[woodlands]

The US has been the #1 soccer participation nation in the world for a while now. We have more kids playing soccer than any other nation on Earth. But our soccer players were always second-rate compared to those from countries like Brazil and Argentina.

The missing link was the fact that we weren't a soccer watching nation. Our players were getting only half the soccer education they needed.

But that's finally changed, just in the last few years. Soccer is something that normal American (young) people watch now, whether on cable, on the Internet, on their video game screens, or live in stadiums. Maybe it was David Beckham who changed things. Maybe it was a gradual change that just eventually crossed the tipping point. But soccer is something that normal Americans now understand, talk about, feel comfortable with, and admit in public to their friends and neighbors.

So we now have the first American generation of true soccer players. Most of them are still about 10 or 12 years old, kicking soccer balls on Saturday afternoons, playing FIFA '09 on Friday nights, and walking around the mall with Barcelona jerseys on Sundays. Like their counterparts in Argentina, they have the same heroes. And when they get a ball at their feet, they know all the same moves.

And when these kids hit their prime in the next decade or so, the world will feel it. When that happens, we're going to have a bumper crop of top-level players. Our men's national team should be able to consistently hold its own with the world's best teams like it did in South Africa recently. We may be consistently ranked in the top 10. We may finish in the final 8 or even 4 in a World Cup in the next decade or two. We may have an American striker the likes of a Michael Owen. We may have an American soccer star who can create a brand of his own like Beckham, complete with movie appearances and a line of apparel.

It's coming. There's no way to stop it. And it'll hit in about 10 years, give or take a couple years. World, watch out.

[eapleitez]

Just in time for the MNT to win the Big One when/if USA hosts WC 2022. Hell yeah!

[alky13]

I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I think we may see it even sooner. Our U-17s are perhaps the best "team" we have ever produced on any level. They have literally given a Brazilian like romp to almost every team they face. In 5 years most of these kids will be 22 or 23. We can produce dozens of mid-tier players and they will flood the world's top 5 leagues. Their liquidation into the talent pool will even trickle into MLS, with this may eventually push this league into the top 10 as a the second biggest feeder league behind Brazil. The next ten years will see the United States evolving into a football powerhouse.

[Master O]

Originally Posted by alky13

I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I think we may see it even sooner. Our U-17s are perhaps the best "team" we have ever produced on any level. They have literally given a Brazilian like romp to almost every team they face. In 5 years most of these kids will be 22 or 23. We can produce dozens of mid-tier players and they will flood the world's top 5 leagues. Their liquidation into the talent pool will even trickle into MLS, with this may eventually push this league into the top 10 as a the second biggest feeder league behind Brazil. The next ten years will see the United States evolving into a football powerhouse.

I'm not an expert on the US Youth National Teams, but how many from these teams actually become the stars of the future? I was always under the impression that most of those who become stars at that level do not go onto further stardom as adults.

Maybe someone can explain that?

[woodlands]

Originally Posted by Master O

I'm not an expert on the US Youth National Teams, but how many from these teams actually become the stars of the future? I was always under the impression that most of those who become stars at that level do not go onto further stardom as adults.

My guess is that he means that it isn't just the members of the current US U17 roster, but that whole generation.

[alky13]

Originally Posted by woodlands

My guess is that he means that it isn't just the members of the current US U17 roster, but that whole generation.

Exactly the u-17 Open Competion in the US was the most competitive that I have ever seen. Several players showed not only signs of brilliance but stardom. All of these players have dedicated time and dream of playing professionally, when their predecessors were planning to attend college, these kids are deciding which euro reserve team they want to play for.

[Master O]

Originally Posted by alky13

Exactly the u-17 Open Competion in the US was the most competitive that I have ever seen. Several players showed not only signs of brilliance but stardom. All of these players have dedicated time and dream of playing professionally, when their predecessors were planning to attend college, these kids are deciding which euro reserve team they want to play for.

Judging by today's game at Azteca, we oughtta start calling up the 17 yr olds who can actually possess the ball for more than 5 seconds, if what you say is true.

[njndirish]

We are already seeing the first: Jozy, Charlie, Michael etc.

[Tima]

Originally Posted by Master O

I'm not an expert on the US Youth National Teams, but how many from these teams actually become the stars of the future? I was always under the impression that most of those who become stars at that level do not go onto further stardom as adults.

Maybe someone can explain that?

In England very few, they seem to be getting slightly better at picking the best but I'd say about 1 in 3 of our U16 national team go on to have proper pro-careers.

The players like Rooney who were obviously the best players of their generation get picked up but a lot of how a player develops is down to the time it takes to mature physically.

One thing I would say is that "star" players nowadays are generally playing in first teams by 18.

Just at Everton we've had the likes of Rodwell, Baxter, Wallace, Vaughan, Anichebe and Rooney all play at 16 or 17 in the last 6 years.

[tambo]

I've long contended that the familiar "steady growth" of American soccer quality will at some point enjoy a sharp, even dazzling spike, for precisely the reasons outlined by woodlands in his opening post.

The world is going to regret that the Internet, Fox Soccer Channel and EA Sports were ever invented. Young American soccer players now have a window into the game that had never previously existed, and the effect could be enormous.

In the late 1980s, the NBA took big, pioneering steps on the international broadcast front, pushing the game onto airwaves around the world. Two decades later, it's pretty easy to see the results: The NBA draft is loaded with global talent -- foreign players whose formative years were immersed in watching top-shelf basketball.

One of the long-running axioms in U.S. soccer discussions is that our quality lags behind the world because our players "don't get to grow up in a soccer culture." But now, in an important sense, they can. We're no longer shooting blindly in the dark (insert animation of receding eclipse over Dick's Sporting Goods Park), and that could produce a dramatic growth surge.

I don't know what the timeline will be, exactly. But I do predict that the spike will be pretty sudden, even startling. And a lot of long-simmering hopes are going to get realized by American soccer fans.