re: World Cup 2030 USMNT

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It's all relative, because of course we have more talent now compared to when we made the quarters in 2002. The problem that a lot of people seem to be missing is that it's not like we're progressing while the rest of the world is stagnant. Innovation never stops, even for the best teams. When you look at our progression through that lens, we haven't gotten much better at soccer over the last 25 years.

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Do you think we have plateaued? This is as good as we can be?

I see the progress while there obviously haven’t been these huge spikes where we jump past those other tier 2/3 nations into the top tier, but I also think we’re just now starting to see the benefits of the changes JK made to the youth system 15 years ago. Our bench is made up of players from the top Euro Leagues now, and the majority is home grown.

I think we’re in a good spot and will break into that next tier in the next 2 cycles. Honestly I’m glad we’re not in Italy’s position where they can win Euros between failing to qualify for its 3rd consecutive cycle, losing an entire generation.