Soccer is booming in the United States. By almost all measures, the sport is making significant progress into the consciousness of the country. The USWNT regained their place at the top in the 2015 Women’s World Cup, and more people than ever are playing and watching soccer.
Still, it’s this momentum that creates the dissonance we sense when confronted with the fact that the USMNT will miss their first World Cup since 1986. With all the progress being made, why are the men regressing? Is this simply a one-time failure of an under-performing generation? Or, is there something wrong with the system?