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- Aug 29, 2011
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I love Dempsey, and I think he is the best American player that we have ever had (including Donovan), but this just isn't true. If it were true, then someone would have to explain to me how Brazil has stayed at the height of international soccer while almost ALL of their big players play in European leagues and face the same travel problems (if not more, due to Champions League, etc.) that our players do.
No, unfortunately travel isn't the problem. Youth organization and youth coaching is perhaps the main problem, since our players just don't have the technical ability of the other major soccer nations around the world. Athletic ability? Sure, we have it in bunches! Technical ability? Not there....yet...
A lot of times, when world cup qualifiers are being played, players are traveling from their homes/ where they play for only a few days, then they go back to their regular league play. If the majority of your players are playing for a UEFA program, they're all going to be aon the same travel schedules. That's what Dempsey was insinuating, players are traveling from all over the world for the U.S., during qualifiers, and will have to fight things like jet lag.
Brazil - is not flying players to a qualifiying game location from North American time zones, England, Central Europe - and you've got what 15 players - tops - that will see significant playing time in a national team WC qualifier? IF half of those players are coming in from Europe, and half of them from North America - you've got at least two days of simple travel time adjustment before everybody is in tune. A USA western time zone player is going to be on a time zone difference of approx 10 hours with a European player.
Brazil - traveling all their players from Europe, is the equivalent of flying all their players from a region the smaller than the eastern U.S.
THe ohter thing, is thatpro/ club team schedules, and league schedules are going to overlap with world national team matches during the course of a year. Is a player going to be released for enough time from their club to travel and allow for time adjustment? A player coming to Kansas City from Germany, is going to be totally off from a player traveling from Seattle to Kansas City or something.
If you've got the majority of national team players in a single pro league, you avoid those simple logistical problems.