U.S. men’s soccer needs big changes
The worst night in American soccer was supposed to be far in our rearview mirror, not happening 17 years into the 21st century, against the 99thranked team in the world.
But that’s what occurred in a nightmare scenario for the U.S. men’s soccer team Tuesday night. The Americans were eliminated from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. That’s after playing in every World Cup since 1990. Seven straight.
The Americans went from feeling too comfortable at the start of the game — comfort seems to be an ongoing issue with this team — to absolutely devastated. So now what? The country’s brightest star, Christian Pulisic, won’t get a chance to play on the big stage until he’s 23, at least. That’s a shame. But Pulisic, at 19, had become a one-man team, something that shouldn’t be happening at this stage of American soccer development.
Older stars — Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and probably Michael Bradley — will retire. Some will say they should have done so a cycle earlier.
There will be a new coach, obviously. Bruce Arena was always only a stopgap solution. He couldn’t stop the failures
and will be gone.
There should be a new president of U.S. Soccer. Sunil Gulati is up for re-election in February. He has been president since 2006 and was a key figure in U.S. Soccer for many previous years. He is largely responsible for the direction of the program, which is clearly flawed. (Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated intriguingly suggested Julie Foudy as a candidate for the job. Former player Eric Wynalda has dropped hints about running.)
The initial comments after the game from Gulati and Arena smacked of pure denial — that there was no need for big changes. That is completely wrong. U.S. Soccer and Major League Soccer must take hard looks at the way they conduct business. The failures of American soccer are too massive to ignore.
The American men’s program has missed the past two Olympics — an under-23 tournament for the men. That was a clear sign that our young players weren’t good enough and created a huge void in our players’ international development. Now the senior team will miss the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Soccer is not going to go away in this country. It will continue to grow and, thanks to increasing concerns about brain injuries in football, will be the main male fall sport in many communities.
But this is a huge blow. To the standing of the sport, to the development of the national team program, to the aspirations of the players. (And to Fox Sports, which paid a reported $450 million for the English-speaking rights to the Russia World Cup.)
Yes, other teams didn’t qualify, including world power Netherlands. But European teams have to fight it out amongst themselves. Not coast through a soft and forgiving region. All the Americans needed Tuesday was a tie against a team that had nothing to play for.
The warning signs have been in place for a while. Jurgen Klinsmann was criticized for relying heavily on Germanborn dual citizens to qualify and play in the 2014 World Cup, but he didn’t think there were enough quality players in the United States.
After 2014, the program was in decline and Klinsmann was ousted when the team fell flat in qualifying a year ago, losing to Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, and being crushed in Costa Rica. Arena came in and gave the team some life, but it crumbled again, losing to Costa Rica again, drawing against Panama and Honduras and forcing the team into a do-or-die situation in Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite the desperation, on Tuesday the Americans came out flat, looked complacent and as though they were already assured of everything breaking their way. It didn’t happen.
The lack of urgency may have been due to coaching. Or it may be traced to a mentality that has seeped into the program.
MLS has made great strides over the years, but it has expanded quickly and doesn’t have depth. The U.S. national team players in MLS are marketed as the faces of the league, to sell tickets, as stars to promote the game in the United States. They don’t have to battle for their jobs every single day. Going to play in Europe — where key players like Pulisic and Bobby Wood are playing — isn’t the answer for everyone. But young soccer players need to be pushed daily in practice and not be awarded anything.
The growth in MLS academies should help build the needed depth and also create a system in which the United States is less reliant on 22year-olds who have spent their formative years in college. No other country in the world has that kind of system.
Most important, American soccer has to find a way to get away from the pay-to-play system that dominates youth soccer. The competitive club teams cost thousands of dollars a year and are all about winning and not development. Those clubs create the pool from which players are selected for the Olympic Development Program and enter the national team pipeline. U.S. Soccer has to do a better job of identifying and developing players who don’t have the kind of money to play for these “elite” clubs.
There are a lot of problems that American soccer has to address.
Time to start now; qualifying for the 2022 World Cup isn’t that far away.