Dan Pecher

Channel Sales Engineer at @PCIPAL @mizzou grad | CCNA | CCENT | CMNA | python 🐍 | FinTech

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

iconic. classic. etc

[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.

[Dan Pecher @dan_pecher]

@PCIPAL is locked in on Las Vegas next week for @CustContactWeek 2026!

Looking forward to connecting with our customers and partners for an incredible week.

Stop by booth #757 for the latest on PCI Compliance!

#CustomerContactWeek #CCW #CCWVegas #pcipal #booth757

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

I see that #NASA finally decided to go get the ball that Albert Pujols hit on the moon against Brad Lidge

[Josh Jacobs @joshjaco98]

In 2013, Sports Illustrated cover story featured the “The Cardinal Way”, with the tag line:

“Injuries? Superstar free-agent losses? Nothing slows baseball’s model organization…past, present and future.”

Hey SI, I’m from the future, and boy did it fall off.

Story in thread:

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

On April 30th, Josh Smith of Montana Knife Company said you won't have to worry about tariffs if you buy American.

Last week, he realized his costs are going up bc he imports equipment and steel. And so do his suppliers.

IMO many people aren't aware of how much they import.

[Jeremy Rutherford @jprutherford]

I’m excited to say that I’ve signed a multi-year contract to remain @TheAthletic ! The reason it’s possible is because of you the readers, particularly Blues fans who’ve continued to support the coverage for the past eight years! Much appreciated! Let’s keep it going! #stlblues

[Trey Wallace @TreyWallace]

Oh my goodness, Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall has been ejected in the 1st inning against LSU

“You missed 3 pitches, you missed 3 pitches”

Then an umpire loses his balance.

This is ridiculous and absolutely absurd

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Winning a Championship in the NHL vs the NBA was a totally different energy

[Tim Ryan🦤 @TheSportsHernia]

Showed my dad the Larry David vs. Bluetooth Guy clip for the first time yesterday and it brought instant laughter, so gotta re-up this one again.

“So I was tryin’ to brush my teeth with an apple. It was horrible. Horrible!”

[via @BackAftaThis]

[Gritty @GrittyNHL]

i throw more than just 🎂

[Westie @Wee_Westie29]

Lilith - oh please. He’ll never learn to speak in this environment.

Norm - hey everybody

Baby Fredrick - Norm!

Classic 😂 #Cheers #GeorgeWendt

[Augie Nash @AugieNash]

@OleTimeHardball Joe Mauer and Buster Posey have a combined 17,175 innings behind the plate.

Yadi Molina has 18,294.

[Jonathan Lucroy @JLucroy20]

Great players on this list but with no Yadier Molina I can't take it seriously. Piazza possibly greatest hitting catcher of all time but defensively not even close to Yadi.

Let's have a debate!

[Jonathan Lucroy @JLucroy20]

I also don't understand how you have a "greatest catchers ever" list and it has guys that were bad catchers but great hitters. I know that the position is all encompassing but I did this for 27 years and there is waaaay more to catching than hitting. Yadi is one of the best ever, bottom line.

[St. Louis Cardinals @Cardinals]

We join the baseball community in mourning the passing of Walt Jocketty.

Our general manager from 1994-2007, Walt helped lead the Cardinals to the 2006 World Series title, two National League pennants, and seven postseason appearances.

We extend our condolences to his family and the many friends he made in the game of baseball.

[Frank Cusumano @Frank_Cusumano]

I don’t think many general managers made more great trades than Walt Jocketty: McGwire, Edmonds, Rolen, Carpenter, Kile and Izzy. He hired TLR. And he did it all in an unassuming humble way. Walt was a good man. Rest in peace.

[Derrick Goold @dgoold]

Business lunch-time baseball at Busch Stadium on a day with a tornado watch in the area and poor weather expected ... draws 20,309 tickets sold.

That is the smallest non-pandemic crowd in Busch III history. That mark has been reset twice in this homestand.

#stlcards

[NHL Media @NHLMedia]

1⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣ NHL Games for Brayden Schenn!

@StLouisBlues | #stlblues

[St. Louis Blues @StLouisBlues]

phew