Stop trying to project the 2018 US World Cup team Potential USMNT players to watch during the 2018 World Cup cycle
I think the author is making a lot of good points that certainly are applicable to this World Cup. I, however, do feel that by 2022 a lot can certainly changed. JK is changing the way the USMNT casts the net, so to speak, to find talent. We are not looking in the traditional places. Furthermore, I think his mentality on building the foundation of the program will pay dividends long-term with current and future players. He is setting expectations of performance and pushing a seemingly weak talent pool to achieve as a team more than what they are capable as individuals. It's hard to understand, but a large part of our 2018 and 2022 squads likely are still in high school or youth academies across the World. I'm not naive enough to think that the USMNT organization doesn't have a plan. I'm excited to see the further development of this mentality and the dividends it produces in the next several years.
It would seem that our entire development model is broken. We treat youth soccer like competitive cheerleading with all the damn paywalls and funneling kids to "premier" youth clubs. And this readys them for what? College soccer? How many of our 23 came from college soccer programs? We need to find a way to make soccer more accessible like basketball where kids can show up and roll the ball out and play. Not load up in mommy's minivan and pay for practice with your parents screaming at an under qualified coach about playing time. We won't catch up until kids go out and ball till they fall like we do with hoops.
There are lots of programs in place right now to reach inner city youth, which is what you are describing. They lack the backing of a lot of powerful professionals, though. The MLS has to start doing their part as well. All these programs are in their infancy, unfortunately. However, the recognition of the necessity is there. It just takes time. Club soccer is prevalent everywhere, it's undoubtedly taken on a model for the privileged where most clubs are just out to turn a profit. Good players do come out of this system, but athletes are typically pushed away into doing other sports that may require less dedication than soccer. AAU takes a similar approach to basketball, but they have unlimited athletes. A large part of them become a statistic due to dumb decisions or mismanagement (Lenny Cooke), yet the system continues to churn out elite level basketball players. I don't really want to get into the specifics of comparing different sports, and want to agree with you more that we need to make soccer more available. Again, I think that's happening, but a complete cultural shift such as that will take time. We have to be patient.
Youth soccer has transformed so much in the last 15 years it's incredible. Elite clubs and ODP were the be-all end-all, both of which were marred with political bullshit. I saw so many great athletes pushed aside due to nepotism, and even saw our ODP director fired for nepotism when he took like 11 Eastern PA kids for the regional team one year. It was insane, and I'm convinced there was a lot of money behind some of these decisions. The shift in this area has been dramatic. The academy emphasis started ~10 years ago, and it hasn't looked back since. All of the good players are now funneled through the Union Youth Academy, which is now a residential school/academy in an incredible facility. They also work to feed in players from programs specifically designed to identify talent in the inner city. I can't speak on how political it is these days, but I can tell you that the training these kids get is top notch. Even when you used to make the ODP teams, there was ZERO development (a bit ironic considering the name Olympic Development Program). Every practice, even when you made the pool/team, was a tryout. They were constantly re-evaluating kids and bringing new ones in - it was awful. Needless to say, I'm incredibly bullish on the future of U.S. soccer, if only because I've what I've seen in the Philadelphia region.
