In part 2 of my USMNT interview with Tab Ramos, he opens up about Gregg Berhalter, why he made the comments he did, why we’re not seeing progress, signature wins, youth development, MLS progress, where we’re at with soccer in America and what the future looks like for him.
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MLS can't get there, because it's a top-down league. Once we have clubs built by locals in their own neighborhoods, with pro-rel, we can grow the sport because we grown the lower level clubs. Not all, but the ones that succeed.
15:06 As a German of course Football is Grassroots in Germany or Europe too like it is in South America. Just the available public money is different. Meaning the City can invest a bit more in infrastructure like a playgrounds with a extra pitch or some nice public weekend greens. Yet my first game was in some Backyards with the other kids after sharing Football cards. Also as kids we were relatively mobile, i never had to rely on my parents to go anywhere. Just a bike, done. Never ever buy this "We are a different country".
Tab Ramos is right. This USMNT coached by Gregg has been an utter mediocrity, just like every one of Gregg's other teams. It's all on Gregg, the most mediocre and useless USMNT coaches of all time. Gregg IS A BAD COACH.
As for MLS, the quality of soccer is terrible compared to the top four European leagues. A 1000 year old Messi is NOT the best way to improve the quality of soccer in the U.S. and I have absolutely no interest in watching that dog and pony show.
Amazing content. Sucha great conversation!
What we need is an absolute economical collapse where our kids are playing with rocks as goal posts, stolen road cones as sidelines and rotten melons for soccer balls…and lots and lots of homeless people in the streets?! We have that in every major city on the West Coast! Tab said we need to Americans to watch soccer, well judging by so many people who are stealing flat screens I would say we are in great shape!
World Cup 2026 here we come!! Vote Biden 2024!
@15:02, Ramos: "we are just a different country" So according to Ramos, American Exceptionalism means we will continue to be Exceptionally Mediocre! I completely disagree with Ramos' contention that pay- to- play is a necessity. Guys read: Soccer Today, "Training in Germany
Benefits Youth and Pro Soccer Players". This article contrasts German vs American approaches to youth development.
Rather than the question of how do we include more of the Hispanic community at the youth level, I would have been interested to hear Tab's take on the disparity between the number on youth national teams vs the full national team.
While I would agree with Tab that 90% of the best kids will not be financially hindered from playing with expensive competitive teams, there are caveats, or hurdles to getting to the point where the club will subsidize. Many clubs don't scout/recruit (seen a lot of rec boys in the club's own system at U11/12 that could be on the top teams in town), a kid misses the tryouts (or a day of), the listed cost scares them off since they don't know about scholarships, family situation (work/finances/location/instability), lack of publicity so families have to do a lot of searching, the qualities the assessors value most, and more.
Tab does a great job here… its good for people to see this and understand that he wasnt just a great player but he is also an amazing person. He really has a lot to offer and I hope he stays involved. Fantastic interview, really enjoyed it.
Ingredients for producing World Class Players:
1. Passionate Football culture
2. Loving the Ball
3. Ball Mastery
4. Technical Skills first
5. Massive Promotional Push by Media
6. Upper Level Success for athlete attraction
7. Decreases gap of Pay for Play system and Soccer first families!
8. Successful MLS teams and exciting identity of the American Style!
Such a great interview. Losing players to other sports is a much bigger hurdle than pay to play. Some of our best athletes are playing basketball, football, etc.
The U.S producing a Messi or Ronaldo is possible, but you have to bear in mind, the lat guy like Messi or Ronaldo was probably Maradona in the 80's, I think you guys are capable of producing world class players but Messi and Ronaldo aren't once in a generation players, they're once in every 30/40 year players, we were just fortunate enough to live in an era where we got 2 at the same time, there's world class guys in every generation and they could come from anywhere, you guys could produce a few if the right kid starts to play, I mean you weren't far off with Pulisic, I could easily see you end up with your own world class players like Eden Hazard or Xabi Alonso or guys on that level
Talent isn't the issue. Players aren't the issue. This group is absolutely the best we have ever seen under the flag. IMO the problem is that we (and here I mean US Soccer) are too impatient and unwilling to accept that (even though we have players playing in top leagues) that doesn't mean we automatically rise to the Top 10. The truth is that of all our talent, only a few are difference makers. And none of those guys are difference makers on elite Champions League title contenders. So until we have a team that is comprised of STARTERS on Liverpool, Manchester City, Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, etc. we have to temper expectations. And maintain flexibility in formations and tactics so that when we DO play one of those types of teams (eg. France) that we can punch above our weight. Unfortunately, Gregg is dogmatically wedded to his system and naively tries to go toe-to-toe and invariably we come up short because of his lack of pragmatism.
I think Tab is being overly optimistic about his assessment of our scouting system. Pulisic, who is our best player today went under the radar with US Soccer until Tab himself just "happened" to see him at a nearby tournament and notified the powers that be that they had to take a look at this kid. How many more Pulisic's disappear because they didn't have the fortune to play at the right tournament? As for "Pay to Play"…it may be the only system that can work here but it needs to undergo serious change. Because as it is now, it sets way too much of a priority on winning at all costs which leads to coaches elevating the kids who are physically developed versus those who are technically gifted, because the bigger, faster, stronger kids are the ones who can get them the goals that lead to trophies. Nevermind that these kids are simply running past others without regard for touch or vision…which ultimately leads to adults who lack touch or vision and can't create offense against other post-puberty adults who have eliminated the athletic gap and are more skilled. US Soccer and MLS need to take the lead in establishing a priority on skill and reward more technical players and not just young burners.
All we need is a coach.
People do not watch MLS because: 1- TV does not have a program built around it Like the premier league. 2- Games are boaring and not fast and intense like premier League.
Fire berhalter and hire Ramos!
The problem is the "pay to play". But Usa is not ready for this subject.
1) Regarding culture change: I recall 40 years ago, when in a park, or outdoors, North Amercians always throw a ball to each other. Nowadays, you see more Americans have a soccer ball when out doors, and not only they pass it to each other, but they also joggle it skillfully while at it. So, the culture change has occured, albeit may be too slow to reach quarter finals, or higher in a world cup.
2) on Skill: south Americans always encourage their youth from early age to joggle the ball, and do all those fancy (really difficult) tricks. If we want to end higher up in the WC, we need to follow suit, and learn from that culture. OtherWise, we remain at the same level as an average level European side, wales, Norway, Denmark, Poland… etc.
3) That 1988-2004 US team trained like a club, which resulted in a team with understanding, and togertherness among players that only club sides can only achieve. Since inception of MLS when it comes to training camps, it looks like we have become more like other footballing nations, and the first team does not train together as much. Also, looks like a large portion of our friendlies are against teams that come totally unprepared (like Ghana being the last), and we field a B, or C team. I think if for January camp 2018, if we had fielded our strongest side, we may have reached WC finals of 2018. Maybe, should have moved the camp that year to Europe, and try to convince the clubs to release the players for those friendlies just for the match day.
The problem in this country rather men or women, it’s pay to play and pay to be better. It’s so simple. We could go and fund those athletes that aren’t seen but we won’t pay( as a country) to find them. I have been in this soccer culture for 20 yrs and we need to fix this. Tad Ramos it is pay to play but dosent mean the parents or parent needs to pay. MLS clubs or even better a
uS soccer needs to pay to develop. You are speaking( Tad) like a politician. Yes I understand it’s your living. But really if the USA’s best athletes played soccer the world would be on its knees to us
awesome interview! You and Tactical manager do great having top level guests on your shows. It is also nice seeing you two have a mini-partnership.
I agree, MLS is doing poorly in TV viewership, and TV revenue, but it is doing a decent job drawing people to the stadiums. MLS is easily in top 10 in the world in attendance per game, and close to number 1 in total attendance.
My respect for Tab Ramos just went out the roof. I loved how he has a REALISTIC view of where soccer is in this country and the state of MLS and USMNT. He wasn’t afraid to criticize Berhalter, And he I did it in a classy way. And at the end he took 100 ownership of his last couple of jobs not gone well.
Pete, Tab does color commentary in Spanish right now too. If you wanna hear him, then you have to watch Univision. He does color commentary with Andrés Cantor. Tab's Spanish is about 1000x better than Marcelo Balboa (Not his fault since he grew up speaking less Spanish than Ramos). As a side note, Ramos' Spanish is super clear and nice to listen to.
Tab Ramos dispelled all of your myths, including the myth that people don't let poor kids play in the regional camps.
Another great interview! Really enjoying these, Pete! I will say, though, I did find it surprising that Tab Ramos didn't really have any opiniins on how he thinks the MLS can grow towards becoming a top 5 league. Otherwise, I enjoyed his insights on the USMNT and youth development!
Tab is the man…great interview……havent been so impressed with his results as a coach, but he;s honest about it…..hopefully he can get into a good role next time…..an asset to the game in the US, for sure