re: The "US can't compete because athletes choose other sports" Argument

The US produces more elite athletes than probably the entire rest of the world combined. There are plenty of them to go around. The problem is that many of them are guys you've never heard of that are sitting on a bench somewhere for college football/basketball and NFL/NBA teams. When our domestic league gets big enough so that it can close the pay scale gap that currently exists between MLS and our other major sports, more of those guys will have chosen soccer at an early age and the sport will continue to grow and grow.