Joe

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@starsnstripesfc He needed sent off

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@NickRTFM Officiating has been absolutely awful all game

[Jermaine Jones @Jermainejunior]

I know nobody wants to hear this, but this is where the real failure lies. Blaming Mauricio Pochettino or the players is too easy for me.

Look back at what has happened. People like Earnie Stewart and Matt Crocker have stepped away from their roles, and we move on as if nothing happened. The real problems run much deeper.

I can only speak from my own experience. There are people within the federation who should never have been put in positions of power. One of them is Cindy Parlow Cone.

Years ago, Earnie Stewart asked if I would be interested in coaching the U16 National Team and assisting with the U20 National Team. We agreed, and I was excited about the opportunity. But Cindy never signed the paperwork. Earnie told me he couldn’t move forward without her signature.

Later, I was advised not to talk about it because I would never get another opportunity if I did. If you’re wondering why I’m talking about it now, it’s because I’m back in Germany.

Let me be clear: I don’t like working with people who put their own interests ahead of what’s best for the development while claiming they’re acting in its best interest.

This is just one story. I could go much deeper on this topic because in my opinion, this is the real reason we continue to fail. There are too many issues within the federation that people don’t know.

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@YahooSports Can this guy shut the fuck up?

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@11Yanks @Courtsidecom Wrong

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@CuiBono1984 @usmntonly Exactly that

[MK 🇫🇷 @mkliebmann]

Cristiano Ronaldo begged for hamburgers outside McDonalds. He’d never turn pro in America

Messi’s parents were factory workers. He’d never turn pro in America

Lalas went to boarding school. Failed to get into college until his dad made a call to Rutgers. He went pro in America

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@MikeDonnThinks @AlexiLalas Always was

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@utdBrett And from our “lead” ambassador. Beyond embarrassing. We’ll never compete with the Europeans

[Brett @utdBrett]

"competitive market with businesses selling a product that obviously customers are willing to pay for"

Can you imagine using these words to describe children's football

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@AlexiLalas You’re a brain dead idiot and the worse ambassador of US soccer

[Harrison Lee @HarrisonCLee]

Thierry and Zlatan saying they wouldn't have become soccer players because of the costs of the American youth system, then seeing Lalas say it's a great system because it makes a lot of money for some people really sums it all up nicely

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@Ceruti Same level. Home cup vibes aren’t going to erase the fact we are abundantly behind everyone else. Sigh

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@usmntonly Horrific shadowing and terrible performance when we needed him most. Pulisic PR will continue to carry him but that was his chance.

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@chris_hyrb Disband them

[Joe @Jbrennann]

Don’t let Tim ream back on the plane

[Joe @Jbrennann]

@NickRTFM 3-1 USA

[claybraham lincoln @ClayLaSoul]

Exactly two years ago, UEFA suspended a one-game ban on Jude Bellingham during their literal last tournament. 🤷‍♂️

[Joe @Jbrennann]

Greatest game ever? (Never a penalty)