Molding the U-17 World Cup team
Brent Latham
ESPN Insider
Wilmer Cabrera is a former Colombian international defender, but these days he conducts his interviews in English. The players he coaches on the American under-17 national team? For them it's also English only, despite the growing numbers of bilingual players in U.S. soccer circles.
It's more than a trivial matter. Prior to Cabrera's arrival at Bradenton in the fall of 2007, cliques had apparently began to form in the U-17 camp. At the 2005 U-17 World Cup in Peru, a frustrated player interrupted an interview to complain about a nearby group of teammates speaking to each other in Spanish.
That player was Neven Subotic. And while it would be ridiculous to think he left the U.S. program to play for Serbia because of a lack of Spanish skills, there was still a lesson to be learned: The U-17 program is about more than just talent, it's also about building an American soccer identity.
Despite being Colombian, or maybe because he is, Cabrera makes that point loud and clear.
"In order for you to be the best, you need to show sacrifice, you need to show discipline," he said in a telephone interview from Bradenton, where the his team is preparing for U-17 World Cup, and will play the Czech Republic in its first match on June 19. "You need to do what you need to do to make the U.S. national team."
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Discipline and a sense of identity are essential not only in Cabrera's development philosophy, but also to the execution of his daily duties. Keeping order while leading a group of teenage soccer stars sometimes calls for a hard line, even when decisions come down to teaching life lessons at the expense of the team's performance.
Just last month, he tossed leading scorer Andrew Oliver off the team for disciplinary reasons. It wasn't the first time that Cabrera had been forced to make a tough decision to maintain the integrity of the program.
"In soccer you have to be strong enough to learn from these situations," said Cabrera. "The difference at this age is the confidence and the personality. Who can show that confidence and personality, instead of who loses concentration or gets disorganized. It's how we work at this level, we don't change, we know what to do."
It's no coincidence that much of what Cabrera says could refer to both on-the-field effort and off-the-field matters. He approaches each with a similar measure of practicality and black-and-white thinking.
But on the sidelines, the former defender has proved far from a rigid tactician, instilling a creative attacking mentality that is fun to watch and easy to appreciate. His 2009 team was one of the more attack-oriented sides in American U-17 history, and the current team also places a premium on attacking flair. It's an approach drilled in by intense individual training aimed at overcoming weaknesses and quickening the improvement of a group of players in their most formative soccer years.
"It's a process for us to teach them how to recognize their individual weaknesses," the coach said, "how to improve the strengths but also how to work on those individual weaknesses so we can avoid those problems. It's the focus of repetitions. We repeat and repeat because at this age their concentration level is not where it could be. It's hard for players at this stage to concentrate for 90 minutes -- they're going to make mistakes -- but to try to minimize that, we work on that every day."
When he took over the program nearly four years ago, Cabrera was a relative unknown in the insular world of American youth soccer and the hiring upset many in the youth soccer power hierarchy. True to form, Cabrera has ruffled some feathers by refusing to pander to traditional influences in player selection and other decisions.
His stubbornness in sticking to the rules and structure of the program may also cost the U-17 team wins by alienating some talented -- if self-centered -- young prospects. But the coach's body of work has pleased those who count most.
"We'll see how this summer goes, but I think Wilmer's done a very good job, and we're pleased with it," said USSF President Sunil Gulati. "He jumped into our national team program and I think he's built a good foundation there, building on what was already there."
Despite a somewhat disappointing round of 16 exit from the World Cup two years ago in Nigeria, Cabrera's coaching style and rapid success have turned heads -- both in the U.S. and abroad. Cabrera was recently named among the candidates for a coaching vacancy with the Colombian national team, and his name came up again when Honduras was looking for a coach for its national team this spring.
Though he seems particularly adept at handling the U-17 age group, Cabrera will likely also be in the discussion to become Thomas Rongen's replacement for the U.S. at the U-20 level. But for now, he'll be focused on taking this U-17 squad to the World Cup in Mexico -- though the Colombian doesn't feel he needs to bring home a trophy to validate his work.
"No I don't feel that pressure," he said. "The main purpose of the United States at this stage is not to win the World Cup. To be honest with you I don't think any team has to be under pressure to do that, because at this stage what you try to do is develop your players, to make them feel that kind of environment and make them improve a lot. At this stage you're going to see teams and players at a good level, but still in a learning process."
Notes
• U.S. U-17 central defender Mobi Fehr, who is set to play a big role in Mexico for Cabrera's team, has been linked to Fulham. A New York native, Fehr is known for his ability to start the attack out of the back, and is currently with Japanese club team Tokyo Verde. He also holds Japanese and Swiss passports.
• Louisville striker Colin Rolfe is apparently set to trial in Scandanavia. The NCAA striker is off to Sweden to test the waters at Djurgarden -- where U-20 national teamer Gale Agbossoumonde is currently stationed. The 21-year-old Rolfe will then head to Norway for a spell at Fredrikstad. Though he avoided referring to the trips as trials, Djurgarden's coach clearly feels differently.
Brent Latham
ESPN Insider
Wilmer Cabrera is a former Colombian international defender, but these days he conducts his interviews in English. The players he coaches on the American under-17 national team? For them it's also English only, despite the growing numbers of bilingual players in U.S. soccer circles.
It's more than a trivial matter. Prior to Cabrera's arrival at Bradenton in the fall of 2007, cliques had apparently began to form in the U-17 camp. At the 2005 U-17 World Cup in Peru, a frustrated player interrupted an interview to complain about a nearby group of teammates speaking to each other in Spanish.
That player was Neven Subotic. And while it would be ridiculous to think he left the U.S. program to play for Serbia because of a lack of Spanish skills, there was still a lesson to be learned: The U-17 program is about more than just talent, it's also about building an American soccer identity.
Despite being Colombian, or maybe because he is, Cabrera makes that point loud and clear.
"In order for you to be the best, you need to show sacrifice, you need to show discipline," he said in a telephone interview from Bradenton, where the his team is preparing for U-17 World Cup, and will play the Czech Republic in its first match on June 19. "You need to do what you need to do to make the U.S. national team."
<OFFER>
Discipline and a sense of identity are essential not only in Cabrera's development philosophy, but also to the execution of his daily duties. Keeping order while leading a group of teenage soccer stars sometimes calls for a hard line, even when decisions come down to teaching life lessons at the expense of the team's performance.
Just last month, he tossed leading scorer Andrew Oliver off the team for disciplinary reasons. It wasn't the first time that Cabrera had been forced to make a tough decision to maintain the integrity of the program.
"In soccer you have to be strong enough to learn from these situations," said Cabrera. "The difference at this age is the confidence and the personality. Who can show that confidence and personality, instead of who loses concentration or gets disorganized. It's how we work at this level, we don't change, we know what to do."
It's no coincidence that much of what Cabrera says could refer to both on-the-field effort and off-the-field matters. He approaches each with a similar measure of practicality and black-and-white thinking.
But on the sidelines, the former defender has proved far from a rigid tactician, instilling a creative attacking mentality that is fun to watch and easy to appreciate. His 2009 team was one of the more attack-oriented sides in American U-17 history, and the current team also places a premium on attacking flair. It's an approach drilled in by intense individual training aimed at overcoming weaknesses and quickening the improvement of a group of players in their most formative soccer years.
"It's a process for us to teach them how to recognize their individual weaknesses," the coach said, "how to improve the strengths but also how to work on those individual weaknesses so we can avoid those problems. It's the focus of repetitions. We repeat and repeat because at this age their concentration level is not where it could be. It's hard for players at this stage to concentrate for 90 minutes -- they're going to make mistakes -- but to try to minimize that, we work on that every day."
When he took over the program nearly four years ago, Cabrera was a relative unknown in the insular world of American youth soccer and the hiring upset many in the youth soccer power hierarchy. True to form, Cabrera has ruffled some feathers by refusing to pander to traditional influences in player selection and other decisions.
His stubbornness in sticking to the rules and structure of the program may also cost the U-17 team wins by alienating some talented -- if self-centered -- young prospects. But the coach's body of work has pleased those who count most.
"We'll see how this summer goes, but I think Wilmer's done a very good job, and we're pleased with it," said USSF President Sunil Gulati. "He jumped into our national team program and I think he's built a good foundation there, building on what was already there."
Despite a somewhat disappointing round of 16 exit from the World Cup two years ago in Nigeria, Cabrera's coaching style and rapid success have turned heads -- both in the U.S. and abroad. Cabrera was recently named among the candidates for a coaching vacancy with the Colombian national team, and his name came up again when Honduras was looking for a coach for its national team this spring.
Though he seems particularly adept at handling the U-17 age group, Cabrera will likely also be in the discussion to become Thomas Rongen's replacement for the U.S. at the U-20 level. But for now, he'll be focused on taking this U-17 squad to the World Cup in Mexico -- though the Colombian doesn't feel he needs to bring home a trophy to validate his work.
"No I don't feel that pressure," he said. "The main purpose of the United States at this stage is not to win the World Cup. To be honest with you I don't think any team has to be under pressure to do that, because at this stage what you try to do is develop your players, to make them feel that kind of environment and make them improve a lot. At this stage you're going to see teams and players at a good level, but still in a learning process."
Notes
• U.S. U-17 central defender Mobi Fehr, who is set to play a big role in Mexico for Cabrera's team, has been linked to Fulham. A New York native, Fehr is known for his ability to start the attack out of the back, and is currently with Japanese club team Tokyo Verde. He also holds Japanese and Swiss passports.
• Louisville striker Colin Rolfe is apparently set to trial in Scandanavia. The NCAA striker is off to Sweden to test the waters at Djurgarden -- where U-20 national teamer Gale Agbossoumonde is currently stationed. The 21-year-old Rolfe will then head to Norway for a spell at Fredrikstad. Though he avoided referring to the trips as trials, Djurgarden's coach clearly feels differently.
