Claudio Reyna is considered by many as the most gifted soccer player that the United States has ever produced.
He was named to the 'Best XI' of the 2002 World Cup, as he led the United States to the quarterfinals; He earned 108 caps for the national team, and his career included stops in both the English and Scottish Premier Leagues, as well as in the German Bundesliga.
Now, he is handed one of the most critical positions in US Soccer - overseeing the long-term development of young players.
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America reports on the task ahead for Reyna.
"We have to develop and analyze what they do there and what they move on to after that," he said. "Everything falls into it. The development of players is important and to do that best you need to also have all of our coaches on board and be a part of this and want to continue their education and really start moving some ideas into a direction. I really look forward to this opportunity to start.”
Reyna's experience as a youth was unique. He had an Argentine father who loved soccer and he grew up on a youth team that produced several players besides him who were pro prospects. One as Gregg Berhalter, who still plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“With my experience, it kind of touches on where we want to help the kids out there and the coaches who don’t have maybe the experience or the basic knowledge, sort of like my dad did, as well as the player who doesn’t have that initial 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-year-old environment where they’re watching it and the dad’s throwing a ball, which you get in some cases in this country more with the immigrant dad," he said. "My experience was that I learned a lot of different things that helped me in a lot of ways moving forward to become a professional player, but the whole idea is to provide every player, at the elite level and at the lower level, all the tools to make them a better player, to get them ready for the next level and in some cases, the highest level.
"So what we want to do is we want to support the kids that just want to play as well as make that environment better. Maybe they aren’t so serious as having a goal to make it to college or MLS or over to Europe, but at the same time we are very aware that we have to try to create a standard of excellence."
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