Originally Posted by
jloome
I think part of the issue with the academies is that no one at them has EVER played at the top level. Stalteri is the closest, and he's assistant on the first team. How can they convey the proper level of intensity if they've never experienced it?
That was one of the most telling things from Oso. Against Croatia, he said, he finally understood what people had always tried to tell him, because Croatia basically found a new gear and a new approach, just by reading the game that was going against them. I'm paraphrasing it but he basically said, "and then they turned it up to a level of intensity we'd never seen before, with positioning we'd never seen before, angles of passes we'd never seen before."
It wasn't their technique, their athleticism or their fitness that killed them. It was that when the game moved into top gear, they couldn't read it quickly enough to shut croatia down. They couldn't play as well at full-speed for the entire game, maintain that focus, see all the right possibilities. "At the top level," Oso said, "they play at full-speed for the entire game."
To achieve that, Canadian players first have to see it in person, he said.
I feel it's the exact same issue with the kids and the MLS-level professional game. They are not getting serious enough competition early enough, at full speed. The intensity and demands placed on them are insufficient to the task at hand.
That is a setup issue, a coaching issue, a systemic issue.
EDIT: I think it's reflected in who has had the most caps for the team. We have always had a secondary quality issue.
Would anyone believe that Jay Chapman is in our Top 20 for all-time appearances (88) and has more appearances for TFC than Richie Laryea (83) Carl Robinson (83) Alejandro Pozuelo (82) ?
Once you get past the first 20 names, nearly everyone else who we've signed over the years has been here for either one season or two, and no more.
We've had a few good years due to big spending, but in the 17 since joining the league, most of our rosters have been pretty shit, and our youth have had minimal roles.