Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America

Would a Soccer Prep School Fit Your Kid?

What is soccer prep school, and could it be a path your family has not considered?

After hearing about Ryan Farr's post-grad year, Liron and Matt wanted to understand an option they had barely considered. Jon Moodey, Northwood School's boys' soccer program director, explains how the school and Black Rock FC combine boarding-school life with soccer through the school year. Some players arrive in ninth grade; others, like Ryan, come for a postgraduate year.

The same players and coaches move from prep-school competition to club...

Bad First Touch or Bad Read? How Kids Learn to Read the Game

Your kid looks sharp in training. Then the game starts, and you wonder if they are learning to read the game at all.

Miguelangel Grande Jr., founder of Grande Sports, says the problem often starts before the first touch. Pressure changes the picture. Players have to recognize space, understand what their coach wants, and make decisions while the ball is somewhere else.

Liron and Matt ask what parents can actually watch for from the sideline, when fewer minutes at a...

Are We Asking Too Much of Young Goalkeepers?

Your young goalkeeper lets in a goal. Before you decide what went wrong, what was it reasonable to expect them to do?

Sebastiano Mana, Met Oval's head of goalkeeping, wants young keepers to attempt things they haven't mastered yet. He explains why mistakes belong in training, how he reviews what a child could have done differently, and why some expectations from the sideline don't match the player's stage of development.

Liron and Matt ask what this means when parents choose a team. Sebastiano's answer comes...

Soccer vs. School: Why Should Kids Have to Choose?

Soccer and school should support the same kid. Why does pursuing one sometimes make the other harder?

At YSC Academy, an independent school partnered with the Philadelphia Union, Mark Franek teaches students whose school day is built around soccer. Elsewhere, parents are trying to make training, travel and a regular school schedule work together. Mark, an English teacher and author of American Soccer Nation, explains what he values about the Philadelphia Union environment. Liron and Matt press him on the families who don't have that option.<...

Too Much Soccer Training, Not Enough Free Play?

Before you book another soccer training session, when did your kid last just play?

The pitch is familiar. More sessions, a stronger team, more travel, a better chance. Families spend thousands, give up weekends, and still feel it is not enough. Ted Kroeten built that system himself, running a big club in Minnesota on assessments, progress reports and the 10,000 hours. In his words: kids hated it, parents loved it.

So he co-founded Joy of the People, a play-based program in a St. Paul rec center...

Is Moving Up in MLS NEXT Worth Risking Playing Time?

MLS NEXT Homegrown or Academy: would you move your child up if his place on the field became less certain?

The offer sounds like progress. But your child already plays regularly, likes his coach, and enjoys his team. A longer drive and a higher division might bring opportunity. They also leave parents with a hard question: what are we giving up?

Luis Robles, General Manager, Sporting, MLS NEXT, returns to work through that choice with Liron and Matt. He recalls a...

Chris Mueller on What the Soccer Dream Demands

Chris Mueller was never the best kid on the field. He was on the B team at his Chicago club until he was 14, he was 4 feet 11 until high school, and he did not start a game or score a goal as a freshman at Wisconsin. He left Wisconsin as the first two-time All-American in the program's history, went sixth overall in the 2018 MLS draft, and played for Orlando City, Hibernian in Scotland and the Chicago Fire, with two caps for the U.S. Men's National Team.

None...

A Pro Soccer Offer at 15. A Family Decision.

If your child received a professional soccer offer at 15, would your family say yes straight away? Jonny Shore's family took months. College was still on the table.

The NYCFC midfielder tells Liron and Matt how they made that decision, what changed after he signed, and how his parents supported him when playing well did not bring the next opportunity. For parents wondering how kids become professional soccer players, this is one family's answer, with the parts that do not make the announcement: online school from 10...

What U.S. Soccer Says Must Change in Youth Soccer

How is U.S. Soccer trying to fix youth soccer? Its chief operating officer says the current system is "not acceptable," families are not appropriately served, and the federation owns improving and clarifying the pathway.

The World Cup filled stadiums and pulled in tens of millions of viewers. Then the run ended against Belgium, and the federation started saying two things at once: the event was a success, and the development system has to change. For a parent in the car on the way to...

The Long Game. How Do You Keep Kids Loving Soccer?
How do you keep kids loving soccer when the game keeps asking them to carry more?
This final episode of our Summer Best Of series steps back from rankings, pathways, costs, and development models to ask a bigger question. After a year of conversations, what actually matters when the final whistle blows on a child’s youth soccer journey?
Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia revisit some of the voices that shaped the first season, including Dr. Jonathan Jenkins, Don Farr, Tali Sommer, Ryan Farr, Andrew May, Pe...

Parents hear the word development everywhere in youth soccer. Clubs say it. Coaches say it. Trainers say it. But if training does not transfer to the game, the word can hide more than it explains.

In this Best Of Part 3 episode, Liron and Matt revisit clips from Sean McCafferty, Juan Santamaria, Nil Congost, Christian Gonzalez, Evan Rosenthal, Matt Poland, Dr. Chris Platts, and Jose Campos.

The episode moves from winning and false progress to skill, recognition, specificity, sacrifice, late developers, and the coaching humility required to see the player...

For parents, that question is not only about fees. It is about sacrifice, access, pressure, private training, travel, college hopes, and whether the money is actually helping the player.

In this Best Of episode, Liron and Matt revisit the cost conversation through clips from Peguy Luyindula, Danny Buttita, Evan Rosenthal, Dr. Chris Platz, Justin Phelps, Tom Bowen, Ryan Farr, Phil Gordon, and Alex Rando.

The episode moves past the easy complaint that youth soccer is expensive. It asks a better question: what are parents buying, what are they not buying, and does the spending match...

Summer is here, and so is our first Best Of episode.

But this isn’t a greatest-hits collection.

Instead of replaying our biggest social clips, we went back through 35 episodes and chose the conversations that quietly shaped how we think about youth soccer.

We call this episode The Maze because that’s what the American youth soccer system often feels like. Every decision feels urgent. Every club promises opportunity. Every badge seems important.

Looking back, we realized these conversations were all answering the same question:

How do parents know they...

Winning is part of development. Juan Santamaria, Sporting Director and Vice President at Cedar Stars Academy, joins Chasing the Game to talk about competition, mentality, playing time, college recruiting, MLS academies, and what parents misunderstand about the pathway.

This episode gets into the uncomfortable parts of serious youth soccer: losing players to MLS academies, helping families through the college process, the cost of showcases, why players need to drive their own recruiting, and when parents have to step back.

Juan also gives a clear answer on what a player...

Harris Faulkner Gets a World Cup Crash Course
A six-time Emmy-winning Fox News anchor is heading to France vs. Senegal with her daughters and needs soccer rules for parents before the World Cup.

Harris Faulkner knows pressure. Live television. Breaking news. Election nights. But soccer brings a different challenge: stoppage time, offside, VAR, red cards, chanting fans, and two teenage daughters watching every reaction.
So Liron and Matt give her the Chasing the Game version of a World Cup crash course. Not the expert version. The parent version. Enough to follow the match, understand the...

Why does a youth soccer player look technical in training, then struggle when the game starts?

That question drives this conversation with Christian Silva, founder of Silva Academy and a former professional player. Christian pushes past the easy labels parents hear all the time: technical, confident, talented, improving. His point is sharper than that. A player can look great in a session, beat cones, win drills, and still not understand when or why to use the skill in a real game.

Liron and Matt talk with Christian about what technical ability actually means, why the...

A post can open a door, but it can also distort what families think progress looks like.

In this episode, Liron and Matt talk with David Rodriguez, founder of Footy Access, about one of the most loaded words in youth soccer: exposure.

Parents want their kids seen. Players feel the pressure. Clubs understand the value. Platforms create visibility. But being posted is not the same thing as being developed, recruited, or ready.

David explains how Footy Access thinks about coverage, why families cannot pay to have a player featured, when social media can...

What does a youth soccer coach do when parents are not watching?

This week on Chasing the Game, Liron is joined by Patrick Ouckama and Phil Gordon, whose coaching path has taken him from D.C. United to Nottingham Forest.

That journey gives Phil a rare view of two very different soccer environments: the American youth system and the English academy world. The conversation keeps returning to something most parents do not always see clearly.

Coaching is not just the session.

It is the planning before training.
The conversations after...

Most soccer families are told the same thing: specialize early, chase the biggest league, get seen, and don’t fall behind.

But Don Farr and his son Ryan tell a different story.

Ryan played multiple sports, stayed connected to high school soccer, took a post-grad year at Northwood, and then became a standout freshman at Stony Brook. His path was not clean. It was not obvious. And that is exactly why it matters.

This episode is about the decisions families make when there is no...

Youth soccer keeps changing. Most families are still searching for fixed answers.

In this episode, Filippo Giovagnoli challenges some of the deepest assumptions parents have about development, culture, tactics, pathways, and what actually creates players.

This is not a conversation about nostalgia or romantic ideas about European football. It is about adaptation.

The modern game moves faster. Players have less time. Duels matter more. Decision-making matters more. Grit matters more. And the players who survive are often the ones who keep evolving.

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Your First Contract Is Not a Career

A pro contract at 18 can look like the finish line. In this episode, Dr. Chris Platts explains why it is often just the start of the hardest stretch.

For soccer parents, the pressure is familiar. The badge. The academy. The scholarship. The contract. Each one can start to feel like proof that the path is working.

But Chris’ research with young players shows a more complicated reality. Families often make major decisions without first asking the simplest question: what are we actually trying to achieve?

...

Too Much Noise in Youth Soccer:
What Actually Builds Players

There has never been more around youth soccer players. More training. More clubs. More private sessions. More advice.
And somehow, many players are still missing the basics.

In this episode, Brian Chun and Edson Elcock join Liron and Matt to talk about what actually builds players and what just creates noise. They break down why simple training still matters, why repetition is disappearing, and why development cannot be outsourced to a trainer, a club, or a system.

This conversation challenges both...

Youth Soccer Development: Why Clarity Matters | Christian Gonzalez

What does a club really mean when it says it develops players?

In this episode, Christian Gonzalez gets specific. We talk about why clarity matters in youth soccer, how vague coaching creates vague outcomes, and why real development lives in details, standards, and consistent correction.

This conversation goes beyond branding and club language. Christian breaks down how New York Soccer Club thinks about coach education, parent communication, affordability, player feedback, and building a culture where development is more than a slogan. We also...

What actually shapes a player. Talent, training, mentality, environment, or the people around them?

In this episode of Chasing the Game, we talk with Gotham FC rookie Talia Sommer about the path that shaped her: growing up between New York and Tel Aviv, playing with boys, turning pro in Israel at 14, choosing Butler over Atlético Madrid, and learning how to protect her own voice as the game got more serious.

This is also one of our clearest conversations yet about the line between support and pressure. Talia talks h...

Barcelona is the dream for a lot of soccer families. But what does that environment actually demand from a player, and what are parents really chasing when they look at Spain?

Liron is joined by Patrick Ouckama and Barcelona-based coach Nil Congost of EOS Football for a parent-first conversation about Catalonia’s football culture, why promotion and relegation changes the standard, why technical training alone can mislead families, and what American players actually run into when they step into a more demanding football environment.

This episode is about the ga...

Parents in youth soccer are often forced to make big decisions with partial information, mixed signals, and a lot of anxiety. Andrew May, whose coaching background includes Chivas USA, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Real Monarchs, and LAFC, explains how families can better evaluate clubs, ask sharper questions, and support development without getting lost in badge-chasing, pressure, or noise. This is a practical episode about communication, trust, expectations, and how parents can make better choices for the child in front of them.

What do MLS academies actually look for in a player?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia sit down with Jose Campos, Academy Director at Orlando City, for one of the clearest conversations we’ve had yet about how serious academies really think.

Jose explains how Orlando City defines player profile, what “fit” actually means inside a pro academy, why growth mindset and coachability matter so much, and how scouts separate current performance from long-term potential. He also gets into what p...

What if the youth soccer pathway is bigger than most families realize?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Matt Poland, Sporting Director and head coach at FC Naples, about where the USL fits into the American player-development system and why it may become a more important part of the pathway for young players.

They discuss building a professional club from the ground up, the gap between academy soccer and a true first-team environment, how USL can help...

What actually prepares a young player for the next level?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Tom Bowen, Academy Director at Long Island Soccer Club in MLS NEXT and assistant coach at Hofstra University, about what player development looks like from both the academy and college sides.

They discuss Europe versus America, maturity, locker-room culture, college recruiting, scholarship realities, development versus winning, early and late bloomers, and how parents can better evaluate training environments.

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How far should a family go for elite youth soccer?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Justin Phelps about the real cost of pursuing an MLS NEXT academy opportunity and how that decision can affect family life.

They discuss relocation, long commutes, emotional strain, routines, pressure, academy environment, and the difference between a strong badge and a truly developmental setting.

This episode is for soccer parents navigating MLS NEXT, ECNL, academy decisions...

Can a small club create a better development environment than a large one?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Evan Rosenthal, president and director of Manhattan Kickers FC, about one of the most distinctive small-club models in New York City youth soccer.

They discuss selective growth, one team per age group, coach continuity, motivation at young ages, scholarships, player handoff to bigger clubs, and why scaling too quickly can dilute standards.

This...

Why do so many U.S. players struggle when they enter a true football culture?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Dutch coach and academy educator Ditmer de Jong about the invisible cultural gap between U.S. youth soccer and Dutch youth soccer.

They discuss self-regulation, autonomy, question-based coaching, everyday football culture, risk-taking, and why players develop differently when coaches foster ownership rather than dependence.

This episode is for soccer parents and...

What if the biggest difference between Dutch and U.S. youth soccer isn’t talent, facilities, or even training volume, but culture.

In this episode of Chasing the Game. Youth Soccer in America, we talk with Ditmer (a Dutch coach and academy educator) about the invisible gap many American parents feel but can’t name. In the Netherlands, he explains, football is everywhere. It’s normal to play at school, after school, and through the local club culture. That everyday immersion shapes how players think, how they learn, and how they handle pressure.

From there, we zoo...

What happens when the dream path finally opens, and a player is no longer sure they want it?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Alex Rando about big decisions, discipline, family pressure, goalkeeper mentality, and what it really means to bet on yourself in youth soccer.

They explore academy soccer in New York, the pull of MLS NEXT, college soccer versus the pro route, and the emotional weight of choosing growth over comfort when the stakes suddenly...

What happens when elite youth soccer becomes a constant evaluation cycle?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia are joined by Dr. Jonathan Jenkins and Dr. Kimberly O’Brien, authors of Mentality Wins, to unpack the mental toll of pressure, fear of mistakes, comparison culture, and burnout in elite youth soccer.

They discuss confidence, feedback, the cognitive triangle, athlete identity, and practical tools parents and coaches can use to support mental health without lowering standards.

Th...

What does youth soccer in America miss when the game stops being played and starts becoming a product?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Peguy Luyindula, former player for Lyon, Marseille, PSG, the France national team, and the New York Red Bulls, about the difference between a football culture built on everyday play and one shaped by structure, fees, and outcomes.

They discuss street football, creativity, coaching standards, pay-to-play, parents as clients, and how to support growth...

Why do professional academies sometimes care less about winning than parents expect?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Sean McCafferty, Academy Director of the New York Red Bulls, about how elite youth development really works inside a pro club.

They discuss MLS NEXT, development versus winning, evaluation beyond talent, playing up, adversity, late bloomers, and what parents should actually prioritize when choosing a club.

This episode is for soccer parents, coaches, and...

After a full run of interviews, what actually became clearer about youth soccer in America?

In this season recap of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia break down the major lessons from their first nine interviews across MLS NEXT, club soccer, player development, pay-to-play, and youth sports parenting.

They revisit the biggest themes: roster math, communication, touches, pressure, pathway confusion, the misuse of the word “elite,” and what families should focus on instead of hype.

This episode is for...

What if the youth soccer system is rewarding the wrong things?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Morten Gahn, former director of the NYCFC Soccer Academy, about why early success is often mistaken for long-term potential.

They discuss winning versus development, structured plans versus feelings, the staircase analogy for player growth, challenge and adversity, and what parents should really watch for in elite environments.

This episode is for soccer parents and coaches...

How do young coaches and former players see the gaps in youth soccer differently from everyone else?

In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Brando Babini and Billy Pavlou, founders of Youth4Youth FC and Next Level USA, about supplemental training, mentorship, match minutes, and what families often misunderstand about development.

They explore near-peer coaching, the role of parents, differences between clubs in New York City, college recruiting, social media, burnout, and why the next generation may reshape...