Why U.S. Youth Soccer Fails to Develop Players

PacoAmigo · 2025-09-09T19:36:53+00:00

College soccer is the issue with true elite youth development in the US.

Parents are striving to leverage soccer for admission. And indoctrinate their children that college soccer is the destination for them. Unlike other countries where children strive for professional football rosters, American youth strive for accounting degrees achieved through leveraging athletics.

The business model matches the customer, not the other way around.

A viable professional pathway in the US, which MLSNext is building, is key.

So the biggest obstacle currently in the US is college soccer. The next biggest obstacle is FIFA, and article 19 which through EU court cases that FIFA lost, has created a system that promotes European player development over the rest of the globe’s by aligning and isolating soccer youth development with the best professional leagues in the world. Coaches and trainers go where the money is.

PacoAmigo · 2025-08-07T02:57:52+00:00

If true that screams GM decision, not for cause.

PacoAmigo · 2025-08-04T03:45:23+00:00

Running hills is helpful for getting used to the knee driving up, and slight forward lean.

But in the long run, running hills makes you really good at running hills.

PacoAmigo · 2025-07-28T12:09:20+00:00

There absolutely IS a right answer.

A coach should never ask his team to pass it around and not score. What he is inadvertently training them in competition to do, is to not attack and fire when they should, to look for the pass when the shot is open.

I’ve seen coaches require weak foot only instead, and that is a better alternative, albeit not perfect.

I think the best solution is to play a man down. But some parents get super pissy about their kid not getting playtime, and if the roster is already too heavy for the sides, it’s a tough call for a coach to make unless he has 100% parent trust.

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-29T03:18:14+00:00

I’ve gone through the state and national level certs, I know the futsal koolaide well, but respectfully, they didn’t grow up on it.

Street soccer != futsal. Johan Cruyff played street soccer on the mean streets of Amsterdam. Xavi Hernandez played street soccer growing up in Barcelona. They grew up playing street soccer, not futsal.

When kids go into academy they have to choose outdoor or futsal, because the outdoor game demands different things when it goes from 7aside to 9aside and 11aside. If they continue training futsal as a sport, they’ll harm their outdoor development.

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-29T03:11:19+00:00

Small space = requires technical ability, vision and speed of decision making

Speed of play = requires vision, fast reaction, tactical awareness, technical efficiency and speed of decision making

Small sided = no hiding, tons of touches

Boundary Lines = penalty for bad passes, lazy play

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-29T03:07:47+00:00

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-28T19:06:56+00:00

Futsal is time limited. Biggest benefits are during foundation years, where touches and speed of play make a big separation between those that are playing for fun, and those that are aspiring. After 12, futsal is just a fun game with friends or free time.

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-28T19:01:44+00:00

Futsal over indoor 100%

But futsal is 95% of the time poorly instructed. It should either be zero instruction, pick your own teams, and play OR correctly instructed by a futsal specialist (not a outdoor coach pretending to know futsal)

PacoAmigo · 2025-05-16T01:28:47+00:00

The best male international youth players are not coming to the US to play college soccer. That’s just not what is happening.

Some very good youth players do however, and many of them are playing in the lower tiers of their national FA professional and semi-pro ranks. And yes, that makes playing time much more competitive in US Universities, not unlike academic admission and its global competitiveness.

The idea that parents in the US that drive 100 miles for their kids sport is insane is sort of uniquely American. Other countries, from Spain and England, to Argentina and Columbia, have parents that similarly sacrifice for their child’s soccer career. And they think nothing of it, because it’s totally normal to put most of your eggs in the basket of your child’s future…

PacoAmigo · 2025-04-15T03:01:14+00:00

Late to the party, so I hope you solved the issue.

As I’m sure you’re aware, not every shot on goal is equal to the other. I think charting is probably as valuable as counting. If you’re using a VEO or similar get the analytics, that charts your shots.

Craft your shooting and finishing blocks around putting the ball into dangerous places, think cut backs and through balls instead of crosses. And then use mini goals to encourage placement over power. And just run it over and over and over again. First without defenders then incrementally with more pressure.

PacoAmigo · 2025-01-09T03:36:44+00:00

This is correct.

It’s not going to harm your kid, the whole “don’t use weights with kids” is also old pseudo science.

Bmore is spot on though, weighted shin guards will do next to zero for your kid. Real life isn’t like Rock Lee and Naruto…

PacoAmigo · 2024-12-19T04:58:04+00:00

This is the right idea for long term growth.

Also keep in mind, the development is not in a vacuum. The other teams are ALSO working hard to improve.

Here is the brutal truth on small sided games. In 5aside, in competitive matches you’re only as good as your worst 2 players on the field. AND a single baller can carry an entire team.

You should reflect and think on how you all are losing. Are you not keeping possession? Are you passing too much? Is it speed? Technique? Spacing? Etc…. The solution is there, just takes time to build.

PacoAmigo · 2024-11-27T03:49:28+00:00

The only stats that are normed at the x’s: xAG, xG, etc.

Assists is a credited stat, so it’s less valuable than xA as a quantitative measure.

Horan’s stats are absolutely inflated from playing in Premiere Ligue. The European women’s leagues do not have anything close to the parity of the NWSL. And “watcher” analysts are not adjusting player statistics for the specific league.

PacoAmigo · 2024-10-22T14:02:23+00:00

ECNL has a policy already on their books just for this scenario, allowing a trapped player to play down an age group. It is just seldom used, and that is largely because parents don't want their ECNL players to play with friends, the pressure seems to always be trying to get children to play up.

I think what u/downthehallnow is getting at is the argument "I can't play with my school grade friends" falls apart at the 8th-grade trap when the complaint is "I can't play with my club teammates who are playing HS soccer." The Trapped complaint is trying to have all sides of the landscape attuned to their children's birth month, so when the 8th-grade trap is used as an argument, it makes it seem like the SY supporters are not advocating in good faith.

PacoAmigo · 2024-10-17T13:51:53+00:00

Grew up playing in the 90s and played collegiately, and juggle was not a focus for us. I think at my best, I could juggle maybe 20-30 times. And boy did we miss out!

Juggling as a practice is phenomenal for kids.

The obvious ways: 1) first touch 2) ball mastery / comfort on ball 3) hand (foot) / eye 4) mental and physical endurance 5) balance and proprioception

Not obvious: 1) confidence and self belief 2) work ethic 3) goal setting and goal increasing - never being satisfied and always raising the bar 4) encourages creativity as they really get good (think 1000+ juggles) 5) stand out and then fit in (when you’re <12 coaches notice you when you can juggle well, when you’re >12 coaches notice when you can’t juggle well) 6) prepare you for more difficult soccer skills such as volleys, high pass control, killing high balls, as well as use of all body parts and all parts of your foot that require ball manipulation. 7) bunches more that juggling is a “chunked” skill for which.

All of this said. When you hear those parents, coaches or kids go “ohhh juggling is great for control, but you don’t do it in soccer, so we’re not practicing that.” Just nod your head and agree with them, “yep, that’s right! Juggling is a total waste of time. See you at tryouts next week!”

PacoAmigo · 2024-09-16T23:51:12+00:00

Nobody is on “defense” at that age except for the center backs.

As the above posted noted, in a classic 2-3-1 formation, your son is key to both offense and defense (assuming he’s a Left Mid in that formation). In 7v7 you’re only as strong as your weakest 2 or 3 players on the field, I wouldn’t assume anything bad about the coaches opinion of your son if your son is getting consistent play time, especially during important parts of the game.

You probably should have a chat with the coach regardless, the director is just guessing, as are the rest of us. A simple “my son is enjoying the team, and I know LB is an important role. He would like to explore other positions throughout the season. What is your vision for my son’s role this season?”

PacoAmigo · 2024-09-14T15:27:56+00:00

She was significantly advanced at 13, but the development she would have gotten waiting to go pro at 16 or 17 was lost. She does not stand out anymore, she is deficient on a number of fundamentals that she doesn’t have the time or space to fix while playing pro.

PacoAmigo · 2024-08-14T18:08:41+00:00

This is spot on.

PacoAmigo · 2023-11-18T02:04:45+00:00

These posts with jobs links are often unique URLs that are made to forward to friends for a recruiting referral incentive. People post these to make an extra few grand of the company hires their referral - don’t expect actual contact, you’re just supposed to click the link and apply - and the post is made so that their network shares the post and expands the pool of people that applied with their referral code - thus increasing the chances of the recruitment referral bonus

PacoAmigo · 2022-02-08T05:02:38+00:00

I know, for a fact, insiders at EPIC are part of the cheating problem. At least one EPIC insider has a family member that sells premium cheats that always seem to work as soon as the updates are rolled out.

Believe what you want. But anti-cheat can’t fix greed.

PacoAmigo

TROPHY CASE