I know what your saying but I promise you soccer is won and lost between the ears. Europeans know soccer and how it should be played at early ages. Because of money and other distractions the US kids are taught a different game. Even now with the team being better than ever our woman are falling as other countries are training their women. It's getting better as US soccer has created academies to try and control things but it's still behind ... and very expensive.
I disagree with the premise, which is that the US is falling behind the rest of the world because we aren't spending enough money on expensive soccer programs. Brazil and Argentina are not a soccer powerhouses because they spend billions of dollars on soccer academies that suburban middle class kids attend. They are soccer powerhouse because every poverty stricken child starts playing soccer almost as soon as he can walk. When the kids get much older only then the cream of the crop wind up with extra coaching and learn the finer points of the game. Much like how every innercity kid plays basketball in the park and only if they are good enough to get a college scholarship do they actually learn the finer points of the game. The difference between the US and Brazil isn't that Brazil spends more money, but that in Brazil most five year olds are in the park kicking around a soccer ball and in the US they are dribbling a basketball and shooting hoops or are tossing a football back and forth.
One of the reasons soccer is the most popular sport in the world, is fundamentally it is one of the least expensive. All you need is some space and a ball. Almost anything can be used as goal posts. Basketball is popular in cities because it requires very little space.
Keep in mind a disproportionate number of NFL and NBA players come from household that are in poverty. Same with many professional soccer players in other countries.
Author