The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has overhauled its national youth team training setup with support from the FIFA Forward Development Programme to standardise playing styles and coaching methods across all age groups.

Having a clear playing philosophy throughout a club or national federation is often seen as a key element for success and the USSF’s 2023 Youth National Team Development project is intended to achieve this. It will streamline philosophy and ideals from senior male and female teams all the way to under-15 level. FIFA Forward funding previously helped restart the USSF national team programme following the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the United States co-hosting the FIFA World Cup 26™ alongside Canada and Mexico, the project will help ensure a long-term legacy beyond the tournament.

The new approach means that the USSF’s technical plan has been integrated across all age groups, considerably enhancing the process of developing and tracking youth national team players.

All youth national team coaches are now being trained according to the USSF’s technical plan, from the interview process onwards, and are taking an aligned approach in preparing for national team camps and competitions. The planning includes integration with technical staff, sports performance, high performance and sports medicine.

At the start of a training camp or event, players are also reminded of the key areas of the technical plan and will train and play according to those. This gives players a better understanding of their positional roles and the overall team style of play.

Players are also trained in the U.S. national team playing style, which is consistent across all age groups.

Through the USSF 2023 Youth National Team Development project, more youth national teams have been able to train, play and be exposed to the USSF technical plan, and there is now a recognisable style of play that can be seen across all teams.

"FIFA's support of the U.S. Soccer Youth National Team Development project has been instrumental to implementing the federation's technical plan and advancing our national teams,” said Matt Reiswerg, the USSF Senior Manager of Soccer Growth. “This project has helped U.S. Soccer work towards its strategic vision of developing winning teams. Hundreds of youth national team players and coaches have benefitted from this cycle of the Forward program. FIFA's ongoing partnership with U.S. Soccer has provided vital resources and support."

There have already been promising developments at youth level with the women’s under-17 team winning the 2024 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship.

One of the key developments from FIFA Forward has been to utilise advanced technology with the introduction of cameras at youth national team events. Six permanent cameras are installed at the National Development Center in Kansas City and are used for training camps and coaching education courses.

The USSF also uses integrated software as part of a video exchange with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). All NWSL games are available to USSF technical staff and clips from NWSL games are used as supplemental player evaluations in the Player Pathway Project V Video footage is also used to create clips of the ‘four moments of the game’, which help integrate the styles of play and technical plan. In collaboration with the University of Delaware, the USSF have also entered into an agreement to conduct research on heading, in cooperation with a youth academy in Delaware.

"The FIFA Forward Americas Team has been instrumental in supporting our mission to make soccer the #1 sport for the next generation,” said Elaine Lemos, the USSF Vice President of Sporting Operations. “Together, we have ensured that our Youth National Teams have the opportunity to experience our high-performing environment through FIFA Forward funds."