Yep. What steps exactly have been made to further youth outreach, and training? Are they just hoping that the MLS academies will do everything in terms of developing players? Have they created programs for lower-income players that will allow them to get solid coaching, and exposure? I’ll know we’ve made real progress when we have a national team consisting of players that didn’t just come from middle to upper-middle class families..

The only two major moves I’m aware of are the hiring of gregggg, and the creation of Earnie Stewart’s position. The hiring of Berhalter can at best be described as underwhelming, and other than that hiring I have no clue what Earnie does.

As for your earlier point on the lost generation I think that’s the main issue. The talent pool is just awful right now. The backbone of this team is built on average MLS players, and the few talented ones are past their prime, and The real talent is too young and sparse to overcome the MLS veterans.

I believe you’re correct in saying it’s likely going to take several years for the talent to fill back up. I think it’s going to take Pulisic’s class fighting through mediocrity until they hit their prime around 25-28 years old when they will become the core of the team. And hopefully by that point the MLS academies and European academies will have continued producing talented young players that can come into the senior team, and provide a spark instead of needing to carry the load.

The only bright spot is that it appears our youth teams would suggest we have genuine talent coming up, and that they are playing a more technical style of soccer. I’ve only really started following the youth teams over the last few years though, so maybe we’ve always looked good in youth tournaments only to have those players burn out as they age.

This post was edited on 10/10/19 at 2:48 pm