A thrilling run by the U.S. squad at the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany captured the attention of die-hard soccer aficionados and even some more casual fans of the sport. From a last second overtime goal that helped the U.S. slip past Brazil in the quarterfinals to Sunday's agonizing loss to Japan on penalty kicks in the final, U.S. Soccer proved it remains a force on the world stage.
But the U.S. women are not the juggernaut they used to be in women's soccer. America dominated the sport from the inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991 to the team's last world title in 1999. That's not the case anymore - a situation that prompted a group of University of Delaware professors to look at what other countries have done to close the gap, and what the U.S. can do to regain its stature
"America should take a lot of credit for the growth of women's soccer in the world, because our success challenged other countries to put the resources into game. But that means we now have to raise our level because everyone else has," said Matt Robinson, UD professor of business administration and director of the sport management program in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Economics professors William Latham and Kenneth Lewis and graduate assistants Corey Johnson and Al Vallens joined Robinson in the study. Latham and Lewis head up the UD Center for Applied Business and Economic Research (CABER).
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Business Administration Professor Matt Robinson discusses UD study of world's top women's soccer teams.
Robinson believes the U.S. needs to strike a balance between better skill development and fostering a competitive game experience.
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Robinson believes all countries can benefit from looking at the issues and trends the study examines.
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Robinson feels the U.S. has a deep pool of players to work with in developing a strong team, but needs to examine how best to use those players.
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Robinson, who is also director of management education for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), says a comparative analysis of the 127 nations that field international teams found that 70 percent of a nation's ability to succeed relies on elements out of the hands of a nation's soccer federation. Robinson categorizes them as macro-variables, such as the nation's population, stability of government and Gross Domestic Product, and micro-variables, including cultural factors, gender gap, strength of soccer culture and women’s soccer culture. The remaining 30 percent are what he calls meso-variables - variables that a federation exerts a greater degree of controls over. Meso-variables include financial support, federation structure, talent identification and development, playing opportunities, coaching development, facilities, opportunities for international competition, and the integration of sport sciences.
Robinson went on to look specifically at what eight top women's soccer nations (Germany, Japan, the United States, England, Australia, Brazil, Norway, Canada and France) do in the area of player development. He enlisted the aid of a group of key U.S. Soccer figures, including Anson Dorrance, women’s soccer coach at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the coach of the 1991 U.S. women’s national team, Hank Steinbrecher, former secretary general of U.S. Soccer and ESPN analyst Tony DiCicco, the coach of the 1999 Women's World Cup winning U.S. squad.
"I think U.S. Soccer is recognizing that we do things well, but we need to do things better," said Robinson. "I think the one thing that you saw [in Sunday's World Cup final] is we’re not as skilled as the other [teams] are. We’re much more athletic. I think we’re a bigger and faster team. The question is what do we do with that. Do we accept that variable and say that's the way we’re going play or do we go in the direction of other countries, whose players are much more skilled."
If the U.S. wants to become more skilled, Robinson believes it needs to start at a young age. He believes American girls 8-12 do not spend enough time on skill development. Instead, their focus is on winning games so that a team can win its league or tournaments. Robinson believes U.S. Soccer could take a cue from other countries like Japan.
"In Japan, they don’t even play games until age 12. You can do that by building competition into your training. Japan is just doing all skills with those kids," said Robinson. "[Meanwhile] we were playing - up until a couple years ago -11 on 11 with eight year olds on an 100 yard field. It should be smaller spaces to encourage more touches and more skill development, and that’s the trend that's emerged in a number of the countries where that focus is on that age group."
Robinson says other countries are also allowing their federation to have more influence on player development at a younger age. One example is in England.
"[England has] these regional centers of excellence where you can be identified as a pretty good player through your club, but twice a week you're going go and play against all the other kids that have been identified as good players at other clubs. As a coach, the focus there is not about winning games. Its all skill development so you're bringing good players together to train and compete against each other on a regular basis."
Robinson also believes the U.S. may want to look at allowing girls play against boys longer as they did in the past.
"Japan will have full female teams play male teams [because], you're going to be pressured more and going to have to be more skillful to play against them. Germany does it. A couple of the countries didn’t and in America, because of the strength of women's soccer, our girls are getting separated from boys at an earlier age, and maybe that's something [to reconsider]."
Robinson and his team are preparing a final report on its findings for soccer's world governing body, FIFA, with hopes of helping countries currently playing on the international stage get better - and those seeking to join the sport at its highest level begin the process.
"We started off looking at this as a benefit for the United States, but now what it’s turned into is an opportunity to grow women's soccer around the world," said Robinson. "The report we'll submit to FIFA is going to be a best practices guide for developing countries."