Nonso retweeted
🚨 Xabi Alonso on getting eliminated from Carabao Cup: “This is the least important competition for us”.
“The Premier League is the main focus.”
Nonso retweeted
For those of us who take Christmas VERY seriously 😂🎄❤️ I compiled a must-see Black sitcom Christmas marathon:
1. Living Single — S1 E15
2. Family Matters — S2 E13
3. The Fresh Prince — S2 E13
4. Martin — S2 E15
5. Sister, Sister — S3 E12
6. Moesha — S4 E9
7. Everybody Hates Chris — S1 E11
8. Family Matters — S4 E12
9. Martin — S5 E10
10. Everybody Hates Chris — S3 E10
What am I missing? 👀🎄
Nonso retweeted
Every single aspect of American culture has been sold out to the highest bidder.
Nonso retweeted
I did a documentary about why the Paris area produces so many footballers. One of the big reasons was that kids from all backgrounds had access to good facilities and good coaching at affordable prices.
Nonso retweeted
The main reason that the US are bad is because it’s expensive to play football
Almost every kid I grew up with who liked football, played for a team regardless of different incomes
Pricing out the majority of your kids is exactly what you expect from that nation though
Nonso retweeted
Time to re-float the idea that American pro soccer teams shouldn't be allowed to call themselves "FC" or "SC" unless they operate like an actual *club* by running free (or damn close to free) developmental youth teams for all ages.
Pay to play. Travel over training. An incentive to coddle not coach.
Youth soccer is broken in America, the USMNT keeps proving it true.
Column for @espn
espn.com/soccer/worldcup/sto…
Nonso retweeted
So basically, club soccer in the USA is not built to build a National Champion.
It's built to put money in club coach's pockets.
Makes sense.
Another reason why club sports are a joke.
In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.
That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.
FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.
US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.
So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.
Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.
Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.
They will not.
Nonso retweeted
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE MAKING THEIR LIVING IN YOUTH SOCCER DUNCE THATS KINDA THE POINT
Nonso retweeted
"competitive market with businesses selling a product that obviously customers are willing to pay for"
Can you imagine using these words to describe children's football
Nonso retweeted
🚨 Chris Richards’ mother on paying for football in America:
"When the economy crashed in 2009, we lost everything and were pinching pennies every week. I remember Chris handing me a letter that said if we didn't pay his soccer fees, he wouldn't get to play. I was so embarrassed.”
Nonso retweeted
Read nothing else: The tweet below is a perfect explanation of why America, which has the greatest athletes and infrastructure, will never compete against the greatest countries in the World Cup.
In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.
That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.
FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.
US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.
So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.
Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.
Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.
They will not.
Nonso retweeted
In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.
That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.
FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.
US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.
So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.
Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.
Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.
They will not.
Nonso retweeted
Landon Donovan says America is missing soccer talent because kids can’t afford to play.
“Only 2% of kids playing organized soccer in America came from households that made less than $50,000.”
“If you don’t make $50,000, your kid cannot play organized soccer.”
“Think about how many kids you’re missing out on in this country because they can’t afford to play the game.”
“There is zero chance I could have played club soccer.”
“My mom made $34,000 a year, single mom raising three kids.”
“She couldn’t pay $4,000 for me to play club. Are you kidding? She couldn’t pay $400.”
“That’s not a good system to create good players.”
