Landon Donovan — arguably the best American male player ever — torched the U.S. youth soccer industry last week during an interview with broadcaster Rich Eisen.
“We’re not developing players like the rest of the world does. … Our youth soccer in this country is a disaster. And so you have all these youth clubs charge you crazy fees, it’s all about winning, the kids get left behind because the clubs want to make money, the coaches want to make money, they want to win and then the kids don’t develop. And now we’re seeing sort of the fruits of that.”
Donovan — who has been making media rounds after releasing his memoir ahead of the World Cup — said “my next passion in life” is fixing the system to “give the game back to kids.”
This rant came after a discussion about how the U.S. men have only won a single World Cup knockout game — a round of 16 victory over Mexico in 2002.
Donovan pointed to coaching. He reflected on his time at Bayer Leverkusen as a teenager. The German club had one of its best coaches working with its U16 club so the veteran could develop the younger players.
“We do it opposite here,” Donovan said. “The worst, worst coaches are coaching our eight- and nine-year-olds. They’re not learning anything and they’re not loving the game. So it’s just totally backwards.”
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