re: Path to Success is Exclusive Academies not a Million Fields

The path to real success is getting our youth out of MLS academies and to European club academies. The younger the better. Kids in Europe grow up in the soccer culture. Our kids grow up in the baseball, basketball, NFL culture. Mens soccer has made HUGE strides in the US over the past 30 years, but we are still behind where we need to be to consistently compete. Our men will probably have to win a WC before we make the strides to get us where we should be long-term. Just like what that women's team with Chastain and Hamm did for our women's program.

I'd say give our military families serving abroad in Europe an extra incentive to get their kids involved in club academies while living over there. I would absolutely not be opposed to having a few more Dest's or Tillman's in our squad.

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It’s not disingenuous at all. Every top athlete in the US would choose football over soccer right now. Most of them would choose basketball over soccer. Some of them would choose baseball over soccer.

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You need to be a certain size to play football and height to play professional basketball. If you are 5’8, you have basically no chance at either of the those sports at a high level (outside of a lightning fast returner)

I wrote this in another thread but I feel like people underestimate the cultural differences in regards to soccer when compared to most European countries. Those kids grow up with a ball on their foot since the day they can walk. They play at school recess and in the streets with their friends everyday. Their entire families played and they grow up around the game. And outside of a few other minor sports, there is only soccer. These kids all have had over a million touches of the ball by the time they are only 10 yrs old. You can have the best athlete in America at 12 yrs old start playing soccer and he will never catch up from a technical standpoint .

If they flipping from those sports to soccer, they might not be good. Rather the other way.

Before that age, it's just having fun playing football. The more touches the better. After, they're learning tactics. Tom Byers is a great source on this.

Check out what Wynalda is doing . He's having success and is doing it the opposite way. All IMG would care about is making the money. They would not care about tangible success for the overall sport in the US.

IMG took over Nick Bollitieri's Academy for tennis. Since then the quality of US men's tennis has been in the bathroom without toilet paper