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"Offends" is the wrong word, for me anyway.
What "bothers" me is the presumption that Academy training is the single best avenue to USMNT success (which we all KNOW is the primary reason this is being done), combined with the 6-months good, 10-months-better logic.
Guess I've seen too many mediocre Academy programs, and too many productive high school and college programs, to believe that one way is inherently "better" than the other.

Exactly. You don't see the top basketball people telling people to move to AAU year round if you are a star (and there are a lot of really bad high school basketball coaches). In fact, Georgetown has a freshman on their team who never played AAU ball. If you're good, you're good. Other sports just do a better job of identifying talent (someone like Anthony Davis, a late bloomer who is going to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft, would have never made it in soccer because he wasn't good until his senior season). High school has many benefits, including forcing the top players to take over games. To act like there is only one way to get to the top, which USSF is certainly doing, is incorrect. It's ok though, we can continue to watch our U17 National Team embarrass themselves at the World Cup to show how much better our top young players are than previous times due to the new fad.

What makes me laugh is how all the DA team statements I've read make it sound like they had no choice in the matter and this move was forced upon them, and then the USSF said the teams passed the move overwhelmingly.

We really need to stop trying to emulate other countries and come up with our own method. But since we do copy so much, why is it that we are still pay to play?



You can't compare basketball with soccer. The depth and breadth of player pools are radically different, as are the depth and breadth of coaching qualifications in the two sports.

I'm sure there are good basketball coaches in England or Germany. But my guess is the average coach is probably not comparable to what we have here. Now soccer coaches in those countries......I have no doubt that the average 40 year old dad there knows more about the game than a significant number of HS coaches here.

Our top youth soccer coaches here are more qualified than a lot of AAU basketball coaches, yet basketball still produces far better players. Which goes back to my original point pages ago, coaching is very overrated in terms of developing stars. The reason we turn out basketball superstars isn't because of some fantastic development system or some amazing AAU coach, it is because the kid plays 6+ hours a day 7 days a week. The reason we don't turn out soccer superstars isn't because a lack of top tier coaches, it is because most top players don't practice often on their own.

Until we get inner city kids playing soccer, which I don't foresee happening any time soon if ever, we won't be a soccer power...period. Those are the kids that will put in the work needed to be a superstar, not some upper middle class kid whose parents pay thousands a year to play and he goes home and plays video games after practice. Our current USMNT coach said at the 2010 World Cup the reason we are behind is because we don't have inner city kids playing soccer. Is the change in the DA going to change that? lol. I'm assuming due to the extra four months, it is only going to get more expensive...