America loves sports.
They love winning, pageantry, underdog stories, and winning. America's overall infatuation with sports like baseball, basketball, football, and hockey would make you think that by now, our country would be competitive at all the major sports, right? Wrong. When it comes to the United States Men's National Team, men's soccer is underwhelming to put it nicely and embarrassing to put it accurately.
For the first time since 1986, the USMNT has failed to qualify for the World Cup. This, of course, coming after a rather impressive and surprising performance during the previous World Cup, escaping the Group of Death, and advancing to the round of 16. Shortly after the team's loss to Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month, Bruce Arena, the team's coach, resigned, leaving the Men's Team in what seems to be a never-ending limbo of ineptitude.
It should be noted, I am specifically talking about the men's team. The women's team is one of the most feared and well respected in their respective sport. We all know basketball is ruled primarily by America. Baseball is probably more competitive on a national stage, but the best players play in the MLB.
Football is really only an American sport so it would be unfair to compare it to other countries, but let us just assume that America has that crown. Hockey is a bit harder for me to judge, but from my understanding, America is competitive at the international level. So what exactly is preventing the men's team from garnering all-world success? Let us try and break that down.
American Football has the advantage of being THE American sport. If our best players played China's best, there's is no competition. Soccer does not provide that same luxury for America. My understanding is that the entire planet loves soccer so we couldn't possibly hold a monopoly over it. When it comes to baseball, the MLB attracts the best players from all over the globe.
Sure other countries have national baseball leagues, but their best players will eventually find their way into America. This is evidenced by Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Haitian born players found all over the MLB. Even players from Japanese leagues come to America such as Ichiro Suzuki. The MLS does not have that same pull. The MLS does not hold a candle to many professional leagues that reside overseas. Thus, there is no reason for players around the world to want to play in America.
This hurts professional soccer in America in that they simply cannot claim to have the best players in the world playing in the MLS. Not only do foreign players not wanna play here, Americans don't want to play in the MLS. Not in the same way as every other sports league in this country at least. It truly seems like soccer in America has nothing going for it. It's no wonder the USMNT continues to struggle.
So the question remains, how can this be fixed? When it comes to soccer in other parts of the world, the sport is so ingrained in the culture of these countries, it would be difficult to try and replicate that same cultural pressure in America for a variety of reasons.
The main issue is that there are simply so many others options in this country when it comes to professional sports that soccer simply can't keep up. In addition, the USMNT team is not good enough for young athletes to really care how well their country performs. America's only real hope is for the USMNT is for them to make strides with their current roster of players, which at this point would be dumb luck.
The men's team needs to perform well enough to garner the interest of the American public for a sustained period of time. Hopefully, this would bring more people to MLS games and also inspire more athletes to stick with soccer which will increase the ability of young stars who will eventually make an impact at the national level. When each step is broken down like that, it is easy to see why this process can be so complicated. USMNT isn't competitive because they don't have the players and they don't have the players because they aren't competitive. Quite the vicious cycle.
I refuse to believe hope is lost for America. With a potential superstar in Christian Pulisic and the possibility of bringing in a coach who can actually manage the roster, the flame remains lit for the men's team. Hopefully, they will manage something special in the coming years, but we won't know how special until the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Keep your eyes open.
