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U.S. Soccer, Hispanic Players Ignored In National Program?

Its an old story, but does it hold validity today? Is the U.S. missing out on a lot of American players of Hispanic descent?

www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/socce...ispanic-player-development-sueno-alianza

R u really going there about Hispanics? There’s a history of Hispanic players. How about Italian ,French or other European descendants outside of Germany.

R u really going there about Hispanics? There’s a history of Hispanic players. How about Italian ,French or other European descendants outside of Germany.

OK, here we go. You ask why no-one chimed in here? Dave puts all these great articles on here for us to read, someone makes a serious comment and then a wise person writes 'bollocks'. Occasionally, there's some intelligent input on this site but most of it puerile at best. Yet I am here, so I may as well make my point, just please don't write back with something trite and crappy.

My kid is pasty white but he goes to a school that has a non-white majority and most of the kids on his team are Latino, so I know them personally. Many of them are ridiculously talented but they all play on a local team that's $400 a year and won't be heading to any EDP showcases in the near future. There's nowhere for these kids to be seen easily and this story repeats all over.

They play for the love of the game. They don't have to be driven to practice, they ride their bikes to the park or back to school and play pick-up. Most of them aren't interested in playing at college (I wish mine wasn't either to be honest, the whole thing is such a waste of time) but the real game isn't about college, that's where this country has it all backwards. If they lived in France, or Germany, to use your example, they would be able to play on their local village/town team, would have access to a hierarchy that funnels upward and wouldn't have to spend stupid amounts to be seen. Look at what's going on in the UK. The scouts are watching streetball in the inner cities and that's where a whole generation of young English kids that are finding their way into the national pool of talent are coming from. Seen the color of the English side? Seen the French? Seen ours? It's a bloody joke, completely unrepresentative of the make up of this country and so way off the balance that should come out of the talent pool. It's like baseball at the turn of the 1900s. It's a closed shop and it's a heartbreaker because if we embraced our true ethnic mix, this country could be the best on the planet. The best.

We have a world cup coming here in the next few years and we have the players, still at high school right now, who could win it for us. Yeah, right.

Ironic that a former national team player of Hispanic descent is writing the article. I guess he forgot about Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna, Marcello Balboa just to name a few.

I totally agree with you Sir. My son plays on a team primarily of Hispanic players and he's the better for it. We don't play many tournaments that require travel and overnight stays over the course of the year because many families don't have the means to support it. Most of the boys are good players but there are also a few exceptionally talented players who probably will never get to be seen because our pay to play system dictates that those who have the means get the opportunities. That may be life in general in the US but it doesn't make it right and when the US continues to flounder don't even bother to wonder why. It's because we don't have a successful funnel up system like the rest of the top countries do in finding, nurturing and developing talent (of any race if that even needs to be said). We still have a good 'ol boys network that works on the "we've always done it this way" system. And as far as the "affirmative action" comment, that is completely moronic and portrays a very myopic point of view. I'll bet you complained as much as anyone else when the US failed to qualify for the World Cup. The talent is out there!

Yes, you are correct, but I believe the point was why did the US lose a top talent player at all. Despite the fact that it was written with regards to Hispanic players, I think it speaks towards the US Soccer systems failures in general for finding talent

US Soccer is not winning anything until they start including the minorities, the ones who are actually crazy enough to pursue that dream of making it, if given the supports and opportunities. The rest of us think of college for our kids, period. On top of this, US current talent pool and its soccer history in general (mediocre, if we’re honest) do not have the luxury of excluding sections of society, where good players might be found. We simply do not have a lot of talent, in short, and excluding players because “well, they cannot afford it” seems like US Soccer is telling us “well, we want to win but only with certain types of Americans” otherwise it’s ok to lose. America is not white nor black nor latino nor etc etc (it is all of these people and more). In here, it seems people lose their minds when you mention dinero. To expect for a U$$DA player and family to fork over like 10k per year (I did the math, I had a kid in U$$DA: tuition plus travel expenses-hotels-flights to show cases (showasses) amounts to something like 10k, to expect poor families to afford that it is crazy. It is the legal way of excluding people. Bravo

Hugo Perez and Carlos Bocanegra certainly need to be included in the list previously mentioned .... and there are more.

The link below to a 2010 article in The New Republic may seem a bit ancient, but it still has relevance.

And, its not just a question of the players that we miss, but does the U.S. also miss out an a style of play that doesn't seem to intergrate with how the game is often played in the U.S.?

If you think about it, look at so much soccer talent in the Caribbean. The U.S. has plenty of American kids from Caribbean descent. But, who can you name from Caribbean descent, besides Altidore, who has played for the U.S. MNT?

And, as for a little bit of soccer history, it was Haitian born Joe Gaetjens who scored the magical goal for the U.S MNT in the 1950 World Cup, the team which beat England 1-0 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

https://newrepublic.com/article/75440/latinos-and-us-soccer