Breakdown of the Ottawa Fury friendly (what we saw of it) coming later today.
Landon Donovan wants an American for USMNT. Color me “meh” on that idea:
“Personally, I would like to see an American,” he said. “I think Americans as a general comment understand the American player better. They understand the league better. They understand the culture better. And it’s better for the development of our coaches in this country to have that experience.”
There’s value in understanding American Soccer Exceptionalism (in both its positive and negative aspects, mostly the latter). Pooh-poohing that the USMNT job has challenges – and maybe some opportunities – that are unique among countries that want to be among the global elite is closer to how we got into this problem than the Eurosnobs who espouse that opinion would care to even think about. I’m not on the side of “absolutely no Americans” (which far too many people are, for what it’s worth), but nor do I think there’s a particular point in limiting the pool of candidates on either side. If a dude is a good manager, he is a good manager. Saying he must be one thing or another – other than “successful leading the team” is pointless and counter-productive.
I also agree with Donovan that it’s also good to build toward developing American coaches for the job… not sure how “the USMNT manager must be an American” plays a huge role in that. In the grand scheme, it’s one job. Yes, it provides something to aspire to, but if a dude goes into the coaching profession if and only if he wants to be the manager of the USMNT, that’s a problem in its own right.
Youth soccer and development. There’s something to be said for youth soccer’s existing for purposes other than developing elite talent. It’s too easy to contextualize these interviews to include only that frame of reference. That said, (at least for the time being), I’m more focused on it as well, and Stars and Stripes FC’s Stephanie Yang landed an interview with US Club Soccer CEO Kevin Payne.
Payne estimates there’s about 3.5 million players affiliated with US Soccer total. “I believe that the total spending in that universe in the cost of a year is probably somewhere around $5 billion,” he said. “So the idea that there’s going to be a single payer for that or somehow we’re no longer going to be asking parents for money, it’s just crazy…. The $150 million, even if all of the $150 million was available, that’s a drop in the bucket. And it took the federation years to accumulate that.”
That’s a little bit of playing around with the money in a way that’s unfair – if $5 billion is spent by people affiliated with US Soccer, fewer of them are involved in youth/club, and even further the group that needs a subsidy or scholarship to be able to play is an even smaller subset of that.
Much farther downstream, there’s still an issue with young Americans getting time in MLS. Allocation money has made the quality of play in the league better overall, but has continued – even exacerbated – the trouble in getting youngsters onto the field. Obviously, that falls within the scope of this site, but is more a topic for the off-season (and another season of data on that playing time with be interesting. Can Atlanta keep their talented young Americans off the field this season).
Dennis te Kloese speaks. This interview is way, way too Jonathan Gonzalez-focused at this point in the process, when the far more interesting aspect should be what a Director of National Teams does (that’s the title in the Mexican federation, the United States is expected to have a “general manager” title, but the concept remains the same). That’s a major missed opportunity by Soccer America, but there are still some good tidbits in there.
We have a scouting department where currently we have a number of scouts full-time in Mexico, and three full-time scouts in the U.S. We have several departments — video analysis, technical stats — all these new technical development programs. We have a nutrition department, a medical department. A sports psychology area. Basically, I oversee the entire administrative side.
Hey, sounds like a good idea.
Barcelona rebuild. Sort of an overstatement, but hey, hyperbole is fine, right? The Ringer takes a look at this year’s Barca side and finds that a guy who had basically been tossed aside at the highest levels of soccer is a major catalyst to their success.
This year, Barcelona are more concerned with dropping back and getting into a defensive shape, rather than always immediately disrupting their opponent. The result is that while Barcelona may be conceding more shots than ever at 10.6 per game—Enrique’s squads topped out at 9.61—they’re conceding fewer shots on target at 3.22.
If you’re a tactics and/or stats nerd, read up.
Etc.: Another day, another USL D3 announcement. … The latest update on the next MLS announcement is sort of “there is no update,” though it certainly gives the impression that one is coming.
Club and Country 