Even if we say Pulisic is the best player in his age group, it still doesn't mean anything in terms of USMNT. It's the same trap that media and fans fall into. Until they prove it on the pitch and actually do something productive on the national team, I don't really care. Did we all forget England's golden generation? How did that go, and they actually had elite talent and much better depth.
There is this weird fascination with people around the national team that wants to announce that we have arrived. Until this group actually proves it on the field, then we haven't arrived. Now this group hasn't gotten a real chance together, and they are dealing with the sins of the past cycle, but that's just the reality.
Actually, if you go back and look at how this discussion started, it was suggested by someone on twitter that we are on our way to becoming top ten. It was then criticized by you. You essentially suggested the top ten won't change, that we need to worry about being as good as Mexico (a country whose struggling to produce players recently), and that the current young US crop aren't actually any better than a prior crop. It was then suggested by me that there's nothing wrong with suggesting that we are on our way. No one proclaimed that it'll happen immediately, but there's clear improvement in the player pool from even five years ago, and it's not 28 year olds who've made their way up with underdog stories. It's players that range from 17-22.
I also don't know what our best young players haven't proven on the field. Does Pulisic not have 14G, 10A in 2262 minutes for the USMNT? McKennie and Adams have also been really good. Even Dest has been pretty good in brief time, so these players are proving it on the field. The issue remains our National Team still isn't very good because our prime aged players suck. It's not the fault of the up and coming crop.
Even if they all hit their potential, we still have terrible depth, surrounding pieces, and coaching.
Why do you think this is it? Did you know who Sergino Dest was two years ago? Did you know who Gio Reyna was one year ago? Five years ago, you probably hadn't even heard of Pulisic. If they all hit their potential, it's probably 10 years away, so thats 10 more years to produce more good players. 10 years ago Pulisic was 12 years old, and no one had heard of him. There's plenty of time to produce more good players.
These players are all there. The 15-20 year old kids who haven't broken out yet aren't any worse than the five year span between Pulisic and Reyna. We just don't know which of them will emerge and break out into top level players. And while I really have no idea what the 10 year old crop is looking like, I have a hard time believing that after we showed such a big improvement already in the last few years, that it's all of a sudden going to stop.
The point is that we are improving with producing players. It's not a golden generation. This should be looked at as a permanent thing that we are producing better players. I don't know why anyone would be surprised. The USA has the most registered youth football players in the world. We have the most diverse population in the world. We are a country with a great athletic history. We are a country with plenty of financial resources to help. There's no reason that as the system for producing players improves that the players shouldn't, as well.
