I knew England had a number of soccer leagues in a hierarchical structure where teams could be promoted and relegated between them. But I never knew it was made up of 24 levels, 140 leagues, 480 divisions, and over 7000 clubs.

If England can manage to promote and relegate teams within 24 levels, why can’t we figure it out with just five or so? (Yes I’m being rhetorical )

Parents and coaches often get tunnel vision with youth soccer based on the national association their kids register with. You just don’t realize there are other national soccer associations out there. As far as I knew, there were four national youth soccer associations under the USSF/US Soccer umbrella: USYSA, AYSO, SAY, and US Club. But this weekend by accident, I discovered there was a fifth: The United States Specialty Sports Association - Soccer. Originally a slow pitch softball association, they have gradually expanded into additional sports, including soccer. They became a USSF affiliate in 2001 and register both adult and youth soccer players.

Various affiliates are known for a certain ’style’. USYSA is very organized and structured. AYSO and SAY are more grassroots oriented and focus on recreational soccer. US Club is often seen as an ‘alternative’ to the USYSA with its own set of competitive tournaments and programs. Where does the USSSA fit in? Are any of you in USSSA affiliated leagues? What sets them apart?

The 2008 USYSA Southern Regionals are underway here in North Carolina, with teams form across the southeast looking to advance to the USYSA National Championships. Here’s a look at the rather muddy and wet start to the event.

I’m only an hour or so away from the action, but don’t believe I’ll be able to get over to see any of it due to other commitments. Anyway, the local newspaper in Raleigh (News & Observer) has been publishing a number of articles related to youth soccer leading up to and during the event that I found enjoyable reads, so I figured I’d share them:

• Soccer spotlight on region highlights the economic impacts of so many visitors attending a youth sporting event.
• Soccer consumes families’ lives gives a high level look at the travel and commitment involved for kids playing on regional teams. The end of the article highlighted what many parents with kids on travel teams know - you spend a LOT of time with your kids, not only traveling to remote matches, but also before and after the matches. You wouldn’t think so - but it’s true.
• Regional tournament draws recruiters talks about some of the stress players endure knowing many collegiate recruiters attend events like this. A notable quote talks about how many recruiters don’t bother trying to see kids in high school since it’s so much easier to see the players at large tournaments like this. Something to consider if you play in high school but not for your local club.
• Finally both the N&O and WRAL, a local TV station, have photo galleries up.

The N&O doesn’t use any type of tagging system, so it’s hard to pull up just the articles related to the regionals, but you can check their main Sports Page daily. I highlight these to give a local flair to the regionals. Official coverage of all the regional tournaments can be found at the USYSA Championships site.

H/T Incite

It was nice to finally watch the USMNT play top quality soccer against a top quality opponent like Argentina. Sure, it was a 0-0 draw, but it was a very exciting and hard fought match from what I saw. But even more exciting was the fact that 78,600+ fans packed Giant’s Stadium to watch a friendly soccer match, and the crowd noise never let up the entire 90 minutes. I actually had people ask if the match was overseas because the crowd was so big and so loud.

Of course there were only a handful of people at the bar I was at, and even though three of us were clearly watching the soccer match (the rest not watching anything in particular), the bartender wouldn’t put the match on the big screen in place of the NBA Final’s Game 2. Guess I can understand, but at least it was on most of the smaller screens scattered around the establishment.

When did the USMNT get an all black kit? Hey - anything is better than the Old Navy Pajamas - but all black? Well, if we can go to Poland and wear all black, we certainly can go somewhere else and wear RED like so many people want! I can understand not wearing red in Poland or England. But it sure would be nice to see a red away kit for the USMNT!

ADDING: Yes I know it’s charcoal.

Over at SoccerLens, Dan Leo has an excellent, albeit sobering, look at the state of US Soccer. It’s easy for suffering US Soccer fans to get euphoric over even the smallest successes, but it’s good to have a reality check once in a while.

I think Dan probably sells the MLS a bit short recently, primarily due to it’s expansion and continued moderate success. The popularity of soccer in the US is growing. The availability of soccer matches via satellite and cable have had a huge impact. American EPL fans are still American soccer fans who may someday decide they want to see matches live. Viewer ratings for some US Soccer events have been better than expected. But it is still an agonizingly slow progression.

I also think he overlooks the potential impact of American youth soccer, which continues to grow at an amazing rate in the US. While that doesn’t directly translate into adult soccer fans later on, it certainly can help. The problem is that most people wish more youth soccer players would translate directly into adult soccer fans later. I think we should consider another group of potential fans - their parents. 17 million youth soccer players means a heck of a lot of youth soccer parents learning and cheering on soccer every week. I know many youth soccer parents who have turned into soccer fans through friendships made on the youth sideline, etc. Which is one area I think youth soccer leagues can help a lot.

In a future article I’m going to look into ways youth leagues can help generate excitement for the adult game in America, not just among their players, but also their parents. With an estimated 17 million kids playing soccer, the potential impact is huge.

If you haven’t seen them - these are hilarious. Let’s just say #1 is NOT my favorite. Add two or three.

While reading one of the many posts around the Soccersphere ridiculing the new USMNT kit, commentor bq at Throughball posted a link to a Slate article/slideshow from last June that does a great job looking back at the, er, non-evolution of the USMNT kit. It’s a must read if you haven’t seen it!

In light of the almost universal derision of the new USMNT ‘Preppy’ Kit, I figured it was about time to do a poll. So thanks to the wonderful set of pictures from the Slate article, lets see which past kit people liked the most.

 Loading ...

Can someone please explain to me why US Soccer wants our team to look like we’re wearing pajamas on the pitch? This new kit is just horrible and makes you long for the 3rd kit to come out more often. But those are pajamas too. Insert obligatory Bananas in Pajamas quote here.

As if we weren’t a laughingstock already… Lets start a pool to see how long it takes for an opponent exchanging jerseys to tell a US Player “here you can have mine but keep yours - I’m good” Why is it Nike seems to think soccer kits have to be bland and striped. The brighter and more colorful the better.

Is it really that hard to come up with some type of bright red and blue jersey? Sure, navy isn’t the most striking color, but if you use Royal for a 3rd kit, maybe you can use it as a stripe for one of the others. And when we finally find someone who will design a kit we’re proud of - can we stick with the color?

Of course I’m not sure how much we have to worry about the US Soccer kits being hard to recognize on sight like Brazil or the like. As soon as someone sees us they have to be thinking ‘Wow - what an ugly kit - must be the US’

Here’s an idea - browse through kits from the likes of Nike, adidas, Score, High Five, Teamwork Athletic, or any other and post your favorite style that the US could wear. Post links in the comments - this could be fun. Bonus points if you chose 1st through 3rd kits.

H/T Josh and Fish who don’t like it either.

­Josh over at Throughball has taken US Soccer to task over it’s latent hostility to the SoccerSphere. If you haven’t read his three-part series, take a few moments to check it out:

How U.S. Soccer can use the blogosphere to increase brand awareness

• Part I: Sharing Video
• Part II: Allowing Access
• Part III: Providing Incentives

There’s a lot to cover here, but this is a very important issue. One can’t help shake the feeling that US Soccer views the SoccerSphere as an unruly bunch that they can’t be bothered to associate with. By doing so they risk losing a very important marketing resource. The ‘SoccerSphere’, a phrase coined by Josh, has exploded. From the early days just a few years ago when SoccerBlogs only had 50 or so sites, there are now almost 450 blogs tracked by Soccer Blogs and I expect some others that aren’t.

» Read the rest of this post…

Though most of you probably already know about it, if you’re interested in the deeply rooted soccer history the US has, look no further than the American Soccer History Archive. I happened to stumble across it doing some research for another article and was just blown away by the depth and detail, especially in the early part of the 20th cenutry. It has detailed annual summaries including tables for most existing soccer leagues at the time. It was also interesting reading the overviews for the various leagues from 1990 onward in terms of reorganizations, mergers, and evolution.

So if you’re a US soccer history nut and don’t already know about this site, you’re in for a treat. There is also the ‘official’ history archive at the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

My only concern is that the site hasn’t been updated since 2005. I’d hate to see the site go inactive. Can you imagine if this 1200+ page archive were in a Wiki form so soccer history buffs from across the US and beyond could enhance, fact check, and update the archive? I couldn’t do much on the history side I admit, but would happily handle the technical stuff. What an amazing resource that would be!

­Gulati shows Ryan the door. The Times lists a number of potential candidates, though it lacks one candidate that OSG likes for the job and I couldn’t agree more. Would she clash with the USSF? Absolutely. Would that be a bad thing? Hardly. I loved her commentary in tandem with Foudy when this all blew up, which probably wouldn’t make her a prime candidate around the USSF, but hey - she speaks the truth:

“He (Ryan) was the fifth choice of five people, and it’s too bad that we settled - or that we don’t value the program enough, or women’s soccer in general, to do what it takes to get the best person for the job. Clearly, to the federation, it’s not priority No. 1, and from an outsider’s perspective that’s tough.”

Hey, but on the bright side, I totally missed this while I was spending more time on the pitch than reading about it:

The Carolina RailHawks announced on Wednesday night the formation of a USL W-League women’s soccer team for the 2008 season.

The Carolina RailHawks Women will play home games in the Atlantic Division of the USL W-League at SAS Soccer Park in Cary. The team will be coached by Jay Howell, Director of Coaching for the Capital Area Soccer League and will be comprised by some of the best talent the Triangle has to offer. Star players from Duke, NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill as well as Wake Forest University and UNC-Greensboro have already agreed to be a part of the team.

Way to go Railhawks!

I’ve been toying with a few posts in my head while driving the soccer taxi over hill and down dale, but kept thinking there was a common thread I was missing. Then Josh (via du Nord) linked to a recent article by Andrew Dixon at US Soccer Players about the state of the US game in light of our 2-4 loss to Brazil, and it all came together:

It’s this Grown Man’s Opinion that our lack of individual skill and creativity in comparison to the top teams in the world is what’s keeping us from being a legitimate top five team.

In the US we have a love/hate relationship with brilliant individual skills. We recognize it when we see it and admire those who have it. Then the moment they try one spin move too many, try to take on one too many defenders, or just miss on that behind-the-back pass, we start yelling at them.

PASS THE FREAKIN’ BALL!

Andrew isn’t the first person to allude to youth development in the US as a key hindrance to US Soccer success, but the way he put it caused me to finally connect all my thoughts together…

» Read the rest of this post…

I know, I know. Late to the party. But it has to be said. Why in the world did Bob Bradley think taking a team of players with so little experience to the Copa America was a good idea? 16 out of 22 players had less than 10 caps. Of the 166 total caps for the team, 100 belong to Kasey Keller.

Yes, I understand he really wanted to get ‘the next generation’ some international experience. But this wasn’t some random tournament. This was CONMEBOL’s premiere tournament which the US had snubbed invitations to for years (thanks Bruce!) and then we do this? To face the likes of Argentina and Brazil, who also lacked a few familiar faces but were still dangerous? Contrast that with Mexico, who still smarting from their defeat in the Gold Cup, brought a team to compete (over 738 caps), and advanced out of the group rounds without a loss?

» Read the rest of this post…

Yes, I’m still catching up on stuff from June! One reason I haven’t blogged much is I found myself watching soccer almost every night most weeks, between the Gold Cup, the Copa America, U-20 World Cup, USWNT Friendlies, and the MLS. Apparently I wasn’t the only one:

NEW YORK (AP) — The CONCACAF Gold Cup final attracted 41 percent more television households in the United States than the Stanley Cup finals clincher — and that was just for the soccer game’s Spanish-language telecast.

» Read the rest of this post…