Is US Soccer really developing its young players, or is it falling victim to the AAU model? 🤑 Colin Cowherd

@colincowherd I have been covering ⚽️ in America for 30 years and MLS for most of those, never seen a better group of young players coming up thru ranks. Things are changing for the better, the doom and gloom crowd will tell you otherwise, but they have blinders on.

@colincowherd Colin, SYBAU, nobody cares about soccer in the USA. USMNT is a national embarrassment.

@colincowherd Unpopular opinion. Does the US need to be good in soccer? We have football, basketball, hockey and baseball. Low expectations for US soccer and how much does it matter in the US?

The AAU-style system in U.S. soccer isn’t really about development—it’s about survival. Pay-to-play academies turn youth soccer into a business model: expensive entry, constant travel tournaments, and pressure to win now to justify next season’s fees. That rewards early physical maturity and results over long-term technical growth. So you end up with more “win the weekend” soccer than “build elite players” soccer—too many games, not enough real training, and very little of the free-form pickup culture that produces creativity globally. The question isn’t whether kids are playing enough soccer in the U.S. It’s whether they’re actually being developed—or just processed.

@colincowherd Falling victim implies it's by mistake.

@colincowherd Veritas

@colincowherd Soccer sucks. We don’t care. Boring as hell.

@colincowherd My guess AAU model!

@colincowherd I know your bosses need it…such a minority care about soccer. Glad I can fast forward through it anyway. Already exhausted by it. Gun to your head…you are too!

@colincowherd It’s hilarious your show gets bumped for some international football tournament

@colincowherd I slipped over to your show, but you were talking about soccer so I immediately flipped away

@colincowherd They need apostrophes and qs on the team and they won't do it because suburban dads want to protect their turf.

@colincowherd It’s the opposite. No one is getting paid. Everyone is paying to pay. But not one is getting developed.