and they were fortunate to avoid a European or South American team in the round of 16 match that one year (they beat Mexico 2-0). It was a great run, but it isn’t easy to make the top 8 of any World Cup when you have the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Uruguay, Portugal, etc. hanging around.

The improvement in US soccer talent has been extraordinary. When I was growing up, the US had very few good players, and none that could compete for playing time on major European clubs. The US didn’t qualify for the World Cup at all for 40 years, between 1950 and 1990. Since 1990, they’ve only failed to qualify once, and it isn’t unusual anymore to see American players on top Euro clubs.

Having said this, I agree that US talent overall is still clearly well behind the major soccer powers (the teams I mentioned above, plus maybe a few more). But I also think coaching is a big part of the problem. I would love to see the US bring in a proven, truly top-level coach, which probably means a European or South American, preferably one with experience coaching national teams. At the moment, the level of talent we have on the field exceeds the level of talent we have on the sideline, by a pretty wide margin.