The majority opinion here is "there is no problem with soccer here".... which is false. No matter how many voices have congregated in this particular echo chamber it doesn't make it true. If you look at the broader discourse you'll see plenty of high level former pros and such that disagree with you.
The issue with soccer in the US is that there was no good way to go from high school to college to pro
Kinda changing the subject but kinda not…nowadays, AAU basketball is more central to development than high school. There’s this whole 7 v 7 aspect for young football players. There’s travel baseball. My point is, all the other major sports have gotten away from high school being the key method of player development for 15-18 year olds. IOW, those sports aren’t dissimilar from soccer and MLS and USL academies.
I would change sexism to corruption when it comes to the NCAA. In all honesty the NCAA as a governing/regulating body/org is rapidly declining. The big conferences and their media partners run College Football, and are starting to take over College Basketball as well now.
I'm sorry, but I just re-read this entire thread, and there is NO majority opinion here, much less that "there is no problem with soccer here". That is entirely false. Most folks believe that soccer in the US is going well, but everyone seems to have at least one issue/suggestion to make it better. Just because the 'majority' disagrees with you doesn't make us into deniers of an issue.
I'm just curious, where did you get that statistic? Are you singling out soccer programs specifically, or overall college athletics?
OK, but again, I'm curious to see where the statistic that there are 100 more programs for women than men. Where did you get that number?
How many headers will Messi score in MLS? More then all combined in Europe is my guess #mlssucksatdefense
5'7" 38 year old scores headers with ease in America's top league in the year 2025, 30 years after its founding.
That same player was scoring goals with both feet and his head in a league that was over 100 years old prior to coming to MLS.
Looks like the 2 DMs lost the late arriving attacker, and they appear to be Czech and Ghanaian, so not developed here. If you want to see defense, try to sit through the USL championship final. Although it does make you wonder, is it really a defensive masterclass when neither team seems to be able to connect 5 passes in a row. I mean it's not the 1860s, Scotland has shared the pass and move game with us all at this point... Saying this is a Riverhounds fan, but really one of the definitive examples of "they don't ask how, they ask how many" and we get to say "one".
Youth Sports Business Report 2d U.S. Soccer Federation has secured early-stage memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Major League Soccer (MLS), National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), United Soccer League (USL), youth organizations, and key sponsors for its new "Pathway Strategy". Here's why this matters: ⚽ The fragmentation problem: 95% of player development happens outside USSF's direct control, across thousands of independent clubs and organizations ⚽ The economic barrier: American families fund 90%+ of youth club budgets through fees, versus 14% in Europe. Result? Competitive soccer costs $5K-$20K per year, and only 10% of players come from households under $25K income ⚽ The investment shift: MLS owners now spend $125M+ annually in player development pathways serving 58,000+ players. A decade ago, that number was essentially zero "We agree we need to make soccer more accessible. There's a belief that there needs to be a whole lot more opportunities for kids to play soccer close to home," said JT Batson, U.S. Soccer Federation CEO. MLS, NWSL, USL, youth organizations, and sponsors are aligned. The 2026 World Cup provides the implementation deadline. Now comes the hard part: execution across a fractured landscape.
If it means that the leagues will donating to the USSF in order for them to make youth soccer affordable to all, no. Bottom line is that there has to be inroads made into the underprivileged communities. If that does not happen, this is just another wasted idea.
Last season, MLS games averaged around 3.11 goals per game. That's a bit higher than most--but not all--major Euro leagues, but not by much. In the 24/25 season, La Liga teams averaged 2.66, which is about one goal every two games less overall--a significant gap, for sure. But La Liga was a relatively low-scoring league that season. The average in the Bundesliga was just slightly higher (3.12) and the Premiership was at 2.94. There's no doubt that MLS defenses aren't quite as robust and tactically savvy as top Euro teams, but the fact that the GOAT is scoring a lot of headers isn't really a meaningful data point on its own.