America, Youth Champions of the World

The 2013 College Cup, the competition that brings the best two-college soccer teams in America together to fight it out for bragging rights as the number one team in the nation. 

Kyle Craft, Harrison Shipp and Andrew O’Malley, heard of them? No, and are you going to be seeing them wearing the red and white hoops under the management of Jurgen Klinsmann any time soon? Probably not, but these three players have just won the national title for Notre Dame Irish after beating the Maryland Terrapins 2-1, and therefore should be considered as the best players in America right now.

The NCAA, national collegiate athletic association, the future of all athletes in America, hoping to take the next step and become an elite sportsman. The NCAA is an organization that hopes to prepare athletes for the next step in sport and life after they leave high school. The strict organization implement many rules such as playing at least one year in college before going on to play basketball in the NBA and at least three years before going on to play in the NFL.

So where does that leave the future of American soccer and the national team one day winning a World Cup?

Because the expectation amongst many soccer players in America is to go onto college and get a degree while playing, the standard in which they are exposed to is not very good. By the time the best players get done with their soccer careers at the college level they are 22, 23 years old. By this age most promising young players in Europe and South America have established themselves in the soccer world and are regulars for top division club across the world. They have a good two to three years professional experience under their belt and know what its like to be playing so that you can afford a mortgage and put food on the table.

                                                                  Notre Dame Irish lifting the 2013 College Cup

The system in America does not look promising for the future of soccer. You don’t see players coming through the Major League Soccer system the same way Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard. No, a player might be with a clubs Academy up to the age of 18, and then they go off to college to enhance their academic side why putting in a few hours each week in training. This is not to mention the rules of college soccer, which are their to develop the promising players into top sports stars.

Granted, that the NCAA say “students” come first, but when that is the route that athletes have to take before going pro, the set up for what is meant to be the next best things in terms of soccer talent would be compared to an under 12 tournament for a group of Sunday league teams.

Roll-on roll-off substitutes and exactly 90 minutes being played that see each half end with a novelty countdown with 10 seconds left on the clock and then an obnoxious air horn being blown to signal the full time whistle. Soccer or a farce to the world’s most played sport?

The standard of referees does not help the game in any shape or form either. What would be considered in England as a great 50/50 tackle is often deemed a reckless challenge, and any sort of verbal retaliation whether directed at the referee or a player on your own team is rewarded with a yellow card.

The College Cup wasn’t short of its poor refereeing decisions either. Hilario Grajeda, voted the 2013 MLS referee of the year saw two handballs inside the penalty area go unpunished. One of which was a clearance off the line in the 35^th minute by a Notre Dame player that should have seen him sent off. Fate must have been on Notre Dame’s side though as in the 67^th minute there was a second obvious handball that went unnoticed. Notre Dame then went on to come from a goal down to finish 2-1 winners.

Despite the poor refereeing decisions it seems like the America culture of wanting to “put on a show” is more important than developing the players of the future. During the first half of the game Maryland’s head coach put on headphones to talk to the two commentators while the game was going on. Can you imagine what people would say if Arsene Wegner put on headphones to talk to Martyn Tyler during the FA Cup Final?

It seems as if the commentators don’t even know what they are talking about either when it comes to the beautiful game. Taylor Twellman, a retired MLS player who had a brief stint with 1860 Munich seems to have all the credentials when it comes to knowing a thing or two about soccer yet a comment during the game left me baffled.

“You can’t play a ball into the 18 yard box with a 5ft-8 goal keeper,” Twellman said.

What does that even mean Taylor? A 5ft-8 goalkeeper is that commanding in the air? The forwards should rely on taking shots from outside the area?

                                                                        Taylor Twellman, the next Martyn Tyler?

The lack of knowledge is the most worrying thing in the future of American soccer, and because of that the standard is affected. I believe a very average team from a council estate could give any college team a run for their money.

Maybe it’s just the culture of America that doesn’t help the development of soccer, as the country is content with three major sports in the shape of basketball, baseball and national football.  Even during the game itself, the biggest spectacle in college soccer didn’t manage to trend on Twitter.

The one thing that can be taken from the Cup is that at least Notre Dame aren’t calling themselves “World Champions” like every sports team that seem to win something in America do.

You're Not Famous Anymore

“You’re not famous anymore,” one of the infamous chants that lower league clubs fans love to chant. Wolves, Coventry, Sheffield United and even Portsmouth are all on the receiving end of this chant when they travel for an away game in the Sky Bet league 1 or 2.

Granted other big name clubs have been through the ups and downs or the re-branding of the football league since the emergence of the Premier League. Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, are all clubs who have languished in the third tier of English football. But all managed to get back into the Championship within three years. .

Of course, the likes of Bradford, Oldham and Swindon had a brief stint in the Premiership, but neither would be considered a “Goliath” fixture in today’s game. Even with their record of being promoted to the top division and back to the basemen in nine years Northampton Town are not a team that are feared.

Like an A-list celebrity that has gone into disrepute and looking for their next comeback, will these clubs ever going to make it back to the top, or has the financial gain of the premiership and television rights spoilt any chances of that?

Relegation is the biggest fear for chairmen who have recently been promoted to the premiership. Even with the parachute payments that their club receives from the premiership; the wage budget, television right and other expenses that come with the fame of playing on in the premiership greatly disappear with relegation. What turns into a season of excitement in England’s top tear often results in the next four to five years struggling in the lower leagues.

Sheffield United the biggest sufferers of the financial reckonings that playing with the big boys brings. Compensated with £5.5m for the Carlo Tevez saga the club has never recovered from that heartbreaking relegation on the final day of the 2006-07 seasons. With sales of promising stars such as Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker, the club has never quite found it’s feet again when it comes to getting back to the top.

Carlos Tevez playing against Sheffield United in 2007 

And this is just one example of clubs coming down from the top division and not being able to make it back. Financial rewards are what the chairmen are looking for, they don’t care about the fans they just want their stadiums full so they can make as much money as they can.

Tranmere Rovers chairman Peter Johnson is a culprit of this. After a successful era under Ronnie Moore, Johnson decided bringing in the big name reputations of John Barnes and Jason McAteer with the hope to put “more bums and seats.” The thinking that this tactic would work is medieval and something that many clubs in the lower leagues do to try and bring financial success.

The thinking behind running a club has to change however. If a club is going to be run like a business then the least you could do is follow business 101 rules. To gain money from something you have to put money into it. In lower league cases it’s by not selling the young players at the first possible chance. Or sell them and give the manger the money to spend on loan player’s wages. Every player has his price, it’s about knowing when to sell and not look for the quickest possible financial gain.

Johnson’s biggest mistake was sacking Ronnie Moore for what was nothing more than a P.R stunt. A survey done by economist Stefan Szymanski showed that between the years of 1974-2010, Moore was actually the eleventh best manager for what he had achieved with the wage budget he had available. Somewhat of an overachiever Moore was still shown the exit.

Jason McAteer and John Barnes on being appointed Manager and Assistant at Tranmere 

Lower League chairmen need to realize that if they were going to run the clubs like a business then they need to treat the club how they would treat any other business. Instead of trying to find a quick fix look at the long-term plan, results and success in the league bring the fans in, not ex professional players. By giving the managers the resources to succeed on the pitch will bring rewards for more cucumber sandwiches and bottles of white wine in the directors box. For those who are also unaware of the business world of football contracts are sent between clubs via fax…. Yes a fax machine!

Will the chairmen start giving their managers the financial backing to succeed in? What they need to do is give their managers time and not look for a quick fix. Oxford United’s Chris Wilder and Leyton Orient’s Russell Slade are the football league’s third and forth longest serving managers, Arsene Wegner is leading the list. If you look at all three of those teams right now where do they sit in the league? At the top. 

Chopping and changing managers every other year or not putting in the financial backing for wages and players transfers will only see more clubs like Wolves, Sheffield United linger down in the depths of football for longer. Give the manager time and money to build “his” squad over two to three years and the success will come both on and off the field.