Following last Tuesday's shocking loss to Trinidad and Tobago, the United States Men's National Soccer team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the last tournament back in 2014, the USMNT exceeded expectations and gave almost everybody a sense of hope that at some point in our lifetime, we would witness our men lift the World Cup trophy. We've already witnessed our women do it three times, which by the way, is more times than any other women's national soccer program ever (seriously, pay these women already). But we want to see our men triumph. They've been playing in the World Cup since it started back in 1932 and have not only never won, but have never seemed like a threat to anyone. Here's why we will never win the most coveted trophy in the world, the World Cup.
1. Everyone else is just too good
It seems like every country in the world's passion rests with soccer, or football as most of them call it. Our passion rests with literally every other sport (which is fine, obviously). Every country wants their country's men to lift the World Cup. Every country produces the best players in the world and it seems like we just don't. It's hard to win a World Cup when Argentina, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, France, Brazil, and just about every other country are lurking with superstars and all we have is Christian Pulisic.
2. We make too many excuses
I mean, I literally just made one. Everyone else is too good? What the hell is that supposed to mean? It may be the underlying truth but it's not a valid excuse when it comes to this subject. After losing to Trinidad last week, the excuse was the field was too wet. These are things that should not be said. We always have an excuse as to why we can't win. We never put our heads down and try and solve the problem.
3. Our development isn't good enough
Germany's time came and went in the late 90s and in the 2000 UEFA European Championship they were godawful. Ever since then, they've been the favorite to win in every competition they've been in and in 2014 they won the World Cup for the fourth time in their illustrious history. They sat down and coordinated a way to produce the next generation of elite German soccer players. Everybody from youth teams and programs to professional clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund worked together to develop the class of players that wound up beating the world's best player, Lionel Messi and his Argentinian squad in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final. Our development is a mess, especially compared to the Germans who are now the poster boys for player development. Our pay-to-play system doesn't work in the way it should. Major League Soccer isn't structured correctly. There aren't official second and third leagues. It's just a mess.
4. MLS isn't as good as Europe's leagues
European soccer is the best soccer in the world. The leagues are the most powerful leagues and the players are the world's best. Players from all over the world come to play in England, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, and Portugal. Not a lot of Americans play there, but that's not necessarily a problem. More people play for their country's home league than others. More Spaniards play in Spain and more Frenchmen play in France. More Americans play in the United States. It's just how it is. But we aren't that good, so our players aren't competing like the rest of the world is. So in essence, it actually IS a problem that our players don't play in Europe. But you know who does? Christian Pulisic does. He plays for the second-best team in Germany, Borussia Dortmund. Bobby Wood does. John Brooks does. Is it a coincidence that they're the best players we have? I think not. Jordan Morris had an opportunity to play in Germany for Werder Bremen and he chose to play for the Seattle Sounders. He has not progressed in the way Pulisic, Wood, and Brooks have. The success of our players playing abroad speaks for itself.
5. Soccer is behind the other sports in this country
This seems very obvious to say but it's a big deal. Every other country, like I said, bows down to soccer. All of our sports take a back seat to theirs. Do they play basketball and baseball? Yeah, but not like we do. Do we play soccer like they do? No, no we do not. And that seems crazy because so so so so many people play soccer in this country. But think about how many people play the sport in the other countries. Our best athletes play basketball and baseball and football and hockey. Soccer is like the fifth sport here. And again, that's not a bad thing (coming from a diehard football and baseball fan). It's just another reason that we won't ever win the World Cup.
For every reason we have that we won't ever win, there is a reason we will one day. We just have to keep the faith and hope that our federation will turn it around. In the meantime, we get to keep rooting for the women as they continue their world domination. Hopefully one day our men will do the same.
