I'm still amazed all these years later that the US can't assemble 11 world class players on one team. My kids suggest that it's because US kids don't have high level academies but that sounds overly simplistic. Soccer has been around since I was a kid and over the past 45 years they should have been able to up the level of US players. We've managed to close the gap on Canada in hockey in that time, we are still dominant in basketball and compete favorably in baseball. I'm not expect a World Cup win but at least be one of the better teams and get to the final 8 or so a few times.
This is the youngest US team and it has the most players playing at the top level of club soccer. The growth at the top level is happening right now.
They could do it now, honestly, were it not for injuries in every single qualifying window. The thing is that their oldest regular roster player is in his late 20s. They're very young, and already they have multiple players making a difference for significant European contenders (Pulisic at Chelsea, Adams at Leipzig, Aaronson at Salzburg, McKennie at Juventus). I'd like them to make the round of 16, but next World Cup will be crucial. If it isn't "win now" in 2026 it'll be damn close.
The US doesn't have tons of youth hockey players relatively speaking and we produce world class talent. It looks to be about 450k players in the most recent survey of US Hockey. In contrast a quick google search suggests there are about 3 million youth soccer players. That should be enough to find about 10 world class players just about every year.
US soccer is very biased towards certain parts of the country over others. Historically, the best USMNT players have come from New Jersey, North Texas, and Southern California. Thankfully, that's getting better and is bolstered by multi-nationals who choose to play for us.
I played soccer through high school and even back then it was a growing sport in the US. I'm amazed it's taking this long. I'd be excited to watch a US mens' team that can have the kind of success the women's team has had. If the women can get it together the men should also be able to do that.
I enjoyed playing goalie in soccer. I ended up as a stopper in what was a 1980's diamond defense because I could run well. I ended up playing because my town made it easy growing up. I could walk to games if my folks couldn't take me and all I had to bring were cleats. The baseball field was a far drive and other sports really required a lot of effort to even sign up for. In today's world I'm sure it's much different.
One of my goals is to see soccer in Europe. It's got to be a trip. I went to a Timbers game when I went to Portland a few years ago, and standing was mandatory because everyone was drumming, chanting, holding up stuff, etc. It was a full 90 minutes of the crowd totally into it. I'm convinced that seeing soccer for one of the big Euro clubs has to be the greatest fan experience in sports- imagine that times three. Very hard to not get into that.
Thats the problem - it's not (with big teams), only in big games and even then not always. Expensive tickets have killed that too.
A well-deserved sacking. Chelsea look completely punchless. I'm sure no one is happier than Pulisic, though.
