Cabrera looks for passion with U17 program

by Robert Ziegler 10/26/2007

New U17 Men’s National Team Coach Wilmer Cabrera is hoping to instill in his charges a passion for the game similar to that in his homeland of Colombia.

Cabrera, a former Colombian international who has been living in the New York City area, participated in a teleconference along with U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati Friday afternoon. He said a primary challenge is to get the players under his watch to think about the game the right way.

“I think my biggest challenge is continuing to educate players, and continuing the adaptation process of thinking about soccer as more than a ‘free-time’ sport, and the possibility of becoming a professional and becoming a great player,” Cabrera said. “I want to make them think long-term. It is a great opportunity. They have great soccer skills, so they have to think long term. They have to think that their goal is the full national team. To do that, we have to start working through the basics. That is the way I learned and that is the way I’m going to try to coach these young players.”

Cabrera has been involved with the Men’s National Team program recently, assisting U18 MNT coach Bob Jenkins on overseas trips prior to the Pan American Games. He has also coached at the youth level with New York club BW Gottschee. He cited his own learning experiences as something he can draw from in this assignment.

“I think what’s important now is not only the high level experience of playing in two World Cups, but for me the two Under-20 World Cups will be very useful to try to share with the kids,” he said. “All of those experiences and learning processes that I’ve had as a player, I would like to share with them. I want to share the experiences that I’ve had as a player that I’ve received from many coaches all over the world.”


Gulati, who got to know Cabrera when he tried unsuccessfully to secure his services as a player in Major League Soccer in the late 90s, said he hopes to see the Bradenton Residency program help form a understanding for elite youth players about what it takes to be a professional.

“One of the challenges we’ve had with Bradenton is creating a real professional environment, rather than an artificial environment that we’ve created because at the time MLS wasn’t involved in player development the same way it is now,” he said. “We think that having someone who has been through it as a player at the highest level will be able to help us in shaping that environment as well as shaping the minds, in some sense, of the players we have there about what it’s like to become a professional and what it’s like to be a professional.”

As to the near future, Cabrera will begin training the 40-man roster in Bradenton next week. He said players in the squad should not feel any extra pressure to perform.

"I don’t want to discard any player right now. I want to give them the opportunity to play and show me that they deserve to be there. I’m going to try to work with them,” Cabrera said. “I don’t want any kid to feel ‘he didn’t pick me so he’s going to send me home.’ I don’t think that’s correct and the first day I will try to say to the kids ‘you’re here because you’re good’ and try to support them as best I can. If they’re good they’re going to stay there, and if they’re not we’re going to try to see more kids.”

Players selected for Bradenton are evaluated at the end of each semester. Players generally attend for all or part of a 2-year cycle in conjunction with the FIFA U17 World Cup, the next which will be played in summer of 2009 in Nigeria.

Gulati added that while future growth and improvement of MLS and USSF player development initiatives may lead to a reevaluation of the residency program, it still serves a vital need in the American developmental system.

“The last thing I’ll mention is about Bradenton more so than our Under-17 program, and how we judge that is, ‘what’s the alternative?’ How would those players be doing if they weren’t playing in a Residency program like we have set up in Bradenton,” Gulati said. “If the circumstances change and maybe the Academy program or the MLS development system becomes more developed, we may do something different with it. Right now we still think it’s a good program to accomplish both goals that I mentioned – in shorter terms, two years, producing success on the field and in longer terms developing players for the senior national team.”