where close to the elite teams.

We lack a training facility. Argentina has one outside BA that Jerry Jones couldn't match if he wanted to.

Small things like that are important. Everyone thinks America dominates the Olympics because of some superior American exceptionalism. Bunk. It's cold hard cash and leveraging past Olympic facilities into training grounds other countries can never afford. We also pay bribes out the wazoo but that's a different thread.

 

[HuffyCane]

Right now, we are a AAA team or the Pirates (depending on your level of optimism) without a stadium or training facilities and a small minor league system of unpaid amateurs, but we think we should beat the Yankees more often than we lose.

 

[HuffyCane]

Tottenham obviously ended up as one of the best teams in the World this past season...so odds of him finding PT there was slim...hence his loan to Sunderland AFTER the season started...as Yedlin missed all of Sunderland's camp plus the first 4-5 games of the EPL season...as Yedlin got his first start for Sunderland in their 8th EPL match of the year (they were 0-5-2 at the time) and after that, Yedlin was pretty much a regular player in their final 30 matches..where Yedlin started 22 of the 24 games he played...and now Sunderland has put in an offer to buy the full rights for Yedlin from Tottenham.

No clue if Yedlin will end up as a great player or not...but if he can stay a starter in the EPL...that will still do more for his development vs being a starter in the MLS.

This is part of the problem as well. An American mindset that Yedlin should be developing at this point in his career. Negative. The skills he is missing would have already been identified by age 16-18 in other country's development programs and he would either have them and could be working on the mental side of his game, or he would be cast aside by now.

 

[jetsaholic]

More teams = more money. At least theoretically.

That math works if you have enough talent to spread around more teams but that's not the case. Having a 30 team league (I think that's where the league wants to stop) with 5 good ones makes you less money than having 20 teams with 5 good ones.

 

[jetsaholic]

Tottenham obviously ended up as one of the best teams in the World this past season...so odds of him finding PT there was slim...hence his loan to Sunderland AFTER the season started...as Yedlin missed all of Sunderland's camp plus the first 4-5 games of the EPL season...as Yedlin got his first start for Sunderland in their 8th EPL match of the year (they were 0-5-2 at the time) and after that, Yedlin was pretty much a regular player in their final 30 matches..where Yedlin started 22 of the 24 games he played...and now Sunderland has put in an offer to buy the full rights for Yedlin from Tottenham.

No clue if Yedlin will end up as a great player or not...but if he can stay a starter in the EPL...that will still do more for his development vs being a starter in the MLS.

Yes, if he can stay a starter, it will. And apparently Yedlin is looking better than what I've given him credit for, but that didn't translate on the field for this tournament. He has no touch, can't control his speed and has no ball possession skills.

For every Yedlin, there's plenty other guys that go to the European leagues for money and end up riding the bench.

 

[jetsaholic]

This is part of the problem as well. An American mindset that Yedlin should be developing at this point in his career. Negative. The skills he is missing would have already been identified by age 16-18 in other country's development programs and he would either have them and could be working on the mental side of his game, or he would be cast aside by now.

^^This^^

My nephew did the Barcelona training camp at UCF when he was 11. When we picked him up after the first day, he told us that the coach switched him from forward, a position he had played all his life, to midfield. My brother asked the coach why he did that and he just basically said my nephew had been playing out of position all his life, that he's a midfielder and that this change will be for the better. 3 years later, my nephew ranked #3 among all midfielders at the Adidas youth world cup in Dallas.

That's the type of player development that USA Soccer lacks and, unless they do something about it, we're just always going to be an "ok" soccer country.

 

[UCFWayne]

One thing that really needs to change is the NCAA soccer schedule. They need to get that changed to a 2 semester sport. Have it start in the fall and finish in the spring. That would have a major impact on the development of the sport. Im pretty sure that Klinsmann and Gulati are working on that. They need to make a bigger push to make it happen though.

Another big step is one that Orlando City just took. The creation of their own training facility. While right now they arent building the academy yet, they at least have plans and the space to build one in the next 5 years. I know a few other MLS teams are starting to build out similar facilities. I think that once all the other MLS teams build up similar facilities, we will start to see the results we are looking for.

Of course, the biggest factor is money. USMNT and MLS need more money. I believe they are both some what tied together. MLS needs to be the initial development before they go and play overseas. Once they are are older, come on back. Yedlin is a good example of a player coming in, doing a couple years and then going overseas. I hope when hes around 30 he comes back and further helps the growth of the league.

While I know the player pool will be diluted in the next 6 years or so of expansion, MLS can do a few things to help lessen this. They can add an additional international spot per team. That would help keep play competitive while spreading out the American players to all the various new teams. MLS absolutely needs to get to around 28 teams right before the 2022 season. That is when their current TV deal is up and at that point, they need to see a significant bump. I hope the TV bubble lasts that long, but I doubt it. I just hope that the streaming services can come in and close that TV dollar gap.

MLS also needs to focus on bringing more aging stars. That is what helps bring in more eye balls. Once you get them watching, they are more likely to stay. There are so many soccer fans in America, we just need them to watch MLS on a regular basis. Make 1 of the MLS teams their second team. Even that would be a big boom to the league and their revenue.

 

[HuffyCane]

College soccer should be abolished. Teams that want to pay tuition as an employee benefit to attract a certain type of player is fine.

Sincerely,

Someone who played college soccer.

 

[Great2BAKnight2]

Adrian Heath has talked about this topic on Bianchi's show and echoes similar opinions as those mentioned. His biggest sticking point is the NCAA rules and college soccer. He mentioned how international youth players at academies train year round while the NCAA limits training to just a few months out of the year.

My own opinion is that big collegiate soccer programs should partner with MLS clubs and get rid of their NCAA programs. The MLS club's academy provides the player a paid scholarship to the partnered school while the school gets to remove a non-revenue generating sport. The player gets to train year round against more select competition (there's only 20 MLS teams so there'd only be 20 academies) while still having the ability to obtain an education if professional soccer doesn't work out. We have to find a way to break the mold while still providing the biggest incentive to go the collegiate soccer route.

 

[DuvalKnight]

We lost the match vs Argentina before it even started. The lineup Klinns put out there was one "to not lose" instead of one "to win". Pulisic and Nagbe should have been in from the start and we should have pressed and attacked Argentina vs sitting back and waiting to counter. There was a slim to none chance for us to win regardless, but that lineup was a complete crock.

 

[UCFWayne]

We lost the match vs Argentina before it even started. The lineup Klinns put out there was one "to not lose" instead of one "to win". Pulisic and Nagbe should have been in from the start and we should have pressed and attacked Argentina vs sitting back and waiting to counter. There was a slim to none chance for us to win regardless, but that lineup was a complete crock.

I agree that Nagbe and Pulisic should have started. Had they started, we still probably would have lost 4-0, but we would have had a shot on goal at least.

 

[crambone]

Lots of good thoughts here.