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En Route: Development's Nemesis
The Distance from Point A to Point B.
Apr 20, 2010 11:26:00 PM
By J.R. Eskilson
2500 miles.
That is the distance between Oakwood SC and Nomads SC.
In December, an inauspicious game between the two took place in Arizona. While the 0-0 result at the end was run-of-the-mill, it was the distance between these two clubs that summarized a major difficulty in American soccer. Oakwood SC is a powerhouse club from Glastonbury, Conn., and Nomads SC is an elite club from La Jolla, Calif.
Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski present a troubling point for those two clubs in their novel, Soccernomics. They use the connectivity of clubs in Western Europe to show the rapid development of clubs over time. For example, one could trace back Pep Guardiola's coaching style with Barcelona to "total football," which Johan Cryuff brought from the Netherlands to Barcelona in the 1970s as a player and a decade later as a coach.
The distance from Barcelona to Amsterdam: 769 miles. Just under a third of the distance between the clubs from the Northeast Division to the SoCal Division in the Development Academy. European clubs are networked from one to the other; through the Champions League, Europa League or pre-season friendlies, these clubs are very familiar with the other. European clubs are interlinked to the point that one club developing is a development for the continent on the whole.
The geographical restrictions that American clubs face does not bode well given this theory of connectivity between clubs helping development. With the massive amount of area between certain clubs, the relationship between one another is non-existent. The interlinking clubs are too far apart and too few between to help achieve the ideal situation of free exchange of ideas from coast to coast.
However, there are a few examples across the country where geography has played in soccer's favor. The teams in California have made the most of their proximity between major clubs. Five members of the 2006 World Cup team hailed from California, the most of any state. There are nine clubs in the Development Academy from southern California and five clubs from northern California. The distance from the furthest clubs in the SoCal division of the Development Academy is 130 miles.
On top of the Development Academy teams, there is still the prestigious Coast Soccer League that has seen its fair share of future professional stars. In effect, California is a microcosm of the network between clubs that expedites player development. These clubs learn from each other, compete for the same players, and raise the competition level.
The same could be said about Texas. Although the second largest state only had one representative on the 2006 World Cup team, it is quickly developing into a soccer power. There are nine Texas teams in the Development League which does show the potential for the growth in the state. This month, the FC Dallas U16 team played in the AEGON Future Cup and held their own against the youth teams of Bayern Munich, AC Milan, and Barcelona. FC Dallas took on a few guest players for that tournament from other Texas teams.
For the other states in the Union, it is an uphill battle to replicate the connectivity that California and Texas enjoy between their clubs. New York/New Jersey might be the closest to the same situation with seven clubs in the area. However, most clubs are at a sever disadvantage in comparison with limited talent pools and slack competition in the area.
MLS teams are also trying to close the gap in their own ways. With an annual tournament held for only MLS academy teams, they are attempting to build a network between the clubs. Perhaps the first example of teams adapting to one another is FC Dallas' recent hiring of a former college coach as technical director. New York's youth academy has done incredibly well with a former college coach, Bob Montgomery, in charge.
Of course, in the past, Sigi Schmid, Bruce Arena, and Bob Bradley all have shown how former college coaches can achieve success in MLS. Now, the transition from college coach to management makes even more sense given the collegiate background in scouting and recruiting for talent. A trend that may become more popular as teams realize the success their opponents are having with former college coaches.
The population numbers are misleading when you talk about American soccer. There are still states that have not produced a World Cup participant. It is not as simple as saying that, "Just because there are over 300 million people in this country, the USA should be able to produce better players." Out of the 23 roster spots, there were only 12 states represented in Germany in 2006. The same story goes for the youth national teams, 13 states (with only two different from the 2006 World Cup team) were represented on the U17 squad in 2009. While it is easy to believe that all these kids playing soccer in America could develop, statistics suggest there are only a few hot spots.
Movement towards a better youth club network continues. As Development Academy director of scouting Tony LePore said in a phone interview earlier this year, "Scouts from all games talk on a conference call and discuss games every week." That's one step towards a bond between clubs in the country to learn from each other. Also, with annual national tournaments, there is another attempt to bridge the geographic gap between clubs.
The challenges that the United States faces are unique on many fronts: competition from other sports, limited history, lack of exposure, etc. Even if all those changed in an ideal world, U.S. soccer would still be behind in continuous player development because of terrestrial restrictions.
How does this change? Traveling long distances for one-off games is not the answer. A more viable network would be the first order of business to fix. Linking one club to the next to improve the overall quality of the system has been one of the goals of the Development Academy. Yet, the bridge is still a work in place, and might mean that the Midwest's development is even more crucial than New York/New Jersey's or California's. Without the arch, the two towers may fall.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him at twitter.com/NCAAsoccer
That is the distance between Oakwood SC and Nomads SC.
In December, an inauspicious game between the two took place in Arizona. While the 0-0 result at the end was run-of-the-mill, it was the distance between these two clubs that summarized a major difficulty in American soccer. Oakwood SC is a powerhouse club from Glastonbury, Conn., and Nomads SC is an elite club from La Jolla, Calif.
Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski present a troubling point for those two clubs in their novel, Soccernomics. They use the connectivity of clubs in Western Europe to show the rapid development of clubs over time. For example, one could trace back Pep Guardiola's coaching style with Barcelona to "total football," which Johan Cryuff brought from the Netherlands to Barcelona in the 1970s as a player and a decade later as a coach.
The distance from Barcelona to Amsterdam: 769 miles. Just under a third of the distance between the clubs from the Northeast Division to the SoCal Division in the Development Academy. European clubs are networked from one to the other; through the Champions League, Europa League or pre-season friendlies, these clubs are very familiar with the other. European clubs are interlinked to the point that one club developing is a development for the continent on the whole.
The geographical restrictions that American clubs face does not bode well given this theory of connectivity between clubs helping development. With the massive amount of area between certain clubs, the relationship between one another is non-existent. The interlinking clubs are too far apart and too few between to help achieve the ideal situation of free exchange of ideas from coast to coast.
However, there are a few examples across the country where geography has played in soccer's favor. The teams in California have made the most of their proximity between major clubs. Five members of the 2006 World Cup team hailed from California, the most of any state. There are nine clubs in the Development Academy from southern California and five clubs from northern California. The distance from the furthest clubs in the SoCal division of the Development Academy is 130 miles.
On top of the Development Academy teams, there is still the prestigious Coast Soccer League that has seen its fair share of future professional stars. In effect, California is a microcosm of the network between clubs that expedites player development. These clubs learn from each other, compete for the same players, and raise the competition level.
The same could be said about Texas. Although the second largest state only had one representative on the 2006 World Cup team, it is quickly developing into a soccer power. There are nine Texas teams in the Development League which does show the potential for the growth in the state. This month, the FC Dallas U16 team played in the AEGON Future Cup and held their own against the youth teams of Bayern Munich, AC Milan, and Barcelona. FC Dallas took on a few guest players for that tournament from other Texas teams.
For the other states in the Union, it is an uphill battle to replicate the connectivity that California and Texas enjoy between their clubs. New York/New Jersey might be the closest to the same situation with seven clubs in the area. However, most clubs are at a sever disadvantage in comparison with limited talent pools and slack competition in the area.
MLS teams are also trying to close the gap in their own ways. With an annual tournament held for only MLS academy teams, they are attempting to build a network between the clubs. Perhaps the first example of teams adapting to one another is FC Dallas' recent hiring of a former college coach as technical director. New York's youth academy has done incredibly well with a former college coach, Bob Montgomery, in charge.
Of course, in the past, Sigi Schmid, Bruce Arena, and Bob Bradley all have shown how former college coaches can achieve success in MLS. Now, the transition from college coach to management makes even more sense given the collegiate background in scouting and recruiting for talent. A trend that may become more popular as teams realize the success their opponents are having with former college coaches.
The population numbers are misleading when you talk about American soccer. There are still states that have not produced a World Cup participant. It is not as simple as saying that, "Just because there are over 300 million people in this country, the USA should be able to produce better players." Out of the 23 roster spots, there were only 12 states represented in Germany in 2006. The same story goes for the youth national teams, 13 states (with only two different from the 2006 World Cup team) were represented on the U17 squad in 2009. While it is easy to believe that all these kids playing soccer in America could develop, statistics suggest there are only a few hot spots.
Movement towards a better youth club network continues. As Development Academy director of scouting Tony LePore said in a phone interview earlier this year, "Scouts from all games talk on a conference call and discuss games every week." That's one step towards a bond between clubs in the country to learn from each other. Also, with annual national tournaments, there is another attempt to bridge the geographic gap between clubs.
The challenges that the United States faces are unique on many fronts: competition from other sports, limited history, lack of exposure, etc. Even if all those changed in an ideal world, U.S. soccer would still be behind in continuous player development because of terrestrial restrictions.
How does this change? Traveling long distances for one-off games is not the answer. A more viable network would be the first order of business to fix. Linking one club to the next to improve the overall quality of the system has been one of the goals of the Development Academy. Yet, the bridge is still a work in place, and might mean that the Midwest's development is even more crucial than New York/New Jersey's or California's. Without the arch, the two towers may fall.
J.R. Eskilson is the youth editor at Goal.com. Follow him at twitter.com/NCAAsoccer
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