Tom Byer is a true international treasure to the game of soccer (or football). His knowledge and understanding of the game is immeasurable. I can listen to him all day. Too bad he's not part of USSF federation. He would surely make a difference for the USMNT development.

Remember hearing about Tom around the time we lost to T&T. Shame US soccer shunned this man, his philosophy and tactics could have put our youth development years ahead of where it is today.

Tom is right. I only had my mom growing up and I didn’t start playing till I was 6 and always played in organized play and I was good but my thing was my technical ability. My cousin was 3 yrs younger and lived with me so his dad taught him and even made a team for him when he was like 6 or 7 and you can tell the difference between him and me. Although his technical side is not as good as mine, he’s very flashy and outgoing with his play while I was very reserved and we both play/played as fullbacks.

I just pray in my lifetime I see the US compete with the world's best in world soccer. I think we'll get there

This guy is a legend in Japan. Seriously. Take a deeper look and you'll find that many of the best Japanese players playing overseas have gone through Tom's programme. I can't tell you how many Japanese mama-sans fell in love with this guy through his television appearances every weekday morning for something like 15 years. Their kids wanted to play his sort of football, but their mothers wanted to play with something else, haha. Search out the videos of his kids at home at an early age ... their on the ball skills are simply next level. If the USSF doesn't use this guy's philosophy and programme, they don't deserve to be competitors on a global stage for the next twenty years.

Japan is easily ahead of the US right now.

MLS and US Soccer need to watch this video especially regarding what Tom refers to as “building the advocacy.” We need to do a better job of marketing soccer to our youth through commercials, tv shows, social media, video games, and sponsorships.

When I was coaching my kids in AYSO soccer, I got the Wiel Coerver books and as many soccer videos and books as I could find. Coerver's methods are just the tip of the iceberg on what is needed to control the ball. He has a good number of "moves" that a soccer player can do to beat somebody one on one, but there are many, many more, some of which I picked up by watching videos of the top players in action, like Cruyff and Ronaldinho. And I'm not talking about the Cruyff turn, which is included in Coerver's book - I saw Cruyff do this fabulous stop and start move to shake off a German defender in one video clip that I started teaching my oldest daughter. The biggest thing, though, that is missing from Coerver's methods, is the need to practice trapping the ball, and then immediately passing or shooting the ball in response. This is a skill sorely missing amongst American players, and a big reason is that you normally need another person, a coach, another player, or a parent, to deliver th ball to the trainee. So it's not a skill a player can practice on their own. The Germans developed a machine system, costing some one million dollars or so, that could fire balls in a circle around a player, so that he/she could repetitively practice trapping the ball and then immediately pass or shoot it into a target. Anyway, it's this lack of trapping ability that I see so often is missing in so many American players, trying to play at the pro levels - they get a difficult ball to trap, like at chest level, or one coming from up high and from distance, and they make just a total mess of it. Watching Pulisic - he's one of the few American players who knows how to properly trap a ball, almost every time, and then immediately is able to do something with it, like a pass or a shot on goal. With my AYSO teams, during team practice, I tried to emphasize dribbling and ball control skills, having them start off every practice dribbling the ball around the field and then around a line of cones. Then a simple drill to teach them how to shield the ball from an opponent. A simple ladder passing drill. Practice time was always about developing simple ball skills, at this level (U6-U10) there wasn't much else to teach. I asked every player to bring their own ball so they could practice with it. I know a lot of youth coaches probably just had them scrimmage, but that was pretty useless, since the better players always dominated control of the ball, and there were just so few ball touches per player per minute.

I lived in Japan in the late 80's and observed the appreciation of fundamentals whether it be in baseball, soccer, or golf. In Brazil it is almost expected to play pick up games in your neighborhood, in the US everything is a playdate (God I hate that term), and in Japan every neighborhood has a nice gym or multi use facility where fathers and sons could practice fundamentals and build from there. All 3 countries have different scenarios and all 3 have different results: Brazil #1, Japan #2, USA #3. USA is tapping into 10 percent of it's population and all come from upper middle class. Dempsey's tragic upbringing was a success due to the sacrifice of his parents and the passing of his sister. I love this guest and his insights on how to catch the attention of the young child in Japan and successfully build a soccer culture in a country which has been raised on baseball, the largest sport spectacle every year is the High School Baseball tournament

Great insight. Agree that Japan has some great development in the past few years, pretty amazing to see.

Another 10/10 interview conducted by Tac. What a legend this guy is

Japan development adapt to the world while US, is treating MLS like an NFL franchise

Great guest. I’m moving into those years of life where it’s time to put down playing and pick up coaching. Guests like Tom will help those like me getting into coaching and hopefully we can help change the future of this sport

I’m very high on Japanese youth development. Kinda jealous that the US is growing slower than Japan. But both are in the rise!

Huge fan of Tom Byer, been waiting or this episode for weeks!

This was great! Besides Berhalter I kept wondering why Japan has surpassed USA.

Around min 34 went he gives the sample of his kid team , you guys should add that part and post it Instagram case he is right about the head start and people need to know

I was able to develop my son's technical abilities in very short order before organized play using Tom's soccer starts at home methodology. It's really as simple as he says.

Tom and Tac. The dream team

What an amazing interview!! I have a 7 year old son, and I was under the impression that kids should only start doing drills and techniques AFTER they get into an academy at 5-6 years of age. Turns out that parents are the only "coaches" that can develop professional players, as they are the only ones with that much influence over their kids. It is so incredibly hard to find kids that my son can play with on a daily basis here in the US. It is almost impossible to do without joining a club.😢

Great interview. Byer is a legend.

Tom is such a Wealth of Knowledge that I wish stuff like this could have been implemented into America. The Japanese Comic Magazine he talked about where he put the ads in is Weekly Shonen Jump. The place where some of the most Popular Series got their Start including Captain Tsubasa who was the Catalyst for many Japanese Youth.

USSF needs to hire this guy right now. But they don’t want anybody calling out their bullshit.

Tom sounded like my neuroscience professor 😂. Great episode

Fantastic interview all around Tac!

Tom Byer as assistant coach for the USMNT

I’ve been Tom Byer pilled for years. Bought his book and became a Byer fan. Dude gets it

I used to watch Tom san every morning growing up

I can say as a true to life volunteer dad soccer coach, that US soccer is communicating the message of early play-based practices and enjoyment for early aged kids. I imagine it’s hard to change the culture when you have to communicate to not just random mom-dads like me but generationally-influenced coaches, schools and club organizations

Loving this. Thanks

Thanks for making this man

Love Tom’s passion!

Great interview. Love when you do videos on youth development!

Great interview, Tac.

Thanks for sharing the wisdom 👍

Amazing interview

great interview!

This is absolutely brilliant. Amazing interview

great interview

That was the best interview you've ever had. Wow.

Excellent interview! All parents should watch this!

This is a really good interview.

Good content. TY

Good stuff tac

Thanks!

Think about how I fell in love with a sport, for me it was easily baseball, my parents took me Giants games, I always had Giants gear, wiffle ball bats, etc. But I was a shy kid so I never really built the early confidence to become a real high level player at youth level but I know how to throw and friend and I have an instinctual swing because I lived the sport as a child. We would play kickball all recess in elementary school because that is what we did at the public school I went to for 1st and 2nd grade. San Francisco is a baseball town through and through.

Japanese football federation (jfa) and ussf professionalized soccer around the same time. The jfa goal was to make 100 professional clubs and an open pyramid. I think the Japanese colleges also play in the pyramid. Meanwhile we have a closed system and now our reserves play in MLS next not the usl. A huge step backwards in my opinion.

W interview!

Nooo Tom please tell us more about your thoughts on specialization!!

We need quality development in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan Louisiana, Virginia etc. for African American players, once they decide to join the game it’s a wrap fr 😂

10:55 him saying “tentacles“ in a Japanese context is crazy🐙☠️

Tom Byer should have Matt Crocker’s job at beginning of this year. It makes me hopeful that there is a way to build technical skills with bad coaches.

Anything new in this series that wasn't already covered in the 11 Yanks interview a while back?

This guy is speaking facts

Excellent interview Tac!!! USSF should absolutely hire Tom Byer!!! 🇺🇸⚽️🙂👍🏼 Japan’s national team 🇯🇵⚽️ is doing very well & can adapt to pre game, in game, & post game situations!

Guess you can say he changed the way the world sees Japanese soccer

Tom Byer for USSF president

A fall, winter and spring middle Futsal leagues through out our public school system would shut the whole planet down in as little as 16 years. I guarantee it.

Interesting. I’ve always said these kids that come into soccer later, when they are older 10-15, are rarely incredible players. It’s kids that are already kicking around a ball when they are 4 years old that have greater potential.

Imo I don't think its too late for a player say at age 8-10 or so, there are always late bloomers. It just depends how committed that player is in getting better with the ball.

Frank Lampard might be the only realistic option available to coach the US to replace Gregg

You somehow found the biggest football nerd alive. Nice.

The Football Entangled guy is getting more and more right everyday 😂

Heeeeeeee W interview

😮

This makes sense but how do you know when a child is technically proficient ready for organized soccer?

Usa and Japón have good YD .. but I wish to have natural talent from URUGUAY PLAYERS ( info , pop : 3 millions )

Japan play a prettier game than the U.S., but a game, imo, could go other way... Unless it's not in the U.S...

Wait? The head of Blue Lock is an American?!?!

I loved how this guys just nerded out and dumped all his information he’s learned about coaching on Tac lol

Tom invented 1-2 touch soccer despite Brazil doing it in the 1950s.

Cha Beum Kun and Korean football says hold my beer...

🇺🇸 needs a rematch vs 🎌

Men's USSF would lose to Japan. Their style is boring and unattractive soccer. Japan on the other hand, is fluid and dynamic in all areas.

Without pro rel, millions of soccer first households and cultures are not allowed to influence and grow the game

SOCCER STARTS AT HOME

japan has been ahead of us since the 90s tbh. or at the very least, we've never been ahead of japan. j league clubs would destroy mls sides imo.

That what I thought little kids have to start having a routine. I see why doing something important later on in life is a failure

This guy needs to work for the usmnt asap!

Joe Biden should replace GGG

Chill out tom

Anything to avoid giving credit to football players for playing football.

Nice pulling my kids out of soccer since they aren’t super technically gifted at 4. I don’t care if my kids are now technically gifted and able to read the game better than the allstars when they were 6. They won’t make it, time to save some $$ and just bring them to more games… I’m being sarcastic, seriously though they all played at home and kicked the ball around as soon as they started walking, but in the US technique is worth less than speed (kick the ball long and chase) and kids get chosen still for that. Just keep your kids playing and soon the fast kids will be worth much less and the technical kids will start to be able to do things they can’t, to win games.

Aight, everyone start procreating

We need a cultural revolution…. Soccer players that exude coolness… how do we do this.. Pulisic needs to intercept Taylor Swift from that dumb NFL player ASAP!

Japan would smack the US right now...and it hurt me saying that. 😭

What do you mean the USA looks better? I can't think of a single period this century where anyone would have picked the USA over Japan

W