You might not think it’s controversial, and I respect that. I’m not sure I even think it’s controversial. But I do think it gives a false impression of where the US are in terms of their development, and their ability to produce players. The bulk of the squad, and all the good players, have received a massive part of their football education abroad by moving to Europe when they are 16, 17 or 18. Okay, that’s fairly understandable, but just off the top of my head the US has key players like Musah, Robinson, Balogun and Cardoso, who have never stepped a foot inside the US system at any point of their lives, not at youth level, nor adult. Three Englishmen and a Brazilian. They are complete, 100% products of other countries, and spent their entire lives living in those countries. Three of those are nailed on starters, and amongst the US’s very best players. Take them out of the squad and the USMNT looks very different.
I think stuff like this matters, because it’s papering over the cracks. Without young US players going to, predominantly, the Bundesliga in their teens, and the US scouring for eligible players completely developed by other countries, then they’d have virtually nothing to stick out on to the field. It’s normal of course for the best young players to leave and go to Europe, it happens with Brazil and Argentina - for example - the second phenomena is not one I am a fan of at all, and it grates to hear of Lalas talking about a golden generation - like it’s some triumph - when half of it is someone else’s.
Youth coaching in the US is utter dogshit, and I should know, I’ve been in and around the clubs, academies, and industry over here, since 2008. It’s a pay to play system, with antiquated methodologies, and a ton of corruption and nepotism. Most of the actual talent in this country, at youth level, comes from the Latino community - which is massive and football crazy - but they are largely disenfranchised from the official, sanctioned US soccer system which costs an absolute fortune for any parent to participate in. I’ve witnessed games where MLS academy A-teams, predominantly filled with rich white kids, have played in unsanctioned games against local Latino club sides and been absolutely demolished 5 or 6-0. Then a few weeks later seen the same MLS academy team making the semi-finals of national tournaments. It’s a complete joke, and a huge pool of talent is going completely ignored. With the exception of Dallas and NY Red Bulls, there are very few MLS academies that ever produce a player worth anything at all at a professional level. And those that do come through, have to get to Europe as young as possible in order to get proper coaching and make it to the top level.
It’s all very well people prattling on about who the coach should be, but if the US weren’t essentially pinching players from other countries, it wouldn’t matter who the coach was - because the team would be hopeless. This to me is a bigger issue, as the entire system here is completely broken.
