Major (Feeder) League Soccer

In recent memory, many of the United States' finest players have often packed their bags and set out for Europe to "play with the big boys". Landon Donovan, Michael Beasley, Clint Dempsey, and Brian McBride are just some that come to mind. This poses two questions, is the MLS a feeder league for the larger, more established leagues in Europe? And, is this good or bad for the league as a whole?


At first thought, any young player in the USA who has aspirations of playing for the national team or at a high professional level, dreams about going over to Europe to play. And who could fault them? It's exciting, you've grown up seeing the glitz and glam that surround players in those leagues. But what does that do to the domestic league at home? Once you've been taken out of the MLS, you no longer become a hero of American soccer, somebody who is talked about among fans. You're just that person who once played for you and left for Europe. But the other argument is this; that same player can now become a better all around player in an established league with higher levels of competition, which in turn will raise the bar for other young aspiring players.

So, what should the MLS do?  The question the MLS needs to ask, is what kind of league is it? Is it a league where they sign young players for short money with the hope of selling them to the European teams for a lot of money? There is nothing necessarily wrong with this type of league, it's good business. As long as everyone knows that is your goal. So is the goal of the MLS to fill teams with young players in their early 20’s, surround them with more established veteran players in their 30’s and sell off the best of the young players as they develop?

If the league is to follow this plan, then it needs to create a better system of finding and developing this talent. A more substantial youth development program and integration with lower leagues in the United States would bring in a larger quantity of players to develop and asses. The current system of hoping to find players from colleges and universities in North America who can afford to play at that level is ludacris. The major opportunity for the U.S. to improve lies between the time players graduate from high school to the time they potentially turn pro. For those four years many youth players are stuck shuttling between college soccer and semi-pro soccer in the summer. The problem with this is that these players lack consistent instruction. Their college coach may want them to play a certain way while their semi-pro coach wants them to play another way. Players can’t develop properly that way. Another problem is the length of season. The average college player may play 30 games a year, but that is really only spread out over 4-5 months. Both college and semi-pro will play two matches in a weekend. That is a determent to players’ health and their ability to learn nuanced skills. Plus, the object in college is not to develop players, but to win matches. Coaches can’t leave a struggling player in the match to learn from the experience because the coach is under pressure to win. His job depends on results, not the quality of players he produces. That sometimes also leads to negative tactics.

With a higher volume of players flowing through an established youth system with more teams and proper coaching, more quality players are bound to be identified. These players will not only be more attractive to leagues abroad, but to the MLS itself. There will be a new higher standard in quality of players on the field, so others will have to be at the top of their game in order to compete.

The overall point here is not to get discouraged about all the things lacking in American youth soccer at the moment, but rather to think about how much potential is out there. MLS continues to grow and that growth will eventually spill over into more youth resources. Hopefully that day is sooner than later, but when it comes, it will be a great day for soccer in America.

@PrimeStrikeAcad