“It became very clear that his longer-term goal from when Joey was a freshman was to be identified and get into the U-17 World Cup pool, and we talked about what he needed to do to get there,” Weber said. “He was very passionate and wanted to do everything he could for the high school — and to this day I think it still tears at him — but let’s face it: the coach that might identify him for that pool of players is not going to be watching M.K.A. and Montclair High on a Saturday afternoon. In his case, he’s probably where he needs to be.”

Grueling High School Schedule

Besides the benefits of being tagged and identified by national team officials and Division I college coaches at academy games and regional showcases, Rodriguez lamented the grueling, condensed schedule of the high school season, which plays out in about two months after workouts commence in mid-August.

“I got injured both years — hit in the head and a sprained knee ligament,” he said. “High school soccer is very physical, not as much fun on a technical level.”

Weber acknowledged there were specific developmental disadvantages, noting that his team began this season with five games in 10 days against formidable league opponents, leaving scant time for training.

“I often say that 90 percent of my coaching is done during the preseason because the rest of the time I’m taping ankles and putting on Band-Aids and being a cheerleader in getting them up for the next one,” Weber said. “The high school rules don’t allow us to put out the kind of program that they can put out at the club level.”

That was the training rationale behind the federation’s decision to create an all-in program that would directly conflict with the high school season, said Bob Montgomery, the academy director for Red Bull New York, one of four academies affiliated with U.S. Soccer in New Jersey.

“What we’ve learned from the rest of the world is that the ideal is three to four practices and one game a week that tests how they’re doing their work,” he said. “But change is always difficult, especially where you have a situation where players have already been on a high school team for a couple of years and feel they are having something taken away from them. So this has created a lot of problems, a lot of controversy.”