Has MLS Robbed American Soccer of International Competitiveness?
We’re constantly hammered with one side of the coin, including Sunday at the conclusion of the US-Netherlands match on NBC by Marcelo Balboa, that Major League Soccer is responsible for the US being more competitive in major international tournaments.
This theory is so often repeated it has become gospel for many fans of the beautiful game in this country. But is this theory in fact accurate or does there exist another, perhaps less pleasant, reality? Today I am going to present the other side of this debate, the one which never gets aired in the United States.
Watching Stuart Holden’s repeated mistakes at the end of the US-Netherlands match reminded me how poorly MLS prepares players for major international matches.
The giveaways by an otherwise brilliant Sacha Kljestan and the lack of clock management by the US side in general against both Japan and Holland to me showed that unlike the young players in the J-League and the Erevidese, players in MLS never face the kind of intensity and urgency that you face in big international matches.
Even the best MLS coaches like Dom Kinnear and Steve Nicol cannot simulate situations for their players like the end of both games because they do not exist in Major League Soccer.
On one hand, Major League Soccer is very underrated. From a standpoint of individual players who make up the squads, MLS is under-appreciated on the world stage. MLS has several sides that could, based on their players, compete in top leagues in Europe. They may not compete to win the league but could certainly compete to avoid relegation. Contrary to what is bandied about on some other websites, MLS has a few teams that I certainly believe would avoid relegation in the English Premier League.
But on another hand, MLS is overrated. I watch a lot of football, including during the summer matches from various leagues in Latin America. In every single league I watch, the game is played with more passion and urgency than MLS. This includes so-called inferior leagues from the CONCACAF region. In addition, in MLS I see far more bad giveaways late in matches than in any other league I watch. MLS managers do not emphasize possession and ball control as much as they should, and when those players form the core of your national team, you end up with disasters like Sunday’s match. MLS teams and matches do feature more individual flair and skill than just about every Latin American league save Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.
We must also look at the US program historically to properly debate this subject. A revisionism has developed that the United States was not successful before the advent of MLS. This is patently false. The best result, arguably ever, for a US squad in a major competition was the semifinal run at Copa America 1995, when none of the US players were in MLS (which began play the following year) and all of them were fighting for playing time in Europe or Mexico.
The United States continued to compete well on the international stage, but as the players who made the core of that 1995 Copa team drifted back home to MLS, their competitiveness was robbed and we were rewarded with the infamous 1998 World Cup in France.
Fast forward to 2002. Half the core of the US National Team has left MLS and headed to destinations such as Germany and Holland to pursue their club careers. US Soccer has founded a national academy in Bradenton, Florida, whose first graduating class helped take the United States to the semifinals of the 1999 U-17 World Cup. The best player from that inaugural class, Landon Donovan, helped lead the US to the semifinals of the 2000 Olympic Football tournament in Sydney and then became the best young player at World Cup 2002. In that World Cup, the United States made the quarterfinals. MLS got much of the credit - as it always does when the US plays well - but what followed the next few years demonstrates why MLS perhaps cannot be trusted with America’s best young talents.
One by one top talents emerged from the Bradenton Academy and signed with MLS: Santino Quaranta, Eddie Johnson, Justin Mapp, Freddy Adu, Danny Szetela, Eddie Gaven, Mike Magee, Chad Marshall, Tim Ward and Quavas Kirk among others. Of the above list, none - and I repeat none - have reached their full potential sitting in MLS.
The cases of Gaven, Quaranta, Marshall and Mapp are particularly frustrating. Each of these players seemed to posses so much talent playing for US U-17 teams, only to develop bad tendencies and have their game essentially neutered once arriving in MLS. For instance, Gaven went from being a dangerous attacking midfielder whose on the ball skill was outstanding for a 17-year old to being hardly serviceable by the time he was 20. He’s bounced back this season, but it appears the damage has been done to his game. Chances are, Gaven will never be the player we expected him to be.
Quaratana, as has been well documented, has had other off-the-pitch problems, but no question exists that his potential was largely unrealized in MLS, except for a brief stint when Peter Nowak coached DC United. Chad Marshall entered MLS in 2004 as a lock for the US National Team and helped lead Columbus to a great year. He displayed the same tendencies in MLS that he did with the US U-17 and U-20 teams, for which he excelled. Yet much like Gaven and Quaranta, as time went on his skills seemed untapped, and his game grew unfocused and stale. Now he is simply an average and injury-prone MLS player.
Justin Mapp is also a serviceable MLS left-sided player. But at the U-17 level and coming out of Bradenton, he appeared to be on a level higher than DaMarcus Beasley or Bobby Convey was at the same age. Mapp has developed, but not as quickly as many hoped or into the player most hoped, and he is now on the fringes of the US player pool.
The cases of players like Danny Szetela, who had played only 18 minutes in MLS during the 2007 season before impressing foreign scouts at the 2007 U-20 World Cup, and Freddy Adu, whose game never really improved in his three-plus MLS seasons, have also been well documented.
The fact that Adu rapidly improved as a player while playing sparingly for less than a season in Portugal - after failing to develop at all in MLS while playing regularly - speaks volumes as to MLS’ ineffectiveness in developing certain star players. The 2006 World Cup debacle for the US with arguably the most talented side the US had ever taken to a major competition spoke volumes as to how the lack of intensity and player development in MLS had undermined the competitiveness of the US program.
While we keep patting ourselves on the back for the perceived good work of Major League Soccer, nobody seems to want to explain why the United States gets progressively less competitive at every age level of FIFA competitions. Why is the US usually among the best teams in the world at the U-17 and U-20 levels going back to the mid 1990s, yet less competitive at the U-23 level and hardly competitive on the world stage at the full international level?
What is the solution to this malaise? MLS isn’t going to become more competitive overnight, since the passion of the fans and the intensity of rivalries doesn’t exist in this league on the level it does in leagues with admittedly inferior talent.
Unlike those leagues, MLS can never simulate the passion nor the intensity of international football at the highest level. It’s frustrating because the current group of American players competing in the Olympics could be the third most talented squad in the competition behind Brazil and Argentina. But they have the negative tendencies that they learn at the club level drilled into them, which is why they are notoriously slow starters and haven’t played a complete match yet in the tournament.
The performances are getting better because the more time they spend with Peter Nowak and Lubos Kubik - two accomplished internationals who know what these sorts of competitions are about - the more their individual brilliance and confidence begins to emerge. But weening international talents completely off of bad habits and negative tendencies learned in MLS is almost impossible.
Until MLS becomes more committed to the American player and puts more faith in the American player rather than importing washed-up foreign players to replace young American ones, the United States will never reach its full potential as a football-playing nation.
At a time when the talent level in the United States is reaching its highest level ever, Major League Soccer has a role to play in this growth. But MLS seems committed to a different course entirely, so do not be surprised if the frustrating results for the United States continue.
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What the hell?? US could’ve very easily finished first in their group if wasn’t for a boneheaded play (resulting in early red card) by a player that never played in MLS. It’s not easy playing a man down for 87 minutes, and they still came within inches of tying the game and finishing first in the group.
No, the US did not deserve to go through. Man down or not, the GK’s time wasting in the first half was unacceptable. Besides Nigeria’s wastefulness was the only reason USA was still in the game. I wonder what it is with those kids and long range shots; which never go anywhwere near the goal
It is good for some of our best young players to leave the country and face better competition every day.
MLS will continue to get better though. It has done more good than bad for our National team.
You rip Holden for his bad play at the end.. I just watched the game again as I had it on DVR and he was easily one of our best players for the whole match. He will be back in Europe when his contract runs out in MLS I believe. He can play over there and it will help him get even better.
It’s going to take time for the MLS and US football in general to develop. Compared to how long other countries have been at it we’re children. I was at the Colorado Rapids v Everton friendly and the Rapids looked very good. The goal they scored was excellent. Two poor goals (you just can’t leave Mikel Arteta unmarked) cost them the match, but they dominated play for long periods of time. But the two sides crests said it all Colorado - ‘96 : Everton - 1878.
It’s going to take a long time to get the passion that other leagues have. The kids growing up with it now might have it, the adults not so much.
I wasnt really going to post but i just had to say Bford you must not have been reading the same article as the rest of us? The whole point of it is that the mls is stagnating potentially lethal talents. I completely agree though hadnt thought that much about it before. Its like here in Scotland although not a hot pot for international superstars its a simple case of whenever a more talented player arises be he a Scot or even a foreign product of academies the SPL can only take him to a plateu of ability after which he needs to move onto the EPL, La Liga or Seria A if hes to continue growing. Its a case of playing against the best brings out the best. If ur forced to play a pub team 9 games out of 10 youl never learn how to play against great opposition. So ultimately the MLS needs to start heavily investing in its clubs and undergo a massive research project into training and coaching methods in Europe if the USA wants to prevail as a great footballing nation. That or learn how to play the feeder club routine and hope the European club superpowers do the dirty work! Anyway long post for an unintentional one. Mon Football….not “soccer”
so what is a 17 yo kid to do? My son has talent as recognized by his coaches, opponents coaches, but we don’t have money to be on the Solars, Texans or the like. He plays these teams and makes things happen regardless who he plays. He plays D2 Classic league, but if college, MLS are not a route to the big game? Any international coaches in the states you recommend? Please advise?
Even Beckham tends to look bad in an MLS game.
I’ve watched Beckham play twice in MLS. For about 30 minutes of the 2nd game - after he received a half time earful perhaps - he came out of played with tremendous impact, what one would expect from a Man Utd or Real Madrid starter. However the rest of the time I’ve seen him on the pitch, he looked as if he were playing in a charity match, or writing the next chapter of his book in his head. I’m sure there is a reason behind that - but I can only guess at the dynamics.
Perhaps the managers are not jousting with each other in the press, nor the hometown fans ready to brawl over team allegiance. Perhaps MLS players think: nobody really cares about who wins or loses; it is second class soccer; cities aren’t really behind the teams; fans are not passionate; its where they play so they don’t have to learn a second language or come to realize they are not as good as they think.
In my town we have a hockey team (the Sharks) and people follow them with visible vigor, showing their colors at any given time, flying their allegiance constantly.
We also have an MLS team who has won the MLS championship - still many of the most ardent local soccer fans would be embarrassed to admit they follow the team, and I’ve had some local soccer afficianados say they don’t follow MLS at all, but instead follow the EPL, La Liga, etc., where the beautiful game is played. Better to watch Man Utd on TV, than MLS live.
If I end up with a son looking ahead to a pro career, based on what I’ve seen so far, I’d encourage him to go to Europe.
I think part of getting a critical mass of soccer energy is the density of it. When every 5-20 miles you enter a different region of team allegiance, there is a friction and passion which is absent when a team from NY plays a team from LA.
The best team in the MLS is, of course, the San Jose Earthquakes, who have risen from painful ashes, and will come to dominate the league in years ahead.
But they’d play even better soccer if San Francisco and Sacramento and Santa Cruz had equivalent teams, with their local populaces all right behind them in a fierce battle for pride and bragging rights. Maybe then it would matter and we’d see a bit of urgency, and the players full potential.
Of course pubs wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but we’re in America.
Karthik - Very balanced article, very insightful as well. I am assuming you do concede that MLS should take credit for much of the success the National team has had (besides taking the blame for not preparing players for the intensity of international games).
Part of the lack of intensity in MLS is the lack of fan support, which adds a whole new dimension to a football game. Of course, the bigger reason is that the incoming player pool (primarily from college) does not have the combination of technical and tactical acumen to play 90 minutes of sound football. American kids learn at an early age to run hard and kick long balls, and the adult players easily fall into this trap when faced with technically superior competition.
To Steve: have your son try out for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) - this is (usually, mostly) an unbiased system to identify good talent and help them develop into high-quality players. Also have him looked by coaches at academies like the one FC Dallas has - I am sure they will view it as an investment to develop a strong player.
MLS is trying to put a decent product on the field without having a good feeder system for players. Most of the best MLS players are older “internationals”. College soccer which feeds most of the American players to the league is not preparing players for the rigors of a full professional season. The games often lacks the beauty of the other pro leagues. Since the vast majority of the elite American youth players aspire to play in college I do not see this changing soon. MLS needs to tap into the vast Hispanic market. There are a ton of tremendous Hispanic players that do not play college soccer, but could be terrific pro players. The Hispanic audience is very passionate and would embrace these players and attend the matches.
As for the comment from D.S. about ODP being an unbiased system I simply have to laugh. Maybe in Texas. Not in NorCal. Too political and too size based. NorCal ODP should have been much better. Lots of skilled players, not that would actually get selected. ODP is a good idea that needs better oversight.
Thank you for your reccomendations. He was in ODP, made the allstar team in camp, then broke his heel and did not make next cut the next year. Plus, the tryout process seems non-existent after the first year. As witnessed by local clubs, Texans, Solar, nothing personal they are great clubs, but size is king and searching for new talent is according to who can pay. But when he plays these clubs, he still beats them despite their size, the only way to stop him is take him out. Again, they are good teams and kids, but emphasis is on size, athleticism and soccer skill 3rd.