US Soccer trials AI system to revolutionize sport and mitigate unique obstacle to World Cup glory
Just like in 1994, hosting the World Cup is just the beginning for men’s soccer in the United States.
While USMNT captain Christian Pulisic is preparing to lead his team into Friday’s opener against Paraguay, work is already underway on identifying the stars of the future.
US Soccer CEO JT Batson joined talkSPORT’s Will Gavin and Master Tesfatsion to discuss the difficulties of locating talent on such a giant land mass — and the potential AI-powered solution.
“We need to be able to scout way more players in this country,” he said. “And we need to make sure that way more players are a part of our pathways than currently exist today.
“And that will be a combination of technology. It’ll be a combination of standards. It’ll be a combination of scaling the number of scouts and the programming that US soccer offers…
“For a number of years, we’ve been building out our own proprietary software system to be able to manage talent identification and development in this country. And we have well over 10,000 players who we actively track and manage through that system which has very much expanded the funnel of the players who are part of our national team pool.
“We know that that’s not enough and we know that there’s of course been an incredible growth in capabilities in technology and being able to use AI to both identify players but then also support players in their development journey because the US is so big physically, you know we’re massive land mass so we can’t be everywhere. Also in terms of the number of people.
“So how we leverage technology is going to be so critical to that.”
Batson revealed how a new system could revolutionize scouting and player development and help the Stars and Stripes turn population into success.
“The report that came out early this week is referencing a pilot we have around leveraging AI for purposes of of player identification,” he explained. “And it’s something that we’re in the early stages of.
“But we’re excited to learn from it and figure out, ‘How do we scale that so that way more kids can be truly part of US soccer?’
“And we’re supporting hem in their soccer journey whether it’s they want to play soccer for fun for the rest of their life or whether they’re on a pathway to, hopefully, win a World Cup. We want to be in a position to support them.”
Mauricio Pochettino has offers
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino seems to have found a winning formula after patchy results to begin his time in charge.
The Argentine has refused to rule out winning the tournament at MetLife Stadium, but a more realistic goal would be reaching the quarter-finals.
Australia and Turkiye are the other group stage opponents and confidence is high in camp.
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Poch has reportedly been in contact with A.C. Milan over the vacant manager’s role but insists he is fully focused on the job at hand and could extend his stay beyond July having already discussed the possibility with Batson.
“He asked if we are open to listen [to] the project of the federation for the next four years,” Pochettino said. “And we said: Of course that we are open.
“Do you think that if we have a commitment with another people, we are going to waste time to listen?”
History Makers
Donovan, Dempsey, Pulisic – How far can Christian Pulisic climb in the list of all-time USMNT scorers?
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Goal machines to the man who burned his kit after World Cup snub – who has made the most appearances for USMNT?
Third place on World Cup debut and group stage agony – a World Cup history from 1930 to 2026
Batson is thrilled with the work his manager is doing.
“[Pochettino], and the entire team, has been incredibly transparent [through] the entire process,” Batson said Thursday. “So even when we first met a couple summers ago, there are lots of other people interested in having Mauricio and team join.
“He had standing offers from other places to come, and he wanted to be here. He’s a big believer in what we’re doing at U.S. Soccer. He’s a big believer in soccer in America, and he’s a big believer in this men’s team.
“And so throughout this entire process, when you have top-class talent — whether it’s salespeople, whether it’s marketing people or whether it’s coaches — other organizations want them. And throughout this, Mauricio and team have been incredibly transparent. They’ve been great partners, and we’re of course excited about the summer.”
Countdown to the World Cup
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