Improving the fundamentals of the North American Player

[trane]

Oblio, posted and I agree;

This league is terrible, therefore lots of players stay away. This league plays out of whack, timewise with the rest of the world, therefore, players stay away. This league has some of the worst refereeing I have ever seen, players talk-Players stay away and finally, this league has a salary cap so, players don't want to limit their earning potential, therefore they stay away. The reputation of this league isn't great, players look at it as "Mickey Mouse" and ...stay away
Mo simply cannot get the talent because the talent doesn't want to come here to this third rate league.
There are exceptions, in players such as Robbo and DeRo but for the most part, the talent doesn't come.
So, Mo works with what he can. Carver works with, what he can. Do you really think replacing Mo or Carver will make a difference, especially at this point?


This made me think, it is true for the most part, the average North American player simply does not cut it in terms of funadamentals ( basic skills and footy IQ ect.), and these are our most available players, too upgrade the MLS into a competitive league we need to upgrade theses, and how do we do it? I trully think that we need more Academies with quality foreign coaching at earlier levels, this Saturday morning run after the ball like a pack of headless chickens is not teaching our children to play football, but a north American game called soccer, were defense is an after though, and running is the ultimate skill, and winning ahh, OK but not so important.

[ExiledRed]

Steve Nicol knows how to coach the best out of average north american players.

New England's roster is full of them. and they are always a playoff team.

[Technorgasm]

with the thread titel, I ws expecting a lot more from this thread.
but THANK GOD someone is pointing the flashlight in the correct direction.


take what you can from MLS, enjoy it, support your club
try not to get too fumed by the short cummings of the leage / players / results.

and please for the love of god
use temperance after a shitty loss like last night!
Correct your expectations,
dont fly off the handle and start to point fingers and collect pink slips.

Take positives from every game and every performance.



in short:

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

Frei - amazing performance, kept us in it, good distribution and communication with theD

Serioux - Player of the year, without a doubt the best to wear the shirt yet.

Barrett - had 4 quality chances, and helped get amado in for a great one, then finished one to open his account - lovely.

Wynne - pace, touch, spot on throw ins, beats the defender and plugs the hole - killer.



see what I mean?

[trane]

Steve Nicol knows how to coach the best out of average north american players.

New England's roster is full of them. and they are always a playoff team.

True, and we do have some guys who are solid players.


Techno, I understand, but I have watched some sixty MLS games in the past two years, and two months, the league has to get better, and it has to start somewehere.

[olegunnar]

I trully think that we need more Academies with quality foreign coaching at earlier levels, this Saturday morning run after the ball like a pack of headless chickens is not teaching our children to play football, but a north American game called soccer, were defense is an after though, and running is the ultimate skill, and winning ahh, OK but not so important.

I think that's a great first step.

IMO the main problem is that in North America this is a participation sport and not an achievement sport.
People go on about how soccer has the most registrants etc. etc. but how many of them are there to do well, and how many of them are there just to run around in a park after school?

If there could be a switch to make it into something where it's more than just an activity and more of something you do to excel in I think that's the first start, and I think that would start with better more high profile academies and coaching.

[Kickit09]

This league is terrible, therefore lots of players stay away. This league plays out of whack, timewise with the rest of the world, therefore, players stay away. This league has some of the worst refereeing I have ever seen, players talk-Players stay away and finally, this league has a salary cap so, players don't want to limit their earning potential, therefore they stay away. The reputation of this league isn't great, players look at it as "Mickey Mouse" and ...stay away
Mo simply cannot get the talent because the talent doesn't want to come here to this third rate league.
There are exceptions, in players such as Robbo and DeRo but for the most part, the talent doesn't come.
So, Mo works with what he can. Carver works with, what he can. Do you really think replacing Mo or Carver will make a difference, especially at this point?

excuses, excuses. all i see it excuses being made for TFC and mo specifically. there are 14 other teams in MLS and they all face these obstacles, and yet they find quality players and DPs who want to play here. why are this team's failures always someone else's fault (the ref, the league, the turf). when do TFC execs/managers/coaches take some responsibility and accountability for this team?

[trane]

^ I think that there are some valid points, in regard to the general quality of the players in the league. I am calling for change and soon, if something drastic does not occure in the next five games, and even if we have another shit game on Wensday, I may have seen enough.

[jabbronies]

I trully think that we need more Academies with quality foreign coaching at earlier levels, this Saturday morning run after the ball like a pack of headless chickens is not teaching our children to play football, but a north American game called soccer, were defense is an after though, and running is the ultimate skill, and winning ahh, OK but not so important.

This is a part of what CoachGT has been talking about for a while. He has started a series of coaches clinics that are basically hitting on this very notion: Bringin in proper coaches to teach our children, not just soccer moms and dads with zero sosccer experience looking to help out.

[Blazer]

It’s like anything. The more cake daddy brings home the nicer the car that sits in the driveway.

Major corporate sponsorships accompanied with a long term sustainable market will bolster these franchises spending ability. Players will come, the same way they do everywhere, when they can see serious money. The improvement in talent and the overall football aptitude will ultimately be a by-product of this process.

Get lucrative and long-term corporate deals and the players will come. When they come the referees will improve as the game improves. Ticket hikes can then be justified. Until then, enjoy it for what it is and try not to let TFC ineptitude ruin your experience.

[jabbronies]

Major corporate sponsorships accompanied with a long term sustainable market will bolster these franchises spending ability. Players will come, the same way they do everywhere, when they can see serious money. The improvement in talent and the overall football aptitude will ultimately be a by-product of this process.

right but we can't just wait for this to happen. We need start training our youngsters properly now. That way, we don't need to have the North American games development rest on the shoulders of corprate dollars. once this happens corprate dollars will be runnning to football and begging to be thier sponsors. Not the other way around.

[Blazer]

True enough ... I don't argue with dudes that have flames shooting out of their mouths ...

[brad]

Not only do the kids need proper coaching, they need to be spending much, much more of their free time with a ball at their feet instead of an Xbox/PS3 controller in their hand and FIFA on the TV.

[Stilts]

Just do what basketball is doing.

when the Raptors finally got to Toronto in 1995. Interest among young kids started to grow in basketball. Before that, we had basketball but 99.9 percent of our players were down right horrible, let alone average. We had one of the worst highschool basketball systems, our colleges teams were jokes, and the sport got little to no funding. We didn't even have basketball until middle school, and even when the Raptors were around I remember my middle school having to ask parents for funding to keep the team together.

The players that were decent in Canada, got next to no scouting. Unless you scored over 100 points in a game like Denham Brown did. Steve Nash had to go to Santa Clara, which is known for their business school, not sports. Then he had to make an improbable run into the NCAA tournament just to get some recognition.

Canada was simply not turning out good young players because we didn't have the proper systems in place. We had no high-end basketball camps. Our players were being overlooked, and most importantly, young children did not have the proper coaching in the fundamentals of basketball.

With the Raptors, that began to slowly change. More kids got interested in the sport. school boards, like the one in Toronto, started to organize themselves better when it came to basketball. We opened up basketball camps coached by actual professional, or former professional players and coach's (Alvin Williams, Steve Nash, Jay Triano). We even opened up a camp to teach our coach's (Ettore Messina).

Now all those kids who were 4 years old when the Raptors came to Toronto, are turning 18. They grew up around basketball, and with our new and ever expanding programs they learned the proper fundamentals to be succesfull professionaly if they had the talent. Now Canada is turning out some extremely impressive world class caliber players.

Currently, the number #3 ranked High school prospect going into their senior year, is Thristian Thompson a Canadian from Toronto/Brampton. We have a large number of other players who are ranked, and have very promising high school freshman, that are already being recruited by the top HS's in America.

Canada now has more ranked players, and is turning out better prospects then California, that actually has a larger population then our country, and far more funding/programs for the sport.

We still have a long way to go. Our high school systems still need a lot of work. Currently, our top players play two years of highschool basketball in Canada, then transfer to a school in the America. Generaly somewhere in New York state. Even so, we are beginning to produce some really talented players.

By the next summer Olympics, our Canadian team will be stronger then ever, and by the Olympics after that, we will easily be one of the best in the world with all our young prospects developing and entering the NCAA and NBA.

Soccer is going to need to go along the same route, and I have confidence it will. However it takes time and organization.

[brad]

And we need to start putting value on players that possess technical skill and vision over those that work their asses off for a full 90 but possess very little real ability.

[TFC07]

Stilts: Well said.

I think now with our academy, we will produce quality players in the future. It is just going to take time though.