Let the Era of Jurgen Klinsmann begin
by denz on Aug 1, 2011 8:09 PM MDT
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PrintWell at a Nike Store in New York City the regime of Jurgen got kicked off in an oh so typical way, a press conference where the tough questions got skimmed over as everyone put on their happy faces. Press conferences often go this way, as Major League Soccer fans are used to when they hear from their Commissioner, but there were a couple of things that were said that I thought were interesting, when asked On how he intends to fix some of the issues of the team he responded with:
"I don't think there is anything wrong with the team. They lost a Gold Cup final against a very, very good Mexico team that over the last couple of years became one of the top 10 teams in the world and have a lot of talent. When you come into a situation like this, you analyze every individual player, the team itself and the program, which I'll have the chance to do during the next couple of weeks, to see how I can develop them further. You build on what was built before, and if you look back on the past 20 years in this country, a lot has been built. The U.S. has, since 1990, always qualified for the World Cup. The U.S. has made a lot of noise with MLS being introduced. Now look where MLS is. I know in the beginning there were eight or 10 teams and half of those were supported by Phil Anschutz. Now, you have a league with 18 teams and growing next year again. There are development teams being introduced with the Academy program. It's come a long way, soccer in the United States. I'm now getting this opportunity to move it further.
Now I know there are a good number of fans who would disagree with him, and believe that it is the wrong things that got him hired. Now the next month will be interesting as there is no time to rest, he has said that he will announce the roster for next weeks match against Mexico on Wednesday, talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. One has to wonder if that match as well as the two friendlies next month (Sept. 2nd against Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center, and then Sept. 9th against Belgium in Brussels) will be used more to evaluate talent or will they be a time where the very formation, style of play and overall philosophy of the team are changed?
more after the jump:
Let me say that when I listened to the press conference this morning, I could find little of the real content that I disagree with. I think that US Soccer has to figure out a number of issues starting at the youth level and ending with the various national teams. Some things are going to be easier to figure out, but there are some big issues to deal with the competition of the US Soccer Academy system, with those being run by MLS teams, and where do those players progress to the professional levels or into collegiate soccer?
He talked about this a bit in a couple comments that he made:
It is important to understand your culture and how you grow up and where your emotions and priorities are. It took me years to understand how important this whole educational path for people is in this country. I never got it the first couple of years, and I said, ‘Why is the program really not that important to people, and why is it always about where you are going to college? What's the high school? Where are your kids going to school?' I always responded, ‘My kids are going to school at the next closest school. What's the big deal?' Over the years, I saw that those are the reasons why you think that way and it's because it's a completely different setup.
and
There's such a wealth of knowledge in this country. In Europe or in South America, it's unheard of. The college coaches have a four-year education as well. Traditionally in Europe, you become a pro at the age of 18, so you never get to go to college. It is important over the next three years, especially in the beginning, that I have a lot of conversations with people engulfed in the game here to find a way to define that style. What suits us best? What would you like to see and identify with? I think a great example is the women's team, and how they played their World Cup final. This is how America wanted to see their girls play that game, and they did an awesome job. It will be one of our main topics, always sitting down and discussing that. It should reflect your mentality and your culture. If you talk about Brazil, you know how Brazil plays. You know about Argentina, you know about Italy. They sit back and wait for one mistake, and if you do, they're going to kill you. We defined that with Germany in 2004, which was a very difficult process, but we worked through that process and now it's settled that style of play. Your opinion is important. College coaches' opinions are important. Youth coaches' opinions are important. Everyone is involved in that process, players as well. I'm looking forward to a lot of talks."
Now I think that the politics and economics of these issues will be more than Jurgen will be able to deal with, the reality that youth soccer is a multi-billion dollar industry here in the US. That often the elite youth teams have close relationships with college programs, and that those relationships are profitable for both sides. My greatest hope is that while I never envision a day that at some youth levels will abandon the "pay for play" system, that MLS, USL/NASL, and US Soccer can develop a system of youth teams and academies that will provide a pipeline where talent and not family or finances matter, a system where we can truly develop generations of players who can become the very best in the world, a system where professional teams around the world will come to look for their next generation of superstars.
The task is big, and it may be more than any one man can deal with, but if you listened to Jurgen today, and in the past you know that he has some grand vision of where the sport needs to go in the US in order for us to become one of the top soccer nations in the world. I wish him well and I can't wait to see what happens over the next month as the changes will begin.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
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what i’ve come to understand of klinsmann(that also excites me) is his understanding that the USMNT coach has to do more than select the senior squad, he has to make changes to our youth development setup, for MLS and for the nats, and work with the entire country to actually find a style of play that our country can adopt. i think he gets it and while we probably won’t see great results in 2014 in brazil i believe that he will make changes that will make not only the USMNT better but make even MLS better. what he did in germany was to raise the bundisliga teams to new standards and higher level of fitness and a dedication to playing attack minded football. let’s hope this is the begining of a new era for the states.
I wish him well
But I simply believe that there is no desire to redo the system from those who hold power and make money off the system as it exists today. See the US is unlike all the other nations of the world, we have a group of people who have capitalized on youth soccer for personal gain, they control the purse strings, they control the coaching selections, the player selections, and in large part they control the collegiate system and they aren’t going down without a fight.
You only have to look at the Utah Youth Soccer system to know how much money is at stake, but let’s just look at a very small segment of the youth system. The joke that is the ODP, what is the ODP, well here is their definition:
ODP is a US Soccer National Program designed to identify and develop talented youth soccer players throughout the country to represent their state, region and national team programs at the highest-level of soccer competition.
Now we now that there are 50 states and almost all of them off this same type of program, so just to tryout is $40, and hundreds pay that price to take part in a 3 hour evaluation process. From those 48 kids at each of the 7 different age levels so 336 boys and 336 girls will be part of the winter training, a majority will be charged $200 for that training, some younger kids only pay $100 (11 and 12 year olds). From there a group of 18 at most of the age groups are selected to form a team that will take part in the ODP Championships, which requires a payment of another $550 dollars.
So this is just one program, just one set of camps, just one of the many elements to youth soccer. There are tons of recreation teams, a bunch of competitive teams and leagues all with their own fees and charges. This isn’t going to be an easy group of people to dislodge from the feeding frenzy that is the dollars of youth soccer in the US.
So I really do wish him well, but I just have a real doubt that anyone will dislodge the political power players that exist at all levels of soccer in the US, where it is much more about the dollar than it is about producing the best players for the USMNT.
just to clarify
There are a lot of people who are trying to change the system, at many levels. I just think there is a really tough road in front of Jurgen if he thinks that change will come easy to a very political system that is in place.
Everyone likes to point at the youth system and make uneducated remarks about it.
It’s generally because people think the youth system today is the youth system they were in as a kid. Well, it’s not. Here are a couple of facts you should be aware of. First, most of those people participating in youth soccer don’t actually get paid. I coach youth soccer at one of the clubs. I paid for my own coaching courses and certifications, I put in about 20-25 hours a week between practices, planning, and paperwork, and guess how much I get? A DISCOUNT on my sons club fees. Wow, how greedy am I!! What about the administrators? Oh they have a sweet deal going on, let me tell you! They’re also volunteers!
Sure there are places where coaches do get paid even in Utah, but for example the Park City Extreme which pays their coaches, has an all volunteer board who pay their own kids fees. ODP is another example where coaches get paid, but ODP is the top soccer in the state. Trust me you want good coaches involved with it and the only way to assure that you have them is to pay them. But that’s not close to the only thing available. There are many levels of play from X-league to AA, and AAA, and I’ll tell you a little secret, if you’re talented enough you will be identified on the field and asked to try out. Oh and they’ll most likely waive the fee if you have the talent but not the cash. Fees generally go to pay refs, buy equipment, pay for field maintenance etc. It’s really in relatively few clubs that it ends up in the pockets of the administrators.
Another thing, almost every club out there has a scholarship program for those that can’t afford the fees. I’ve been involved with youth soccer programs in three states, and I can tell you that in my experience the thing that all of us involved in youth programs want more than anything is to help the kids we are working with become the absolute best player they can be. Regardless of whether they can pay the fees.
Secondly, the youth program DOES in fact focus on technical ability. Claudio Reyna (who it sounds like Klinsmann is planning on keeping) put out a system a while back that youth programs across the country are moving to. http://www.ussoccer.com/Coaches/Coaching-Education/Coaching-Home.aspx The program encourages high technical ability, and a possession oriented attack played out of a 4-3-3 formation. This is a new change but it’s definitely the right change IMHO. And I can tell you that it’s being anxiously embraced by youth programs around the country. My son played in an Academy in Virginia and they used it. We now live here, and Utah Youth Soccer Association are adopting it for use as well.
The problem with US youth soccer is that we’re competing with countries where the kids wake up in the morning, and go outside and play soccer all day. We’re trying to overcome through structure the advantage that other countries have through culture. It’s a long difficult road, but we’re doing our best.
For positive change, we must admit somethings don't work
Don’t take my comments as a personal attack, they are simply the reality of what Jurgen, with good ideas will be encountering.
But it is that very structure that often has too many people involved, and most often each of them has their hearts in the right place but we are a far way from a good system that produces results. And like your reaction, I fully expect that those who are passionate will plea their case but if you believe for a moment that there aren’t those who have and continue to make money off youth soccer, well you are fooling yourself.
Those with a passion will embrace change, they will support and offer advice to those who have new ideas about how to open up the game to a much larger audience and progress it to higher levels. While those who see a threat either to their power and influence, or to the financial rewards they are getting from the current system, well I expect they will offer up excuse after excuse as to why things are the way they are.
A few people do make money on it.
Which I conceded, but you make it sound like a vast conspiracy to keep the little man down. Which is a grossly misguided belief. By in large the people making money off of it are 1. in exclusive clubs that ‘guarantee’ enrollees scholarships, those kinds of clubs are really quite few actually, and 2. referees. . The fact is that all the changes people with no involvement in the system whine incessantly about have already been made. But at a real level the problem is not the organized soccer in America. It’s the lack of unorganized soccer in America.
We’ve got to get more kids playing soccer in the streets, empty lots, and neighborhood parks. How do we do that? I have no clue, but those of us who actually involve ourselves instead of just lobbing disapproval without actually finding out what’s going on are always looking for more ways to do just that.
Good on you for supporting youth soccer
I agree with both you and denz in different ways. I agree with denz that some of our most naturally talented can’t afford to pay the dues that come with club soccer. Take Andy Najar. As an immigrant kid in D.C. I’m sure he couldn’t afford to get top coaching talent if he didn’t get spotted early by the DC Academy system which is one of the best in MLS. I’m willing to bet there are plenty of Najars out there living in immigrant communities who have that soccer culture, but not the funds to take the passion to the pro-level.
The USSF is never going to be able to fund no-fee clubs in every city. It’s going to need to work within the existing structures to find talent and develop alternate pipelines so that finances aren’t a barrier to those who can’t afford the best coaching. The timing of Klinsmann’s hiring is perfect in one sense. MLS is mandating that clubs develop academy programs. He can do a lot to encourage that (and get laggard clubs on board).
Still, with the catchment area system for MLS academies that means only a handful of cities will be covered. I’m interested to see what Klinsmann can do to start to cover other areas of the country. Perhaps a scholarship system or a more extensive national academy system. There could be plenty of ways for USSF to work with existing clubs to make sure talent is discovered and developed. I’m not sure he will succeed, but he strikes me as the kind of guy who can use his own personal magnetism and talent to push across changes that the system might be resistant to.
As another aside. I think the current system in the US focuses too much on competitive games rather than skills development. Japan’s women’s team strong technical ability shows what can happen when you focus on small team scrimmages rather than games. Partially that’s based on limited available space in Japan, but its something that the US can adopt to improve the skill level of players. I would love to hear your thoughts on whether that is more of a priority now than when I played.
Again, virtually every club out there has some sort of scholarship program.
They may not be an MLS academy but they have hard working coaches who care and do everything they can to get kids involved. I for example live in a town where we have 3 teams at the U9 level and we vigorously recruit just to fill our roster spots with kids who have at least played some soccer organized or not.
Clubs do all they can to keep costs down, some are more effective than others. They have fundraisers, look for sponsors etc. Our club charges the bare minimum to keep our heads above water and it’s still almost $500 bucks per year, which includes a spring and fall league, uniforms, and at least one extra tournament. But the fact of the matter is that it costs money to have organized soccer with lines painted on the field, goals, nets, uniforms, and referees. Recreation soccer is very cheap though at around $50 per season, however, there is no free soccer but neighborhood soccer. And that can’t be created by youth leagues. It has to be done by individual kids who just want to play and call their buddies up for a game.
As for what youth soccer currently focuses on…the current focus of youth leagues is fewer games and more practices. The recommended ration is 3 practices for every game played. We play small sided games starting with as few as 4 kids per squad and no goalies. In many areas of the country kids can begin playing at 3 years old (my son started at 3 at a YMCA in North Carolina and has played every season since.) In most areas of the country they are adapting youth academies that are semi-competitive in nature. They begin at the U7-U8 level and exclusively focus on technical skills. They group about 50 players together and have about 10 coaches doing different things and the kids rotate through stations learning new skills and practicing new techniques. Once a week they have a ‘game’ experience where kids are grouped into a new team each week with different players who they may have never played with before and play a small sided game with 4 players per side. We don’t introduce the competition element until U9 (8 year olds). At that stage they don’t have designated positions and it’s 6v6 with a goalie. It’s not until U11 or U12 that positions are introduced.
So long story short I guess…the youth programs USED to focus too much on winning, but there has been a tidal shift in phylosophy in the last 3 or 4 years to do just what people are asking for in terms of focus on technical ability.
Scholarships
I understand that there are scholarships, and that many clubs work on getting those without money but with talent involved in the sport. But you have to understand that for many the very concept of paying for their kid to tryout for a team is enough to drive them away from the sport. Then you add in the fact that many people are uncomfortable filling out paperwork for things like scholarships and you alienate even more people.
There will always be fees associated with organized sports, and that will always alienate a number of people and keep some kids away from organized sports. As long as the current structure and organizations remain in place without change there will be kids who are alienated from the sport. I don’t have an issue with how most teams are run, most are done with blood, sweat, and work of people who will never see a dollar from their efforts. It is when you move up the food chain that it begins to be about money, and not just money it then becomes about influence over teams, coaches, and such.
There are no easy answers, unlike smaller countries with 1/10 our population we have unique problems and challenges, but for a nation our size to not be creating much larger numbers of top level soccer players is a clear indication that some change is needed. Now it is easy to toss around a change here or change there, but there are a lot of gaps in how programs are run and for us to move forward there will need to be change.
As I stated I wish Jurgen the very, very best in his attempt to help change the very foundations of youth soccer in the US, I just think like he will find at ever level up to the very top that both politics and the politics of money will pose a challenge to wholesale change.
Turning people off happens, as you yourself said.
But there really is no alternative other than what I suggested which is essentially pick up soccer. We can’t do that, kids have to do it themselves.
It is when you move up the food chain that it begins to be about money, and not just money it then becomes about influence over teams, coaches, and such.
I don’t agree, there is very little profit to be made for youth programs. It’s not the multi-billion dollar operation you believe it to be. Some people may be about influence or whatever, but most are not. Usually it’s about playing the best soccer you can with the talent you have available. People love to say that they’re kid got cut because of politics, but I’m here to tell you that it’s almost always because they didn’t have the skill.
Now it is easy to toss around a change here or change there, but there are a lot of gaps in how programs are run and for us to move forward there will need to be change.
You keep saying this. Read the curriculum I linked to, THEY ARE ALREADY UNDERWAY! Everything I’ve heard Klinsmann say about what the youth league needs to be are being attempted already by coaches and programs around the country. We just have to be patient and wait for it to trickle up.
It is easier
I think there are a couple of alternatives, first some restructuring under the direct leadership of US Soccer, I would love to see national regions set up under their direct leadership with those regions aligning with the discovery regions of MLS. This would allow the two organizations to work together more directly both on development at the older age levels but it could also provide the link to deal with the financial issues. If you can leverage both MLS and US Soccer you have some heavy duty sponsors who can be hit up for a lot of financial help, there should also be complete transparency of all youth soccer programs. I am fine with the state run programs up to age 12 to 13, but at that point there should be some real hands on oversight by US Soccer to ensure the best get into programs that can aid in their development to the academy systems.
I also would love to see MLS, like they tried to, take over USL/NASL and organize it into a feeder system for MLS, if that means they become a farm system I think that is fine. It works for baseball and it would build some connections in non MLS markets to the league (something that is really needed for TV ratings).
The question becomes how to deal with colleges, they love soccer programs which are cheap compared to other sports, and often are used for Title IX status. I believe right now that college act as a safety net for kids who simply didn’t develop young enough to get noticed or by families who have used soccer scholarships as their way to pay for their kids education. The disconnect of kids going into largely mediocre programs at 18 and then coming out at 21 or 22 and trying to become professionals is hindering the process as there is no organized structure for college programs under US Soccer.
So how to deal with kids between 12 and 18 is the biggest question, high school programs in most places are very hit and miss, often taking a back seat to other teams. If we can find a way to get kids into academies first, those who still need to work on skills can stay with club or high school teams and try out for academies but I have to believe that most kids who are going to the NCAA will eventually find a path there from MLS and other academy teams.
There is an inherent conflict of interest for the national team to use MLS for development.
It’s in MLS’s best interest to develop talent from wherever it comes. But the US team can only count on native born players, so setting up a tag team situation can lead to spending US dollars towards training players they will end up competing against if they don’t choose to get US citizenship AND commit to play for the US.
For 12-18 year old’s, high school ball only lasts for half the year, so most kids currently play half the year for their high school team and half for a club travel team. It would honestly be better for them to play club all year since club coaches have stricter licensing requirements than high schools do. The problem is that kids WANT to represent their high school. It gives them status in the school they wouldn’t have otherwise. I think the best way to change this is to push for more strict licensing at the high school coaching level. That would be a tough fight since you’re fighting state governments nationwide for acceptance.
As for college teams, I think they eventually have to get out of the way. Most major universities don’t have men’s soccer teams anyway. I like the idea of national academies, but I don’t see a good way of organizing them to cover more of the nation, not cost the players, and still be financially viable. It’s just not a reality, nor do I see it becoming so anytime soon. That’s why a lot of people suggest a partnership with MLS, but again…it’s a conflict of interest.
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