Analysis of “US Soccer’s Secret Scouting Network” Part 2

So I wanted to dedicate a whole blog post to my favorite part of the article: the last quote. “It’s hard to hide good players. If you’re a good player we’ll find you.” Really?! It’s impossible to hide talent? So all these years we’ve had the most talented players represent us? I’m not just talking about the national level here, I’m talking U-23s (Olympic age), U-20s, U-17s, age groups where we have failed to qualify to world cups and failed to make it to the Olympics.  If talent can’t hide, then that means we have always fielded the best players that we have in the country. In that case, why the need to expand the scouting network? We should have just kept it at 3, because I’m sure they would find all the talent that there is in this country since there is no way to hide it.

The article states, “US Soccer quietly built an expansive scouting network to remedy this deficiency and patch the many cracks through which talent flowed away from its player pool.” This deficiency refers to the USSF not doing a good job in, “unearthing talent from the underprivileged inner-city areas.” HOLD ON. I thought you couldn’t hide talent.  What is falling through the cracks then?! The article mentions the pay-to-play model which can exceed $10,000.  Easily at least half the salary of many people. How can the underprivileged ever afford that? It’s impossible.  The article doesn’t really get into how they are finding these underprivileged players, except for tips that the scouts get from certain coaches.  Again it goes back to what many people see as the deficiency in US Soccer scouting, it relies on who you know and money.

There was a comment in the article from a 23 year old that lives in San Antonio. He goes into how there is no Major League Soccer team and a NASL team was just introduced there. He writes that it would be impossible to cover every square inch of the United States or at least a lot of money would need to be spent to cover areas such as San Antonio. Somebody responded to his post and said that he was old enough to get himself into a position to be seen by the right people. “Even if you have to fly to get there.” This is the problem. Some people think that it’s easy to just pack up and leave. To leave everything and everyone; that we have parents to lend us the money.  There shouldn’t have to be a choice between trying to follow your dream and paying your bills or helping your family.

It’s frustrating because I know that our country has at least 11 players that have the talent to beat any team from any other country. There shouldn’t be a reason why our only expectation should be to get out of the group stage of the World Cup. The problem is looking in the right places to find these players AND develop them. I’m one who believes that you are either born to play soccer or you are not. Those that are born to do this sometimes are not so lucky and get pushed to do other things for whatever reason.  We need to be able to help these players develop without them having to sacrifice something else.  

We DO have the talent in this country, we just NEED to come up with a way to stop it from falling through the cracks and not just pretend that it’s not falling anymore.

Analysis of “US Soccer’s Secret Scouting Network” Part 1

Part 1 of a 2 part post.  
 
A few weeks ago, I read an article on Fox Soccer titled “US Soccer’s Secret Scouting Network”. It talked about a “secret” scouting program that was not so secret anymore. Why did it all of a sudden come out? I don’t know.

Within the last five years, USSF has expanded its full time youth scouts from 3 to 9 and its per diem scouts from 20 to 80. The article made it sound like it was such a great accomplishment. It used the words “trebled” and “quadrupled” in the hopes of making it sound better. Yes, I guess we are moving in the right direction in that we are ADDING scouts, but the numbers and map blew everyone’s minds away, and not in a good way.  9 full time scouts for a country that holds over 300 million people. I can’t even put my mind around only having 3! The article uses the number 25 million as the number of soccer players in the US. How that number was figured out, I’m not sure.  If it’s just players in organized leagues and clubs, then that is not an accurate picture at all.

The article did not get into the strategy of the placing of scouts and there were a lot of comments regarding the map and the supposed disbursement. If that is the actual placements of scouts, it doesn’t seem to be an accurate representation of the population and the potential talent that could be discovered. The number of scouts per state should be treated a little bit like the House of Representatives, the number in each state being decided according to the population. It doesn’t make sense to spread them out geographically if there are more people in one state than another. The logical idea is that where there are more people, you have more eyes. Of course that means additional scouts, and thus the issue of money comes up. That would be a huge INVESTMENT. I emphasize the word investment because that is essentially what it is or at least the way that it should be considered. It’s not something that you lose and never get back. Being able to have more scouts increases the possibility of finding that talent, of being able to field a team that could win games, a championship team. What does a championship team bring in? MONEY. Money to be able to continue having the best team in the world.  

The thing that bothers me is that a lot of the times, scouts look at a player once and make their decision off that one day. To me, it seems a little unrealistic to be able to decide if a player is talented in one day. I mean, how many times have we not seen professional players have an off day? And these are professional players, people who get paid to play and who have already proved themselves in some way.  They are not some guy who is trying to prove that he has what it takes to be given a chance to represent his country. A guy who knows that everything he does that day is going to make it or break it for him. The odds of him getting another chance are small.

I kind of wish the article would have gone a little deeper into what they plan to do next, because I hope they don’t plan to stop here.

2022 World Cup in the United States, anyone?

Wow. Just wow. Then again, I don’t know why I should be surprised, I mean it's Sepp Blatter we are talking about here, the person who criticizes women’s soccer and denies that there is still racism on the field.

 

“The World Cup in Qatar can only take place in the winter. In this heat, you cannot play in the summer. And we have to consider the players.” You mean players can’t play in 120 degree weather? And fans will have an unpleasant time watching it happen? What happened to the air-conditioned stadium?s Oh, it’s impossible to air-condition an entire country? You don’t say! Why couldn’t he think about this before they decided on Qatar?  It took him almost 3 years to figure out what the rest of the world knew. Oh yeah, he was too busy filling his pockets with money. Whoever thinks that FIFA is not corrupt must live under a rock and can’t see it or is as corrupt as they are.

First they decide to change the set up of rotating continents. Then when Sepp Blatter starts thinking that it might be time for him to leave, (Finally!) he decided to have two world cups decided at the same time, that is more than 11 years in advance! Why? Again so that he can reap any of the benefits associated with it.  I’m actually surprised that they haven’t decided on the hosts for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. Maybe that would be a little bit too obvious.

 

In theory, it would be cool for every country to be given the opportunity to host the biggest sporting event in the world, but it just doesn’t make sense!

One of the things that frustrates me the most is that FIFA does a sort of “screening” for each country where they look at readiness with regards to hospitality, safety, etc. At the time of the bid, USA and England scored the highest, meaning they were the less risky options, and if I remember correctly Qatar and Russia scored the lowest. So a test created and administered by them has no weight even to them? Wow. Just wow.

Rant over. (For now)

This interview made me laugh when I first saw it, and again today. Enjoy.

 



 

That Amazing Feeling

For the longest time, I debated whether I should start this blog. Would people read it? Would people care? Even after I made the Facebook Page for it, I wasn't sure. I then started watching videos that I've seen dozen of times before. I then got to this one.

The video above sums it up. Everyone remembers where they were when Donovan scored the game winner that sent us to the next round in the 2010 World Cup. Imagine that feeling of joy and excitement multiplied a thousand times over. The USMNT scoring the game winner at a world cup final. It's a dream that millions of fans have for their national team. Being crowned the best team in the world.

We are lucky to have a team that represents us in the World Cup. There are millions of people who watch the world cup and don't have any real ties to any team, but we do. A team that everyone knows but isn't ever really considered a contender. Only getting out of the group is expected. That needs to change. There is no reason why the US should not be crowned World Cup Champion.

First Post

Welcome to US Will Win the World Cup and my first ever blog post. Well, many of you may ask what this blog is all about.

The women’s soccer national team has proven that they are the best team in the world. Most recently winning the 2012 London Olympics and making it to the Final in the 2011 Women’s World Cup.  Well, now it’s the men’s turn.

I decided to write this blog because like all US fans and supporters out there, I want to see the USMNT win a world cup in my lifetime.  I remember that a few years ago, I heard that the likelihood of this happening was higher than ever before because the level of play had gone up. I believed it then but now not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that it’s still possible and that it will happen sometime, but certain changes NEED to happen as soon as possible so that it could happen in our lifetime.

Yes, the US has accomplished some pretty cool feats recently with winning its first ever game in the Azteca and just recently getting its 2^nd point ever in world cup qualifying in the Azteca as well.  It won in Jamaica for the first time in World Cup Qualifying and just trashed Guatemala in San Diego.

If there is something that everyone can agree on, though, is that the US needs to be more consistent. I would love to see that team that beat Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup. A team who gave their hearts out on the pitch. A team who scored two goals against one of the best goalkeepers in the world. A team who stopped the likes of Torres, Iniesta, and Ramos. A complete team: goal scorers, defenders, and a great goalkeeper.  

Like Landon Donovan said when they won the ESPY for the Best Upset in 2009, “We look forward to the day that other teams are winning awards for upsetting us.”

I’m going to use this blog to write about what I believe needs to change and my random thoughts on anything US Soccer. I hope to come up with posts at least once a week.  Make sure to follow the blog or like our Facebook page to be updated on when new posts come out. I hope to keep everyone interested and would love to hear everyone’s opinions on any of my posts.