This is going to be long, and I'm not sure how interested casual fans are going to be in it, but I've got beef with Brek Shea and FC Dallas. Brek Shea is, physically, the most gifted American soccer player I've ever seen. He can do it all. Right now, he's in a very bad position. He's partly responsible for the situation, granted, but the way this has gone down is really bugging me. Let's start out by acknowledging the inherent problem with American player development. This guy has Ibrahimovic talent, but he's 22 and he's gone from runner-up league MVP to barely a factor on one of the worst teams in the league. Why? Part of the reason at 22 he isn't already contributing to a huge European club despite being ultra-talented, is that he's American. As far as we've come, there are two major flaws in how we develop professional players. The first is obvious and it's starting to change. That being the lack of professional clubs having their own academy system. As MLS grows, they are being very smart and are investing in their infrastructure rather than the NASL model of investing in importing players. Stadiums, training facilities and professional youth academies are sprouting up all over the country. That's great, but we've still got a long way to go. If Brek Shea had been born in London or Madrid or Amsterdam, I don't think there's any doubt that he'd currently be one of the brightest young stars in the world. What we saw last night in the Chelsea friendly vs Seattle from players like Marko Marin, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaky, we could be seeing from Brek Shea. No doubt. The other problem is coaching. Our coaches play to win. That's fine, I understand why they do it, but it's a real problem for players like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and especially Brek Shea. Because these youth coaches are playing to win, not to develop talent, it takes American players well into their 20's to develop a consistent position and playing style. Since they are the best players on their youth teams, coaches stick them where they need them most. Brek Shea has been a professional for 4 years and playing for 2. He's played center back, he's played central midfielder, he's played left back, he's played lone forward, he's played right winger, he's played withdrawn forward, he's played false 9, he's played left winger. Essentially, he's been plugged in everywhere except keeper. If he had been allowed at age 16 or so to stick at any one of those positions, he would be much better off for it. Our coaches aren't sophisticated enough to develop total footballers or Barca do-it-all players and because of that, they're really best off sticking at one spot and mastering it. Right now, there is a story that just came out ( http://www.dallasobserver.com/content/printVersion/2746134/ ) about Shea's time in Dallas. It's chock full of all sorts of disturbing tid bits like how two years ago, in order to get Shea on the field, THE COMMISSIONER OF THE LEAGUE had to call his coach, Schelles Hyndman, and tell him to either play Shea or sell somewhere where he would get time. Hyndman, a prototypical American soccer coach, (emigrated here at a young age from a soccer playing nation/scrappy type who did a lot with very little talent and extremely conservative, pragmatic tactician) thought Shea was too much of a wild card to play him. Dallas sucked two years ago, then as I mentioned, Don Garber called him, gave him the ultimatum to do something with the player that US Soccer had sunk thousands of dollars into developing at the youth level, and then lo and behold, Dallas set the all-time MLS unbeaten streak and made it to the MLS cup final. Shea helped spark that run. The next year, Dallas lost their best player to injury, and Shea stepped up, scoring 11 goals and leading them back to the playoffs. He became the hottest thing in US Soccer when he got called up and in JK's first game as manager, single-handedly sparked the US to a draw v Mexico after being down in the second half. He went on a crazy run that year and it was capped with all kinds of rumors of big clubs showing interest and the training stint with Arsenal. This year, he has faced more adversity. The Olympic qualifying failure apparently hit him very hard. He's had nagging injuries. He had the BS suspension after hitting a ref with the ball after a whistle. He's shown real petulance and the kind of entitled attitude that conservative coaches like Schelles Hyndman hate. As a result of the injuries, the olympic qualifying campaign and senior national team call up's, Shea has missed over 70 training sessions with FC Dallas this year, a fact that Hyndman recently let slip when questioned why there was obvious friction between Shea and himself. Did he mention why those training sessions were missed? No. He just put it out there, I believe, hoping that people would interpret it as an immature young star thinking he's too big for the team. That and other comments have led me to believe that is a more than reasonable interpretation of Hyndman's message. Brek Shea isn't Derrick Rose. He's not a humble robot programmed to love being coached and give credit to everyone first and himself second. He's a brash, ultra-creative person with freakish athleticism and skill. Last night when substituted, after being visibly frustrated and justifiably impatient with the level of skill around him, he got into a short shouting match with Hyndman. After the game Hyndman banned him from talking to the media and pretended to take the high road by deflecting questions regarding the incident, but then slipped in a few obvious shots at Shea. http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/mls/story/_/id/8179796/mls-notebook-brek-shea-struggles-epitomize-tough-year-fc-dallas-jeff-carlisle I'm very aware that my interest in FC Dallas and Brek Shea is strictly as a national team fan. I could care less if FC Dallas ever wins another game as long as Brek Shea is developing his game and reaching his potential. I'm very aware that Schelles Hyndman, Daniel Hernandez and other FC Dallas players who are critical of Brek care very much about the success of FC Dallas. Rightly so, obviously. The probelem is that this stuff seems to happen all the time in the US Soccer world. Players like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and Tim Howard have all come under similar criticism at various times in their career. Not always regarding commitment to their team, but ALWAYS something about how they seem to think they're better than their surroundings. Well if you've noticed a pattern in the names I listed, you'll realize that there's a reason they think that about themselves. It's because it's true. They're the best players we've ever produced and all too often, former players in the media like Eric Wynalda re: Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey (Geez...Wyno is a super hater) or every defender at one point or another in MLS re: Landon Donovan and his on-field histrionics and attitude or Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey's outspoken desire to GTFO of MLS and on and on our best players come under criticism of jealous, less talented players and pundits. I don't think I'm throwing that accusation out too loosely or being an apologist for those players. I think the jealousy is very real. What Brek Shea is going through right now is unfortunately way too typical and I want to be clear that I'm not excusing any behavior that is detrimental to his team or disrespectful to his coach. All of that behavior is wrong and inexcusable, but what I am saying is that it doesn't make his beliefs about his coach, his team, his league and all of that, incorrect.
