Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America

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...

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 pr...

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...

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 wa...

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 co...

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 dev...

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 somethi...

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 wh...

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. Play...

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 mo...

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 t...

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 c...

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...

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 tr...

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...

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...

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 bu...

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...

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 be...

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,...

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 cu...

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 sch...

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 N...

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, feedba...

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 s...