What changes should be made? I find this Poch stuff pretty baffling as a casual watcher. Klinsi was bad but that 2nd gen was going to struggle, thought Berhalter did about what the talent should? The Reyna stuff was bizarre ofc but mostly their fault? Seemed like Poch was unanimously approved of.
That's the point! They've tried literally everything possible in terms of managers and it hasn't worked. The problems run way deeper in terms of how players develop here.
Our developmental structure is far from perfect for many reasons, but today alone our U20s beat Colombia and U18s beat Portugal in a cup final. The results are there at the youth level, just not translating enough to the senior team.
Again, it’s not perfect, but the progress MLS Academies have made over the last 5-10 years is is slowly but surely starting to turn out real talent. We’ll see how these kids develop into first team pros over time though.
It’s equivocal to me, because it’s not NOT consistent with the traditional American model of big athletes who can do well at age group level and then get surpassed by not having the skill to compete at the top level once everyone physically matures.
IIRC winning youth games isn't strongly indicative of top-level success because the younger players are, the more important practice and focused skill development. US youth athletic culture, across sports, puts FAR too much emphasis on playing competitive games. IDK if US Soccer has transcended that
I do agree that youth results should be taken with some grain of salt, but these games can still be a good litmus test against other top teams and definitely a great experience for the kids.
Oh so this is a player dev criticism? I’m trying to recall what I’ve read about that stuff. MLS regional stuff is bad right?
Do we really know where the pipeline is breaking down or if it is? Like, if we have X 12 year olds playing a lot of soccer we should expect Y top 5 league caliber players?
We’ve produced a starting 11 of mediocre European first teamers. That’s not great. But also, not one of those guys played tonight so I’m not sure what the panic exactly is. We started an 11 with one guy from La Liga, one guy from the Championship, and a bunch of MLS guys 🤷♂️
I dk, I think that’s a pretty decent achievement when it comes to USMNT historically? It’s prob about our peak?
But also I think even if they’re not here, the sheer historical ineptitude of these early results makes it hard to believe Poch has a strong plan that he’s making progress on.
When you have to pay $10K plus just to be a part of a MLS next team, you find problems real quick. It’s pay to play and some of the best players are priced out before 10 years old
The most identifiable problem is that all of America's best young male athletes play baseball, football, or basketball, and they've got Little League, Pee Wee, and AAU-ball before that. There's no equivalent for soccer. There's no NCAA soccer on TV. There's no inspirational young soccer star movies.
In execution, he seems to not give a damn. @scuffed.bsky.social has covered how he’s played guys out of position and asked them to do things not in their skill sets, or explicitly not do things in their skill sets.
@mattdoyle.bsky.social posted about this tonight too
On one hand, Curtin basically said he’d die to just be an assistant coach for a home World Cup. On the other hand, poch couldn’t be arsed to watch tape of the player pool.
yeah that makes sense to me as a possibility. cohesiveness and effort is a thing you can get from a coach even if you can’t change your talent.
would’ve thought Poch would realize doing a horrible job here would at least hurt his rep and next job $$? and if not then we shouldn’t have hired him.
That’s where I’m at too, you’re not getting Tottenham when you’re getting obliterated as USMNT head.
I was all about the hire, but makes me wonder if someone like Curtin that said US coaches should be thrilled to even be assistant coaches for a home World Cup makes more sense than Poch. Not great!
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A little extra courtesy of the armchair analyst @mattdoyle.bsky.social
Do we really know where the pipeline is breaking down or if it is? Like, if we have X 12 year olds playing a lot of soccer we should expect Y top 5 league caliber players?
But also I think even if they’re not here, the sheer historical ineptitude of these early results makes it hard to believe Poch has a strong plan that he’s making progress on.
In execution, he seems to not give a damn. @scuffed.bsky.social has covered how he’s played guys out of position and asked them to do things not in their skill sets, or explicitly not do things in their skill sets.
@mattdoyle.bsky.social posted about this tonight too
would’ve thought Poch would realize doing a horrible job here would at least hurt his rep and next job $$? and if not then we shouldn’t have hired him.
I was all about the hire, but makes me wonder if someone like Curtin that said US coaches should be thrilled to even be assistant coaches for a home World Cup makes more sense than Poch. Not great!