Spanish clubs see improvement in American youth soccer at New Jersey showcase

HOBOKEN, N.J.—As a player from Barcelona closed down on him, Mark Cajamarca touched the ball to the side, creating some space for himself before sending a pass to an oncoming teammate. It was a subtle move for the 12-year-old, already a star in the New York City FC academy system, and showed the type of soccer acumen that had international coaches talking all weekend in north Jersey about the potential of American players.

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This year’s La Liga Promises tournament returned to the New York City area on the second Friday in June. The venue was Hoboken’s Frank Sinatra Park, which featured a sun-splashed view of Manhattan as top U-12 teams from Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, and other Spanish clubs competed against local youth teams, including the New York Red Bulls and NYCFC. Last year, NYCFC didn’t advance out of the group stage. This year, the club secured a scoreless draw against Barcelona and made it to the quarterfinals.

In other words, the American kids didn’t look out of place against Europe’s elite.

Cajamarca is part of a new breed of young players coming up through MLS academies. Last August, NYCFC unveiled its U-12 program after the disappointment of the La Liga Promises tournament. (The kids who played under NYCFC’s banner the year before were not officially part of the club at the time but would fill out the U-13 squad the following year.) Now, with a season playing together and the group integrated in a system, the new crop of U-12s was able to compete and hold its own against some of the most storied academies in the world.

Gains have clearly been made in recent years with MLS franchises developing academies and the integration of homegrown players into senior squads, but there is still work to do. And while identifying talent remains an issue, a bigger obstacle is still the fact that players enter the system at such a relatively late age.

While the development of MLS academies is certainly a good thing, Valencia’s Director of Academy, Luis Vicente, said that even starting at 12 years old might be too late to maximize a player’s potential.

“What I see are players that at this stage at 12 years old, and if they were living in Spain, they could play at a Barcelona or a Real Madrid,” Vicente said. “Obviously, there is still a long way to go. It’s a different situation. In Spain, they have these systems in place for 30, 40 years. In the U.S., it is obviously newer, it is still in development.

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What is missing here in the U.S., he said, is the tactical awareness that comes from learning in one system in the years leading up the age of 12.

“For example, at Valencia, they have players in the system from 5 years old,” Vicente said. “Until 12 years old, it is eight-a-side in our academy. You’ll see in Dallas, Columbus, New York, they start at U-12. This period before–it is important. The development, the skills—this doesn’t happen here until a little later. They understand a system. I have players here who have been with Valencia seven or eight years.”

With the United States national team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, a renewed and perhaps long overdue look at this country’s development of youth players has been brought into focus. There is certainly no shortage of young players in the system, but the United States’ inability to produce world-class players on a regular basis is troublesome.

Juan Florit, coordinator of sporting projects for La Liga, spoke about the American players’ growth in recent years. American players are good athletes, but they also need to develop “a football mind,” and getting young players into a system and a standard, he said, is the next step for the United States to continue its growth internationally.

As he spoke, he pointed to the Espanyol players out on the field: “They understand how they are going to play because they’ve started since they were 5 years old in the system.” Espanyol beat Valencia in the tournament’s final 1-0.

After losing to Inter Milan 1-0 in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning, Rodrigo Marion was all smiles. The academy director for NYCFC, Marion spent time with the United States Soccer Federation before joining the organization.

The club is located in a soccer hotbed and has assembled some of the best youth talent in the United States even though the MLS side has existed for just four years. Marion’s players appeared calm and comfortable on the ball at the La Liga Promises tournament. In little blue uniforms, his team looked a bit like the MLS squad that was playing at the same time across the Hudson River at Yankee Stadium.

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The players possessed the ball and made quick decisions. They fed off their young creative force, Cajamarca, who plays in adult leagues despite not yet being a teenager.

For last year’s tournament, he said, “We were not training them year-round. It makes a big difference. This was a year where we started the U-12 since August of last year, so it makes a huge difference. Now we have players who understand the concepts. They know how to build up. They know how to press, how to play the game. Before, we brought a group of talented players and competed against teams who have been doing this for many years. It makes for a big challenge.”

Progress, Marion said, is a continuous effort. There is a tug-of-war for talent in the tristate area that involves other top teams like the Red Bulls, who drew 1-1 with Real Madrid on Saturday morning. Also in the mix are the New York Cosmos, who have several tiers to their own developmental side.

Florit, who oversees this project and similar ones for La Liga, spoke glowingly about the American players he’s seen in this tournament and the overall growth of the game in the United States. But what is missing, he said, is a true pipeline that sees players implemented in a system from the time they start to play. Tactics and a mentality he said, can be taught during these formative years.

“It is an important time for them, that young age,” Florit said. “When they get to this age here, things are more, automatic.”

Jordi Roura has a steel jaw that sets when he talks. He spent time as an interim head coach at FC Barcelona and is now the director of the Catalan club’s youth teams. Roura spoke eloquently about the need for tournaments like the La Liga Promises project, which started in 1992 as a tournament for Spanish teams and expanded in 2014 to include youth clubs from across the globe. The tournament was played in Miami in 2015 and likely will stay in the United States for the foreseeable future.

Through this tournament, players like Andrés Iniesta played on their way to the big time. It was a part of his development and learning curve.

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There is exposure to different cultures and playing styles, Roura said, important factors in growing young players and helping them mature. Having represented Barcelona and several other sides during his playing days, the 50-year-old Roura now has a prominent role in developing what he hopes will be the next group of first-team players.

Roura’s eyes never left the field, even when his team wasn’t playing. Once, during a match featuring kids from Benfica, Roura stopped to take in a wonder goal from the No. 6, a strike from well outside the box and into the top of the goal.

“Obviously, Barcelona, we are very bold, very famous for playing a specific way, a serious style,” he said. “It is very important getting them playing at a young age that way. What we look for is kids who have talent. And once you’re in the system, you can mold them and make sure they learn the right way and the philosophy of how to play.”

“The early years are really important,” Roura continued. “When you’re at that age, you’re receptive. You’re almost like a sponge to absorb everything. Those are important years for Barcelona and the club. Having said that, coming here and seeing the American teams—they have a lot of technical ability. It’s not necessarily that they are light years behind.”

American players have had limited success integrating in the English Premier League and the Bundesliga, but there’s yet to be one who has featured for Barcelona or Real Madrid. Roura has noticed an upward curve, a trajectory that could soon see more and more young Americans following the footsteps of Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, the American teenagers currently playing in Germany’s top flight.

Perhaps, someday soon, the next leap will be into the academy system of one of the Spanish giants. And then, perhaps a place on the first team.

“Obviously, the way things are here, it is quite difficult to get players to come over and rise up,” Roura said. “From what I’ve seen here, the level of the teams that they are, the players are not very far behind. In a few years, it’ll be pretty likely to see very good players coming out of the system here in the States and playing hopefully at a really high level soon.”

(Photos courtesy La Liga Promises)