I do feel like a huge contingent of American soccer fans have zero clue that progress is being made here. Are rich kids still paying to play? Absolutely. But there’s also a crapton more kids playing for free now than there were two decades ago.
If I was in charge of US Soccer, I’d aim to get a middle school soccer program in every public school. Community fields and (free!) coach training initiatives in every urban center.
US Soccer's biggest hindrance is the same issue France's federation issue back in the 60s and 70s: xenophobia keeps preventing it from bettering itself
