Night and Day

So the football season has come to an end for the RB Leipzig group. The first team could not complete their late season surge and finished in fifth. That means that they will remain in the second division for next year. A few days ago, they announced that Sporting Director Ralf Rangnick will take over as head coach. He is currently the sporting director for both RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg. I think that it is not a sign that RBL performed poorly this season or they were very upset with the direction of the team, but it is strictly about getting better. Rangnick has managed Bundesliga teams before and knows how to win at that level, and also how the Red Bull organization wants to play football. The previous head coach, Achim Beierlorzer will stay on as an assistant and RBL will also have a new goalkeeper and strength coach for next season.

I guess that is definitely something that is universal - we live in a "What have you done for me lately?" world. Results determine everything. Football clubs, especially clubs spending millions of euros, want to win. And they want to win now. Even though Red Bull had set a goal of reaching the Bundesliga by 2019, this season almost seemed to be a let down. They spent a great deal of money on players, but had to fire the coach in the winter. They made a late surge to perhaps gain promotion, but were unsuccessful.

The academy teams also fared well, but were unable to win any titles. The U19s were eliminated in the semi final (I was able to go see the first leg in Red Bull Arena). Many of the younger age groups, as well as the girls academy teams are still playing and, in typical Red Bull fashion, winning last weekend 7-1 (U12 boys) and 6-0 (U15 girls).

The hope is that these players will progress through the ranks of the academy to one day play for the first team. While obviously it is not possible for everyone, that is the hope of the club. Especially in Red Bull, the style of play is taught from the youngest academy age groups all the way to the first team. That way, they are developing a mentality as well as developing a footballer. That is a major difference in the US. We have one huge problem in player development in US football. That is college. Almost all the best players go on to college soccer. It throws a huge wrench in all academy and player development plans to lose a kid for four years. For example, the players on the Red Bull U18 have now been playing together for four or five years. But next fall, they all leave to go to college. And while they all will be playing at top Division 1 schools (Virginia, Cornell, Michigan, etc), they are now removed from the Red Bull environment. All the time and work put into developing these players in the academy is now finished. And the club can only hope that in four years, their players have progressed. This is a huge problem in my opinion. I am not saying that college soccer (or college in general) is a bad thing, however it is a major problem for player development. It complicates matters for players, coaches, clubs - basically everyone involved.

From my experience working in the RBNY academy, there is definitely a disconnect between coaches and players in regards to college soccer. The players (justifiably) care quite a bit about their collegiate career because that is the next step towards becoming a professional. A good college career means you get drafted and are given a shot in MLS. But the academy coaches do not care about the college process because they are helpless. There is nothing they can do but say 'okay.' So, I have seen this clash between ideals - collegiate soccer giving players the best opportunity for professional soccer while academies try to develop players to give them the best chance for professional soccer.

It is quite a complicated situation that is almost nonexistent in Europe. If a player wants to become a professional, he stays in the club's academy and tries to work his way up. He continues to learn and the academy can mold him into the player they hope he can become. They never lose him for four days, never mind four years. It gives the clubs a much greater ability to continue to develop players from 18-22, just before their professional careers. While in the US, academies lose that ability as players leave for college. It is a problem right now and I do not necessarily see it changing any time soon. Major League Soccer has done a good job implementing some rules that allow academies to keep their players after they graduate from college, but it is still not on par with the European system. Is that a major factor for why American football is behind many European counties? Possibly. Possibly not. It is certainly a major difference though.