re: US Soccer's lack of stars

Population:
England 50m
France 65m
Germany 82m
Brazil 200m
Argentina 41m
USA 314m

Throw out Brazil from the above and the non-US average is 60m

90% of 60m is 54m
5% of 314m is 16m

So, generously assuming that only 90% of sports-minded kids in those other countries focus mostly on soccer and that even 5% of sports-minded kids in the USA have historically focused on soccer, each of those countries in an average generation has almost 3.5 times as many focused soccer players coming up.

Athleticism is relatively less important, soccer brains at any position are relatively more important than <insert other sport> brains are in any other sport, and it's much harder to develop elite skill with your feet than it is with your hands. All of that adds up to the key ingredient in producing successful soccer players being OBSESSION with soccer.

A small amount of pressure on a huge lump of coal isn't going to produce any diamonds.

The upshot of all of this is that it really only is a matter of time, focus, and a big money league before we do to soccer what we've done to the Olympics. That's why I so greatly enjoy being the underdog now. One day we'll be as spoiled as LSU football fans are (speaking for myself there).

Amazing thing is that Brazil isn't even more dominant than they are, but that's part of the beauty of soccer.