Kokou Assigbe

Former USMNT defender Steve Cherundolo is now back in Germany after stepping down from LAFC coaching job. He spent 15 years playing in Germany and six more years as a youth coach. He explains why the youth system there is much better than in the U.S. 🗣️ “A lot of players can get lost down the wrong path [in the U.S.] that maybe isn’t right for them,” Cherundolo told Cobi Jones for LA Galaxy YouTube channel. “If we can simplify the path like it is in Europe. All of the youth leagues are filtered upward towards the Bundesliga, the first division. All of the youth national teams act as scouts for all of the clubs.” “So the Federation and clubs are working together. There is a filter system that no talent is gone unseen.” “I fear that in this moment in the U.S., there’s a lot of good players that aren’t being seen for many reasons.” “Most of the scouting going on is from U.S. Soccer. Huge country, you need a lot of manpower to cover the U.S. Not realistic.” “And then you have MLS. But MLS clubs are only responsible for their own region. So it doesn’t make sense for us to go scout in Texas.” “That’s where other countries get it right. They have regional and international scouts. There’s just a number of scouts out there where every single player is identified.” “Remember the old Olympic development programs? You start with your district, state, regional, then national. I felt there were a lot more players being identified and seen in that system than there are currently.” “Long story short, I think the path is much clearer in Europe than it is here. You can get lost in this mess of youth development programs.” “A lot of clubs, a lot of leagues within clubs or clubs form their own leagues to keep players within the clubs.” “Our system right now is not conducive to developing talent. It’s keeping talent in a closed league. We need to change that.”