Where did or are these young men playing? Are the US academies as big of failures as I’m hearing tonight from the talking heads? Has there been a movement away from Europe ?
We have good players and the academy system for the next generations promises to be some of the best on the planet. The problem is that from 1988-2002, we had a core group of paid professionals whose sole job it was to play for the national team and then dabble in club soccer during down time. Kinda like the women still today. After the success of 2002, the thought was that MLS would be the training ground, but the league nearly folded between 2002-2008. This was the crucial time period of development for the players that should be in their prime for this cycle and we missed it. At that time, but it’s definitely not the case anymore, the big international club weren’t really looking at the USA for raw talent. They would come to Dallas Cup, Milk Cup, etc., but it wasn’t serious. Now virtually every club you can name has a US affiliate or outright presence in the USA. Barcelona has operational offices just off Times Square and an academy facility in New Jersey, as well as relationships in every state.
Another problem is coaching at the youth level. We have a system that either: ignores coaching basics for volunteers or is dominated by overcompensated ego maniacs who set the youth training and competition system up to benefit them and their friends and not developing players. Playing too many games, not enough touches for players, poor fundamentals compounded by meaningless drills. I could go on.
So we have the raw talent, it’s just not being nurtured properly. Once a generation an absurd natural talent like Donovan or Pulisic comes along and isn’t polluted because his parents know the game and protect him. But more often than not, it’s the rare player that over comes the obstacles to development and is able to advance their game through sheer will. (Dempsey, Cobi Jones, Eddie Johnson).
Luckily, with the growth of the academy system, that is changing.
Another elephant that nobody wants to talk about is the same problem the women are starting to experience. From 1988 to 2005, we could depend on our superior conditioning and athleticism to over come issues of poor overall speed and deficient tactics. In the last ten years, the other countries have adopted US sports science programs and now are in better shape than us.
As for where is that generation now, most are bit players on MLS clubs after having failed or worn out their welcome in lower tiered Europe sides.