Former USMNT player Eddie Johnson thoughts on ECNL College Showcase

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Football reference throw you off?

Just misplaced on McBride's observations.

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It won't change as long as you have parents who admittedly hate the game, and will drop it as soon as their kid is through school.

Soccer is a great sport. Good thing. Because if not, all the corrupt nonsense going on in this youth soccer industry would have driven everyone away long ago.

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A good point. I think my kids' love of the sport is at least partly influenced by my own. They watch a lot of it because I watch a lot of it. I've been on sidelines where parents had no real idea of what was going on out there, and some of the things they were saying/shouting were embarrassing. More encouraging though, I've also been on sidelines where my kid's team will play from GK to FB, FB to CM, CM feeds it out to the wing, wing crosses to striker, and the striker completely whiffs on the shot, and all the parents applaud and shout encouragement. So I'd say it's not completely hopeless out there.

Part of the understanding of the game is when to do what. You will see that top teams will play possession, but you will also team that a GK passes to FB, FB sees a F wide open, and will send a long ball (even Brazil does it) - it can't be only one or the other, and that's part of the failure of demanding ONLY possession, which seems to drive many of the "pundits" at TS.

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Part of the understanding of the game is when to do what. You will see that top teams will play possession, but you will also team that a GK passes to FB, FB sees a F wide open, and will send a long ball (even Brazil does it) - it can't be only one or the other, and that's part of the failure of demanding ONLY possession, which seems to drive many of the "pundits" at TS.

Ha, true. I'm a huge advocate of playing with the ball vs. running after it...but there has to be a reason.

Sterile possession doesn't do anyone any good unless you are trying to kill the game off. Possession is to create space and odd-number mismatches, and if you have a space you exploit it. Doesn't matter if it's 4 yards or 40 yards away.

Really the same in any sport.

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He is absolutely right but he could made the identical tweet about gda games, or college games or the games in any other league with very very very few exceptions. So he is biased. He is or was involved with us soccer and they hate ecnl.

This is the crux of the matter. The same can and has been said about GDA, all levels of college women’s soccer, even about our youth national teams. It is what it is across the board. Doesn’t matter whether it’s gda or ecnl or college, women’s soccer doesn’t look the best in general. Gda made it even worse by doubling the number of so called “elite” teams in the country. In our state, neither is great but GDA is even worse than ecnl.

Girls soccer is dominated by rich white girls who are tall. Sorry, but that really limits the talent available to play.

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This is the crux of the matter. The same can and has been said about GDA, all levels of college women’s soccer, even about our youth national teams. It is what it is across the board. Doesn’t matter whether it’s gda or ecnl or college, women’s soccer doesn’t look the best in general. Gda made it even worse by doubling the number of so called “elite” teams in the country. In our state, neither is great but GDA is even worse than ecnl.

Girls soccer is dominated by rich white girls who are tall. Sorry, but that really limits the talent available to play.

Again...he was watching what is touted as the best of the best. GDA is irrelevant, right? So, why is that a consideration?

Even in your own words you say GDA is "even worse" so why bring it up? This is about (Lavers): "the Girls ECNL have great clubs across the country that are committed to always getting better, and who are bought into the core values that drive our league."

So, it's an utter failure. Just admit it and don't deflect it.

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Again...he was watching what is touted as the best of the best. GDA is irrelevant, right? So, why is that a consideration?

Even in your own words you say GDA is "even worse" so why bring it up? This is about (Lavers): "the Girls ECNL have great clubs across the country that are committed to always getting better, and who are bought into the core values that drive our league."

So, it's an utter failure. Just admit it and don't deflect it.

Why are you swallowing the Kool aid served up by the one who owns ecnl or whatever Kool aid the gda serves up. We can all read marketing materials. Do your homework and pick the best option for your own player.

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Why are you swallowing the Kool aid served up by the one who owns ecnl or whatever Kool aid the gda serves up. We can all read marketing materials. Do your homework and pick the best option for your own player.

I'm not swallowing anything.

Just stating that a league that positions itself as the best of the best and who sends out their minions daily to bash other leagues, have a real hard time accepting that all that $$$ results in a trash product. And, when it's called out, the deflection of well, well, well, what about them?

If I'm paying Mercedes prices and read something how crappy and overpriced it is I don't turn around and say "pffft, what about Honda?"

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I'm not swallowing anything.

Just stating that a league that positions itself as the best of the best and who sends out their minions daily to bash other leagues, have a real hard time accepting that all that $$$ results in a trash product. And, when it's called out, the deflection of well, well, well, what about them?

If I'm paying Mercedes prices and read something how crappy and overpriced it is I don't turn around and say "pffft, what about Honda?"

If Apple was US soccer, nobody would have an Iphone.

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As I’ve said, my D hates her team’s style of soccer. She was taught to build from the back and play possession early on. She watches a ton of EPL soccer along with national team matches. She understands the game at a high level, but as others have said, you need more than 1 or 2 players on the field to have that understanding to play more than long balls. I’m sure there are a few other players on the squad that watch soccer quite a bit, but that isn’t the norm. That’s cultural, and it likely won’t change while families have 4 other prime-time sports to watch in their free time.

The USA is a huge country. There are pockets of soccer culture everywhere, but nowhere near enough to satisfy College demand. That is the business opportunity and there are people lining up to fill it. People need to divorce the pursuit of soccer excellence form the business opportunity for Clubs. They are not connected.

If you dont have access to great developmental training in your area, then there is not much you can do about it. In countries with a culture, that is usually available locally, on a street corner, a pick up game as well as at a local club.

Dont forget that the objective of a game is to win it. As long as the USA is winning games at the highest level of the womens game, there is going to be very little pressure to change.

A county this size is always going to have enough good player to compete no matter how many potentially good ones it wastes.

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If Apple was US soccer, nobody would have an Iphone.

Okaaayyyyy...

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This is the crux of the matter. The same can and has been said about GDA, all levels of college women’s soccer, even about our youth national teams. It is what it is across the board. Doesn’t matter whether it’s gda or ecnl or college, women’s soccer doesn’t look the best in general. Gda made it even worse by doubling the number of so called “elite” teams in the country. In our state, neither is great but GDA is even worse than ecnl.

Girls soccer is dominated by rich white girls who are tall. Sorry, but that really limits the talent available to play.

nonsense - Dunn, Press, Sophia Smith, Pinto, Pugh and countless others do not fit your argument. many of the top College players are non white and middle class at best.

talent is talent, you cant buy it.

[Unregistered]

This is the crux of the matter. The same can and has been said about GDA, all levels of college women’s soccer, even about our youth national teams. It is what it is across the board. Doesn’t matter whether it’s gda or ecnl or college, women’s soccer doesn’t look the best in general. Gda made it even worse by doubling the number of so called “elite” teams in the country. In our state, neither is great but GDA is even worse than ecnl.

Girls soccer is dominated by rich white girls who are tall. Sorry, but that really limits the talent available to play.

Same in our state. Gda is generally worse but both are watered down, sad, political and expensive. We need to stop the GDA vs ECNL debate because they’re basically the same - expensive pay to play that favors tall, rich white kids and is too lazy to work towards access and development for all. You could eliminate ecnl or gda today and nothing would change except it would be less watered down. This is a problem for every league, including gda.

Make college women’s soccer a headcount sport, encourage soccer in public school from elementary through high school and you’d see a big improvement across the board.

[Unregistered]

I'm not swallowing anything.

Just stating that a league that positions itself as the best of the best and who sends out their minions daily to bash other leagues, have a real hard time accepting that all that $$$ results in a trash product. And, when it's called out, the deflection of well, well, well, what about them?

If I'm paying Mercedes prices and read something how crappy and overpriced it is I don't turn around and say "pffft, what about Honda?"

Mercedes, Honda, BMW, Tesla, Ford....they all carry on about they are the best...and they all exaggerate to make the sale. Ecnl does not live up to the hype and neither does gda.

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Mercedes, Honda, BMW, Tesla, Ford....they all carry on about they are the best...and they all exaggerate to make the sale. Ecnl does not live up to the hype and neither does gda.

And so, your suggestion is? Like your realistic suggestion for families interested in maximizing talent and opportunities over the next couple of years?