GOAL Convo: Segares' job isn't just to win tournaments for the U.S., but to prepare up-and-comers for more World Cups ahead
It's a World Cup year for the United States, and not just for the senior team. The U.S. Under-17 men's national team is gearing up for their own moment on the big stage, one that will come in November in Qatar.
Traditionally, U17 World Cups have been more quiet affairs for the American fandom. It's one for the diehards, those keen to track the program's youngest stars before they break out. This time, it's different. This age group, the one bound for Qatar this summer, isn't filled with players waiting for their big breaks – it includes multiple players that are already headliners.
This week, U.S. U17 men's national team coach Gonzalo Segares called in 21 players for the team's penultimate camp before Qatar. The squad, bound for the Netherlands, includes Cavan Sullivan, already a household name in American soccer. It includes Mathis Albert, who joined Borussia Dortmund for the Club World Cup this summer.
Julian Hall is a mainstay for the New York Red Bulls, Nimfasha Berchimas has featured for Charlotte FC and Chase Adams earned the "Baby Haaland" moniker with a 10-goal explosion during qualifying in February. These aren't high schoolers anymore. They're players in professional environments. The game has changed.
Segares, then, is the man tasked with taking those young stars and getting them ready for what comes next. This, by all accounts, is one of the more talented U17 pools in recent memory, and the World Cup has served as the launching pad of some of the game's greats. Landon Donovan, Cesc Fabregas, Phil Foden and Toni Kroos are among this competition's previous Golden Ball winners – can one of these young Americans contend for it this time around?
For Segares, the challenge is two-fold. First, of course, is the desire to win. But, when you coach on the youth level, there's also a second target: develop players. Segares' job isn't just to win, but to prepare these up-and-comers for more World Cups ahead.
"For me, this is about giving everyone the opportunity to experience what a World Cup game is and the honor and the price that it represents," the former Chicago Fire defender, turned U17 coach, tells GOAL. "This is about playing on the big stage against the best players from around the world. That's what's going to make our players better, right? That's what's going to get them ready to be able to be challenged and improve. There's nothing like representing your country in the biggest event that there will be at the U17 level. I think we have a good enough team to be very competitive and go very far."
Segares discussed his process for developing young talent, managing a new generation of stars and expectations for the World Cup in the latest GOAL Convo, a recurring Q&A with central figures in the American game.
Getty ImagesON IDENTIFYING TALENT
GOAL: It's so hard to project the future of a 16 or 17 year old, but that's partly what you're tasked with doing. What are the non-negotiables? What are the qualities that really make the difference?
Segares: There are different ones, right? We have our player profiles in different positions. What do we want to see there? You can look at athleticism, but then you have to recognize early developers and late developers. You can understand that a guy has a good game understanding, but he's a late developer. So let's be patient with him and also give him an opportunity that he might not be successful in right now with where he's currently at. We know that when he grows physically, he'll be at a good level, so we have to be patient.
For us, it's just about getting to know a player, right? It's about strengths and then the areas they can improve. How do we challenge them? How can we create an environment where we're helping them through that process? How can we help them take extra steps and challenge in a way that also gives them autonomy at the same time? It's all about giving them opportunities that are right for them at their age. It's also about motivating and inspiring them, too. So it's important to create relationships with them, build trust and them help them along the way.
GOAL: How do you balance the fact that these guys are all on different levels? You have some guys in academies, some in MLS and then some in Europe. How do you weigh everything and, just as importantly, how do you scout it?
Segares: I do a lot of it myself, but I have all the support that we get from our talent ID department – and those guys are the workhorses. They put in the time to organize and we have a weekly call about player performances, reviews and reports across age groups. These guys are the ones putting in a lot of work to help us out. Whether they're playing in MLS or MLS Next Pro or wherever, we see them. When we started this group at U16, a lot of these guys were playing MLS Next. It's a big collaboration between us: the clubs and the YNT coaches. We go to GA, we go to MLS Next Pro, we go to MLS and watch. It's just a big collaboration between everyone because it's impossible to do alone.
Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesON NEXT STEPS FOR PLAYERS
GOAL: Someone like Noahkai Banks was in your previous age group and is now in the Bundesliga. There are guys like Cavan Sullivan and Nimfasha Berchimas making their MLS debuts at young ages, or Mathis Albert going to the Club World Cup. What is it like seeing them make those steps?
SEGARES: For me, that's very humbling. It gets me excited to see where those guys are right now… you look at Jack McGlynn and Diego Luna and how well they're doing now and get excited because, even if I didn't work with them a lot, you hope that you made a little bit of an impact on development, right? You look at Noki Banks is, and this is just the beginning. We brought him as a reserve player for World Cup qualifiers because we didn't think he was ready yet. But then he took huge strides the next couple of months and was a starter and top player at the World Cup – and then is in the first team in the Bundesliga. It's just exciting, and it's what motivates me to do this on a daily basis.
GOAL: How do you view those moments? Do they impact squad selection or their player profiles or anything? Does getting that early start change trajectories?
SEGARES: With 14, 15 or 16-year-old kids, so many things can happen along the way, right? We can't predict the future and players all have different pathways. I had a different pathway, going through the college system from a different country. It was all by luck! We have opportunities now here in the U.S., but players may go through USL or through college or go internationally and come back to MLS. It's difficult to project, but you try to do your best to follow a plan and you hope that, at the end of the day, they make the best decisions.
Listen, even if a player isn't selected now, we also hope that's going to be fuel and a chip on their shoulder to turn things around or push even harder to be there in the future. I'm glad you asked this question because we want to choose all the players and we want to make sure that we choose the right ones. But it's not always going to be right. We're always going to make mistakes and that's normal. Everyone does that because it's hard to predict where players are going to be a few years from now.
GettyON THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
GOAL: I'm glad you brought up college because the pathway has changed so much over the last few years, right? Fifteen years ago, Cavan Sullivan would be playing in high school and getting ready for college. Now, he's in an MLS academy, training with Manchester City. Same with Julian Hall and the Red Bulls. How does that change things, especially when guys are actually important to their teams on the club level at such a young age?
SEGARES: The first thing that we have to understand is that all of them are different and all of them go through different situations. We don't know what's happening at home. We don't know the pressure they all perform. They already have contracts and stuff like that. That's why it's so important to see the player, get to know the player. We sit down when they arrive and I get the opportunity to sit with each player and just have a chat to see how things are because that's important. What are they going through? Are they frustrated because they aren't getting minutes? Are they physically or mentally tired because they play so many games? It's about understanding their starting point and just having, little moments of catching up with them.
Again, they're playing at such a young age, I can't imagine all of this at 15 or 16 years old. They're 15 or 16 and have the pressure of signing a professional contract. That means there's also pressure to perform. Guy want to perform and get minutes and I know some guys get frustrated when they don't. It's important for that to be part of the process. How do they manage it? How can they control their emotions? Part of being a coach is being a sports psychologist in a way. I went through things as a player, so I can relate with a lot of things they're going through. But for coaches, that's so important to get to know them. They're humans, they're good kids. So how can we impact their lives as a football player and as a person?
Getty Images SportON COLLABORATION
GOAL: The senior team is preparing for a World Cup of their own, but there's always a level of collaboration between the USMNT and youth teams. There have been times where youth teams have assisted the senior team, and vice versa. What's that like with Mauricio Pochettino in this current era of the USMNT?
SEGARES: There's a lot of excitement, to be honest with you, with the World Cup coming up. But also with the training center being built. Getting to see the facility and the pitches, the grass is growing! There's a lot of excitement with everything going on and this big buzz. We're ready and we're just happy to be a part of it. We help out the senior team with scouting. And I think that's an important collaboration so that we can see how they work and do things at that level while getting to know the staff. We had that opportunity when Gregg Berhalter was here, and I got to learn a lot from Gregg and how he managed stuff.
We also have our own teams to think about and run camps, so sometimes it is difficult. But when they're having camps, we're also having camps. It is a collaborative process between everyone for us to try and learn and get these opportunities to see how they work at that level. It's important because we can also improve ourselves, too. How can we get better every time? What can we use that they are doing to help us out and improve our team? That then improves their team as well.