The top USMNT players are foreigners. Only born here or through lineage. But mostly raised in Europe. Or developed mostly in Europe. You could say that for Tyler and Chris they really had to move to Europe to fully develop. They didn't stay in America. You could say they developed in youth in MLS academies but I think MLS first teams were just a stepping stone to Europe where they had to go to fully develop. If people wanted to see Americans then MLS would literally pick Americans. But they don't. They pick foreigners. Just think, if you were an MLS owner why would pick an American when you can pick a guy from any country in Europe or SA who will be both better and cheaper? When I look up the top goal scorers in MLS, why do I see players from: 1. France 2. Argentina 3. England 4. Brazil 5. Costa Rica 6. Bosnia and Herzogovinia 7. Argentina 8. Croatia 9. Uruguay 10. Germany 11. Belgium 12. Israel .... Not until Danny Musovski do you see an American. Do you think Americans know or care who Danny Musovski is? Why is there not a single American capable of being in the top 10 goal scorers in MLS??? It wasn't always that way. And had Heung Min Son started the season here you'd see a Korean in the top 10. Last year's Golden Boot was an African-born Belgian.
There are Americans in the say top 10 of any other sport like football, baseball, basketball. So why not soccer
but seriously, answer the question. how many? MLS has the most foreigners out of all the major league sports. like 60% so yeah while all the pro sports are near impossible to make. its like twice as unlikely for MLS. now factor in the time and energy as kid has to choose as a path vs the other sports. playing for club not your high school. pay to play out the ying yang vs playing for school in front of your friends.
Tyler and Chris are exceptions. The most American is Tim Ream as he way more developed in US than any of the others. But most developed in Europe
It’s a much more global game than the other big leagues in the U.S., wrong sport to pick if you’re not up to competing against foreigners.
I think he's a great story. Agyemang is a great story. Diego Luna is a great story. I hope the trend will move back this way - going through some HS and/or college and/or USL. But those seem to be the exceptions for the National teams. Those are the longer, harder paths. Those guys were before MLS Next monopolized the path to the US nat'l teams. But even with that you'll still see guys with longer paths, late bloomers. But I think those will be the exceptions.
So what, you want Messi, Son, and most foreigners out of U.S. soccer so more spots can be gifted to lesser talented Americans?
No I want the United States to develop players to the extent that they are wanted by MLS and are on par with foreign talent. But we can't figure it out for some reason.
Soccer is too new and too unpopular to be cranking out world class talent at the clip you seem to be expecting here. You're going to have to be more patient.
developed in Europe? What do you mean by developed? Yes a number went to European clubs late in their teenage years but it's not like they learned to play soccer there. The only reason European clubs are bringing these players over is because of the skills they developed in the US. As for dual nationals you sound like Rush Limbaugh before the 2010 world cup and your as wrong as he was. I mean how many players who are in serious conversation to play in '26 grew up outside of the US? Musah, Dest, Robinson, Tillman, Balogun are the only ones that come to mind for me. 5 is more than some countries but less than lots of others, and not particularly an outlier for the US in it's history.
We should have created at least one great player by now. A top world class player in our history as a nation. Pulisic is good but not quite at that level. If Egypt has Mo Salah, if Poland has Lewandowski, if South Korea has Heung Min Son, if Norway has Erling Haaland... then the big mighty USA should have at least one player on that level. Egypt, Poland, South Korea, and Norway are not great soccer nations (ok maybe Poland i. We have way more resources and athletes. If the USA can figure out how to put a man on the moon, why can't they figure out how to create a world class soccer player? I know the answer. The answer is that we are blissfully ignorant. The solution is cheap and simple, so we don't want it. Getting kids more minutes of play is not rocket science. But there's no profit incentive nor coach/management incentive so we ignore it.
Thought experiment. What if Haaland, Salah, Lewandowski, Hueng Min Son had grown up in the USA... would they have become the player they are today? If the answer is No, then by logic that can only mean that this country literally holds players back from becoming great.
Same question--if MLS adopts a tight limit on foreign signings, how does that fix the development issue here?
c'mon you know the answer. it would give more minutes to americans and hence they would develop. i heard that Spain is one of the more foreign-resistant countries. they prefer to promote their own esp in the tiers under the 1st tier. Spain is Fifa #1 country. Just coincidence?
I actually agree with you. If MLS had the same money and infrastructure but limited it soley to US born players then yeah I agree I could see benefits for the US Nats. But the league wouldn't be as good. So what's the point of MLS to have the best league or provide players for the national team? I know which side of the debate I am on. My MLS side's academy is set up to have players from all over the world. And guess what I'm fine with that if I get to see good football and hopefully win a championship. The same way I haven't heard a peep from any Liverpool fans about the fact that for the first time they didn't field an English player last week. My simple answer is get better.
According to A Complete Unknown, which is a fine movie in the opinion of me, a Dylan fan, these are two lines that didn’t make it into the final version of Blowin’ in the Wind.
Liverpool is the best team in the world. Doesn't count What about English tiers 2-10 I'm pretty sure the Liverpool academy has English kids What's the point? The point is to develop players. Why the hell are we selling false dreams to US club soccer players? How about stop doing that. If our club system is no where on par with the rest of the world we should tell all the kids and parents that.