Germany sure as hell beats the US in developing soccer talent.
It's a case where America's dog-eat-dog culture and rampant achievement laundering undermines meritocracy. That is, even though the US puts a lot of kids into the bottom of the youth soccer pyramid, if you want to play through high school you have to be able to afford a pay-to-play league so the USNT is full of rich kids who have middling soccer talent instead of the best talent from whatever background.
Germany sure as hell beats the US in developing soccer talent.
It's a case where America's dog-eat-dog culture and rampant achievement laundering undermines meritocracy. That is, even though the US puts a lot of kids into the bottom of the youth soccer pyramid, if you want to play through high school you have to be able to afford a pay-to-play league so the USNT is full of rich kids who have middling soccer talent instead of the best talent from whatever background.