Travis

I write the things that make the whole world go "pfft what a nerd".

I unfollow pointless and repetitive negativity.

#CFC #ATLUTD #USMNT (begrudgingly) #USWNT

[Travis @Travtical]

"Those people aren't fans; they're fanatics. They don't love the game, they want to own it." is an important lesson from #21Thunder for all watching the sport.

Too many people think they can tell others what they can and can't do. They forget that they are humans, not machines.

[dandelion georgism 🔰🏗 @DandyGeorgism]

“And every four years when the World Cup comes around, we will say that we’d dominate if we had a stronger youth program.”

“And will we develop a stronger youth program?”

“We will not.”

[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.

[Sydney Leroux @sydneyleroux]

He rested the entire World Cup.

[Travis @Travtical]

There is something underlying this USMNT team. But we need to stop getting in our own way and play with the swagger we did for 4 games this tournament. Recapture the moment somehow and never let that fear back in.

[Travis @Travtical]

There is a lot to unpack about the #USMNT.

4 great games in the tournament set the team up. A scared and uninspired team dismantled it all.

Even at 2-1 there was hope. US came out in the 2nd half the dominant team. Then Freese made the stupidest play I’ve ever seen from a gk.

[Travis @Travtical]

Do what you can to keep Poch, he actually understands what a serious program needs to look like. Let him be brutal. If that means the “best” like Pulisic stay away, so be it.

Listen to his criticism of the youth set up. Actually try to fix pay to play.

[Travis @Travtical]

No Europe=strip the team to 15 or 16 players, make signings and tough sales from there to get 18 guys you trust.

#CFC

[Travis @Travtical]

At least City had the courtesy to cheat their ways to titles off the field

[Travis @Travtical]

1: If players have “downed tools”, it’s not the manager that needs replacing

2: If two managers in a row have effectively orchestrated their own ouster, the managers aren’t the problem

3: Stop applying old standards to a new reality.

#CFC

[Travis @Travtical]

Rosenior is 100% my favorite manager since Frank Lampard #CFC

[S. @SebC__]

Liam Rosenior to Chelsea 💭

[Travis @Travtical]

Say what you will about the SDs, and there is plenty, but Maresca talking to City in October is a straight up betrayal. Taking advantage of a spark of success that he hasn’t backed up since be started mouthing off publicly #CFC

[Travis @Travtical]

Life comes at you fast #CFC

[Travis @Travtical]

Well, I was wrong about Maresca.

He adapted and out pressed the team that put on one of the best pressing displays I’ve ever seen in the UCL final.

#CFC are world champs.

Where we deserve to be. #ClubWorldCupFinal

[Travis @Travtical]

Inevitable, good but not a match for us, good but not a match for us, and I’d lowkey call him an upgrade in that order #CFC

[Max @MaxFSport]

Liam Rosenior, Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner are some names that are well liked, whilst Behdad Egbhali is once again keen on Roberto De Zerbi.