The U.S. Soccer Federation "is establishing a data analysis arm based at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.," and men's national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann hopes it "will provide him information that he can use," according to Grant Wahl of SI.com. It "will be system-wide, from the senior team to the youth national teams to the U.S. development academy." Technical videographers "have been shooting every national team camp recently, but now the analysis will go even deeper." Klinsmann: "Overall, coaches are happy with getting the data. Let’s say, how quickly you release the ball, how quickly you get into transition, how quickly you transition into your defensive shape. ... Data helps. To what extent you want to use it, I think it’s good to use it going forward once we have that department together just to show our players based on what we expect of them how we want them to play in their roles" (SI.com, 3/12). Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman notes Klinsmann on Wednesday delivered a "state-of-the-program presentation as the U.S. begins to focus" on the '18 World Cup in Russia. Much of Klinsmann’s talk "centered on the challenges America’s top young players can face reaching the highest level when they choose to play" in MLS instead of "trying to break into the top leagues abroad." Klinsmann "seemed more concerned about younger players who, because of scheduling conflicts with MLS, might not even get to play in every game with the under-23 and under-20 national teams, since the MLS clubs aren’t required to release the players on days specified for international play, though occasionally they do." More troubling to Klinsmann is that even the best MLS teams "don’t play nearly as many games as the better European clubs" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/13).
