Alan

[Coach Royd @rwkhenderson]

BIG RANT HERE FOR @USMNT

As someone who watched his son go from the youth levels all the way to high school through all of the tournaments ODP, living in Europe and other Training platforms let me be clear about something:

Technical talent and IQ are not rewarded in the youth stages. I’ve watched big fast, technically deficient, and honestly super low IQ (borderline retarded) players make and get opportunities over other players who were technically, tactically, better. Often what gets rewarded is “activity”. People like seeing players just run in circles.

Our overall youth system is a disaster. We have tournaments with gigantic butt holes running them, charging an obscene amount just a park a damn car. They’ll charge you $80 to park a car but can’t find a decent center ref for a championship game.

We have U8 players and families traveling 2500 miles just to play in a tournament for three games.

The system is always going to fail because we encourage kickball and athleticism. Ask any college coach what they’re looking for. They are looking for big and fast. Division I games a lot of times look like high school games with balls being played to a big fast guy who just goes straight to goal.

How is the national team even made? It sure as hell isn’t made by open tryouts and finding the best players. It’s made by bull crap Academies that use friendships and connections to get players in. We cannot say that we are truly serious as a country with the system that’s in place now.

If we truly want our country to develop as a nation, we need to be clear about the goal. It’s not just the best athletes. It’s starting them young in a high-quality environment.

The biggest issue our country has, is that the best coaches don’t coach at the young levels. U10, U8, and below are typically coach by Dad who played baseball or football or something else.

Even if they played soccer, they’ve spent zero time developing themselves as coaches. Which is why by U12 most of the players look terrible.

Most of the coaches that want to get higher licenses and Coach the older groups missed the point. If players come to them with 1/3 of the development that they should have, what good does their higher level knowledge do?

[Sam Mahmood @TheSammahmood_]

The U.S. soccer federation is a poor return on invested capital.

I played soccer for 20+ years.

Grassroots.
Academy.
D1 college.
Pursued professionally after.

And I’ll say the quiet part out loud:

The US soccer infrastructure is broken.

In America, we treat playing D1 soccer like it is the peak achievement.

For most families, clubs, coaches, and players, the entire youth soccer machine is built around one goal:

Get recruited.
Get a scholarship.
Play college soccer.

But if the objective is to produce world-class players, D1 soccer is a terrible development path.

From 18-22, some of the most important technical development years of your career, you are preparing for a 3-4 month season built largely around athleticism, direct play, set pieces, fitness, and survival.

Now compare that to an 18-year-old in Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Italy, England, or France.

That player has likely been in a professional environment for years.

Training daily.
Playing meaningful matches year-round.
Competing against grown professionals.
Getting thousands more touches.
Learning how to solve the game under pressure.

The gap is massive.

And it shows.

American players are usually athletic.
They are usually fit.
They usually compete hard.

But at the highest levels, that is not enough.

The biggest difference is technical comfort.

We do not move the ball like Spain.
We do not combine like Argentina.
We do not play with the same fluidity, rhythm, and confidence you see from countries where the game is embedded into the culture from childhood.

That comes down to volume.

Volume of touches.
Volume of street soccer.
Volume of futsal.
Volume of unstructured play.
Volume of high-level training environments.
Volume of meaningful games.

In the US, youth soccer is expensive, overly organized, overly coached, tournament-driven, and too often built around winning games at 13 instead of developing players for 23.

Parents spend thousands.
Clubs charge thousands.
Travel teams fly all over the country.
Showcases become the product.
Recruiting becomes the scoreboard.

But the return on invested capital is poor.

We probably spend more money on youth soccer than almost any country in the world, yet the technical output does not match the investment.

That is a broken operating model.

And like any business, if the output is weak, you do not blame the customer.

You inspect the system.

The US has talent.
The US has athletes.
The US has money.
The US has facilities.

But the foundation is wrong.

We built a pay-to-play, college-recruiting machine and confused it for a world-class player development system.

Those are not the same thing.

Until we fix the grassroots layer, increase meaningful touches, make development less dependent on family income, and stop treating college soccer as the top of the mountain, the US will keep underperforming relative to its resources.

I’m not saying this to trash US Soccer.

I’m saying it because I lived it.

And if we actually want to become a powerhouse, we have to be honest about the infrastructure first.

[Alan @alanmichaeln]

What’s it going to take to fix our youth soccer issue in this country ? There has to be a solution or plan in place or else we will never breakthrough.

[Girl Father @TIMBO_SL1CE]

US soccer won’t be good until you stop charging little kids thousands to play travel ball. You’re not getting the best athletes into soccer that way. It’s the same crowd as lacrosse and hockey at this point.

[Drew (Toxic I Guess) @ThunderHusky17]

10 Steps to fix US Soccer Going Foward:

1. No more MLS Partnership:
They have differing priorities and they should. They’re running a business and they’re promoting that business first and foremost. We can’t be indebted to an entity with self serving interests separate from the success of US National teams.

2. Pro/Rel for US Soccer:
We need to grow the game and get more players the opportunity for exposure and top level competition. Simple. Make the matches more meaningful. Grow the roots, develop talent, make soccer for the people not for the rich MLS owners.

3. Our League Operates as an Exporter:
US Soccer is not a powerhouse. Develop talent. Sell to Europe. Allow players to test their abilities against the best. Re-invest the funds. Repeat. Brazil and Argentina have perfected this. That’s the blueprint.

4. Soccer Needs to be Affordable:
Funds from exports needs to be reinvested into the youth system. We depend on MLS for all youth development. We miss out on tons of talented young players because of their absurd and dated rules.

5. We NEED a Plan at GK Going Forward:
Gaga and Kochen need senior minutes to see what they have. We desperately need somebody to take up the mantle. In the meantime we need to consider what characteristics we value in a GK and how we want to play. Can’t build out of the back with guys like Freese and Turner that are shot stoppers but aren’t great with their feet.

6. We NEED to Recruit:
We simply don’t have the talent to rely on guys that grow up and develop through MLS. Guys like Banks or Chase could have flipped this World Cup. Suzuki could have been the answer in net. Can’t close that door. Poch whiffed on that.

7. Create an Identity:
HOW do we want to play? What type of players do we need to develop to fit our general style? Yes, you scheme to the players you have but you can also develop played to fit a core identity.

8. Change the Culture:
We’re never going to make soccer the most popular sport in the United States. What we can do is format our culture to better reflect sports fans in the US and make it unique instead of trying to copy everything Europe does. The idea of incorporating things done by college football teams is a good place to start. Recognizable traditions that will feel familiar and get fans involved. It needs to feel fun and not exclusive.

9. We can’t play timid or passive anymore. We moved away from big physical athletes grinding out games in favor of skilled players. That’s fine. They can’t lose what makes us unique though. We’re not going to out-skill Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France etc. anytime soon. We need to be the tone setters. Guys like Dest can’t play in the knockouts. We saw that today. We need a mix of both. McKennie, Adams, Richards, Tillman, and Reyna all play with an edge and with skill but don’t shy away from contact or the moment. That’s the blueprint.

10. We Need a World Class Talent or A LOT OF DEPTH:
We better hope that Cavan, Albert, Gozo, Spivey, or Mehmeti can develop into something special. If not we need them all to hit to some degree. We saw with Haaland what an absolute game breaker it can be to have even a single World Class player in your team can be. Short of that you need incredible depth. Much of this tournement the starters were fine but the bench was sub-par. Can’t have that without a distinct identity or a world class roster. Ideally you have 2 of those 3.

There’s many more valid ideas on how to fix this but these are the 10 that come to mind as I sit here miserable after having watched that utterly disappointing effort.

[Luk @_LukNaw_]

@USMNT @HomeDepot US AGAINST THE WORLD, NOT THE FIRST TIME

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

All About U.S. 🇺🇸

#USMNT x The @HomeDepot

[Robert J. O'Neill @mchooyah]

I smoked your G.O.A.T while you were fucking your goat.

[Mark Valorian @markvalorian]

A critical element that the "rulebook purists" arguing Balogun deserved a red card are conveniently overlooking:

BALOGUN was the one who was challenged from behind.

The Bosnian player played *through* Balogun from behind and placed himself in the path of Balogun's natural step.

When he begins taking that step, Balogun has no idea the Bosnian player would even be in front of him. In that sense, you can't really even consider his move a "challenge." It was simply a step that incidentally landed in the same place the opponent's foot did.

In fact, the reason Balogun's step came down so hard is *because* the Bosnian player challenged into him and knocked him off balance.

This is not "reckless" or "excessive force" by any stretch of the imagination.

The red card was *obviously* unjustified from the outset. The only thing FIFA got wrong here is not immediately suspending the red card after the match.

[Adam Crafton @AdamCrafton_]

BREAKING @TheAthleticFC

Folarin Balogun will be available to play the USMNT’s round of 16 match against Belgium with his one-game red-card ban suspended. Extraordinary development.

Story with @Dan_Sheldon_

https://t.co/oQ61J9btzT

[Mikey O’ver @MikeyOver1]

We haven’t forgot.

Monday, we get it back in blood.

[Alan @alanmichaeln]

I love this team man 😭

[USMNT Only @usmntonly]

Weston McKennie blasting Ella Langley on the USMNT team bus after the USA's win against Bosnia in the World Cup Round of 32 🇺🇸😂❤️

[Polymarket Sports @PolymarketSport]

Red Card No red card

[Troll Football @TrollFootball]

NO CARD RED CARD

[Tactical Manager @ManagerTactical]

I am sorry but that’s not a red, it’s yellow!! 100% an accident!!

RIGGED!!!

[Unfiltered Soccer @UnfilteredSoccr]

Landon gives a passionate stance on how Tim Ream can protect Pulisic if he plays against Australia.

"If I'm Tim Ream, probably just before kickoff, I go up to the referee and I say, 'Here's what's gonna happen. The first time Christian touches the ball, he's gonna get smashed, and I better see a yellow card. And if I don't, when we retaliate, I better not see a yellow card. So, if you wanna play that game all day, we're gonna beat the shit out of them, but I better not see a yellow card unless you give whoever smashes Christian a yellow card right away.'"

[Tactical Manager @ManagerTactical]

We’re winning tomorrow 🇺🇸

[Edgar 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 @ConcacafEdgar]

If the U.S. win it, You can name a state after him