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I think US Soccer should hyper-focus on two or three development academies. One organization can’t focus on this entire country, trying to fashion diamonds out of coal. It’s just too big and there are too few good coaches.

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But one organization could focus exclusively on NYC kids and SoCal kids, making sure that every talented kid knows the opportunities provided by soccer and has available the best possible level of facilities and coaching. There are 3 or 4 million kids between NYC and LA county. You’re telling me we couldn’t make 23 international players from that, if we focused on it?

Agreed. My dream is that US Soccer gets a billionaire sugar daddy and we copy France's regional academy system. Even just maximizing our talent pool in NYC and Southern California would give us one hell of a national team.

But I think we're already starting to see the benefits of the growth of MLS academies and the change of USSF development standards in 2006. (For those unaware, after we crashed out in the 2006 World Cup, US Soccer revamped our development to be more in line with UEFA standards.)

For our lost generation of players (the 90s to 95s), MLS academies weren't really launched yet, the Development Academy initiative was in its infancy. The new development standards didn't kick in until it was too late. The lucky few elite prospects would be in the Bradenton residency program. Just not good enough to create a sustainable pipeline of talent, and that's a big part of why that generation flopped so hard.

Now when you look at our current U20 team, every one of those kids plays professionally, some at a high level for that age. No college players. Something like 18 of the 23 kids developed in MLS academies. We're figuring it out, and I think it'll continue to get better. FC Dallas used to be the only good MLS academy; now there are about 6 or 7 producing good prospects.

I think the 98s - 03s might prove to be the best generation of players we've ever had. Adams, Pulisic, and McKennie are already off to a great start, and I think they are the first of many. A lot of those kids will step into the national team over the next few years and force some of the "lost generation" guys out.

This post was edited on 6/18/19 at 5:13 pm