A lot of it has an influence on young kids. Just a few years ago, I was watching Christian Pulisic do really well here at Dortmund that definitely played a role with me wanting to come to Europe and especially Dortmund. Reyna: It has been the most important thing for development in America – these are people that young kids could look up to. Has the breakthrough of American players in Europe been important for US soccer’s development? We’re going to put our energy into getting us back where we belong.” What I think it provided was motivation for this next generation of players to be hungry and say, “OK, we want more and we can do more. But it wasn’t crippling, because of the fact these youth-development initiatives were already underway and a lot of the groundwork had already been set. I think we took that to heart.īerhalter: It was obviously a step back, when you think about the overall impact on US Soccer. If you look around the world, I’m sure that teams were writing us off for the next 10 years.

We’d kind of have a chip on our shoulder to prove that that’s now what the US men’s national team is, and that’s not how we should be viewed on a world scale. Pomykal: At that point in time I was with the Under-18 national team, and it hurt us at camps where we’d go. It definitely helped give us a kick in the butt to show we can do it. We want to do more than just be in the World Cup we want to win it. Because of that failure to qualify, we want to be able to show that we can do it. And I think that’s why we see so many Americans over here in Europe now. I think for us younger guys, it really made us wake up and realise we never want that to happen again. Just realising that we weren’t going to be in the next World Cup, it was pretty devastating. Richards: I remember sitting at home and watching the game on ESPN. Photograph: M Donato/FC Bayern/Getty Images How did the younger generation of American players react to that?Ĭhris Richards: ‘We want to do more than just be in the World Cup we want to win it’. There has been a significant investment in academies, and we’re seeing the results of that.įailure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was a dark moment for US soccer. Now we’re seeing the fruits of that labour, just about 10 years later. We all know development is a long-term strategy. The second thing is the investment from MLS owners in youth development. The first thing would be the creation of the Development Academy by US Soccer, which created a platform for the best to play against the best. Gregg Berhalter, USMNT manager: It’s a direct result of two things. I feel like a lot of guys are seeing the success that people are having overseas and the way that youth academies have developed over the past 10 years. Fifteen years ago, you couldn’t do that here in the States, and now you can. Paxton Pomykal (21 FC Dallas – one cap): When you’re a kid, you grow up and want to make a lot of money. Soccer is evolving over in America, and Americans are starting to see it as Europeans see it. Zack Steffen (25 Manchester City – 19 caps): I would say maybe better coaching. Now a lot of players are coming to Germany because they see that a lot of German coaches are trusting in the process of developing young American talent. Tyler Adams (21 RB Leipzig – 12 caps): You’re seeing a lot of young talent now being trusted and given the opportunity to play minutes and prove what they’re capable of. It helped us realise, if he can do it, why can’t we?

He was a guy around our age who first made the jump. Chris Richards (20 Bayern Munich – one cap): I definitely think Christian Pulisic was a trailblazer.

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