Next potential USMNT coach Mikey Varas believes kids gain advantage from 'unsupervised activity in streets'

Mikey Varas will take over head coaching duties of the U.S. men's national team on an interim basis for some upcoming September matches, according to multiple reports. 

A search for a permanent coach is underway, but Varas could be considered and will put his leadership on display when the U.S. faces Canada Sept. 7 and New Zealand on Sept. 10 in a pair of friendlies. 

The 39-year-old Varas is taking over a team that was beaten 4-0 by Morocco in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics after longtime head coach Gregg Berhalter was fired July 10 after a poor showing at the 2024 Copa América.

Varas, a San Francisco native, previously served as head coach of the U.S. under-20 team. He took over as head coach in 2021 and in 2022 led it to its third Concacaf U-20 championship. Varas failed to replicate his success in the 2023 U-20 World Cup. The U.S. lost in the quarterfinals.

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Before that, he was assistant coach for FC Dallas under Luchi Gonzalez from 2019 to 2020 and helped lead the Toros to two consecutive MLS Cup playoffs. Varas started his career with FC Dallas as the head coach for its under-16 team in 2017. At the start of his career, he led the U-14 team at the Sacramento Republic Academy in 2016. One year later, he was named the U.S. Soccer Development Academy West Conference U-14 Coach of the Year.

For as much experience as Varas has with teenagers, he has an even deeper interest and philosophy in the development of much younger players, which he shared in an interview with NYC FC radio broadcaster Glenn Crooks. 

"The youngest age groups are the most important for the fundamental motor skill. So pre-6. But what you find is when there's a deficiency, you need to extend it up until probably 12. Then they hit puberty, and puberty messes them up. Then you stimulate it again during that period. So, it's pretty much pre-puberty and a little bit during puberty," Varas said. 

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Varas, in his interview with Crooks, said his philosophy stems from an interaction he had with a professor, whom he did not name, who worked with Italian club ACF Fiorentina. Varas said the professor preached an emphasis on training players from a psychomotor and coordination perspective at young ages, especially with kids doing less "unsupervised activity in the streets."

"Street football is disappearing — pure unsupervised activity in the streets — not even just football, [but also] climbing fences, climbing trees, exploring neighborhoods is disappearing. So, there's a deficiency in terms of our fundamental motor skills," Varas said. 

Varas added that playing other sports in an unstructured setting at a young age can give potential future soccer players and other athletes a big advantage in motor skills. 

"So, generations that grew up running, swimming, playing multiple sports in an unstructured manner — climbing fences, climbing trees — these people have more adaptability to their coordination abilities," Varas said. 

Varas played at the University of San Francisco and then represented the CD Santiago Wanderers in Chile for a season.

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