After yet another failure in a national tournament by the United States Men’s Soccer Team (USMNT), the team continues to be overhyped. Quite frankly, and rightfully so, they’re the laughing stock of international soccer.
Less than a week ago, the team fell to Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League Semifinals, losing in stoppage time. It marked the fourth time that the U.S. has lost to Panama in their last six meetings.
Later on in the third place game, the Americans lost once again, this time to Canada. In their last five meetings now, the USMNT has lost three against their Canadian neighbors.
Within the last year, U.S. Soccer crashed out of the Copa America in spectacular fashion after not even making it out of the group stage while hosting the tournament. Now, after hosting the CONCACAF Nations League final, the U.S. didn’t even make it to the final in Los Angeles.
A team that boasts talents such as Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, U.S. Soccer should be dominant in the region they play.
Losing to Panama and then Canada in the CONCACAF Nations League is just another nail in the coffin, a coffin which has been taking nails for years.
At the moment, it’s not an over exaggeration to say that the team is the most overhyped and overrated international team in the world. Now they aren’t the worst team in the world. The aforementioned players have been good for their respective club teams throughout their careers. But when they get together to play for the U.S., it’s less than exciting
Back during the times of Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and more, they were fun to watch. They had the chemistry that is direly needed to win matches. The current set of players have been successful in a way, and they have won trophies.
Back in the day, the USMNT was always an underdog taking on the giants in South America and Europe. Now, the team is consistently hailed as an elite national team but continues to disappoint over and over again.
Now yes, historically the team has been good. Other than making it to seven straight FIFA World Cups from 1990 to 2014 and winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup seven times, the success hasn’t really been there.
The lowest of the low points occurred when the United States did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup after losing to Trinidad and Tobago, marking the worst day in U.S. Soccer’s history.
We acted shocked and dismayed when the Trinidad game happened, but it was coming. Development is quite bad when it comes to the USMNT
Now, the U.S. was relatively successful in 2022 in Qatar. Finishing second in a group with England, Wales and Iran, the team eventually fell in the Round of 16 against runners up Netherlands.
Hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026 next year, the USMNT has automatically qualified for the tournament. However, fans across the United States are in for a rude awakening.
Expect another disappointing World Cup from the team because at the moment, it’s not looking good.
When you have Lionel Messi playing in the MLS, the U.S. Men’s National Team should at least capitalize on the popularity and fans that Messi has brought to the United States.
However, the youth system in the United States continues to set the U.S. National Team on a course for disaster. A system that has prioritized profit over players, the U.S. Youth Development Program continues to contribute to the dampening of the popularity of soccer in the U.S.
The biggest reason for this is how the U.S. Soccer program is run. In Europe and South America, youth players do not have to pay to play for clubs. In the U.S., if you want to play for a club team, you have to pay. Travel leagues, rec leagues all require payment and force families to make the tough decisions on whether or not they can afford the sometimes exorbitant fees that teams and leagues require.
It’s a broken system, and it needs to change. Not only for the future of U.S. Soccer as a whole, but for soccer in the U.S. in general. The fact is, there are talented players out there that can’t afford to pay to play. You have to wonder how many players are going to be overlooked by the development program, not because of a lack of talent, but a lack of financial backing.
The U.S. Youth Soccer Development program is a system that cares more about profit than actually helping players become stars. In a country that does so much to praise youth football, youth hockey, baseball and more, U.S. Soccer lacks in every way possible.
Yes, other club sports in the U.S. are mostly pay to play. However, families have to shell out massive amounts of money to let their kids play. From high costs of travel leagues, to equipment, youth soccer has turned into a pay-to-play sport.
If the system doesn’t change, U.S. Soccer won’t change for the better. It doesn’t matter who the players are or who the manager is. If you put profit over player development like U.S. Soccer has, you’re doomed for failure.