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So many points.........yet more questions. Do we think US Soccer is just plain ignorant? Or just misguided by the influx of corporate support? Are we -as part time analysts- really that far ahead of the Federation and their logic tree?




I'm not sure where people are saying that US Soccer is ignorant or mis-guided. This seems to me to be a case where people are enjoying a dialogue about other possible ways that the program could have achieved the same results.

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Are they trying to do something worthwhile? Or are they trying to completely bring down their children(affiliates)?




What are they trying to do? They are trying to raise the level of the mens national team to that of the rest of the world.

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Maybe we need to rise above sea level on this and our thinking. Otherwise we stay the same. See World Cup 2006 & MLS weekly.




As for raising the level of our thinking. That's a real hard thing to do when either you or people you care about are basically forced into a decision, that individually, they may not have come to based on the merits of the program.

In an earlier post there was a statement concerning training in a professional environment and increased services, as benefits of the program. If the people involved in the day to day operation of the academy program are the same as before, why weren't there a professional environment and increased services without having to move to the academy program?