USMNT: When will European talent gap close?

The disparity in talent between U.S. soccer, the USMNT and European football is still great. But it is narrowing, and there are reasons to believe that it could close altogether.

Unlike in the other leading sports in America, the United States is not the pinnacle of football. Where the best baseball, basketball and American football players in the world will flock to the States, in football (soccer), the process is reversed.

The best U.S. Men’s National Team players are actually leaving their hometowns, travelling across the world, and looking to forge their carers away from North America. For those that have ambitions of being the best in the world, that is what they must do.

This exodus of talent perfectly illustrates the disparity in overall talent between the American and European games. Quite simply, Europe just develops better players. Even the greatest-ever American players have been little more than average players in high-end European leagues.

In an article with The Players’ Tribune, Christian Pulisic, the most talented American player in history, expressed his thoughts on the step up in quality between American and European players:

"“In the U.S. system, too often the best player on an under-17 team will be treated like a “star” — not having to work for the ball, being the focus of the offense at all times, etc. — at a time when they should be having to fight tooth and nail for their spot. In Europe, on the other hand, the average level of ability around you is just so much higher. It’s a pool of players where everyone has been “the best player,” and everyone is fighting for a spot — truly week in and week out. Which makes the intensity and humility that you need to bring to the field every day — both from a mental and physical perspective — just unlike anything that you can really experience in U.S. developmental soccer.”"

The problem is not that these players are going. In fact, as Geoff Cameron highlights, it is actually a good thing:

"“Our best young players need to be playing in the top European leagues. Period. It shouldn’t be looked at as a negative thing. It should be a huge source of pride to send a 20-year-old American kid to play in the Bundesliga or the Premier League.”"

Rather, the struggles of American players in adapting to European standards of play is merely a representation of the gap that the U.S. Soccer Federation and USMNT must close. However, for all of the doom and gloom, make no mistake about it, the gap is closing.

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Pulisic is one of the most expensive signings in Premier League history, Tyler Adams, Zack Steffen and Josh Sargent are all beginning to make their way in the Bundesliga, Weston McKennie is a regular starter for Schalke, while newly acquired Sergino Dest is one of the brightest talents in world football, even if his development was conducted in Holland.

And Real Salt Lake’s new academy director, Arnold Rijsenburg, who has enjoyed extensive success in youth coaching throughout Europe, primarily in Belgium, helping to develop their golden generation, is convinced that the gap will close in the near future:

"“I think the level in Europe and the level over here is the same. It’s just a matter of tradition and success. Within a couple of years, I bet the gap between European football and American football will be gone.”"

Now, ‘a couple of years’ seems a little hasty. But the underlying point should still be taken: the U.S. are developing talented kids; they simply are not successfully pushing them to the upper echelons of the sport. With time, and greater ambition, as Cameron so passionately highlights, that will come.

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The talent gap, then, between the USMNT and the rest of the world is closing. Will the USMNT — and U.S. soccer more generally — ever fully catch up with the elite teams from around the world? Time will tell. But the development of talent is improving, however stark a World Cup-less 2018 may have felt.

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