How the U.S. Can Earn World Cup Glory

Chemistry and skill level of players cannot be addressed until soccer is the dominant sport in America

By winning their World Cup qualifying group with ease, and boasting stars such as Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, the current USMNT has given fans more optimism than ever before.

Still, there is much work to do.

While America’s history with the game of football is somewhat short, the country has few excuses for not improving at this point in time.

With a talent base of more than 300 million people to draw from, and thousands of elite athletes covering nearly every sport, the USMNT is still not the powerhouse many thought it could be by now.

Slowly but surely, those who boast 4.3 second 40 meter dashes and 35" vertical jumps—shoo-in stats for the NFL—are being coaxed into applying their skillsets to soccer; but these athletes still lack the technical ability and soccer IQ of the world’s elite soccer teams.

These players can run up the flank in the blink of an eye, and outmuscle their opponents, but can they execute a perfect cross, or master field positioning in their respective roles?

With America’s culture still largely dominated by baseball, basketball, and football, even those who do choose to play soccer are often late to the game, starting to really focus on the sport in their teens. That’s far behind youngsters who have been honing their crafts in the famous academies of Ajax or Barcelona.

A good gauge of U.S. soccer potential is the performance of American players who’ve made the cut in European leagues—experience that has also greatly improved the level of play for those who are able to do so.

Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley certainly benefited from their time in Europe, on the Spurs and Roma respectively. Aside from simply upping their performance and testing themselves at the highest level, their overseas stints have given the USMNT some street cred, proving that maybe the Yankees can hack it overseas.

Players such as Jermaine Jones and Fabian Johnson have fared well in Europe, with Jones starting plenty of games for a Champions League team.

However, with some of the players scattered throughout Europe, and others in the Western Hemisphere, it’s not hard to see why there is little chemistry within the team.

Players who are currently on the USMNT, or have been in the squad recently play in a total of nine leagues. Some, such as the Bundesliga are considered to be among the world’s best, while others, such as the Tippeligaen, are not considered to be any better than the MLS.

While all of this is promising, ultimately the soccer culture in America needs to change for the USMNT to ever win the World Cup.

How can the U.S. win a championship in a sport that, for many, is only relevant once every four years? As it stands, soccer is inferior to football, baseball, basketball, and possibly even hockey in terms of participation.

If not for its massive population, the U.S. it would not even be in the World Cup this year. And, by the same token, if not for its massive indifference towards soccer, the U.S. could easily be one of the world’s superpowers.

So right now, and for the foreseeable future, the U.S. is fated to play fifth-fiddle on the world soccer stage. And that won’t cut it for a World Cup championship.