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En Route: What Is The American Style Of Play?
A look at the youth coaches' influence.
Jul 27, 2010 8:09:00 PM
By J.R. Eskilson
Since the USA has emerged as a respectable team on the international stage, other teams have started wondering, "What is their style of play?" The English have route one, the Dutch used to have total football, Brazil used to have ‘Joga Bonito’, etc. So where does USA fall in the spectrum of playing styles?
National team coach Bob Bradley has used a 4-4-2 with two attacking outside midfielders through most of his tenure. I have heard this called the "special talent formation" for the simple reason that the best two players on the team are placed on the wings and given space to operate with the ball. While this formation works for the current corp, the key components, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, aren’t going to be young forever. Additionally, formations and tactics have changed with coaches over the years in the national team setup.
So how is the U.S. style being shaped through the youth ranks?
A cursory glance shows that the influences are varied and somewhat at odds.
A look at the 82 technical directors of the Development Academy gives the best pulse of current styles and the technical director of a youth club probably has the most influence over playing style at the club, so let's start there.
For the vast majority of the 82 clubs, the technical directors had their start coaching in American leagues. A closer look at the numbers reveals the major foreign influence (not surprisingly) is English: 18 of the 82 have an English background. Thirteen of the 82 are former MLS players. And six of the 82 have a Latin background.
Numbers aside, U.S. Soccer has shown a push lately to tap into the Mexican-American market for new talent, including Omar Salgado, the 16-year-old who left Chivas de Guadalajara to accept a U.S. U-20 call. However, this push for players is undermined slightly by the paltry number of six Latin technical directors and even more so by which clubs lack a Latin influence.
In one of the hotbeds of Hispanic talent, Texas, the vast majority of technical directors and coaches have an English influence. Five of the nine Texas academies employ British technical directors, two with South American influence, and two with homegrown coaching expertise. Not to suggest this is a negative thing, but typically English and Latin styles go together like oil and water.
At the Development Academy Finals last week at the Home Depot Center, two of the 16 teams had a predominately Latin style of play. One of those clubs was FC Dallas, led by former MLS player Oscar Pareja. While his team didn’t leave with the hardware, it did show an impressive ability to possess the ball. Pareja’s system has been successful in placing two players (Moises Hernandez and Michael Ambrose) in the current U-20 U.S. national team pool as well.
When Pareja talked to Goal.com earlier this year, he mentioned one of the goals of the club was to identify players for the national team. He also said FC Dallas intended to "provide a better environment for the talent we have in the States."
To expand the creative influence on the U.S. style beyond the Development Academy, U.S. Soccer's most recent national coach hiring, U-17 boss Wilmer Cabrera, has Latin roots. The push is there to diversify beyond the Euro-centric style of play in America. But does that necessarily suggest a positive progression?
While the mix of cultures in America is undoubtedly a good thing, the conflicting ideologies through the national team system do leave some confusion. There is German, Dutch, and Colombian styles in the youth system now. There are some similarities between them, but for the most part, they aren’t adopting the same style.
In Jurgen Klinsmann’s rant last month after the England exited South Africa, he talked about how his team changed the German system in the youth ranks so that players from the U-21 squad were ready to play the same system as the full team, hence Thomas Mueller and Mesut Oezil's seamless transition. The same idea has been used with countless clubs across the globe, most notably Barcelona and Ajax.
Given the relative youthfulness of U.S. Soccer to the global scene, it is expected for the team’s style to change and grow. Eventually, U.S. Soccer is going to have to attempt to find a blend between athleticism, skill, and flair that befits an American style. The Development Academy or youth nation team ranks might be the perfect testing ground for such a style.
Now, the U.S. just needs an innovative coach to find the right combination for the long-term.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NCAAsoccer and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
National team coach Bob Bradley has used a 4-4-2 with two attacking outside midfielders through most of his tenure. I have heard this called the "special talent formation" for the simple reason that the best two players on the team are placed on the wings and given space to operate with the ball. While this formation works for the current corp, the key components, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, aren’t going to be young forever. Additionally, formations and tactics have changed with coaches over the years in the national team setup.
So how is the U.S. style being shaped through the youth ranks?
A cursory glance shows that the influences are varied and somewhat at odds.
A look at the 82 technical directors of the Development Academy gives the best pulse of current styles and the technical director of a youth club probably has the most influence over playing style at the club, so let's start there.
For the vast majority of the 82 clubs, the technical directors had their start coaching in American leagues. A closer look at the numbers reveals the major foreign influence (not surprisingly) is English: 18 of the 82 have an English background. Thirteen of the 82 are former MLS players. And six of the 82 have a Latin background.
Numbers aside, U.S. Soccer has shown a push lately to tap into the Mexican-American market for new talent, including Omar Salgado, the 16-year-old who left Chivas de Guadalajara to accept a U.S. U-20 call. However, this push for players is undermined slightly by the paltry number of six Latin technical directors and even more so by which clubs lack a Latin influence.
In one of the hotbeds of Hispanic talent, Texas, the vast majority of technical directors and coaches have an English influence. Five of the nine Texas academies employ British technical directors, two with South American influence, and two with homegrown coaching expertise. Not to suggest this is a negative thing, but typically English and Latin styles go together like oil and water.
At the Development Academy Finals last week at the Home Depot Center, two of the 16 teams had a predominately Latin style of play. One of those clubs was FC Dallas, led by former MLS player Oscar Pareja. While his team didn’t leave with the hardware, it did show an impressive ability to possess the ball. Pareja’s system has been successful in placing two players (Moises Hernandez and Michael Ambrose) in the current U-20 U.S. national team pool as well.
When Pareja talked to Goal.com earlier this year, he mentioned one of the goals of the club was to identify players for the national team. He also said FC Dallas intended to "provide a better environment for the talent we have in the States."
To expand the creative influence on the U.S. style beyond the Development Academy, U.S. Soccer's most recent national coach hiring, U-17 boss Wilmer Cabrera, has Latin roots. The push is there to diversify beyond the Euro-centric style of play in America. But does that necessarily suggest a positive progression?
While the mix of cultures in America is undoubtedly a good thing, the conflicting ideologies through the national team system do leave some confusion. There is German, Dutch, and Colombian styles in the youth system now. There are some similarities between them, but for the most part, they aren’t adopting the same style.
In Jurgen Klinsmann’s rant last month after the England exited South Africa, he talked about how his team changed the German system in the youth ranks so that players from the U-21 squad were ready to play the same system as the full team, hence Thomas Mueller and Mesut Oezil's seamless transition. The same idea has been used with countless clubs across the globe, most notably Barcelona and Ajax.
Given the relative youthfulness of U.S. Soccer to the global scene, it is expected for the team’s style to change and grow. Eventually, U.S. Soccer is going to have to attempt to find a blend between athleticism, skill, and flair that befits an American style. The Development Academy or youth nation team ranks might be the perfect testing ground for such a style.
Now, the U.S. just needs an innovative coach to find the right combination for the long-term.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NCAAsoccer and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page!
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