USMNT vs USWNT?

The reason our women have been so successful is, in some ways, the inverse of the reason the men haven't been - college soccer.

Until very recently, there was ZERO money at all in other countries for women's soccer. No real development, etc. Whereas here in the US, with college scholarships, there was incentive to develop and become as good as possible.

Our college system incentivized money (by parents, youth leagues, etc.) into development when there was no money from teams, leagues, etc.

Fast forward today - England and some other countries are pouring a lot more money into their women's development and women's league. You'll notice that England and France did pretty well at the last World Cup, and that is the reason for this.

That's in contrast to the men where we are the only country with our development system (though we're slowly trying to change it). We're slowly chugging along trying to catch up to cars that have been going 60mph for years, and we aren't yet going 60mph. The good news is that we have inherent advantages, so once we are able to harness development and talent the way that others countries do, we *should* be among the world leaders. But how long it will take for that to happen is the question.

MANY countries besides England have long taken the lead on womens' soccer development....Ever heard of world cup winners/contenders like Japan,Germany,Norway,Brazil...etc.etc.
England has not been the leader/frontrunner in the womens game and come to think of it, nor has it been any kind of "leader" in the mens' game since the early 1980's !

Japan cares. And China used to care.

Yes. They are two of the few countries.