Whether to pursue entry into U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy wasn’t an easy choice for many of the nation’s top clubs, particularly in areas like North Texas and Southern California, where clubs are already entrenched in highly competitive leagues.
Category: Soccer America Magazine
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MLS Midseason Report
The Eastern Conference is loaded, but the best team(s) may be out west. Houston, New England and D.C. United look like the most likely champions with one half of the season to be played, yet a few others are impossible to dismiss.
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U.S. Men’s team: Summer Lessons
Some players dazzled, others stumbled as U.S. teams played 14 matches in three countries during a trio of international tournaments. Amid the results emerged the next crop of candidates for the 2010 World Cup squad, with the fortunes of many players partially dependent on next year’s Olympic Games.
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Youth: Gottschee Embraces New Era
Members of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy for its inaugural 2007-08 season are mainly suburban clubs that grew out of the late 20th century’s youth soccer boom. But New York City’s BW Gottschee has been fielding youth teams for 50 years. Ben Boehm isn’t your typical Director of Coaching. He doesn’t earn tens of thousands […]
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Rennie: Dean of College Coaches
Duke coach John Rennie is still going strong in his fourth decade of Division I coaching. Legend has it that Chatham High School in New Jersey had abandoned its football program early in the last century because the mayor’s son had broken his neck on the gridiron. So back in the 1960s, top young Chatham […]
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Beckham’s Star Power
David Beckham, marketing superstar, will arrive in America shortly. What can his new team, the league and American soccer fans expect?
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Beckham Will Do More Than Bend It
He didn’t want to be a savior, yet David Beckham may well arrive as one. The league he will play in is doing just fine, but his new team is on the skids.
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Taming the Wild West
Creating the U.S. Soccer Development Academy is the USSF’s first step in trying to take advantage of the strengths of American youth soccer while tackling its flaws.
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U.S. Abroad 2006-07: Americans Shine and Suffer
A record number of Americans saw English Premier League and German Bundesliga action in 2006-07, and a 20-year-old U.S. export played regularly in the Mexican League — but relegation victims included venerable legionnaires Kasey Keller and Eddie Lewis.
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What the Future Holds for Youth Soccer
Let's look into the future of American soccer, shall we? The year is 2012. Major League Soccer had been going strong until the coaching shortage, the top guys having moved to youth soccer, because that's where the real money is. The Dallas Diaper Demons won the first Under-2 U.S. National Championship in a hard-fought victory […]
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Youth Beat: The Perils of Profit-Driven Coaching
Convincing parents to pay for professional coaching is like picking low-hanging fruit. So what does that mean for the children and how this country is developing players? The next time you attend a youth soccer practice or game, pay close attention to how much time passes without hearing at least one adult telling the children […]
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Tim Howard Lands on His Feet
Three years after losing the starting job at Manchester United, U.S. keeper Tim Howard is back in the nets for Premier League rival Everton. There isn't much down time for Tim Howard these days. The demanding pressures of club and country commitments fill up his datebook, so the narrow window between the end of the […]
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Bradley Plunges Into New Job
Before he had the tag of interim national team coach removed in May, U.S. coach Bob Bradley plunged into his latest job as he does everything else: meticulously and relentlessly, even a bit zealously. Bradley’s appointment as men’s national team coach set the stage for the busiest summer for the men’s programs in more than […]
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Hope Returns North of the Border
As MLS savors the rabid reaction to Toronto FC, Canadian Soccer Association officials are planning to use BMO Field and the FIFA U-20 World Cup as catalysts for a revival of their national team programs. Through the window of his condominium, Toronto FC captain Jim Brennan can see the home of Major League Soccer’s newest […]
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Tapping Into a Gold Mine
Major League Soccer is finding ways and means to exploit the rapidly growing Hispanic sports marketplace while it steadily grows and improves its own product.
Two years ago, a pair of international soccer games were played simultaneously in Southern California. Staged less than 30 miles apart they, in effect, took place on different worlds, so vastly different were the cultures they attracted and the atmosphere they generated.
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Chivas USA Project, Year 3
The departures of head coach Bob Bradley, striker Francisco Palencia and midfielder Juan Pablo Garcia aren’t the only changes at Chivas USA. The club is reaching deeper into the Mexican-American community with programs and promotions as it strives for greater success on the field.
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The Latino Equation
How far has American soccer come in providing opportunities for young Latino players?
Financially, it’s a struggle,” says Paul Walker, the founder and president of Southern California youth club Barcelona USA. “But I come from the point of view of being the underdog. I don’t know why, it’s just the way I grew up. I took on all challenges.”
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U.S. Talent Heads South
Mexican pro clubs and Mexico’s national team program have started plucking talent from the USA.
Edgar Castillo is 20 years old and he just bought a house. A year ago, he made his Mexican First Division debut with Santos Laguna. This season, he starts at left back.
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A New Era for MLS
The arrival of an international celebrity and fashion icon who also plays midfield is just one of many radical changes in store as Major League Soccer enters the big time. MUCH BUZZ ABOUT BECKS. When will he arrive? Where will he and Victoria live, and where will the kids go to school? Will the team […]
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Youth Beat: The African Connection
The increase in immigration from Africa has created a burgeoning source of talent for the U.S. youth national team program. About two million people fled Sierra Leone during the decade-long civil war that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and destroyed two-thirds of the nation's infrastructure. One of the refugees was an 11-year-old boy […]
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Where Are America’s Black Coaches?
Leaders of the NSCAA Black Soccer Coaches Committee hail the increase of black players in mainstream American soccer — but now await an increase in opportunities for black coaches. Hylton Dayes, the chairman of the BSCC, is the head coach of the University of Cincinnati and a Region II ODP coach. ''I got here in […]
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Marketing Soccer Is Getting Easier
MLS marketing and public relations vet Dan Courtemanche predicts a stellar 2007 season. Had Dan Courtemanche accepted that office-supply sales job instead of opting for an unpaid internship with a sports marketing firm 17 years ago, he probably wouldn't have been ''trying to manage a tidal wave'' on the 11th day of 2007. A few […]