Felly

[90s Football @90sfootball]

Diego Maradona x Boca Juniors 💙💛

[Frank Michael Smith @frankmikesmith]

The USMNT will be stuck at the World Cup until it adopts Germany's blueprint

In 2000 Germany finished last at the Euros and decided it was time overhaul the system. They built 390 regional training bases to make sure one was within 25 km of every kid in country. They hired 1,200 full-time coaches, invested €48 million per year and mandated that every pro club build a certified youth academy or lose its license

The cost to families was $0 and 14 years later, 21 of the 23 players who won the World Cup came directly from the system

[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.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@TheAthleticFC @TheAthletic Freese just set @usmnt back 2 decades with that blunder.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@espn @ESPNFC He should never be able to wear the badge again after today. Pathetic.

[Felly @jsfellows]

Matt Freese should never be allowed to wear the @USMNT badge again after that performance. Just pathetic.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@ESPNFC Pulisic folded under pressure.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@barstoolsports Loser

[Merriam-Webster @MerriamWebster]

Why is it ‘cancelled’ in the U.K. but ‘canceled’ in the U.S.?

Because we gave them that L in 1776.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@usmntonly Benedict Marsch

[Telemundo Deportes @TelemundoSports]

¡QUE GOLAZO!

Con un potente derechazo de tiro libre, Tillman venció a Vasilj y amplía la ventaja de USMNT.

[USMNT Only @usmntonly]

THE TELEMUNDO CALL OF THE MALIK TILLMAN FREE KICK IS THE BEST THING YOU'LL EVER HEAR 🇺🇸🦅❤️

[Gregg Beerholder 🍺 @MLShater]

Supreme Court Justices watched the USMNT vs. Paraguay game and decided we needed more Baloguns. W

[EuroFoot @eurofootcom]

🚨🇦🇷🇺🇸 USA manager Mauricio Pochettino: "If you don’t know your level and live in a bubble, you can crash for sure. If you believe you are a big horse that can win the race at Ascot but in reality you are a donkey and you want to jump, you crash. For us it’s more about knowing who you are, being humble and now do the impossible. What we need is to be all together. The power is the group." (@TelegraphDucker)

[Felly @jsfellows]

The USA needs soccer. The world needs the USA to love soccer—not just to make us competitive internationally and in the MLS, but also to create commonality and cultural exposure. I hope this WC is the beginning of something much bigger for the USA's next generation.

[Felly @jsfellows]

As an American who grew up playing soccer in the US and is a fanatic about the game, it’s energizing to see so many Americans awakening to it. Many people I know who never cared for soccer are finally seeing the game differently with this WC.

[Felly @jsfellows]

They are finally seeing the passion, skill, athleticism, and strategy that the game demands. This WC isn’t just about generating fandom; it’s about generating obsession. It’s about what happens after this WC with millions of Americans following soccer.

[Felly @jsfellows]

@KirkHerbstreit Asking all the questions. Vast landscape to understand. So many different leagues and the cultures associated with them. The most accessible league (besides the MLS) for world class talent is the Premier League. The energy is palpable every week because it’s life for the fans.

[Michael Mathes @MichaelMathes]

“England historically has struggled here in Massachusetts”
— #WorldCup announcer on Fox
👀

[Jersey Jerry @Jerrythekid21]

61,667 Men make a choice each month. June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month. Life is better with you here. Bro to bro, Love you 💙.