Notes from Ireland.

As we're getting ready for our seasons to begin, I wanted to share a few thoughts about my recent trip to Ireland with the MNT U20s.

The Milk Cup is arguably the most prestigious U20 event outside of the World Cup. The U20 MNT had an amazing effort in the Milk Cup. A group of unknown players. this U20 MNT has shown what working as a team can produce over teams people consider favorites -- in fact, as a team they won the Elite Section, defeating China, Denmark, and Northern Ireland along the way!

It was an outstanding learning experience for our athletes, as well as young players everywhere. Here it's not about the best uniforms, the biggest names, and perfect pitches on which to train -- it's about highly developed players playing for their country and each other. The practice grounds are not pristine, yet players seems to recognize the importance of the quality of the teachers over all other bells and whistles. We trained at an open park next to the stadium with a field at a steep angle and lots of bumps. The Irish team that regularly trains there is extremely skillful and when they get on the game field can adjust to any conditions

Criticism is not taken personally nor is lack of playing time for these top athletes. They use that as motivation to get better ... which probably explains why they are among the best in their respective countries. In this tournament, some of our best players were not initially starters. Instead of getting upset, they stayed around, did extra work after training, and waited patiently for their opportunity to respectfully prove the coach's initial estimation wrong ... even though it might not come for games. Using that mentality, they overcome obstacles as they matured as players. Only playing with your friends or in comfortable situations does not challenge you to step up or allow you to become a leader.

When you look at our roster that beat Ireland 3-0 for the championship, you don't see starting players coming from big clubs where they are highly recruited. Current U20 MNT players Omar Salgado, Conor Shanosky, Adrian Ruelas, Francisco Cobo, Gale Agbossoumonde, Brian DeLaFuente, Juan Agudelo, Fuad Ibrahim, Sacir Hut, and Alex Molano all developed at smaller, family-type clubs or organizations before making the move to professional clubs ... clubs like ASG who helped develop Kellyn Acosta, who is with the U17 Residency Program; Gabriel Funes and his brother Ramiro are now playing in Argentina. The personalized, player development models found at the small to medium-sized clubs were big factors in getting these players ready for the next level, both on and off the field

At the end of the day, success comes from effort. I couldn't be prouder of the U20 MNT ... and of ASG, it's coaching staff and players. Dedication to development and discipline produces results.