Fans of the United States men's national team spend a lot of time waiting for talent to arrive. There's a sense that the American program should be better, that the skill level should improve over time. And it has. The first 35 athletes in the player pool are better overall than they were 20 years ago.
While there are multiple, overlapping reasons for this improvement -- a focus on youth development, the growth of Major League Soccer, recruitment of dual nationals, more money in the game, and so on -- the point is that American soccer is growing ever stronger.