OPINION: Future is Now for US Soccer

Changes to US Game Start at Youth Level

November 5, 2007

By Andrew Hush

These are interesting times in the world of American soccer. Aside from a wide open MLS playoff race, various moves have been made recently to later the infrastructure of the game in this country at all levels.

The men’s national team has a new assistant coach in John Hackworth while the ladies are set to get a new leader following the unceremonious dismissal of Greg Ryan. At the youth level, the boys U-17 national team will be led by Wilmer Cabrera. Meanwhile, U.S. Youth Soccer has appointed one of that team’s former coaches, John Ellinger, as Technical Director.

To this observer, at least, the immediate upshot of these moves was the question ‘what has changed?’ In typical style, the ‘jobs for the boys’ ethos has continued, with the same names simply shuffling into new roles. It’s evolution if anything, with the only (R)evolution in the USA remaining in New England. However, if the right moves are made now, the future will remain bright.

Changes to the US Game have focused on the youth level.

By bringing Hackworth on board, Bob Bradley has enlisted the help of a coach with great familiarity of the US Soccer set-up. More importantly, with the focus of the national team now seemingly set on youth, hiring a coach that has experience working with the likes of Adu, Bradley (jr.), Szetela and Feilhaber seems logical.

Whether Hackworth can translate the lessons he taught to 17-year-olds onto the biggest stage, however, remains questionable. For many years, this country has challenged the best in the world at youth level but has been unable to replicate that threat in the sport’s biggest arena. Helping tomorrow’s stars take the big step into soccer adulthood appears to be Hackworth’s remit.

After the turmoil of the World Cup, the women’s national program has slipped out of the mainstream public eye and should spend the time out of the limelight rebuilding its damaged reputation. Clearly, there were more problems with Ryan than simply the way he handled ‘goalkeeper-gate’ and his dismissal shocked nobody.

The fact is that, a couple of small tournaments aside, under Ryan the women’s team regressed to the point that its sole objective in games was to pump the ball long to Abby Wambach and hope she could do the rest. Alas, the rest of the world had caught up and the result was an embarrassing revelation that the ladies were just another team on the world stage.

To fix the problems, it looks as though the federation will turn, quelle surprise, to a familiar face. Tony DiCicco may be set to take the reins of the Boston Breakers in 2009 but, before that, is the preferred choice to coach the national team at the Olympics. He’s been there and done it and may be a sound short-term fix but planning for the aftermath of Beijing must be underway already too.

Tony DiCicco could be an option for the US Women's team.

The appointment of Cabrera is interesting. He does have a background in the national teams programs, having worked under Bob Jenkins with the U-18 men, but this is not a typical appointment by the bosses at US Soccer. Cabrera is a veteran of two World Cups as a player and has experience coaching in grass roots campaigns.

It must be hoped that Cabrera’s experience will have provided him with a sense of the realism needed to grasp what it will take to coax the best out of the young players. Rather than being grandfathered into any position, his willingness to move from his native Colombia to create a new life for himself and, in doing so, start from the bottom rung of the coaching ladder suggests this is a humble man, in whom is instilled a humility to encourage his subjects to achieve through the same hard work which has been a hallmark of his own resume.

Ellinger, a veteran of a number of US Soccer programs, has quite a challenge on his hands, taking charge as he will of the overall development of over three million young players. His newly created ‘Technical Director’ title is ambiguous enough for him to take a wide view of the state of the game at youth level.

It can be argued that Ellinger’s biggest test will be to bring the varying views on the youth game onto the same page without, of course, destroying the free thinking that should continue to be a hallmark of the development of the best young talent.

Free thinking within established systems and routines is important and crucial to the continued growth of the game in this country. Although dropping your best goalkeeper on the eve of your biggest game remains a daft move, in general, coaches should be encouraged to follow their own thoughts with confidence. The future is here and it’s going to be rather interesting.