Column: Can USMNT catch up to world’s soccer powers after another World Cup exit?
SEATTLE — For three months, Rainier Beach basketball star Tyran Stokes was a one-man rock band in Seattle. To actually sit down and watch the nation's top recruit might require that you take in the freshman and JV games, too.
The same was true of Michael Porter Jr. — also the No. 1 high-school prospect — when he played at Nathan Hale nine years earlier. All that was missing from the circus was the trapeze and the human cannonball.
Now imagine that, instead of the country's best prep basketball player, we had the top soccer star. Do you think for a second there would be that kind of hype? Whether it was in Washington, California, Florida or any state you could think of, would that kid's prowess engender the same type of publicity?
No.
Perhaps that isn't a perfect analogy because youth soccer prodigies are usually in some type of academy or feeder system and not donning a letterman's jacket. But you get the point. And as piece after piece comes out about how broken the United States' youth soccer system is — and these stories are valid — the main reason our men's national team lags behind the top-tier countries might be a whole lot simpler: The sport is just not in our blood.
There is a difference between signing up for a youth league and being able to find a game on every neighborhood street or patch of grass. Premier coaching and state-of-the-art facilities can refine elite talent, but they can't create the kind of player who grows up with a soccer ball seemingly tied to their feet.
It's a little bit like learning a language. You can teach a teenager as many lessons as you want, but he has no chance against the 6-year-old who was immersed in it from Day 1.
That doesn't mean that overhauling youth soccer in the U.S. couldn't produce a massive benefit to our men's national team in the future. Some of the figures that have emerged over the past couple weeks have been staggering.
Seattle Times sports writer Andy Yamashita reported that the middle level of competitive play for Washington youths cost around $7,000 per year. Premier-level players, the second-highest level, might pay double or triple.
Some of our country's best athletes come from money. Many others do not. Think of all the kids that could have been on who's who?" lists that became no more than "what ifs?"
Now compare our youth-sports system to a country such as Norway, which is one of the most successful sporting nations in the world on a per-capita-basis. Its core principles?
- No scorekeeping until the age of 13.
- Limited travel teams for younger children.
- No early specialization, as kids are encouraged to play multiple sports.
- Equal playing time at younger ages.
- Low-cost, with fees typically capped around $1000.
The result is Norway winning more Winter Olympic gold medals than countries 10 to 200 times larger than it, taking its men's soccer team to the World Cup quarterfinals, and regularly winning The Greatest Sporting Nation's "Per Capita Cup," which ranks athletic success on a per-person basis.
On the other end of a spectrum is a country such as Brazil, which hasn't won the World Cup since 2002. Sports writer/video content creator Frank Michael Smith noted on X that "the street pitches where Pelé and Ronaldo learned the game have been paved over for real estate ... and it's no longer free — 80% of youth academies now require cash."
That immersion so integral to youth success has been hindered. Last year, Brazil's under-20 men's team was eliminated from the U-20 World Cup in the group stage for the first time in history.
In short: U.S. youth sports cost more than superior per capita athletic countries, and don't have the soccer culture that once made countries such as Brazil great.
There's also the "cool factor. Good football programs will fill the bleachers week after week. Same with the best basketball programs. Americans often aspire to be like their legendary athletic countrymen (although the NBA and MLB have plenty of popular foreign talent), and soccer players don't likely trigger the same inspiration.
That doesn't mean things can't change. Landon Donovan, maybe the best U.S. soccer player of all time, was on the Rich Eisen show lately, and said the most important thing for a kid's development is to touch a ball and have fun. Not drills. Not formations. Just pure love of game.
Right now money seems to supersede that. Until it doesn't, we'll continue paying the price.
