{"podcast":{"title":"Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America","slug":"chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250","podcast_index_feed_id":7528250,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/chasing-the-game","website_url":"https://www.chasingthegame.us","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/4Xne-FSh01iD2s8m_-NH8nbG0PHW7JxI0AKsxID8Mvc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kZWVh/ODMyNzJlMTg1NDQ3/NWZmZjlhOTAwOWEy/ZGJmYy5wbmc.jpg","author":"Liron Unreich","episode_count":30,"summary":"Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America is a weekly podcast for soccer parents, coaches, and players who want to understand how youth soccer development really works in the United States. Hosted by two dads, filmmaker Liron Unreich and investor Matt Tartaglia, the show covers everything from grassroots soccer to elite pathways like MLS NEXT and ECNL. Combining data, real experience, and expert insights from academy directors, college coaches, and former pros, each episode explains what families truly need to know. Weekly episodes focus on the core aspects of youth soccer: player development, coaching culture, college recruiting, tryouts, travel costs, and the challenges of youth sports parenting in today’s competitive environment. For families navigating youth soccer’s complex system, Chasing the Game offers practical advice, credible voices, and relatable stories from two dads working to make sense of American player development, one episode at a time.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250"},"episode":{"title":"Winning at 12 Doesn’t Matter: Inside the Red Bulls Academy | Sean McCafferty","slug":"winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty","published_at":"2026-01-14T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/8220d2ae","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/8220d2ae/dba6390d.mp3","summary":"Why do professional academies sometimes care less about winning than parents expect? In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Sean McCafferty, Academy Director of the New York Red Bulls, about how elite youth development really works inside a pro club. They discuss MLS NEXT, development versus winning, evaluation beyond talent, playing up, adversity, late bloomers, and what parents should actually prioritize when choosing a club. This episode is for soccer parents, coaches, and players seeking to understand academy soccer, long-term development, and how professional clubs approach growth, patience, and performance. https://chasingthegame.us (00:00) - Welcome, why this episode is for parents (00:39) - Sean McCafferty, England to New York, coaching lens (02:44) - What an academy director actually does (05:28) - Scouting and selection, what gets a kid noticed (09:00) - Training culture, standards, and daily environment (15:00) - Development vs winning, teaching the game (27:00) - Minutes, roles, playing up, and roster reality (32:42) - Red Bull global network, Salzburg, Leipzig, Brazil (33:00) - Tournaments and the travel culture (45:08) - Growth spurts, late bloomers, and patience (55:12) - Cost, pay to play pressures, what families face (01:01:00) - What actually makes a player, scanning and decisions (01:11:30) - Closing thoughts and advice for families Click here to view the episode transcript.","meta_description":"Why do professional academies sometimes care less about winning than parents expect? In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron U…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4527,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/episodes/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}