how many teams does this dude root for?
Interesting I actually didn't know this. Im gonna read up more about this guy.
CONCACAF CL isn’t and will never be a particularly meaningful representation of the disparity between MLS and Liga MX as long as it maintains it’s current format. Those MLS teams were getting “washed” by MX teams who in midseason form, before the rest of their MLS counterparts are even reporting to preseason.
You guys are pretty off base here. It's stupid to place too much emphasis on specialization before puberty. Nobody in the world of soccer does it. Calling for it shows a lack of understanding. Does a kid need to know how to play every position on the field, no? But 99% of developmental approaches in the world see tremendous value in young players going through learning experiences at a wide range of positions in their prepubescent stages.PSK, your example of coaches making players play in every position instead of focusing on their strengths is the reason I quit playing when I was younger. I'm not saying that I would've become a professional player or something, but I was a decent left back that my coach frequently played out of position because of me being smaller than the average American defender, even though there are/have been plenty of world class left/right backs that are my height or shorter in big clubs all over Europe (I'm 5'8 ). It was so damn frustrating to be put in as an attacking midfielder that couldn't pass when the only thing I was good at was harassing wingers and forwards
So this 12 year old kid who's a "natural striker" should just say **** it and get pigeonholed into a position he may not even be suited for after he goes through puberty? He should NOT learn how to play effectively as a wide forward because he can bag a couple of goals at a youth tournament? Who cares if he lost the ball playing a position he's less familiar with? Is the goal to win or to develop intelligent, competent players?I watched my son's coach put this kid whose a natural striker playing him on the wing. He kept getting lost in the sauce on the outskirts & ended up coughing up the ball almost every time. Several times this kid got pushed centrally & everytime he went head on at the goal, we had a best chances to score.
I knew I'd awaken the resident MLS stan. You're my man 100 grand though
northoaklandfc
but we will agree to disagree. I gave you a rep because you made some salient points even if I disagree with them. 
sfc415
received the kind of coaching that would help them excel in a different role (which is one of the reasons why we're leaving the team my son is on).
Spain's unspectacular position as a footballing nation up until recently is almost entirely a result the political instability post Franco.
I don't think you understand how much more money they put towards development than we do currently, even in their nation's darkest days.
Sadly this would have been true in the U.S. twenty years ago. Ten years ago unlikely, in 2016 there isn't a chance in hell.
I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I never said anything about whether or not he'll be a good striker. My point was he'll be a better striker, if he's taught to play inside and outside at 12 years old. I don't understand what Messi has to do with this.
I didn't make any assumption about the specific coaching being received by either player in either situation. I made a statement - in 90% of cases, having players strictly specialize in one position before their 15/16 is BAD coaching. The type of coaching that plagued this country for generations.
A lot of youth coaching is bad in Spain too... and in Germany... and in Holland. There's bed coaching everywhere. That's why we need to focus on the good coaching, and focus on developing more good coaches, like the aforementioned countries do.
Your interpretation of my logic is off. A player like Juan Fran wasn't developed purely as a striker from 12-15 years old. I don't get what you mean by that kind of coaching doesn't exist in the U.S. What type of coaching exactly? The coaching that can develop well rounded players?
I'ts not a zero sum game. It's not something we either have or don't have. There are plenty of quality coaches in the U.S. What we need is more of them. What we really need is enough of them to effectively develop the talent pool that comes with a population of 340 million people. That, we're a long ways off from, but to say we don't quality coaches is nonsense.
I don't even believe that, that's just silly man. From a tactical standpoint unlimited substitutions make college soccer incomparable to the real game. Typical college soccer is a handful of the lesser players run and press until their exhausted at which point a replacement comes on. Completely disrupts any sense of flow or rhythm, leads to players playing under constant pressure that would be near impossible to replicate in the real game, which leads to a long of ugly kick and run. There are a few exceptions, UC Berkeley has played beautiful soccer for years under Kevin Grimes. But college soccer is one of the ugliest remnants of the past generations of American soccer.
