Hog the ball, kid - Boston Globe

[djones]

Great article on the problems with the US soccer program - very reminiscent of the problem with Canada and our Select/Metro/Provincial/NTC programs.

Hog the ball, kid - The Boston Globe

A very true statement that reflex's Canada Soccer program:

As soccer became the United States’ most popular participatory youth sport, leading American coaches like Marshall began to wonder why the large, well-funded, athletic-minded country had not found success at the international level. A look at the US men’s national team roster pointed at one problem: a generation of players who are physically strong and competitive but never developed the sophisticated skills needed to move the ball creatively across the field. Americans could occasionally overpower top-flight European and South Americans teams with a direct style, but would rarely dominate a match.

“Some of our kids play like hell, run like hell, and do things that don’t make them better soccer players,” said Jay Martin, the editor of Soccer Journal, a publication of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. “We’re developing a country of people that depend on a level of athleticism to win, but don’t know how to play the game.”