Summary: Joining Anto for a special episode digging into the fallout from summer tournament football is the grassroots guru Tom Byer who gives us an even deeper look into the youth development movement being unveiled in China and why the Far East continues to become the pathfinder in youth development and why the US, among many other countries, produces the same kinds of players. We explore where the Chinese School Football program is in its early phases of implementation, what separates it from other countries who have yet to acknowledge development at the earliest stages of development and what the implications could be for the future. We also dig into the matter of how coaching culture has evolved to cover the shortcomings in a player pool, where parents, federations and stakeholders demand results from deficient player pools where technical standards are not optimal and in many cases deficient at a world class level. Many countries make the same mistakes with rigid systems that do not recognize football instruction as education and how, without that acknowledgment, little no value is now placed on the head start initiatives being employed in the Far East. Then in part two, Dan Orlowitz from our partners at Football Channel Asia joins the show to explore where Japan stands at a key point after the East Asia Football Federation tournament and how new national team manager Vahid Halilhodzic struggles to adapt to the demands and scheduling of a J League currently altering its competition while the football culture demands even further professional standards to take the next step in the world game.
