Why We Suck at Soccer

Americans tend to believe they are the best at everything. At least in sports, this is true, mostly. However, there is one sport that the United States has not yet been able to reach the top, and seemingly never will. That sport is soccer, and to be more accurate, men’s soccer. The women’s sides have been dominant since the creation of the World Cup it seems. The United States Men’s National Team, or the USMNT, have severely under-achieved in comparison to their female counterparts. The USMNT has never been to a World Cup final, missed out on qualifying to the World Cup completely in 2018, and for a variety of reasons, have never been taken too seriously among the world’s elite. It begs the question, why can’t the country that is arguably the most developed in the world, has the best athletes that dominate every Olympic games, and has a plethora of resources and funding be good at the world’s game? American soccer has core, foundational problems that inhibit great soccer and soccer players from coming about. American youth soccer is an overly-structured, entitled, pay-to-play mess that does not cater to or allows for youth to be as great as they can be, ultimately drawing back the United States Soccer Federation entirely.

It starts at the ground-level. In most places in the United States, children’s first touch on a pitch comes from some sort of paid, organized soccer association, such as AYSO. While such types of organization are made and run with good intent, there is no denying the barriers they may put in place. Many lower income children and their families may want to begin playing soccer and look to the sport because of its low theoretical entry costs. Yet, these low-income and/or immigrant families that would typically thrive in soccer, are denied the chance because of economic and other types of hardships, such as finding rides, free-time for games and practices, etc. Lots of families cannot afford the time and money to participate, leaving a potential soccer star without a place to play. Jay Coakley, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs has written extensively about organizational youth sports in America. He argues that, “The organization of youth sports has created tremendous barriers to simply ‘playing’ games. In short, Coakley suggests that when private leagues purchase or broker time for public parks, fields and courts, they alter the nature of who can participate in athletics, particularly when it comes to the involvement of young people." Someone is always going to be left out in the American system of youth soccer. Whereas in other countries, especially those that have won World Cups, these types of players find a way and are catered to, even sought after.

Whether one is knowledgeable on the sport or not, one of the first countries that comes up when discussing anything soccer, is Brazil. Brazil is the only country to boast being five time champions. Five. While in recent times other countries may have had the spotlight, futebol and Brazil will always be synonymous with each other. From Pele to Romario to Ronaldo to Neymar, what is one thing these legends have in common besides scoring over 50 goals each for their country?

They all grew up playing pick-up soccer games in the street.

Pele was known to not even have cleats as a child and use balls made of old socks to play. To many he was the best player to have ever played the game, yet no need for club sports, a field, or even shoes. Neymar, of an impoverished background as well, was doing similar things in the 2000s, before eventually becoming the most expensive transfer ever, costing PSG over $250 million when he moved from FC Barcelona in 2017. From the 1950s through now, Brazil continues to produce some of the best talent constantly, and most of them have pretty similar stories.

David Goldblatt, author of “Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil Through Soccer,” touches heavily on this topic in his book. According to him, there were about 1,200 Brazilian footballers playing abroad in 2008; A number that would be considered astronomically high for most countries. Not for Brazil. Goldblatt later in his book begs the question,

“Is it because they are Brazilian? Or do they become Brazilian by playing barefoot in the street?”

The simple answer is yes. Brazilian footballers can identify with both. To them, they are two sides to the same answer. The identity of soccer in Brazil and what makes a Brazilian footballer is ultimately what has made them five time champions, more than any other country. Not anywhere near the potential resources and funding that their American youth counterparts can receive. Yet, the ones using socks to play are the ones constantly beating the US, every other country, and are constantly expected to win the next World Cup, even if they just won it.

While Brazil and some of the other top countries are able to produce through their grassroots and footballing identity, this is something the United States has long struggled with and continues to do so. Largely in fact to the way youth soccer is too organized, and rewards paying for what is thought to be a better experience. One thing for certain is that in order for countries to produce top talent, at least offensively, is allowing open expression in creativity. The best and most creative players in history, Messi, Maradona, Zidane, Neymar, all thrived in their youths with being able to openly express themselves on the pitch. It translated plentifully later in their careers. And if you were to look around, there is really yet to be a real, creative star threat for the USMNT still.

While players like Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan were great, they did not have that sense of being able to change a game through creativity, not decisive finishing as they had. Jay Coakley, the sociology professor mentioned earlier for his work writing about youth sports, had this to say about creativity within youth soccer in the United States: “The first problem is a move towards the privatization of the game for a select few and the second is an emphasis placed on ‘rules’ of the game rather than ‘action’ or playing.” With a heavy emphasis on “the rules of the game,” how are kids supposed to be getting expressive when all they can think about is just how offsides works? It’s no wonder the USMNT's largest exports in their history are defenders and goalkeepers.

The other, larger problem that Jay Coakley mentions is the privatization of the game. Youth soccer in the United States might be the most pay-to-play setup for any sport in the world, bar maybe USC's rowing team. Coakley says of this problem, “The growth of soccer in the USA has corresponded with soccer becoming an overwhelmingly white, middle-class sport with an emphasis on organized league play, though the number of participating African-Americans is slowly increasing.” Soccer in the United States has a very different reputation to football than most of the world. For most of the world, football is available for almost all at any given time; the most accessible game.

Unlike in Europe, where most teams are subsidized, U.S. youth soccer is very expensive. Pay-for-play is the standard: according to a 2022 report from the Aspen Institute, the price of a typical youth soccer season is around $1,188, according to Dan Bernstein of Goal.com. Kevin Salandy, a software consultant and parent from Loudoun County, an affluent part of Virginia, not too far from the nation’s capital, says he spends about $10,000 a year in his three kids' travel soccer costs. Parents are expected to be able to exercise extreme resources not only in the form of small fortunes, but large amounts of time as well. The idea also is, the more you spend, the better the practice and coaching is, when this is just plain not the case.

The way in which youth soccer is run in the United States is at the benefit of no one but private interests, and probably the USMNT’s rivals. It has made some progress very recently, but for the large part of the country and the large part of its history, it has failed youth that could have been the United States’ Neymar. In the article titled, “Club soccer puts the sport out of reach for many kids”, NPR’s Elizabeth Blair interviews the executive director of Sports & Society Program, Tom Farrey.

Farrey summarized a large part of the problem very well in saying: “The fundamental flaw in American youth sports, and particularly soccer, is we are sorting the weak from the strong well before kids grow into their bodies, their minds and their interests," Farrey says. “By creating these travel teams at ever earlier ages, we're pushing aside the late bloomer[s]. We're pushing aside the kid from the lower income home that can't afford the youth sports arms race or doesn't have a second parent in the home to drive them to this endless array of practices and games, some of which are two counties away or [sometimes] two states away."

The United States has more than enough potential to be a soccer powerhouse internationally. They already dominate nearly every other sport, just look at the total Olympic medals won. So why is it impossible? With the resources, funding, population, and talent, there is no reason they cannot win a World Cup someday. However fundamental changes need to be made in its approach to youth soccer as the rest of the world does.

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