Cast your minds back to 11th August 2012, a day in our golden summer of sport at the Olympic Games; a day when arguably one of the most significant gold medals was claimed, as Mexico defeated Brazil at Wembley in the Men’s Football Olympic Final.
Oribe Peralta scored both goals for “El Tri”; with first coming after just 28 seconds, as Brazil were defeated 2-1 to land the country its first-ever Olympic football medal.
To most of the watching world and to 80,000 people inside the stadium, the result would have come as a surprise; but delve a little deeper and it becomes quite obvious that this victory had been on the horizon for some time, seven years to be precise.
An article in World Soccer revealed that in 2005, after winning the World Under-17 World Cup, the Mexican FA created a Sports Development committee, who enforced a ruling that all of the country’s top-flight clubs would have to field a player under the age of 20- years-and-11 months for a minimum of 45 minutes per-game across the season.
Two youth tournaments also copied the country’s league structure; and each match in the first division would be preceded by two matches involving the Under-17 and Under-20 teams of those respective clubs.
This in turn, forced clubs to invest heavily in their own youth academies, with a professional scouting system implemented at each team in the top two divisions.
Their success since 2005 has shown how the approach can work; Mexico have won the World Under-17 Cup twice, the Pan American Games (Under-23), the Olympics (Under-23) and finished third at the World Under-20 Cup, whilst winning a host of invitation tournaments around the globe.
Additionally, all of Mexico’s coaches work with each other and feed into one structure; for instance, when the under-17s finished their World Cup campaign, their coach became assistant to the Under-20 coach, who then worked alongside the Under-23 coach.
So can a similar structure work here in England? The element of a supposed synergy taking place in Mexico is being somewhat replicated here, with the opening of St George’s Park in Burton-on-Trent.
All of England’s 24 teams from the juniors to the men’s senior side will be based at the centre; which could allow for easier talent identification between the age groups.
One of the centre’s main aims is produce players who are ready to break into Premier League first-teams by the age of 18 or 19, as Sir Trevor Brooking highlighted.
But this is where similarities between the two countries end.
England could not replicate a similar system here due to the countless conflicts of interest which come to the fore every time the topic of youth development is discussed.
The Premier League has enforced the Elite Player Performance Plan, where essentially the biggest clubs receive the most talented young players for smaller fees.
Many argue the FA should be in charge of how players are recruited and brought through the ranks of club football, but delegating their responsibilities to the Premier League means that developing a transparent youth development policy with everyone on board is almost impossible.
The FA and Premier League sadly have different vested interests; and unlike Mexico, one must be sceptical as to whether youth development in this country is more focused on developing the Premier League as a product, rather than enhancing the quality of our national team.
Meanwhile in Mexico, despite the power lying with the country’s FA, the real decisions are made by the owners of the country’s biggest clubs, who also own the large media companies such as, Televisa and TV Azteca. Their success is dependent on results on the pitch and the national team doing well, something which is not quite so obvious on this side of the Atlantic.
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