The U.S. can learn from Mexico
Brent Latham
ESPN Insider
Like it or not, the most handy measuring stick for American soccer will likely always be Mexico. Admittedly, it's a lazy and sometimes irrelevant comparison. But with the two rivals vying neck and neck for regional supremacy for more than a decade now, sizing up American progress through a Mexican lens can sometimes be a useful exercise.
It works both ways, which helps explain why the Mexicans were so fed up in the spring of 2009. The Mexican under-20 team had just failed to qualify for the under-20 World Cup for a third time in five tries, a year after El Tri's under-23 Olympic team had fallen well short in qualifying, as well. So after years of watching the United States qualify for just about every tournament out there, the Mexicans decided to do something about their youth teams.
One example does not necessarily make a trend, but their performance at the CONCACAF under-20 championship earlier this month would seem to indicate that the Mexicans are suddenly doing a lot right at the youth level.
"Two years ago, sadly, it went badly," said Mexican under-20 coach Juan Carlos Chavez after his team won the regional qualifying tournament in Guatemala. "Since then we've had a two-year process with these players, and we've played something like 10 international tournaments. We've made it to eight finals. We went to Venezuela, Japan and the South American tournament. We've played a lot of games and got some good results."
The results in Guatemala continued that pattern. The Mexicans won all five of their games convincingly, scoring 18 goals and giving up just two. The regional title was a milestone achievement, but the Mexicans will be looking to accomplish much more at the U-20 World Cup in Colombia in three months' time.
The Americans, on the other hand, failed to make the under-20 World Cup for the first time in 16 years. The tournament was scheduled in such an unbalanced fashion that direct comparisons between the two teams really don't amount to much, but the fact remains that the Mexicans showed a cohesiveness and professionalism superior to any of their rivals. While the Americans faced a tough assignment against the host team in the quarters -- and failed -- the Mexicans' incessant attacking play gave the impression they would have found a way to weather the Guatemalan storm under the same circumstances.
<OFFER>"The kids never give up, they keep going forward and proposing new ideas," Chavez said. "If we had one breakdown where our rivals scored a goal, the team had the personality to overcome it and win. It's the seriousness of the team, what they've learned as professionals."
Such machine-like determination and fluidity might be too much to ask, at this stage at least, of an American team with players spread so widely around the world. The U.S. situation at the under-20 level differs most from Mexico's in that players come from so many diverse club situations in dozens of countries.
But Mexico's fine-tuned performance suggests that far-flung U.S. talent base may also be holding back the American under-20s, who showed up in Guatemala unprepared as a team to get the qualifying job done. The Mexicans, perhaps no more talented than the Americans in terms of individual skill position by position, fielded a much more unified and battle-tested squad.
Much of that cohesiveness results from pulling the entire squad directly from the Mexican club system, which is generating a slew of promising prospects these days. It's no coincidence that after the 2009 under-20 World Cup qualifying failure, the Mexican federation mandated that all first division clubs field under-17 and under-20 teams, which clash on game days before every professional match. Many clubs have taken their development approach even further, boasting six or seven reserve teams at different levels of the Mexican system.
"The under-20 tournament has really produced for us," Chavez said. "Of these 20 guys that came to Guatemala, 16 have already debuted in the first division and the other four are just a small step away. They are players with a lot of personality, a lot of quality, and as coaches we ask that when they put on the Mexican jersey they do it with a lot of pride and they go out and play with that pride on the field."
The FMF administers the Mexican top flight, while the USSF simply sanctions MLS, but has no hand in running it. So despite the return of the reserve league in American domestic soccer, don't hold your breath waiting for a parallel and similarly effective youth development system in the U.S.
The Americans will continue to rely on clubs scattered around the world -- including a number in Mexico -- to develop players. The long-term results may be just as positive in terms of producing players, but the realities of pulling players from foreign clubs will continue to make putting together a top-level under-20 team challenging.
In the meantime, expect to see continuously improving results at this level from the Americans' main CONCACAF rival, as the Mexican federation focuses on constructing teams to get results on the field, while leaving player development to the clubs back home.
"We're after results," Chavez said. "My coordinators asked me before we left Mexico that we would be the most disciplined team, that we would score the most goals and receive the least, and win the tournament. We came out well on all fronts."
Clearly, Mexico has raised the bar in youth development at home, and as a result it will get progressively harder to keep up with their youth teams on the field. For better or worse, that's the main yardstick by which the U.S. system will continue to be judged.
Brent Latham
ESPN Insider
Like it or not, the most handy measuring stick for American soccer will likely always be Mexico. Admittedly, it's a lazy and sometimes irrelevant comparison. But with the two rivals vying neck and neck for regional supremacy for more than a decade now, sizing up American progress through a Mexican lens can sometimes be a useful exercise.
It works both ways, which helps explain why the Mexicans were so fed up in the spring of 2009. The Mexican under-20 team had just failed to qualify for the under-20 World Cup for a third time in five tries, a year after El Tri's under-23 Olympic team had fallen well short in qualifying, as well. So after years of watching the United States qualify for just about every tournament out there, the Mexicans decided to do something about their youth teams.
One example does not necessarily make a trend, but their performance at the CONCACAF under-20 championship earlier this month would seem to indicate that the Mexicans are suddenly doing a lot right at the youth level.
"Two years ago, sadly, it went badly," said Mexican under-20 coach Juan Carlos Chavez after his team won the regional qualifying tournament in Guatemala. "Since then we've had a two-year process with these players, and we've played something like 10 international tournaments. We've made it to eight finals. We went to Venezuela, Japan and the South American tournament. We've played a lot of games and got some good results."
The results in Guatemala continued that pattern. The Mexicans won all five of their games convincingly, scoring 18 goals and giving up just two. The regional title was a milestone achievement, but the Mexicans will be looking to accomplish much more at the U-20 World Cup in Colombia in three months' time.
The Americans, on the other hand, failed to make the under-20 World Cup for the first time in 16 years. The tournament was scheduled in such an unbalanced fashion that direct comparisons between the two teams really don't amount to much, but the fact remains that the Mexicans showed a cohesiveness and professionalism superior to any of their rivals. While the Americans faced a tough assignment against the host team in the quarters -- and failed -- the Mexicans' incessant attacking play gave the impression they would have found a way to weather the Guatemalan storm under the same circumstances.
<OFFER>"The kids never give up, they keep going forward and proposing new ideas," Chavez said. "If we had one breakdown where our rivals scored a goal, the team had the personality to overcome it and win. It's the seriousness of the team, what they've learned as professionals."
Such machine-like determination and fluidity might be too much to ask, at this stage at least, of an American team with players spread so widely around the world. The U.S. situation at the under-20 level differs most from Mexico's in that players come from so many diverse club situations in dozens of countries.
But Mexico's fine-tuned performance suggests that far-flung U.S. talent base may also be holding back the American under-20s, who showed up in Guatemala unprepared as a team to get the qualifying job done. The Mexicans, perhaps no more talented than the Americans in terms of individual skill position by position, fielded a much more unified and battle-tested squad.
Much of that cohesiveness results from pulling the entire squad directly from the Mexican club system, which is generating a slew of promising prospects these days. It's no coincidence that after the 2009 under-20 World Cup qualifying failure, the Mexican federation mandated that all first division clubs field under-17 and under-20 teams, which clash on game days before every professional match. Many clubs have taken their development approach even further, boasting six or seven reserve teams at different levels of the Mexican system.
"The under-20 tournament has really produced for us," Chavez said. "Of these 20 guys that came to Guatemala, 16 have already debuted in the first division and the other four are just a small step away. They are players with a lot of personality, a lot of quality, and as coaches we ask that when they put on the Mexican jersey they do it with a lot of pride and they go out and play with that pride on the field."
The FMF administers the Mexican top flight, while the USSF simply sanctions MLS, but has no hand in running it. So despite the return of the reserve league in American domestic soccer, don't hold your breath waiting for a parallel and similarly effective youth development system in the U.S.
The Americans will continue to rely on clubs scattered around the world -- including a number in Mexico -- to develop players. The long-term results may be just as positive in terms of producing players, but the realities of pulling players from foreign clubs will continue to make putting together a top-level under-20 team challenging.
In the meantime, expect to see continuously improving results at this level from the Americans' main CONCACAF rival, as the Mexican federation focuses on constructing teams to get results on the field, while leaving player development to the clubs back home.
"We're after results," Chavez said. "My coordinators asked me before we left Mexico that we would be the most disciplined team, that we would score the most goals and receive the least, and win the tournament. We came out well on all fronts."
Clearly, Mexico has raised the bar in youth development at home, and as a result it will get progressively harder to keep up with their youth teams on the field. For better or worse, that's the main yardstick by which the U.S. system will continue to be judged.
