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Every 4 years we lose the World Cup and the “if we only did X we would win” arguments come
Posted on 7/8/26 at 8:29 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 8:29 am
“If all our good athletes played soccer we would win”
“If we put soccer fields in the inner cities we would win”
“If we had developmental clubs in the European model we would win”
“If soccer wasn’t an expensive sport in America we would win”
It all sounds simple and good but I have a hard time believing we aren’t trying these things, it’s not like the people involved in American soccer don’t want to win and have never thought of these things.
Is the simplest answer geography? European countries are small, a lot of them have just a few academies. If you are a young prodigy you move to the big city and go to the academy and they train you/pay for your development, it’s a model that makes sense when there are only a few options and only a handful of players relative to US population. Then all the best kids in the country grow up playing and training with each other all the time in relatively close proximity. Then they can easily travel internationally and play against the other countries too kids because that country is just a US states distance or less away.
In America when people and clubs are spread over thousands of miles and we have a dozen or so major population centers and many would claim to have “the best” facilities or academies, that is a lot more challenging to do and pay for. Maybe it isn’t as simple as just copy the Europeans.
“If we put soccer fields in the inner cities we would win”
“If we had developmental clubs in the European model we would win”
“If soccer wasn’t an expensive sport in America we would win”
It all sounds simple and good but I have a hard time believing we aren’t trying these things, it’s not like the people involved in American soccer don’t want to win and have never thought of these things.
Is the simplest answer geography? European countries are small, a lot of them have just a few academies. If you are a young prodigy you move to the big city and go to the academy and they train you/pay for your development, it’s a model that makes sense when there are only a few options and only a handful of players relative to US population. Then all the best kids in the country grow up playing and training with each other all the time in relatively close proximity. Then they can easily travel internationally and play against the other countries too kids because that country is just a US states distance or less away.
In America when people and clubs are spread over thousands of miles and we have a dozen or so major population centers and many would claim to have “the best” facilities or academies, that is a lot more challenging to do and pay for. Maybe it isn’t as simple as just copy the Europeans.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 8:30 am
3
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:08 am to Tiger1242
Most of these arguments come from people that only watch every four years, so it's very frustrating
Can we and should we do things differently from the the ground up? Probably
How long have we been saying this? 20 years?
I actually don't mind all the criticism of our talented players this time around, because many of them are soft.
Can we and should we do things differently from the the ground up? Probably
How long have we been saying this? 20 years?
I actually don't mind all the criticism of our talented players this time around, because many of them are soft.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:25 am to metallica81788
quote:
I actually don't mind all the criticism of our talented players this time around, because many of them are soft.
Yeah this failure has nothing to do with the youth setup in America. Not qualifying in 2018 and then flaming out in 2022 due to lack of vet leadership and relying on essentially an Olympic team in Qatar was a failure of the youth setup. This is the most technically talented team we've ever had shitting the bed when it mattered most.
quote:
Can we and should we do things differently from the the ground up? Probably
How long have we been saying this? 20 years?
The criticism is warranted because 2030 will need younger guys to step up. Of the 11 starters this WC, 7 will be over 30 by 2030. If we have the youth to push for those starting spots is a real question to ask.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:43 am to metallica81788
quote:
Most of these arguments come from people that only watch every four years, so it's very frustrating
It's been funny seeing the same arguments I read on Big Soccer after the 2010 World Cup
The one thing I'll say has gotten more scrutiny is the sales portion of the pay to play structure. The fact that clubs have such a hard time selling (and turning a profit out of their prospects) means that we have a completely different economic model than the Euro academies.
We have academies now, we are developing coaches & talented youth. We're taking all the right actions. But imo it's like cooking a dish at home vs. the professional chef that's practiced it 100 times. The Barcelonas & Arsenals of the world will always be a little bit better because they can pay for better coaches & better prospects.
Until our academies have real cash we will be unable to hire the best of the best. I think we would've seen this had we beaten Belgium - Spain & certainly France are still in a completely different tier. They have the BEST academies, not just academies.
This post was edited on 7/8/26 at 9:45 am
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:53 am to Tiger1242
There is no magic bullet. No one size fits all solution. We need to copy what Japan does as well.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 9:57 am to lionward2014
Not to mention a few of those are dual nats.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:13 am to Tiger1242
Geography and background matter overall in this discussion. If you pay close attention to most on the USMNT they have two things in common. They grew up in the Mid Atlantic (mostly) also a lot of them had their formative years in Europe. McKennie was playing youth soccer because his father was a USAF officer stationed at Ramstein. Malik Tillman is both German and US as his father was stationed in Germany. Even Pulisic had exposure as a kid to European soccer.
Balogun and Robinson really are British nationals. Dest is basically Dutch. Richards and Freeman and Ream are fully domestic.....hell, Freeman's Dad played for the Packers
Reyna"s Dad played internationally
Berhalter is a coach's kid.
Balogun and Robinson really are British nationals. Dest is basically Dutch. Richards and Freeman and Ream are fully domestic.....hell, Freeman's Dad played for the Packers
Reyna"s Dad played internationally
Berhalter is a coach's kid.
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:27 am to KiwiHead
It’s definitely a complicated problem without easy solutions. Good coaches cost money and that money has to come from somewhere. Pay to play sucks but there aren’t enough MLS teams offering free academy spots to cover the talent pool here. The USSF is turning to AI tools to help improve scouting, which I thought was a pretty neat idea.
LINK
USSF CEO JT Batson was recently interviewed on the scuffed soccer podcast. I came away impressed by him. He says one of his goals is to improve access for kids across the country and to find solutions to decrease cost. Honestly he came across as someone who is just as obsessed with seeing us improve as the most fervent supporters on this board. It’s worth a listen.
LINK
LINK
USSF CEO JT Batson was recently interviewed on the scuffed soccer podcast. I came away impressed by him. He says one of his goals is to improve access for kids across the country and to find solutions to decrease cost. Honestly he came across as someone who is just as obsessed with seeing us improve as the most fervent supporters on this board. It’s worth a listen.
LINK
Posted on 7/8/26 at 10:29 am to KiwiHead
quote:
Geography and background matter overall in this discussion. If you pay close attention to most on the USMNT they have two things in common. They grew up in the Mid Atlantic (mostly) also a lot of them had their formative years in Europe.
California, Texas, and the northeast (especially New York) are kind of the major development hotbeds domestically.
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