[Bushnell] A ‘broken’ system, nascent culture: Why the U.S. has never had a world-class men’s soccer

Texas is of course big and in an crossroads area. It is pert south, part midwest and part southwest. Dallas has a bit of all three.

 

I’ve always thought of Texas as its own entity separate from the South.

 

Growing up in Texas, we always considered ourselves part of the South. It was only when I met people from the South that I realized that maybe Texas wasn't quite as Southern as we thought it was.

 

I guarantee you no one in Lubbock, Midland, El Paso etc thinks of themselves as part of the south. RVA is closer to being Mexico than the south. Dallas is 75 miles from the Oklahoma border so if you don't think of that state as being from the south the Dallas is at least partly Midwestern (my theory is 1/3 Southern, Midwestern and Western with a big sprinkling of Mexican culture mixed in. Perhaps I should change it to 1/4 each.

 

Breaking down "US hometowns" for the foreign-born players:

Reyna - Both parents are from NYC area and grew up there

Berhalter - Dad is from NJ but US home would probably be Ohio, moved there at age ~12 (had bounced around various places in Europe previously then a couple years in LA) and came up through the Crew academy

Jedi - Has never lived in the US, dad is a naturalized citizen who was living in White Plains, NY

Tillman - Never lived in US, dad is from Michigan


So probably NY state gets Reyna and Jedi, and then Berhalter and Tillman can argue college football in the locker room

 

From an outside perspective the Houston area seems to be more culturally southern than most of the rest of the state.

 

It's only 2 hours from Lake Charles, LA and the Cajuns.

 

My grandma picked cotton on the Blackland prairie.

If you don't know a topic well, best to keep quiet. Yes, of course not all of Texas is in the South, but there's no "decidedly" about that. Easy Texas is very much in the South.

 

Yes, and you should follow your own advice.

 

Yes, historically but now they are the maybe the most diverse (meaning people from everywhere) in the US. A big African contingent.

 

Yeah, I would say that Texas straddles being Southern/Southeastern, Midwestern, and Southwestern, with maybe some out-and-out Western thrown in as well. And then it has that other je ne sais quoi that just makes it ... Texas.

 

I think comes down to giggles when anyone who's never been here before has to drive from Beaumont to El Paso or Dumas to McAllen. Oh and the Texas Rangers (not the baseball team). They're kind of mystical. And dang it I had to edit because I forgot the Alamo which maybe a crime here.

 

What is it they say about a journey of a thousand miles?

Maybe now we are ready for the second step?

 

Love this chart from the Atlas substack.... pic.twitter.com/AOFsn9lFG7

— Peter Frankopan (@peterfrankopan) June 17, 2026

 

Take that China

 

There has been one big cultural change since WC 1994, and it has had a big positive effect on the acceptance of soccer in our culture. Still, soccer has not reached the acceptance level that we all would like see. But it has improved.

That big cultural change is, of course, the Internet. In 1994, the Internet may have been in a laboratory, but it was not prevalent throughout society. Newspapers, talk shows, and other types of media were generally anti-soccer, sometimes virulently. Things have improved, but still a long way to go.

 

The U.S. media pre-1994 regarded Soccer as something that only Communists, Homosexuals, Women, Children, Effete Snob Europeans, and other people not deemed to be "Real Americans" played.

American Right-Wingers also regarded it as a "Communist conspiracy to destroy the US." They saw "Communism" around every corner like MAGA currently does.

The Internet finally broke the U.S. media blockade against the sport that had existed for decades until the 1990s.

 

The 10 step path to world-class men’s soccer for the USMNT:

1. A large population (check, 342 million)

2. A wealthy population (check, $32 trillion)

3. A sports obsessed population (check)

4. An events obsessed population (check)

5. A strong domestic league and lots of pro soccer teams (check, 30+25+30+17 and growing)
5a: Teams bringing global stars to the US (check)

6. Top level stadiums, training facilities, coaching (check, check, "needs more improvement")

7. Teams developing and selling top young prospects abroad to big clubs in the best leagues (check, increasing over time)

8. Hosting lots of big soccer tournaments (check, will only increase)

9. Doing well in the biggest soccer tournaments (in progress hopefully)

10. Developing global superstars, that chose to play for the USMNT (not yet, cross your fingers)


Everyone sees how much money there is to be made from soccer in the US so we're currently at 8, with how much money this World Cup makes we won't be waiting 32 years to host again.

FIFA World Cup 2026 is already outscoring the 2022 edition in the U.S. by both Buzz and Word of Mouth

Olympics AND Copa America in 2028?

The Copa América in the United States in 2028 gains momentum after progress in negotiations in Miami. CONMEBOL and CONCACAF are accelerating an agreement for a second consecutive edition in North America, but the calendar needs to be adjusted due to the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

 

Indeed, we (right here on Big Soccer) were a small part of that internet movement that broke the media blockade.

 

I love how these hand-wringing stories were all published days before the US emerged as one of the best-performing, most entertaining and dominant teams in the tournament. Only France and England have looked better.

 

True. For the past few years we should've been able to see that we are actually better than we generally think when we actually have our full team together with enough time to get any understanding, which is more rare than it generally is with other national teams. But there is still a lot of room for improvement if we want to be regular WC contenders. And we do. And we have some basic issues to overcome, namely culture (the needle of which is being moved by this very tournament as we speak, it would seem), and population density. Travel teams and all the issues with them are an imperfect solution to a real problem of population density.

 

Somewhere here there is a long @Bob Morocco post on how "talent concentration" is the US' biggest problem.

 

I for one don't think parents overhere know alot about soccer, in contrast to what many American posters seem to believe.
Frenkie de Jong this week caused alot of noise after saying exactly that:
"I have the feeling that a lot of people don't really understand anything about football. They look, but they don't see it," said De Jong in conversation with Noa Vahle on SBS6.
So to make sure his kid does, he already started coaching him: