Soccer all over and yet not a single world-class star!!!

So true. The US has no world class players, nor any currently on the radar who have any hopes of achieving it. Dempsey is the greatest outfield player we have produced, but given his age he will never make a world class status. Donovan had potential but pissed it away with his utter lack of heart and nads to push himself in a truly competitive environment.

And Donovan didn't go to college? Haha

In the mean time, take this
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/soccer/149173415.html

U.S. Soccer Federation: Academy team members not allowed to play for high schools
"The U.S. Soccer Federation has decided high school soccer is an impediment to America catching up with the rest of the world."

Didn't finish 3rd, they were a semifinalist. Different format and fewer teams meant reaching the semis wasn't all that remarkable.

There were a number of reasons in their favor. The main ones were that a lot of strong European teams didn't enter and that the wet weather was what the Americans were used to in the ASL. Still, it was a good performance, including a 3-0 win over a Paraguay team that had finished second in the Copa America just eight months before.

we shouldn't be surprised that we don't produce world class players. Here is something Arsene Wenger said about player development:

You build the player like a house. The basis is the technique that happens before 12. If the player can play, the next floor is the physique at 14-15. Then it the tactical ability – how to use your technique and physique in the game. The last part, the roof, is the mental side. If you have no roof, it rains in your house. How competitive are you? How motivated to do well every day? That is the final step. I believe that hunger is something you get at 18 and remains relatively stable during your life. That is decided between 18 and 20. And that decides careers.

”- Arsene Wenger

If we go by this metric then we can see why it is very difficult for the U.S to produce the quality of players that Europe does. Because we simply don't have the infrastructure in place and we don't appear to be interested in implementing the football infrastructures they have in Europe.

In Europe there are professional football clubs in every city with youth clubs that tap into the local population. If a player can play he doesn't have to go far to get the training.

We don't have this in the U.S. We have a franchise league system that inhibits growth. We only have 18 pro teams with youth academies and these academies are hindered by league regulations that stipulate how many players can be signed to contracts.

It's just common sense that we don't have the soccer infrastructure in place to produce world class players. We would need to start to move towards a soccer pyramid that mirrors Germany for example where players wouldn't have to travel out of state or even out of city to get into a professional club's youth system.

It won't be long before China (who is implementing this kind of infrastructure) passes us. Japan already has.

Agree with the premise. However, we don't only have 18 pro teams with youth teams. Orlando City has a fully funded academy down to u10 and were just accepted into the USSF DA program this year. The charlston battery do as well. There may be more examples of the lower division teams having academies, but I don't know about them

Also, the academy system no longer only includes the U15-U18 age. The fire just announced the expansion of their fully funded program down to U10. Other teams are doing the same. Our development system is getting better. It's not going to happen overnight.

Ok obviously there’s things I don’t understand with the US and their youth soccer. Pay to play? Long travels to play games? Middle class sport and all that.

What is so frigging hard?

Take New York for example, millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of kids so why don’t form local teams in a New York Little League? The kids doesn't have to travel further than from Queens to Brooklyn (or whatever part of town we are talking about) and there could easily be 20-30 youth teams only in New York and with all the local pride, there will be a lot to play for.

And who do you think will pay for all of this, maybe you ask? No one! I say. It’s soccer, toss the kids a ball and they will play. There will, of course have to be some adults who have to work with this for free, in their spare time but, hey, this is the way every European club started out, even giants as Man United and Barcelona, as local projects. And would it be to far fetched to think that the The New York Redbulls would find some interest in supporting this, grooming the local talents and later maybe pick them up in the organization?

And what if this was happening in every major American city, in every mid size and small town form NY to LA? THAT would get you the results. From my perspective it’s just bizarre that it has to cost so much to be organized in soccer in the US that it’s classified as middle class sport.

We have what you are describing, it is called rec soccer, and it does not produce quality players or teams here because there is low commitment from many participants, and more importantly 99% of the parents who commit to train/coach the teams have NO idea about the game. So you want kids who don't know the game, and don't grow up with it on tv all the time, being coached by parents who don't watch the game and don't know anything about it ... it is a cluster$&#* ...

Unfortunately, I think this is a pretty accurate sentiment.