The Endline

Image via Nike Football

723 Football Films recently put up this video highlighting the US Men’s National Team and the work of our expats. While I don’t think that U.S. is taking over the world of football it did get me to think about the current state of soccer in the United States. There definitely has been a good crop of U.S. players heading overseas to ply their trade, but would they have to if MLS paid better salaries? Would Ricardo Clark have left if it wasn’t for the money? Why did Marcus Tracy head to Scandinavia instead staying at home? Right now I feel that players are going abroad for multiple reasons.

The Pay – We all know that soccer is bigger in Europe and therefore gets more publicity and TV time, therefore driving up the price of television contracts enabling teams to better pay their players.

The Opportunities – There are a ton more teams in Europe than in the U.S. with many more divisions. The teams also have youth and reserve team set ups while MLS scrapped their reserve league as soon as the economy got tough. If I was a kid coming out of college or even high school, I would rather ride the bench in a league where I’ll at least be playing in reserve games.

The Competition – Because of the salary cap and roster rules in MLS, teams are forced to cut players they would normally like to keep. In MLS we have players earning $12,000 a year playing next stars like David Beckham, Freddie Ljungberg, Juan Pablo Angel and Blanco. Not only is the paycheck worlds apart, but so is the skill level. While the younger players benefit from playing with these guys, it’s obvious that the skilled players get frustrated by the lack of quality surrounding them on the pitch.

Back to the lecture at hand… Is U.S. soccer taking over the world? Definitely not. Is it making strides? Yes. For all the faults of MLS and U.S. soccer, all you have to do is take a look at the current starting line up of the game against Holland. 8 of the 11 starters have MLS experience or are still in the league while a total of 14 players on the roster spent time in MLS. 15 players on the roster have European experience and another in Jose Francisco Torres has played his entire professional career in Mexico. What this tells me is that MLS is at least preparing our players for the jump overseas. While I don’t think we’ll ever see a real competitive USMNT comprised solely of domestic based players, I do believe that U.S. soccer is headed in the right direction (once they get rid of Bob Bradley).