These numbers don't take into account MLS expansion, they're percentages of the playing time. The number of MLS teams has tripled since the first season and increased by 50% in the last decade. The total amount of playing time Americans are getting in MLS is 70% higher now than it was in 1996, and about 6% higher now than a decade ago. The decrease in percentage of US playing time in MLS is expected when 1) the league has expanded faster than the growth of the US player pool, and 2) American MLS players are being bought by European clubs at a faster rate. An increased number of MLS academies will expand the player pool, but new academies takes time to start producing players, so that source of player production necessarily trails behind expansion.
We aren't doing anything wrong. USYNT are beating other National Teams with players developed in better and top leagues. Just cause you expect we develop a Messi every year doesn't mean US is doing a bad job at it.
1. The 1996 comparison is useless. 2. “Share” means they’re talking division, not addition. Total minutes is a useful metric too, but you didn’t mention that because it undermines your point.
Well no, it doesn't work like that. Bruce Arena was laughed at by most of the coaching twitterverse when he said "We do the same drills they do in Europe". Sure, I've seen american coaches setup a 4v1 rondo. It's keep away/piggy in the middle. Usually on a much bigger area that used elsewhere to make up for the crappy first touches most of the players have, because nobody knows how to make the coaching points about body shape when receiving, putting the right weight on the pass, etc. They'll setup 1 v 1 in a long rectangle with neutrals on the far ends, and then watch as the two guys inside wrestle over the ball instead of suggesting using the neutrals and learning how to feint/fake in order to dismark and be available to recive ina position where you can either dribble or make the next pass without the grappling. Seeing the game like an American - athletes wining 10 successive 1v1s - vs seeing the game like they do elsewhere is kind of a pre-requisite to "seeing what other countries do and copying them". Otherwise it's kind of like a cargo cult.
Poland and Sweden? Poland and Sweden have stagnated. Poland *might* make it to the later qualification playoff rounds of 2026 World Cup, while Sweden chances are a lot worse.
But they have created better players with less resources why and how The point is that other countries produce higher quality players. Those were just to make a point. any country will do. Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Uruguay, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco... and on and on
Just because they have Gyokeres and Lewandowski does not always mean the team is better. How many World Cups they won? We do create quality players. It's just that there's more popular sports like pointyball and b-ball that directly competes with soccer...
you're missing the forest for the trees. the point is why do smaller and poorer countries create better players. look at world class players. for example: mo salah, eerling haaland, drogba, kevin de bruyne... i can go on and on and on. and i won't even get into South America. yeah I get it... "its not in our culture".... yada yada. that's a generic lazy answer. be specific Thougth Experiement: Luka Modric's clone grows up in USA. does he develop into a world class player? go year by year and tell me what happens to him and where the road veers differently than Croatia
So Christian Pulisic isn't a world class player? Cause that's one example that can be comparable to Modric.
You're ignoring my thought experiment dude. You're talking about one USA player in a country of 340 million Croatia population < 4 million forget it, you just don't get it also, its arguable if he's world class or not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Feilhaber He plays for local youth clubs not affiliated with a senior mens team in the countries 1st division (Zadar), and his local HS. If he gets into the YNT setup, maybe a european club notices him and saves him. If not, he probably plays for a college within 2hrs of his home. Does MLS notice him for the 2007 or 2008 draft? The streets remember him the same way they do Feilhaber...
I think you are looking at a Di Maria type of story and hunger. If you can change the culture here in the US so every kid will prefer soccer over other sports and breaths, talks, watches, plays soccer all the time then you will be the GOAT and remembered for ages. If you can also destroy the US economy where kid's only way out of poverty is via soccer then again...you'll be the GOAT and remembered for ages. Do that and we will have that hunger and passion you so admire from other countries. We won't be like Poland or Sweden, though. We will be like Argentina or Uruguay X100. Go for it king!
I have a feeling you don't "get" it. Anyway, looking forward to China and India qualifying for the World Cup!
The point isn’t to develop one Erling Haaland (although that would be awesome.) The point is to develop enough quality to have a winning TEAM. We’re better than half those countries.
Ecuador has an undefeated streak. They tied the Netherlands in the World Cup and were unlucky not to win.
This is the type of guy who can't comprehend how a country of a couple million people beats a country with a few hundred million people. Because population has eff-all to do with it. Unless China and India are winning World Cups and not getting lots of publicity for it.
kenn that’s taking it way too far. Culture matters, but population matters a lot too. There’s a reason the US has had much more success than Canada, which has a similar culture. There’s a reason Spain achieves more than Portugal, Germany more than Austria, England more than Scotland…I could go on like this for a long long time.
Pleasantly surprised by the #USMNT vs Ecuador match. Even without Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest, and Pulisic having limited time, they still looked good. Balo, Tessman, and Tillman were excellent.— herculez gomez (@herculezg) October 11, 2025