American Messi?

America's Next Top Messi
Posted by Roger Bennett @ ESPNFC.com

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/soccerusa/id/1055?cc=5901

QUOTES from the blog:

"I often ask myself whether Messi would have made it in the United States, and the honest truth is, he would most probably have been dismissed for being too small and then fallen out of the system." - Jimmy Obleda, Fullerton Rangers

"The pipeline designed to replenish their talent has been bruised by a series of high-profile embarrassments: the under-23 squad's dramatic collapse against El Salvador eliminated it from Olympic contention; the under-20s failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup; and a vaunted under-17 squad was eliminated at the round of 16 stage of the U-17 World Cup."

"...anyone with an English accent passed themselves off as a coach."

"The new model was designed to dismantle the anarchic reality of old norms, or as Agoos describes it, "to build an environment where our coaches felt comfortable leaving the little runts on the field when their team was 1-0 down with 10 minutes to play." Most coaches had felt compelled to put on their bigger, more physical players to salvage the game. "We wanted our little guys on the field so they could learn from the challenge," Agoos said, "because it's better to lose the game and gain the experience." - Jeff Agoos

ONE MORE QUOTE….

"Lepore eagerly reeled off the numbers. "The average American club used to offer just 12 hours of training a month. With our new emphasis on training, we are aiming for eight hours a week which, over the newly extended 10-month season, computes to 350 hours a year."

This number still lags behind Ajax's 576 hours, Barcelona's 768 hours and Sao Paulo's colossal 1,040 hours, but the coach points out with glee how close it is to Italy's total, where the elite practice 432 hours. "Until we eliminate the gap, our players will be technically deficient as they lack the repetition," Lepore said."

The highlight in red, is mine. - PG-Boy

PG, you're exactly right in regards to training. As a country, we are in way too big of a hurry to determine whethter or not our 8-9 year olds are the best of the best. Our priorities are upside down and until we reset them, US soccer will continue to be the rec league of world football.

finish1 wrote:PG, you're exactly right in regards to training. As a country, we are in way too big of a hurry to determine whethter or not our 8-9 year olds are the best of the best. Our priorities are upside down and until we reset them, US soccer will continue to be the rec league of world football.

theres got to be a better translation for parents? truely parents will say aw yes i understand and then turn right back around and say "its all about winning"

We will never create a player like that here cause the focus is too much on winning at an early age. We should be playing 7 a-side like other countries till U12. Have you seen U10s on a big field, playing 11v11? How's that devolopment?