The Ringer: All Posts by Noah Davis2017-12-07T08:30:01-05:00https://www.theringer.com/authors/noah-davis/rss2017-12-07T08:30:01-05:002017-12-07T08:30:01-05:00Why Do Didier Drogba, Diplo, Pete Wentz, and Brandon McCarthy Own a Second-Tier American Soccer Team Together?
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<p>With the backing of that celebrity minority-ownership group, Phoenix Rising SC has its eyes on one of the four expansion spots that Major League Soccer will award over the next few years. It’s the easiest and cheapest way into owning a professional sports team, but is it worth it?</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="v30Lna">On August 6, Didier Drogba scored a stunning goal. The former Chelsea star and two-time African Footballer of the Year stood over a free kick nearly 40 yards from goal. He took a run-up of three abbreviated steps, then blasted a twisting shot that easily eluded the goalkeeper on its way into the top-right corner. “An absolute thunderbolt from the Ivorian,” the announcer said. “It’s Drogba at his best. Wow!”</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">OH MY GOODNESS ⚽ <a href="https://twitter.com/didierdrogba?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DidierDrogba</a><br><br>An absolute laser from the man from <a href="https://twitter.com/PHXRisingFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PHXRisingFC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCTop10?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SCTop10</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LAvPHX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LAvPHX</a> <a href="https://t.co/4J8GyD5P7l">pic.twitter.com/4J8GyD5P7l</a></p>— USL (@USL) <a href="https://twitter.com/USL/status/894028997360668672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2017</a>
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<p id="Jz6aD7">It was a world-class effort, but Drogba, now 39, didn’t score it in front of tens of thousands of Premier League fans. The tally didn’t come in a lesser European first division, like the Turkish Süper Lig, where he played from 2012 to 2014, or even in Major League Soccer, where Drogba scored 22 goals in just 39 games for the Montreal Impact in 2015 and 2016. Instead, this highlight occurred while the man once <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/2318500/Didier-Drogba-brings-peace-to-the-Ivory-Coast.html">credited with bringing peace to the Ivory Coast</a> was playing for a second-division team based in Phoenix that, on the day of his goal, had existed for less than a year.</p>
<p id="iLLwOb">Drogba moved to Phoenix Rising FC to play but also to be an owner. He bought into the vision of majority owner Berke Bakay, becoming a minority partner in April. Bakay and Drogba’s ultimate goal with Phoenix Rising is to gain entry into MLS when the league expands from 24 to 28 teams between now and 2020. (Los Angeles FC and a Miami team have already been awarded franchises.)</p>
<p id="iRCCEF">They aren’t the only ones with this aim. Over the past year, <a href="https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/mls-expansion-prospective-cities-bids-28-teams">12 ownership groups</a> in 14 cities have announced their desire to be a part of the U.S first division. In the coming weeks, league commissioner Don Garber <a href="http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/3221433/mls-plans-to-announce-two-expansion-teams-around-dec-19-20?src=com">will announce teams 25 and 26</a>, widely expected to be Sacramento and either Nashville or Cincinnati. Phoenix Rising remains in the mix for the 27th or 28th spot. If they secure either, they’ll earn the right to cut MLS a check for at least $150 million to join a league that loses money every year.</p>
<p id="p64jCz">On the surface, this might not sound like a good deal. But this isn’t about immediate profit. No, it’s about opportunity. Buying into MLS now — when franchises are relatively cheap and the league is relatively young — presents an opportunity to earn a significant return on investment, capitalizing on the sport’s rise in the U.S. and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/03/news/mls-growth-don-garber/index.html">a growing millennial fan base</a>.</p>
<p id="oT2cb5">It’s also the easiest and cheapest way into professional sports. NBA, NFL, and MLB teams don’t come on the market often, and they cost billions when they do. Even the Las Vegas Knights, the first NHL expansion franchise since 2000, went for $500 million. That’s why a dozen ownership groups with net worths extending well into the billions are desperate to spend hundreds of millions to make a bet on the future of the world’s most popular sport.</p>
<p id="fzHcET">But the success of MLS is far from guaranteed.<strong> </strong>Some teams, like the Seattle Sounders, the Portland Timbers, and Atlanta United, are thriving. Others, like FC Dallas, aren’t.<strong> </strong>While the league itself is on an upward trajectory, better in every regard than it was 10 years ago, it faces competition from around the world and a fracturing media landscape that might make it difficult to draw attention and attract television revenue.</p>
<p id="qaUd0e">Betting on MLS, then, is like betting on a Drogba free kick: The odds are in your favor, but the ball could still miss the net.</p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="VHZhU8">Nothing about Drogba in Phoenix and the potential reward he’s seeking makes sense without first understanding the state of soccer in the United States in 2017. Despite its upstart reputation, the sport boasts a long history in America, as the U.S. national team and Canada played the first international friendly outside of the British Isles in 1885. The U.S. joined FIFA in 1914, and the Americans finished third at the debut World Cup in 1930 — still the red, white, and blue’s best result.</p>
<p id="WbTxN3">The current era, however, dates back to 1994, when the World Cup came to America and a new generation of fans started paying attention to the game. The launch of MLS in 1996, coupled with growing access to television broadcasts of games in Europe and the proliferation of internet access, has made it easier than ever to be a soccer fan in the U.S.</p>
<p id="LLcoV4">Twenty-one years after MLS’s debut, the infrastructure remains a work in progress. The professional leagues continue to develop, with revenue growing and the quality of play improving slowly but steadily. Whereas England has 40,000 clubs competing in 11 formal divisions and 13 informal ones, the U.S. soccer pyramid has only three official divisions featuring just 59 total teams in 2017. MLS and its 22 squads sit at the top, with Phoenix Rising and 29 other teams making up the division-two United Soccer League (USL). The eight-team North American Soccer League (NASL) was also at the division-two level last season, although <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2017/11/9/16620564/nasl-vs-us-soccer-court-case-division-2-status">it lost that status</a> for the upcoming one and also lost one team. There are currently no division-three leagues, but that will change next year with <a href="http://www.nisaofficial.com/2017/06/06/exclusive-the-national-independent-soccer-association-nisa-a-new-division-iii-professional-soccer-league-expects-to-launch-in-2018/">the launch</a> of the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and USL Division III, which will reportedly <a href="https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/72857/usl-a-new-division-iii-league-in-works-for-2019.html">begin play in 2019</a>. There is also <a href="http://www.worth.com/mayor-of-the-minor-league/">a vibrant amateur and semipro circuit</a>, featuring hundreds of teams around the country that serve out-of-season college athletes, <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014/6/25/5844110/klinsmann-played-minor-league-soccer">ex-pros looking for one last game</a>, and other talented players who want to compete at a high level but aren’t good enough for the professional ranks.</p>
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<cite>Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Didier Drogba playing in a game for Phoenix FC in June</figcaption>
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<p id="TKXB3M">Finally, unlike everywhere else in the world, there’s no promotion-and-relegation system in the U.S. In England, the bottom-three teams in the Premier League move down to the second-division Championship at the end of the season, while three Championship squads move up to the first division. In MLS, the only penalty for the worst team is ridicule from its fans and the no. 1 pick in the next draft, which isn’t a penalty at all.</p>
<p id="6hxYj6">This is all complicated and messy, but there are two key takeaways: (1) Pretty much everyone agrees that soccer in America will continue to grow on the field and off it (read: advertising and television revenue) and (2) unlike in Europe, teams that get into MLS will remain there. If you accept those facts, it follows that getting one of the golden tickets into Major League Soccer and its first-division monopoly is the best long-term investment in American soccer, no matter how much you have to pay to do so.</p>
<p id="k0KFbS">At least, that’s MLS’s argument. The league wants to sell a success story, and in many ways it can. Now in its 22nd season, MLS averages more than 22,000 fans per game, higher than the NBA or NHL and sixth in world soccer. Franchise valuations <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2017/08/16/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2/#11cd38e7b815">reached an all-time high</a> this season, with the average team worth $223 million, up 20 percent from 2016, according to <em>Forbes</em>. The league’s new <a href="https://twitter.com/byIanThomas/status/892769657123483648">$700 million deal</a> with Adidas is 67 percent more per year than the NHL gets from the apparel company. Soccer United Marketing, the commercial arm that sells rights to MLS along with the United States and Mexican national teams, is valued at $2 billion. While MLS loses money every year because its operating costs exceed its revenue, its value continues to increase. Robert Kraft, an original owner and one of the most powerful men in MLS, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/overwatch-league-backers-come-from-football-baseball-1499860800">recently said</a> that the $5 million investment he made to buy the New England Revolution in 1996 turned a profit within a decade. This, of course, depends on how one defines “turning a profit.” Kraft has probably spent another $100 million supporting the league over the past 20 years, but <em>Forbes</em> estimates his franchise is worth $225 million and that it posted an operating income of $3 million in 2016. That is, if nothing else, an on-paper profit that any businessman would appreciate. An owner buying in now believes that this trend will continue, that even if MLS loses money on the whole, the overall value of each team will continue to increase.</p>
<p id="OYfBv3">“Other than the NFL, most major American sports leagues have a risk of operational loss,” said Peter Wilt, who runs the third-division NISA. “NBA, MLB, NHL teams lose money on a yearly basis. Maybe MLS is [losing] a higher percentage right now, but it’s an immature property. Owners have faith in demographic trends. [Owning an MLS team is] a short-term risk, but there’s potential for a long-term payoff.”</p>
<p id="Ghxg8v">This potential is why 11 groups in addition to Phoenix — Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Indianapolis, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, and Tampa–St. Petersburg — submitted expansion bids. They did so despite fees that will increase from the $40 million the Montreal Impact paid in 2012 to $150 million for franchises 25 and 26, and possibly $200 million for 27 and 28. Add another $200 million or so to build a stadium along with various other fees, and whoever wins the right to join the domestic top division will spend nearly half a billion dollars before anyone kicks a ball.</p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="1QIPcy">Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy lives in Arizona in the offseason and plans to retire there. He’s also a big soccer fan, having fallen in love with the sport after catching Steven Gerrard’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3l-sdU9d0E">absurd half volley</a> for Liverpool against Olympiakos during the 2004–05 Champions League. “When he ran over and was celebrating with the fans, it was just one of those moments,” McCarthy said. Last year, his friend and business partner heard about an opportunity for the pair to become part of Bakay’s ownership group, which bought the Phoenix club in the summer of 2016. The pitcher considered the move, then cut a check. “This is my way to be involved in soccer,” McCarthy said. “And then I saw the long-term [economic] potential.”</p>
<p id="HwBzE1">That Drogba would come to be part of the ownership group, which rebranded the team Phoenix Rising in November 2016, was an exciting surprise. The team already had a few celebrities on the roster — emo icon Pete Wentz and DJ Diplo bought in when the team was called Arizona United SC, and Diplo’s record label, Mad Decent, serves as a jersey sponsor for Phoenix Rising — but the former EPL star was brighter than all of them, at least on the world football stage. At a meeting late last winter, Bakay mentioned that Drogba might be interested in joining as a player-owner. At first, McCarthy didn’t think anything would happen, but “we’ve come to learn with Berke that when he mentions things, he’s serious,” he said. The owner’s uncle served on the board at Turkish club Galatasaray, where Drogba played, and used those connections to gain a meeting with the attacker. A couple of months later, Drogba was in Phoenix, checking out the potential investment. “We all had dinner with him,” McCarthy said. “He wasn’t just taking the temperature. He was truly interested. And we were, too.”</p>
<p id="qHYC9F">In April, Drogba signed on. “<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/youve-heard-player-managers-now-10213568">You’ve heard of player-managers, now Chelsea legend Didier Drogba is to be player-OWNER at American third-tier side</a>,” a headline in English newspaper the<em> Daily Mirror</em> blared. (The subhead asked, “as co-owner, will he be undroppable?” He said he would leave the coaching decisions to the manager. Less than a day after Drogba signed, the manager <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/phoenix-rising-fc/story/3111674/frank-yallop-steps-down-as-phoenix-rising-coach-amid-bid-to-join-mls">stepped down</a>.) He wanted to finish out his playing career while setting himself up for his post-playing days and, in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/12/didier-drogba-become-footballs-first-player-owner-american-club/">an interview</a>, he admitted to getting advice from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich about how to do so. Drogba proved to be a boon for a young club trying to gain national attention. “That’s how we’re known right now,” McCarthy said. “We’re the club of Didier Drogba. It’s a great jumping-off point for us in our rebranding to have a guy with his ability and charisma attached.”</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="Diolam"><q>“We all had dinner with him. He wasn’t just taking the temperature. He was truly interested. And we were, too.” —Brandon McCarthy on Didier Drogba</q></aside></div>
<p id="CYxbHM">The rebrand included a number of factors, all aimed at one ultimate destination. “Every decision we made was with MLS in mind,” said Bobby Dulle, the team’s chief operating officer, who previously served as an executive with the Harlem Globetrotters. So Bakay and Co. changed the name of the team from Arizona United SC to Phoenix Rising to distance themselves from the previous iteration of the USL team that struggled to gain traction. They partnered with the Salt River–Pima Maricopa Indian community, securing a 16-acre plot at the southwest corner of the tribe’s reservation to build a stadium. They put one up in 52 days, in time for the 2017 season, and the venue, whose capacity is 6,200 seats plus standing room, averaged 6,127 fans per game. So far, so good. “It was an exciting new rebrand led by a strong ownership group,” USL president Jake Edwards said. “They put up a great soccer-specific stadium. It’s a good little atmosphere. For a market the size of Phoenix, it had not drawn national attention. Now it’s doing so.”</p>
<p id="7s7g8w">The presence of the former EPL superstar drew eyes, with a team-record 7,162 fans <a href="http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/784458?referrer_id=2333971">showing up to his first game as co-owner</a>. In June, Drogba made his debut, <a href="http://www.phxrisingfc.com/news_article/show/802346?referrer_id=2717359">scoring a goal</a> and earning an assist in a 2–1 victory. Phoenix Rising, which also features 36-year-old former England international Shaun Wright-Phillips and 37-year-old Mexican star Omar Bravo, ended the regular season in fifth place out of 15 teams in USL’s Western Conference. Drogba <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Phoenix_Rising_FC_season">scored 10 goals in 13 starts</a>. In the playoffs, Phoenix played Swope Park Rangers out of Kansas City. Their quarterfinal match was 0–0 after 90 minutes. Drogba tallied nine minutes into extra time, but Swope Park’s Amer Didic equalized in the 109th minute. The game went into penalty kicks, where Phoenix lost 4–2. The Ivorian star, slated in the fifth spot, didn’t get a chance to shoot.</p>
<p id="KKAfpd">Winning this season, however, wasn’t the point. The point was getting one of the four tickets into MLS. While Phoenix missed out on one of the first two, it is still in the running for the next ones, which should be announced in early 2018.</p>
<p id="CGAZjB">Mark Abbott, the league’s deputy commissioner and president, told me that MLS considers a variety of factors when looking for expansion teams: the strength of the ownership group, a soccer-specific stadium plan, the size of the media market, fan interest in soccer and in MLS specifically, youth participation rates, the size and depth of the corporate market, depth of corporate market, and support from local government.</p>
<p id="ExChfr">“Of the 12 markets currently in the running, we are at the top of the board as far as population, millennials, and Hispanics,” Dulle said.<strong> </strong>“We’re right at the top from a media-market standpoint. Professional sports and mega events is what Phoenix is about. We have an ownership group that is well connected, driven, and has the means to get the franchise to the highest level. We have the ability to build a stadium and be in a centralized location in our market.”</p>
<p id="Mb8Y0r">Phoenix Rising’s management tells a good story. The club has some of the ingredients that could make for a strong MLS team. It clearly wants into the league. But should it? For that matter, should anyone?</p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="PC3JUw">MLS is selling the future: a combination of the sport’s growing popularity and favorable demographics will lead to higher interest in the domestic league followed by more of the almighty dollar from advertisers. Profit, however, is far from a given. In a document that leaked earlier this summer, an investment group looking to bring an MLS franchise to San Diego <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/sd-sp-zeigler-20170616-story.html">wrote</a> that it expected $40 million in “team losses” and that the team “will never get above break even.”</p>
<p id="d2As3V">Many professional teams, of course, lose money on a yearly basis, but this is offset by their increase in value and the potential profit to be made from selling the team. The valuation of Kraft’s New England Patriots, for example, jumped from the $172 million he paid in 1994 to $3.7 billion today. MLS wants to offer the same potential to its owners. But will franchise values keep growing at such a steep rate? It’s one thing to get into the league at $5 million or even $40 million. It’s another to do so at $500 million, especially when the owner of the Columbus Crew purchased the team for a fraction of that cost and <a href="https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2017/10/31/16581122/columbus-crew-relocation-austin-mls-threat-growth-expansion">now seems intent</a> on moving the club to Austin, Texas.</p>
<p id="YYfBQJ">“Betting on soccer generally speaking being a growing sport in the U.S. — that’s not crazy,” said Stefan Szymanski, a professor of economics and founder of the consultancy <a href="http://www.soccernomics-agency.com/">Soccernomics</a>.<strong> </strong>“A lot of the people buying into this are incredibly rich individuals. Billionaires [like San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, the money behind potential franchises in Sacramento and Detroit, respectively]. For them, it’s like buying a lottery ticket. At a very low cost, you’re buying a tiny chance to change your life. Maybe that’s not insane, but now it starts to look like a very expensive lottery ticket.”</p>
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<cite>Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Diplo performs at the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas in November</figcaption>
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<p id="oj0wfY">Going forward, MLS faces two significant hurdles over which they have little control. The first is that unlike other sports, soccer has a worldwide player market. While the best basketball, football, baseball, and hockey players typically want to play for the respective leagues in the U.S., soccer players have many other options. MLS, of course, wants to sell this as a positive thing.</p>
<p id="GVCcx3">“Because of the international player market and the investments we’ve been making in player development, we’ve actually seen an improvement in the quality of play over the last couple of years,” deputy commissioner Abbott said. “We’re fortunate to be in a sport that has a worldwide market for players.”</p>
<p id="4lYGCX">The reality is that the global competition will make players more expensive. Brazilian star Kaka <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/25/mls-player-salaries-2017-highest-paid-players/">got</a> more than $7 million; Michael Bradley makes $6.5 million (nearly six times what he earned while playing in Italy’s Serie A); Clint Dempsey earns $3.9 million; and the median salary of MLS players <a href="http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/19/blog/post/3112526/major-league-soccer-pumping-money-into-salaries-causes-ripple-effect-throughout-league">sits</a> at $135,000 per year, an increase of 15 percent over 2016. In 2015, an “above average” player in USL <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2015/03/10/will-usl-players-follow-mls-unions-path/">made</a> $2,000 a month.</p>
<p id="pYeQcY">“There are dozens of other leagues that are competitive with MLS,” Szymanski said. “And competition is growing with new leagues, in places like China and India, not diminishing.” Shanghai Shenhua, for example, are paying the once-great Argentine Carlos Tevez $41.6 million, which is $8.7 million more than <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/25/mls-team-payrolls-2017/">the combined payroll</a> of Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders, the two teams contesting MLS Cup on Saturday.</p>
<p id="91Wn4P">The second issue is revenue from television rights. MLS makes $90 million per year from its deals with ESPN, Fox, and Univision. And a significant portion of this money goes to the U.S. Soccer Federation, which packaged its rights with those of MLS. Meanwhile, the EPL <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/23/blog/post/2917119/how-premier-league-record-tv-deal-will-affect-english-football">is in the middle of a three-year deal</a> worth more than $10 billion. While MLS’s ratings <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_on_television#Ratings_and_viewers">are growing slowly</a>, they still amount to only a couple hundred thousand viewers per game and <a href="http://worldsoccertalk.com/2017/11/24/nbc-network-scores-best-premier-league-viewing-figure-since-september/">trail NBC’s EPL package</a> by a factor of three or four. To dramatically increase ratings, which in turn would potentially get MLS a more lucrative television package when the league negotiates a new deal in 2023, MLS teams would need to spend many more millions on players, driving up leaguewide wages that have already jumped from <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thegoalkeeper/A-different-way-of-looking-at-MLS-salary-data.html">$130 million in 2014</a> to <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/25/mls-team-payrolls-2017/">$188 million this season</a>. And who knows if the <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-24/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble">sports-media-rights bubble</a> will have burst by then. Television networks might not continue to pay increasing amounts for the same properties. Even if MLS ratings increase by 1,000 percent, there’s no guarantee the money will follow.</p>
<p id="A7ykMI">This is not ideal, of course, but perhaps it’s also not as bad as it seems. Money will come to soccer. And as a generation of fans raised on MLS grows up, the league hopes that they’ll maintain allegiance to their local teams as well as any European side they’ve adopted. The in-person experience will always be a differentiator for MLS because European teams stay across the pond, with the exception of summer tours, which make for expensive tickets and apathetic soccer.</p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="0tj2Cp">MLS is paying attention to what’s going on in the Southwest.</p>
<p id="8VeEB9">“[Phoenix Rising is] focused on the things that they know they need to do, not just to satisfy our requirements but to be successful,” Abbott said. “The requirements that we have for expansion aren’t designed just to be hurdles that you need to overcome to be selected by us, but they are things that we believe you need to put in place to be successful.”</p>
<p id="xjvcmK">Dulle<strong> </strong>said that the team has a path to profitability in USL, where expenses are significantly lower than in MLS, although still in the single-digit millions per year range. (USL isn’t missing the expansion fee boom, either, with the price jumping from $250,000 in 2012 to $5 million in 2017, according to league president Edwards. Teams from cities including Cincinnati, Orlando, and Ottawa have joined since 2016.)</p>
<p id="iDADna">MLS could continue to expand, too. During the halftime show at the All-Star Game in July, Commissioner Garber said MLS wouldn’t go beyond 28 on his “watch.” But the end of his tenure might come sooner rather than later; the former NFL executive has been in charge of MLS since 1999. And, frankly, why would MLS stop expanding? From the perspective of the current owners, why not go to 32 or 36 or even 40 teams? Adding teams 29 through 32 could bring in $1 billion in expansion fees alone.</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="ZW6Hjv"><q>“At a very low cost, you’re buying a tiny chance to change your life. Maybe that’s not insane, but now it starts to look like a very expensive lottery ticket.” —Economist Stefan Szymanski</q></aside></div>
<p id="de6rP0">“The incentives for more expansion are clear,” NISA’s Peter Wilt said. “The more teams that are sold and the longer they put the sale, the higher the investor/operator fee they can secure. That helps defray the losses the current owners have experienced over time. It also mitigates competition from other leagues, improves the footprint, helps national sponsorship value, and helps broadcast value. The motivations for it are clear.”</p>
<p id="axSsRc">There are arguments against expansion as well. Overexpansion can dilute the quality of play, although the success of Atlanta United, which built a team through smart signings of young international talent and <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2725600-andrew-carleton-may-be-the-homegrown-star-us-mens-soccer-has-been-waiting-for">a vibrant youth academy</a>, and <a href="https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/10/22/atlanta-united-break-attendance-records-paces-mls-single-season-mark">averaged a record</a> 48,200 fans per game in their first season, mitigate that concern. A metropolitan area needs to be a certain size to support a professional team, but there are plenty of large enough cities that lack franchises. From a current ownership perspective, the case against expansion is harder to make.</p>
<p id="LR61Qf">A larger MLS could solve the promotion/relegation problem as well, at least as far as the league’s owners are concerned. Split the league into a first and second division, move the bottom-three teams down and the top-three squads up every season, divide revenues from television and Soccer United Marketing evenly across all the teams, and voilà: a closed system that protects the investment while adding a bit of intrigue to the end of the season.</p>
<p id="lUrXjy">That’s what the Phoenix folks are banking on: They can’t get in now, but they’ll be able to do so later. “We wanted to make sure that what we started building had a meaning for the short term but also for the long-term goal of earning a Major League Soccer franchise,” Dulle said.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="pcuqhj">If and when Phoenix Rising make it to MLS, Drogba won’t be playing. He’ll be sitting in the owner’s box of a new stadium, next to Bakay, McCarthy, Diplo, Wentz, and more, one eye on the field and one eye on the value of his franchise.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2017/12/7/16739580/soccer-mls-phoenix-rising-didier-drogba-diplo-pete-wentz-brandon-mccarthyNoah Davis2017-10-11T02:34:25-04:002017-10-11T02:34:25-04:00How the Hell Did That Happen? And What’s Next for American Soccer?
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<p>After such a disastrous qualifying campaign, the U.S. has to start thinking ahead to 2022. The present still feels like a nightmare, but the future looks better than it ever has.</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="kc1QI0">In the end, only Michael Bradley was left in the bowels of Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago. His teammates were gone, shattered after a 2-1 loss that, combined with last-minute wins by Panama and Honduras, meant that the United States men’s national team will miss its first World Cup since 1986. But there was Bradley, the captain of the team, dutifully talking to the press about the worst failure in American soccer history.</p>
<p id="l8OOih">“It was a perfect storm kind of night where everything that possibly could have went wrong did in this stadium and in two other stadiums across the region,” he said.</p>
<div class="c-float-left"><aside id="GgGexh"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Yes, the U.S. Missing the World Cup Is a Complete Disaster","url":"https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/10/16457176/usmnt-2018-world-cup-qualification-eliminated-concacaf-trinidad-tobago"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<p id="iaXYf3">It shouldn’t have ended this way. The Red, White, and Blue should be on their way to Russia, even after a World Cup qualification campaign that featured more lows than highs. They started off the Hexagonal round with two losses, and then replaced Jurgen Klinsmann with Bruce Arena, who quickly righted the campaign with eight points over the next four qualifiers. Christian Pulisic, who would end up figuring in 12 of the Americans’ 17 goals scored in the final round of qualification, emerged as the team’s best player. (And it’s not particularly close, which is a problem.) A loss to Costa Rica at home and a last-second draw away to Honduras meant that the Americans needed points in their final two matches, but if they took care of business, they’d still nab a spot in next summer’s tournament.</p>
<p id="IMT2Ea">After the first of those fixtures, they were all but booking their plane tickets, thanks to a dominating performance against Panama at home last Friday. When Pulisic scored in just the eighth minute, the tension in Orlando City Stadium dissipated and the rout was on, eventually ending 4-0. The initial tally came via Route 1: a goal kick, a flicked-on header, a cute pass by Jozy Altidore, and a hell of an individual effort from the teenager. At least one site called it “<a href="http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/video-pulisic-scores-messi-like-goal-for-us-vs-panama/1mydmgu6n8l7s10opjlapap2ji">Messi-like</a>,” which is absurd (maybeeeee you could talk me into “Messi-lite”), but there’s no one else on the team who could replicate that run’s combination of technique, pace, and calm finishing. It was simultaneously brilliant and predictable, showing just how far Pulisic has come in the last year. He would have <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/9/6/16262026/christian-pulisic-usmnt-honduras-costa-rica-world-cup-qualifiers">dictated how successful the U.S. was in Russia</a>. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just a kid from Hershey.<a href="https://twitter.com/cpulisic_10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cpulisic_10</a> delivers yet again for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USMNT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USMNT</a>! <a href="https://t.co/j5KzsKvvJ9">pic.twitter.com/j5KzsKvvJ9</a></p>— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ussoccer/status/916453710032551936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a>
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<p id="rWJuTX">Oh well. Only needing a draw against the worst team in the Hexagonal, the Americans failed spectacularly. Arena started the same group that featured in the victory four days earlier, and they looked lethargic from the opening whistle. “Our energy level wasn’t there in the first half,” said center back Omar González, whose failed clearance ended up in the back of the American net for the opener. “You know, we couldn’t get close to them in the midfield. We couldn’t hold balls up top. Then unfortunately the ball that I put in. … The list goes on. We just weren’t sharp enough.”</p>
<p id="Lg9Ewt">Arena had similar thoughts. </p>
<p id="lfeUPt">“Our center backs were not confident enough with the ball,” the manager who led the U.S. to the quarterfinal in 2002 said. “Often in the first half we were playing eight against 10. They needed to carry the ball and bring a player to the ball and move a little bit quicker. Our forwards were not able to hold the ball. We weren’t able to get Pulisic into the game.”</p>
<p id="SpQye1">The teenager did almost manage to save the U.S. once again, scoring on an individual effort just after halftime, but the Americans couldn't find an equalizer. Across CONCACAF, results turned against them: Honduras went ahead against Mexico and Panama defeated Costa Rica, thanks to <a href="https://deadspin.com/u-s-a-out-of-world-cup-on-phantom-goal-1819343176">a goal that shouldn’t have counted</a>. But it did, Panama had its World Cup spot locked up, Honduras will play Australia for another slot, and the U.S., well, the U.S. needs to take a long-ass look in the mirror.</p>
<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="tS83WO">Not qualifying <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/10/16457176/usmnt-2018-world-cup-qualification-eliminated-concacaf-trinidad-tobago">is a disaster</a>, full stop, which is not the same thing as saying the program needs to be blown up. There’s talent <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/5/16425234/usmnt-u17-world-cup-josh-sargent-tim-weah-andrew-carleton">in the youth ranks</a>—if you want to feel better about the American program, watch the ongoing U-17s at the World Cup—and the development systems are starting to work. “You don’t make wholesale changes based on the ball being two inches wide or two inches in,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said after the defeat, referring to Clint Dempsey’s late strike that struck the post. “We will look at everything, obviously. All of our programs. Both the national teams and all the development stuff. But we have a lot of pieces in place that we think are very good and coming along.” These are the words of a disappointed man who oversaw a massive failure (and is perhaps trying to save his job), yes, but that doesn’t make them untrue. </p>
<p id="CFJu3B">The truth is that this was always a flawed team, one that would have qualified due to the ease of the CONCACAF region, then undergone a significant makeover in the eight months before the tournament. “If we had qualified for the World Cup, there needed to be a number of changes for a World Cup roster,” Arena said during a postmatch press conference, which will likely be his last as the American manager. “We have some young, promising players that would have made a bid to be part of the World Cup in 2018.”</p>
<p id="qVYBaQ">While those players won’t get to make a play for the Russia roster, they will get a chance to become part of the senior team as soon as possible. There’s nothing to do now except prepare for 2022. The most intriguing prospect is 19-year-old Weston McKennie, currently starting for Schalke in the Bundesliga. A product of the FC Dallas Academy, the pit bull defensive midfielder could be the answer to the perpetual question of who pairs with Michael Bradley in the center of the field for the near future and who supplants the 30-year-old on a slightly longer timeline. </p>
<p id="yOq0Gb">Then there’s Jonathan Gonzalez, another teenage center midfielder who’s emerged out of nowhere to play a starring role at Monterrey, the best team in Mexico’s Liga MX. The 18-year-old from Santa Rosa, California, <a href="https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/usmnt-youth/2017/9/15/16313502/mexico-usa-usmnt-jonathan-gonzalez-usynt">spent time</a> with the U.S. U-17, U-18, and U-20 squads and got a phone call from Arena earlier this year. He’s a bit more of a connector than McKennie, but one who’s also willing to make a tackle when necessary. “I like to get the ball at my feet,” he <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/club/monterrey/220/blog/post/3185741/us-youth-international-jonathan-gonzalez-making-strides-at-monterrey">said</a>. “I’m a distributor, I attack and defend, but I’m mostly playing out of the back, being the spine of the team.” While there’s a chance Mexico will try to recruit Gonzalez, he <a href="http://americansoccernow.com/articles/jonathan-gonzalez-18-off-to-great-start-with-monterrey">sounds committed</a> to the United States (though the result could have changed that calculus).</p>
<p id="MB0Ixi">Further down the pipeline is Tyler Adams. The New York Red Bull star is only 18 and <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-soccer/19/blog/post/3209072/tyler-adams-enjoying-long-drive-to-mls-success-with-new-york-red-bulls">still commuting 75 miles each way from his childhood home for training every day</a>, but anyone who can play a seeing-eye through ball deserves a look. The fact that he can fill in at fullback adds to the potential allure. He will, at the very least, get a call into the U.S.’s January camp. His future is bright.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is ridiculous.. <a href="https://twitter.com/tyler_adams14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tyler_adams14</a> sets up goal w/ an insane 40 yrd ball splitting two defenders.. then <a href="https://t.co/ZyMkUYy3MI">pic.twitter.com/ZyMkUYy3MI</a></p>— herculez gomez (@herculezg) <a href="https://twitter.com/herculezg/status/916802943520858117?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a>
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<p id="Rx9pF8">Those are just three players, and there are at least a half dozen more who could emerge over the next 12 months. Defenders including Tottenham’s Cameron Carter-Vickers (currently on loan at Sheffield United) and recent Manchester City signing Erik Palmer-Brown aren’t far away. Others who played only a small role over the past two years should get a shot—guys like Seattle’s Cristian Roldan and New England’s Kelyn Rowe. Josh Sargent, currently starring at the U-17 World Cup after winning the Silver Boot at the U-20 tournament earlier this year, will get a senior-team call sooner rather than later, especially if he shines at Werder Bremen when he officially moves next year.</p>
<p id="Ff79XN">Exactly how much change to make will be up to the next coach, whomever that may be. (U.S. youth technical director Tab Ramos? Sporting Kansas City’s Peter Vermes? Oscar Pareja from FC Dallas?) They’ll get time and space in what is an excellent job in world football. There’s clay to mold. The worst thing to do would be to start shaping it too quickly. </p>
<p id="wmNtiR">Plus, there’s still Pulisic. He’ll miss out on his first chance for a World Cup, which is a shame for anyone who cares about soccer. He’s electric and only improving, capable of doing so many things his teammates can't accomplish. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Christian Pulisic Vs Panama Last Night <a href="https://t.co/5XAutoPvf0">pic.twitter.com/5XAutoPvf0</a></p>— DMV Soccer (@DMVsoccer96) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMVsoccer96/status/916735602304999425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a>
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<p id="3iv0XI">He needs help, however, as the Americans struggled all tournament against bunkered-in squads, which cost them in Trinidad and elsewhere. “Teams have showed that they are going to sit back and frustrate us,” said Tim Howard, perhaps playing in his final World Cup qualifier. “We’re going to need to break some teams down. Until we do that, teams won’t come out of their shell.”</p>
<p id="xTFVdp">T&T stayed in its shell, stayed in position, and walked away with an upset. The Americans, who came in on a high, walked away with nothing. </p>
<p id="VMKvAF">“This game, in my view, was perfectly positioned for the U.S. team,” Arena said. “We failed on the day.”</p>
<p id="QwupNC">“Anger. Frustration. Those are both good places to start,” said Bradley when asked about his emotions following the defeat. “Quite honestly, you’re on empty. You give so much through this whole qualifying campaign to try to navigate every part of it. ... We have a group that’s able to pull strong and pull tight in big moments. And every single guy did that. When you get to the end, and it ends like this, you’re empty.”</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="yMzGZC">Moments later, he walked off, carrying two pairs of cleats in plastic bags. One pair still had grass and dirt from the field in the metal spikes. The other looked brand new.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/11/16457626/soccer-world-cup-2018-us-qualifying-bruce-arena-christian-pulisic-futureNoah Davis2017-10-05T10:30:01-04:002017-10-05T10:30:01-04:00Christian Pulisic Doesn’t Play for the Best American Soccer Team
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<p>With the Under-17 World Cup set to kick off in India, Andrew Carleton, Josh Sargent, and Tim Weah provide a bright future for the U.S.</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="5453J9">While the United States men’s national team flails about in its World Cup qualifying campaign, needing results against Panama (Friday) and Trinidad & Tobago (next Tuesday) to reach Russia 2018, another American squad kicks off its World Cup effort this week. The Stars and Stripes travel to India to play in the Under-17 World Cup, and they might bring home the trophy. If you’re seeking the bright future of American soccer and what comes next, it’s not on <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/mens-national-team/tournaments/2018-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-final-round/20171006-mnt-v-panama#tab-1">a field in Orlando</a>. It’s at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.</p>
<p id="Pdqzup">The U-17 World Cup is a strange tournament. It features the best 16- and 17-year-old soccer players in the world, chosen based on both past performance and future potential. Previous Golden Ball winners include stars like Chelsea’s Cesc Fàbregas and Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos, as well as Florent Sinama Pongolle, the Frenchman who’s currently at his 13th club, Chainat Hornbill Football Club in Thailand's second division. Nigeria, a country known for having its teenage talent plundered by European clubs, is the most successful nation on the U-17 level. They’ve won five times, two more than Brazil. Meanwhile, international soccer powerhouse Italy has never finished better than fourth. That matches the best finish by not-exactly-international-soccer-powerhouses Bahrain, Qatar, and, yes, the United States. </p>
<p id="Q8jDr7">Results aren’t the point—not exactly, anyway. The U-17 World Cup is about the future, about seeing and being seen. Every major club—and many minor ones, too—will have scouts at the games, hoping to find talent to fill their ranks. And the American team, paired in a group with India, Ghana (<a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/04/30/21/43/20170501-feat-mnt-usas-three-previous-world-cup-meetings-ghana-black-stars">always freaking Ghana</a>), and Colombia, will draw a fair number of those talent-seeking men. “The U-17 team, it’s not a secret that it’s one of the best American teams ever,” says Sebastian Dremmler, Bayern Munich’s head coach of international programs who oversees the German giant’s efforts in the U.S. “Of course, all European teams are looking with two eyes on the U.S. team to see what happens.”</p>
<p id="tjo9hn">The red, white, and blue might go out in the group stage or they might win the damn thing. (Head coach John Hackworth, heading to his fourth U-17 World Cup as either the head coach or an assistant, says anything less than a quarterfinal appearance would be a disappointment.) Regardless of where the Americans end up, the quality and depth of this U.S. team—Hackworth and his staff brought in more than 100 kids for training sessions during this two-year cycle, significantly more than in the past—is nearly unprecedented. The efforts put into youth development over the last decade are finally starting to produce results on a mass scale. This American squad is arguably closer to the best teams in the tournament in terms of raw talent than ever before —and it might be worse than every American team that comes after it. </p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" id="HlQe7E">The <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/09/21/16/40/20170921-news-u17mnt-world-cup-roster-release">21-man roster</a> Hackworth has chosen to play in India features mostly teenagers playing in the U.S. as well as a handful on clubs abroad. Eighteen played for clubs in the <a href="http://www.ussoccerda.com">U.S. Soccer Development Academy</a>, an initiative launched by the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2007 to formalize training sessions and curricula at elite youth soccer programs across the country. Six have already signed homegrown professional contracts with their respective Major League Soccer teams. Atlanta United’s Andrew Carleton, who’s never seen a defender he won’t try to take one-on-one, <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2725600-andrew-carleton-may-be-the-homegrown-star-us-mens-soccer-has-been-waiting-for">could become</a> MLS’s first true homegrown star. Josh Sargent, the team’s most exciting prospect and winner of the Silver Boot at the U-20 World Cup earlier this year, developed with the Scott Gallagher Soccer Club in St. Louis and will join the Bundesliga’s Werder Bremen in January. (Dremmler says Bayern had their eye on Sargent, too.) Tim Weah, son of former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, is working his way through the Paris Saint-Germain system and recently signed his first professional contract with the club. He and Carleton featured on <em>The</em> <em>Guardian</em>’s list of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2017/oct/04/next-generation-2017-60-of-the-best-young-talents-in-world-football">the 60 best players in the world born in 2000</a>, the first time two Americans made the cut.</p>
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<img alt="USA's Landon Donovan runs over New Zealand's Jeremy Christie" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kDCztRyIFXYmZqgDk1RtRzbPmR0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9392315/56051199.jpg">
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<p id="y10wQv">The U.S. team has lost just <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/us-under17-mens-national-team/results-statistics">two games in the last year</a> and posted wins over 10 squads contesting the World Cup. Even without FC Golden State standout defender AJ Vasquez, who injured himself in the last pre-tournament camp, matching or bettering the U.S.’s all-time best finish —fourth place at the 1999 tournament, led by Golden Ball winner Landon Donovan (remember him?), DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, and Oguchi Onyewu—should be a goal. That would be a nice change. The Americans haven’t reached the quarterfinals in more than a decade and haven’t won a knockout round game since 1999. Put another way, every single player on the 2017 squad was born after the Americans last prevailed in an elimination game at the U-17 World Cup.</p>
<p id="yjM9Vd">But the point of youth soccer programs isn’t to win championships. It’s to develop players. Past U.S. U-17 teams have been lacking there, too. The most successful player from the 2001 squad was Eddie Johnson, a forward who scored 19 goals in 63 senior team caps. In 2003 it was Jonathan Spector, a right back who made the 2010 World Cup roster but didn’t appear in any matches. (Freddy Adu also played on that team.) Jozy Altidore, the senior team’s third all-time leading goal scorer, and sometimes-starting center back Omar Gonzalez emerged from the 2005 group, the best of recent years, along with eventual Serbia and Borussia Dortmund standout Neven Subotic. Brek Shea, an infrequently brilliant player best known for <a href="http://designisgrowth.com/leftfoot/aboutus/about-us.html">his painting</a>, and Atlanta United fullback Greg Garza highlighted the 2007 team, although the award for most successful professional career from that group might go to Josh Lambo, who spent two seasons as the San Diego Chargers’ starting placekicker. Juan Agudelo, <a href="http://grantland.com/the-triangle/usmnt-new-england-revolution-juan-agudelo-rebirth/">perpetually on the cusp of greatness but never quite there</a>, highlighted the 2009 class, with center-midfielder-in-waiting and <a href="https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2017/7/1/15909324/watch-kellyn-acostas-first-usmnt-goal-is-a-gorgeous-free-kick">free-kick</a>-wunderkind Kellyn Acosta and dynamic winger Paul Arriola suiting up in 2011. The team missed the tournament in 2013, the only time they’ve done so in 16 attempts, then <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/11/10/16040268/christian-pulisic-next-big-thing-usmnt-c5f1bf69c1d6">Christian Pulisic</a>, Fulham’s Luca de la Torre, and <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-soccer/19/blog/post/3209072/tyler-adams-enjoying-long-drive-to-mls-success-with-new-york-red-bulls">New York Red Bulls star</a> Tyler Adams went winless in the 2015 event in Chile. Fourteen years and eight tournaments produced two sure-thing senior-team starters, and even Altidore’s starting spot is hardly guaranteed anymore due to the emergence of players like Bobby Wood. </p>
<p id="a7G5UO">Is one of the players on the 2017 roster going to replicate Pulisic’s feat and vault from the youth ranks to being the best player on the senior side all before his 20th birthday? Almost certainly not. But it seems like a number of these teenagers could play a role on the full national team in the near future, which hasn’t been the case in the past. And there are at least few dozen other unselected players who made a serious case that they belong on this U-17 roster as well—another positive sign in a sport where players develop at different speeds. Because in some ways, what really matters in such a young age group is the sheer number of players with similar ability. It’s impossible to predict exactly how a single individual will develop, so the best way to ensure a bright future is to have as many talented teens as possible. </p>
<p id="dhSMHi">“I think it’s a really positive sign that there has been the level of talent that we’re currently seeing coming through the ranks. I say the word ‘depth’ a lot. There’s so much different maturation and growth that’s going to occur. We have a big pool,” Hackworth says. “Guys who are heart-wrenchingly close to being on this roster are going to go back and be motivated to prove they should be on this roster.”</p>
<p id="5MHxW4">Tony Annan, the academy director at Atlanta United, sees this depth firsthand. The club, which <a href="https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/07/17/carletons-wonder-brace-gives-atlanta-united-academy-youth-championship">won</a> the U-15/16 national championship in its first year of existence thanks to two goals from Carleton, also placed Justin Garces and Chris Goslin on the U.S. roster, while Zyen Jones, George Bello, and Charlie Asensio also earned looks from Hackworth. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">67' | Gooooooooal! <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcarleton7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@andrewcarleton7</a> doubles the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ATLUTD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ATLUTD</a> advantage! <a href="https://t.co/VD8pld63f0">pic.twitter.com/VD8pld63f0</a></p>— ATLUTD Academy (@AcademyATLUTD) <a href="https://twitter.com/AcademyATLUTD/status/886737377623920640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2017</a>
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<p id="EBXdmg">Additionally, three United players made the Jamaica roster and two will figure for Honduras. The Development Academy helps take the positive youth development steps already made in America—the U.S. Soccer Federation recently announced the end of <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/03/17/19/22/20170317-news-u17mnt-after-fulfilling-mission-us-soccer-residency-program-to-complete-final-semester">the U-17 residency program</a> because it was no longer needed—and improve upon them by offering an obvious path to the professional ranks. At MLS academies, a standout youth player <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/21/16341796/nba-aau-fc-dallas-player-development">can train with the first team</a> and, eventually, sign a contract there. The increasingly standardized environment of other academies in the program means that coaches at pro clubs across the country know more about the training players receive and the skills they develop. </p>
<p id="h4W2z5">When Annan started Atlanta’s academy, he recruited players from other clubs in the Atlanta region. He was impressed by their ability and the coaching they had already received. “These kids were already on a really good pathway when we got them. We just accelerated that pathway to another level and helped them be more professional with the way they trained,” he says. “We’ve gotten better at getting the kids in a better place early in their career. We’ve gotten better at the organization, the coaching, and the information that’s being given.”</p>
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<p id="toDxkT">Tab Ramos, the former USMNT standout who’s been the U.S. U-20 coach since 2011 and the program’s youth technical director since 2013, agrees. “When I first started I think one of the issues in 2011 was not so much maybe that all the talent wasn't there, it was the fact that at U.S. Soccer we weren't organized enough to have all the talent in one place and to know the talent,” he said during <a href="http://americansoccernow.com/articles/u-20-boss-tab-ramos-loves-his-job-extends-contract">a recent interview</a>. In 2017, however, there are 149 development academies across the country, producing talent, providing competitive atmospheres, routing the best players to professional situations—whether that’s an affiliated MLS club or another program—and moving them up the soccer pyramid. </p>
<p id="j9RCPu">The system isn’t perfect and there’s no guarantee that the 2019 or 2021 U-17 World Cup team will be as good as the one going to India. Everyone I spoke with for this story thought the 2017 team represented a particularly deep talent pool. But they also agreed that the formalization of the development process is a major reason for that depth. The next Pulisic will come through the ranks in a much shorter amount of time than the 16 years between Donovan and the Borussia Dortmund protégé. He might even be with the U-15s right now. Plus, the American program should start producing more full national team starters on a regular basis. The math, increasingly, is on America’s side. </p>
<p id="BEJoA3">The U-17 World Cup is a showcase, a place to see what’s coming and a tournament where a kid can show that he’s ready for a bigger spotlight. Seth Trembly, currently an assistant coach with the Utah Valley University women’s team, played alongside Donovan at the 1999 tournament. He saw his teammate succeed against the best of his age group, then become a key part of the 2002 World Cup team only a couple of years later. “When Landon got called up to the first team, it was like, ‘Whoa, no one’s ever done this. Is it going to work?’ And then he goes on and scores against Mexico [at the 2002 World Cup], and you realize that while no one in the U.S. has done this, they’ve done it over and over again in Europe, South America, and Africa, in countries that are having success on the international stage,” he said. </p>
<p id="S32TAK">“Look at Europe and South America. The guys who are 20 or 21 have been the man in their country for three years. They are starting to become veteran pros who have experience in World Cups. That’s where the U.S. is getting to. Look at Christian Pulisic. He’s going to be a veteran on the international scene at 20 or 21. That’s what will really help us put ourselves in position to go on a run and hopefully win a World Cup at the senior level.”</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="C72iWP">If Pulisic does manage to lead the Americans to their first World Cup, he’ll likely be flanked by players from this class of U-17s.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/5/16425234/usmnt-u17-world-cup-josh-sargent-tim-weah-andrew-carletonNoah Davis2017-09-06T11:35:38-04:002017-09-06T11:35:38-04:00Christian Pulisic vs. the World
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<p>Two middling performances in World Cup qualifiers showed the teenager’s limits. But to get to Russia and succeed, the USMNT will need his brilliance.</p> <p id="oAyrFl">Between January and August, the United States men’s national team went 14 games without losing. Multiple factors played a role in the 215-day undefeated streak: the organization and belief brought by new coach Bruce Arena, the spacial awareness of Michael Bradley, a favorable schedule that included matches against not-exactly-powerhouses like Martinique and Nicaragua. But the biggest factor was the emergence of <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2017/3/27/16046332/the-best-american-soccer-player-is-an-18-year-old-from-hershey-pennsylvania-97cc2988946e">Christian Pulisic</a>, the 18-year-old attacker whose trajectory for club and country was virtually vertical during his first year and a half as a full-time professional.</p>
<p id="9c3nHJ">Entering the U.S.’s qualifier against Costa Rica on Friday, the team had netted 11 goals when Pulisic was on the field in 2017. He had scored, assisted, or created (by drawing a free kick) nine of them. He’d been even better in World Cup qualifying, tallying five goals and five assists in nine previous matches. He started the 2017–18 Bundesliga season on the front foot, too. In three games with Borussia Dortmund, he’s already scored against Bayern Munich in the German Super Cup and managed a goal and an assist in a league match with Wolfsburg. Pulisic faced huge expectations from American supporters who are desperate for a star, and somehow exceeded them all.</p>
<p id="LvYlKk">Until this week. Following a 2–0 home loss to Costa Rica and a last-gasp 1–1 draw with Honduras in San Pedro Sula, the Stars and Stripes still control their World Cup qualifying destiny. Two wins in the final two qualifiers against Panama and Trinidad and Tobago — an achievable task — will almost certainly be enough to get the squad to the tournament in Russia next summer. But the two games showed young Pulisic’s limits, and that while his ceiling might not exist, he’s far from reaching it and he’s going to need an assist from his U.S. teammates to truly transform the team.</p>
<p id="TQRSjj">It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When the final whistle blew during Friday night’s match against Costa Rica in Harrison, New Jersey, Pulisic found himself sitting at the end of the American bench. Rather than one of the best, most confident teenage soccer players in the world, he looked like an 18-year-old kid unsure of how his team lost a crucial match.</p>
<p id="Vl7Vu5">Pulisic hadn’t managed to make the type of massive impact that red, white, and blue supporters have become accustomed to seeing during his short career. The Ticos marked him out of the game with double coverage. When he managed to find some space, they knocked him over, transgressions that frequently went overlooked and uncalled by Panamanian referee John Pitti. Pulisic came off in the 87th minute, frustrated and disgusted, then parked himself on the bench. Following Pitti’s last bleat, Pulisic continued sitting there as American teammates walked past him onto the field. First Brad Guzan, then Nick Rimando, both veterans who gave Pulisic a conciliatory pat on the head. Kellyn Acosta came next. The budding FC Dallas star midfielder, Pulisic’s closest friend on the U.S. squad, put his arm around his buddy and gave him a hug. The pair, who could be two central Stars and Stripes cogs for the next decade, made their way to the Red Bull Arena grass, where the rest of the American team wandered aimlessly.</p>
<p id="leo2Hi">The shock was understandable. While no one would say Bruce Arena’s team played their best game, they probably deserved at least a tie. Early on, there was an uncalled penalty on Jozy Altidore. Minister of Defense Tim Howard turned into a sieve on Costa Rica’s first goal. The U.S. created enough chances to win — they led Costa Rica 1.26 to 0.60 in expected goals on the evening — but they couldn’t score. When Real Madrid cheat code Keylor Navas is doing this, maybe it’s not your night:</p>
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<p id="7EeVyS">And so they limped out of New Jersey on eight points, tied with Honduras for the third and final automatic qualification spot and a point ahead of Panama. They were momentarily down but decidedly not out, thanks to the pillow fight that is CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. The Americans did, however, need a result in steamy San Pedro Sula.</p>
<p id="YM55Ne">Pulisic started again on Tuesday evening, the lone European-based player to figure twice in Arena’s first 11 over the past week. As Pulisic had done on Friday, he played on the right wing, a spot that can minimize his playmaking ability but frees him up with time and space when he does get on the ball. Like Costa Rica, Honduras game-planned for Pulisic by double-teaming him, then knocking him down when there weren’t any other options. He <a href="https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2017-09-05-honduras-vs-us-mens-national-team/boxscore">drew three fouls</a> on the night, and it could have been more.</p>
<p id="aRZRHk">There were brief moments of transcendence. With the U.S. down 1–0 and flailing in the 40th minute, the teenager took the ball down beautifully with his first touch and created something out of nothing, only to watch Darlington Nagbe receive his pass and curl a shot harmlessly wide. A minute later, Pulisic created a quick give-and-go with Jordan Morris, only to see the Seattle Sounders forward’s pass go a touch too far, so Pulisic could only manage a weak shot that didn’t trouble Honduran goalkeeper Luis López. Immediately after halftime, Pulisic picked up a ball in the U.S. end, then charged upfield, deking a couple Catrachos defenders along the way. (It was eerily similar to a run he made against Costa Rica in which he turned Ticos captain Bryan Ruíz inside out.) The USMNT’s <a href="http://www.beinsports.com/us/concacaf-world-cup-qualifiers/video/bobby-wood-rescues-a-point-for-usmnt-in-hondu/642025">only goal</a> came off a free kick that Pulisic drew in the late stages. If the U.S. does manage to qualify for the World Cup, that sidestep-and-get-hacked move might go down as the most important moment of the cycle.</p>
<p id="QAlmZu">So, that’s the good news. The bad is that the wonder boy looked ordinary for long stretches of both matches. He completed just eight of 16 passes against Honduras, and went 0-for-3 on crosses in the run of play. He paired six successful dribbles with five unsuccessful ones. He went long periods without tracking back on defense, much more comfortable pressing like he does with Borussia Dortmund than playing smart positional defense when he’s on the right side of the field and the opposition has the ball in the Americans’ half. This deficiency doesn’t show up on television, but it does in person. Pulisic left Graham Zusi alone far too often in Harrison and San Pedro Sula, which isn’t the only reason the Sporting Kansas City fullback struggled, but it certainly didn’t help.</p>
<p id="3p8PKF">While Pulisic wasn’t bad over nearly 180 minutes of two qualifiers, he needed to do more. So did his teammates, but the other 10 men on the field aren’t the ones who can transform the U.S. squad as Pulisic has shown he can. That’s why numbers like <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2017/08/29/case-christian-pulisic-americas-first-100-million-soccer-player/614308001/">$100 million transfer fees</a> aren’t completely out of the question. Is that a lot of pressure to put on a kid with 17 international caps and 53 club appearances to his name? Hell yeah it is. He hasn’t shied away from the responsibility, nor has his play before the last week indicated that he couldn’t succeed. And there’s nothing to indicate he won’t in the future, either, but that skyrocketing trajectory met resistance in the Honduras heat.</p>
<p id="bVFptq">Without Pulisic, the current version of the red, white, and blue isn’t that different from past editions. Its best look is a bunch of guys working hard, working together, staying organized, being opportunistic, wearing the opposition down, and finding enough results in games that could’ve gone either way. The ceiling is somewhere between 15th and 25th in the world with a slightly better chance to upset a world power than that ranking would indicate. It’s a team that can get out of a World Cup group stage and maybe surprise a better nation or two. A 60–40 underdog still wins 40 percent of the time. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhItEAEeaRk">Wondo!</a>)</p>
<p id="Qf57ls">Pulisic raises the team’s ceiling above that point. Not dramatically — and that’s not a problem right now, though it becomes one if we’re still having this conversation in four years — but he is a type of player that the U.S. hasn’t had before. There’s a superstar waiting to emerge, the potential for an elite playmaker who can help the American team play on the front foot rather than absorbing pressure and countering. He’s still a long way away from carrying the red, white, and blue against a top-10 team, but the mere fact that it’s not outrageous to consider the possibility that he could is remarkable in itself. A year and a half ago, he hadn’t played a World Cup qualifier for the U.S. Now, he’s the team’s best player. “Everything happened a little bit too fast,” Pulisic said during a press conference before the match against Costa Rica. His sudden rise has been astounding, but that he didn’t produce three days later was the biggest surprise of all.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="2pctAf">Pulisic is the player American soccer has been waiting for, someone with the potential to transcend the sport and bring it further into the mainstream. He needs to get to the World Cup in Russia to do so. But to get there and to succeed when he does, he needs help from his coach — who should move him back to the middle, where he can be most effective — and from his teammates. On Tuesday night, with the qualifying campaign on the ropes, they showed they are ready and willing. Pulisic drew the free kick but three members of the American generation just ahead of Pulisic’s turned it into a goal. Acosta took the free kick; Morris kept the ball alive; and Wood slammed it home. The <a href="https://twitter.com/PCarrESPN/status/905216116120838150">qualifying campaign remains more or less on track</a>. It wasn’t pretty, but it never is. Welcome to CONCACAF, Christian. We’re glad you’re here.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2017/9/6/16262026/christian-pulisic-usmnt-honduras-costa-rica-world-cup-qualifiersNoah Davis2017-06-12T14:07:04-04:002017-06-12T14:07:04-04:00The U.S. Is Officially Christian Pulisic’s Team — but He Can’t Do It All
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<p>He’s the best American soccer player alive, and maybe already the best ever. He’s also still only 18.</p> <p>Christian Pulisic did not single-handedly defeat Mexico on Sunday night, which, <a href="https://theringer.com/the-best-american-soccer-player-is-an-18-year-old-from-hershey-pennsylvania-97cc2988946e">given the excitement surrounding the 18-year-old attacker</a>, might have come as something of a surprise to the casual American soccer fan. Following a two-goal performance in the United States men’s national team’s World Cup qualifying victory over Trinidad and Tobago last Thursday, the Pulisic Hype Train reached Shanghai Maglev<strong> </strong>speeds, bolstered by <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/873215619532955648">stats nuggets on Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/06/09/13/18/20170609-feat-mnt-christian-pulisic-trending-ahead-of-top-usmnt-goal-scorers">many</a> <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-great-american-soccer-hope-is-here-for-real-this-time/">articles</a> <a href="http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2017/06/christian-pulisic-is-a-suddenly-indispensable-usmnt-star/">affirming</a> the arrival of America’s newest/first superstar, and the now-undeniable reality that the teenage Borussia Dortmund product is the red, white, and blue’s best player.</p>
<p>The Americans earned a point against their archrival. That result, combined with the three points they got last week, moved the U.S. into a momentary tie for second place in CONCACAF’s six-team final round of World Cup qualifying and emphatically removed their campaign from the danger zone. But it was not Pulisic who made the difference on the field at Estadio Azteca. Rather, it was Michael Bradley’s sixth-minute <em>golazo</em> and 84 minutes of inspired defending led by Geoff Cameron that resulted in a 1–1 draw. (If you’re looking for a key to the American resurgence under Bruce Arena, look no further than the single goal they’ve conceded in the run of play during his seven games in charge.) While Mexico dominated possession — finishing the match with a 74–26 edge — El Tri generated just a single shot on net. The Americans might have stolen all three points had Bradley’s late-game blast been four inches to the left.</p>
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<p>(Let’s pause a second to talk about the U.S. captain’s goal. Bradley intercepted Chicharito’s pass — after the game, he said he expected it due to film study he and the U.S. staff had done of Mexico’s patterns of play — took two touches and, at full speed, dropped a 35-yard chip over Guillermo Ochoa into an area that couldn’t have been more than a couple of yards wide. At altitude, no less!)</p>
<p>Pulisic, playing as the wide-left midfielder in Arena’s effective 5–4–1, wasn’t anonymous, but he wasn’t electric, either. In the first half, he was <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/874076189278838784">the only American player to complete 10 passes</a>. On the night, he <a href="https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2017-06-11-mexico-vs-us-mens-national-team/boxscore">tallied</a> two key passes, two recoveries, and a single tackle. In the dying stages of the match, Pulisic had a chance to win the game but couldn’t find the net with his shot from the top of the box — a moment he created himself by beating a couple of defenders off the dribble, using the type of quickness and technique that’s rarely seen in a USMNT uniform. By the end, the teenager, one of only four holdover starters from Thursday night’s starting XI, was exhausted and replaced by Graham Zusi two minutes into second-half stoppage time. It was a good performance, especially considering how little of the ball the Americans had, but it lacked the kind of game-changing moment the U.S. has seemingly come to rely on.</p>
<p>For all the understandable excitement surrounding the kid from Hershey, he’s only part of the equation that will lead to a successful U.S. team on the international stage.</p>
<p>Even with a unmemorable effort in Azteca, Pulisic has dramatically exceeded expectations in his first 15 months on the American team. But that’s kind of the point: The expectations of the U.S. fan base are so low, beaten down by prospect after prospect falling short of lofty (and perhaps unfair) hopes hoisted upon them, and the desperation for a star so high that anyone approaching world-class status gets elevated to extreme (and perhaps unfair) heights that distort their skill level.</p>
<p>Pulisic had an excellent year at Dortmund, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-great-american-soccer-hope-is-here-for-real-this-time/">sitting eighth</a> between Douglas Costa and Marco Fabián on a list of expected goals plus assists per 90 minutes among nonstrikers in the Bundesliga. That’s fine company, but we’re not talking about Messi and Ronaldo. (Two of his teammates, Ousmane Dembélé and Shinji Kagawa, are above him.) That 0.52 expected goals and assists per 90 minutes figure puts him seventh on a list of under-20 players on clubs in Europe since the 2010–2011 season. (Dembélé’s 2016–2017 season tops that group.) Put another way, the most exciting and most successful American prospect ever wasn’t even the best teenager on his own club team. If Puslisic was Spanish or German or French, he’d be another name on a long list of teenagers who might become a superstar or settle into something a couple of tiers below.</p>
<p>“Christian is an outstanding young player,” Arena said during a prematch press conference. “We’re hopeful that as he moves forward in his career he’ll continue to show the dedication that he has shown in his early years. We think that he has outstanding potential.”</p>
<p>The American coach, never one to give away more than he needs, sounds more dour than the rapturous American supporters when talking about his young charge. That’s his job, of course, but it also hints at the greater reality of the U.S. team: Pulisic is excellent but he’s still not good enough to win difficult games by himself. He’s the best player, but the next best is probably Cameron, who starts for a mid-table Premier League team, or Bradley, whose best skill is making his teammates a little better. Pulisic is a piece of the puzzle, maybe the greatest piece any American manager has had to deploy. He’s still, however, a single piece.</p>
<p>Arena’s challenge is to make the puzzle, fractured into incomprehension by Jurgen Klinsmann’s Dadaist visions, fit together. When he succeeds — and the results against Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico would indicate that he’s figuring out what he has — the squad will look a lot like it has in the past.</p>
<p>“When we get our blend right in terms of football, physicality, athleticism, mobility, speed, mentality, spirit, when we get that right, there aren’t too many teams in the world that are going to have easy days playing against us,” Bradley said. “We feel like we can step on the field and beat anybody. But if a few too many areas start to come down, we’re also honest enough with ourselves to understand that our margin is not real big and then we’re going to start to put ourselves in some difficult spots. For me, it was the case at the end of last year that a few too many areas started to drop. I think Bruce has done a very good job of coming in and little by little, getting every … just raising the level across the board. A big part of that is this idea of team, of spirit, of mentality, of balls.”</p>
<p>While the puzzle gets built around Pulisic, Arena is finding other pieces, too. Sunday night’s match was <a href="https://twitter.com/PCarrESPN/status/874046597696540672">the first World Cup qualifier since October 10, 2009</a>, that neither Clint Dempsey nor Jozy Altidore started. Both players will return to the starting lineup in the future, but their spots are no longer guaranteed. Emerging talents including Bobby Wood and Darlington Nagbe are pushing for prominent roles in the front six. (Pulisic’s movement on and off the ball can make Dempsey’s skill set redundant, but that’s a whole other column.) Twenty-one-year-old Kellyn Acosta paired with Bradley in the midfield, looking strong and making a case that he should start even after Jermaine Jones returns from injury. Right on schedule, his own personal mini-hype cycle <a href="http://www.bigdsoccer.com/2017/6/12/15782162/chalkboard-kellyn-acosta-jermaine-jones-usa-replacement-midfield">is brewing</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. youth movement, led by the teenager but bolstered by others, had a good week.</p>
<p>“We have a great mix of young guys who can really provide now and in the future,” said 22-year-old Paul Arriola, who played well in his first World Cup qualifying start. “I see a lot of us — Kellyn, myself, Christian, obviously — I don’t think we should be talking about us being the future anymore. I think we should step up, and this was a great game for us to demonstrate [that we could].”</p>
<p>Against Mexico, Pulisic had, by his outsize standards, an off night. There will be more of them in the future. His teammates, young and old, picked him up. We saw his limitations, just as we did against Panama in March. Still, one or two games don’t alter the plans to make him the centerpiece of the American squad. “We’re going to continue to lean on him as he grows,” said Tim Howard.</p>
<p>The U.S. will, and the U.S. should. But it’s still an open question of how much weight the 5-foot-8, 140-pound teenager can bear. He’ll need some help hoisting the load.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2017/6/12/16040604/soccer-usmnt-christian-pulisic-michael-bradley-mexico-7247c8b11f3cNoah Davis2017-03-27T12:44:04-04:002017-03-27T12:44:04-04:00The Best American Soccer Player Is an 18-Year-Old From Hershey, Pennsylvania
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<p>Allow us to repeat: The best American soccer player is an 18-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania. In case it wasn’t already clear, a World Cup qualifier against Honduras confirmed that Christian Pulisic is the real deal — and he’s only going to get better.</p> <p>It took Christian Pulisic less than a year to go from making his debut for the United States men’s national team to becoming its best player.</p>
<p>On March 29, 2016, he played the final nine minutes of a 4–0 beatdown of Guatemala, making him the youngest American to appear in a World Cup qualifier. On Friday night, 360 days later, the 18-year-old phenom tallied a goal and two assists in a 6–0 destruction of Honduras in San Jose. With the Americans desperate for three points after losing the two opening games of the final round of 2018 qualifying, Pulisic played the best game of his national team career.</p>
<p>He didn’t win the game by himself. Clint Dempsey, back for the first time after missing seven months with an irregular heartbeat, scored a hat trick. Jozy Altidore delivered deft passes and a physically dominant performance. Michael Bradley shielded a makeshift back line that consisted of the fourth-choice right back and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2017/03/26/for-jorge-villafana-the-dream-of-playing-for-the-u-s-started-with-a-nationally-televised-contest/?utm_term=.234ceb0e2eaf">a reality-show–winning</a> left back who was making his first qualifying start, provided a constant outlet, and got a goal of his own. The U.S. finished with uncommon efficiency while Honduras looked lethargic and discombobulated.</p>
<p>But Pulisic was the star. Bruce Arena, coaching his first game that mattered since returning to the top of the American side in November, deployed his young star in the middle of the field, at the top of a midfield diamond and just below the two forwards. The manager handed Pulisic the keys to the attack and let him drive. The Borussia Dortmund starlet passed the test, and then some. Considering American soccer’s history of failed Next Big Things, perhaps the only surprising thing was how unsurprising his success was.</p>
<aside><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Is the Future of American Soccer Already Here?","url":"https://theringer.com/christian-pulisic-next-big-thing-usmnt-c5f1bf69c1d6"}]}'></div></aside><p>“This is what we have come to expect from young Christian,” goalkeeper Tim Howard, who has two decades on his teammate, said. “He’s a performer on the highest level. He doesn’t shy away from big moments. The spotlight doesn’t deter him, and for us it’s been great for a guy like him to be able to combine with Jozy and with Clint and to make it look fairly seamless.”</p>
<p>Dempsey, who scored on two passes from Pulisic and added a third on a free kick drawn by the teenager, agreed. “Man, he’s a great player,” he said. “He can beat people one-on-one on the dribble. It creates mismatches because of that: someone else has to try to step to him, and if you’re able to make good runs, he’ll find you. It’s great to have players like that that can win that battle and kind of break teams open.”</p>
<p>Pulisic breaks teams open, for club and country, with calmness and control. Two weeks ago, his goal and assist powered Borussia Dortmund into the quarterfinals of the Champions League.</p>
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<p>While he plays quickly, with a relentless and fearless attack-first style, he does so without looking wild. Pulisic knows what he’s going to do before he ever gets the ball. The awareness makes the game slow down, even as he’s bombing forward. His vision manifests itself in multiple ways: <a href="https://twitter.com/ussoccer/status/845492338025627649">an elegant chip to Dempsey</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ussoccer/status/845501843580973056">an inch-perfect pass to the Seattle Sounders star</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/ussoccer/status/845494388742504448">a relaxed, effortless finish</a>. (Credit to Altidore and Dempsey, too, for their strong work on all three goals.)</p>
<p>Pulisic’s performance wasn’t perfect.</p>
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<p>There were too many turnovers, a few errant passes, and other errors. Against better, more organized opposition, one or two of those mistakes could have turned into a problem, but versus Honduras, Bradley and the back line did an excellent job of cleaning up the messes. There’s room to improve. And yet, he’s already come so far.</p>
<p>Pulisic is the real thing. This feels like blasphemy to type. He’s only 18, and the U.S. soccer landscape is a graveyard of players like Freddy Adu, Luis Gil, and Juan Agudelo who failed to live up to the (unreasonable) expectations that American soccer fans and journalists placed on them. There was a time when everyone was really excited about Brek Shea. Or Rubio Rubin. Or pick any other name.</p>
<p>Fox Soccer tweeting “every single touch” compilations shows where we are on the Pulisic hype cycle, but despite the pressure, Pulisic continues, somehow, to exceed expectations. He’s starting, and occasionally dominating, Champions League and Bundesliga matches. He thrived on the wing, then just as easily owned the middle of the field. Arena, who has a deserved reputation as someone who relies a bit too much on veterans, decided his best attacker was a teen from Pennsylvania, and it took about half an hour for Pulisic to prove him right.</p>
<p>If you wanted to write the backstory for American soccer’s ideal first superstar, you’d probably come up with <a href="https://theringer.com/christian-pulisic-next-big-thing-usmnt-c5f1bf69c1d6#.dg4dwdbn9">something like Pulisic’s</a>. His parents, Mark and Kelley, played college soccer. He had a stint in England when he was 7 and re-joined the PA Classics, a development academy that prizes actual player development above winning, when his family came back to the States a few years later. At 16, he joined Dortmund, one of the best places in the world for young talent, and his father got a job as a coach with the youth teams to ease the transition. He is, according to anyone who knows him, exceptionally internally motivated. None of this made him a sure thing, but it all set him up nicely to have a chance at success. He’s simultaneously an outlier because he’s exceeding expectations and also, potentially, a sign of things to come for American soccer. He’s a special talent, well supported, following a path that’s possible to recreate. How many 12-year-olds are out there right now playing on fields across the country, watching him and dreaming?</p>
<p>Pulisic is the brightest light on the U.S. team, the only player the media wanted to talk to at training the day before the match against Honduras. The intensity, however, is a step down from his typical day-to-day. Dortmund plays in front of 80,000, including 25,000 fanatics who make up the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/21/football/borussia-dortmund-signal-iduna-park-yellow-wall-bundesliga/">intimidating Yellow Wall</a>; San Jose’s Avaya Stadium has 18,000 seats and North America’s <a href="https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/03/20/north-americas-largest-outdoor-bar-intimate-feel-avaya-stadium-straight-out-europe">largest outdoor bar</a>. When asked about the venue for the match, he laughed: “Obviously, [it’s] a bit smaller.”</p>
<p>Friday night, Pulisic owned the venue. He is the best player on the U.S. team, and he’s only getting better. On Tuesday, he’ll suit up for the Americans against Panama. The degree of difficulty is higher, yet just 12 months into Pulisic’s national team career, the only thing that seems crazier than betting on him is betting against him. The next decade could be a lot of fun.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2017/3/27/16046332/the-best-american-soccer-player-is-an-18-year-old-from-hershey-pennsylvania-97cc2988946eNoah Davis2016-11-21T18:10:46-05:002016-11-21T18:10:46-05:00In Arena We Trust?
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<p>With Jürgen Klinsmann out, meet the (probable) new boss, Bruce Arena, same as the old boss</p> <p>On Monday afternoon, the ax finally fell.</p>
<p>United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/sports/soccer/jurgen-klinsmann-fired-us-soccer-coach.html">fired</a> Jürgen Klinsmann as head coach of the men’s national team. The parting of ways came a week after the Stars and Stripes lost their first two final-round games of 2018 World Cup qualifying: a disappointing but explainable defeat against Mexico in Columbus, followed by a listless, pathetic 4–0 destruction at the hands of Costa Rica that was anything but. If you’re looking for the smoking gun that signaled the end of the Klinsmann era, look no further than the goals Joel Campbell scored in the 74th and 78th minute last Tuesday night in San José’s Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica. The American team appeared not just beaten, but broken and indifferent.</p>
<p>Six days later, Gulati made his decision, much to the delight of the increasingly agitated U.S. fan base. If early reports are correct, Los Angeles Galaxy manager Bruce Arena, who led the Americans from 1998 through 2006, will take over as head coach and lead the team through the rest of the World Cup qualification process.</p>
<p>Given the circumstances — with the U.S. behind but by no means out of the race for an automatic bid to the 2018 World Cup in Russia — Arena is the right call. The Americans don’t play another qualifier until March, giving the 65-year-old five-time-MLS Cup–winner (two with D.C. United and three with L.A.) plenty of room to fix an American squad that needs tweaking more than an entire rebuild. In subbing Klinsmann for Arena, the U.S. trades a smiling optimist who never really said anything of substance for an eminently <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/03/11-badass-pearls-of-wisdom-from-bruce-arena.html">quotable</a> good-natured grouch, who also happens to be the most successful American national team manager of all time. In the 2002 World Cup, Arena led the national team to the quarterfinals, where the Americans outplayed a German side that would reach the finals but lost, 1–0.</p>
<p>A better parallel for the team Arena takes over now, however, is the 1998 squad. Back then, Arena replaced Steve Sampson, following a disastrous showing at the World Cup. Arena’s energy rejuvenated the veterans, while he added young talent like Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, priming the U.S. for its run four years later. While he doesn’t have as much time now, he faces a much easier task, with quality at nearly every position. Geoff Cameron and John Brooks are an excellent center back pairing. Michael Bradley, Fabian Johnson, and Sacha Kljestan provide depth in the midfield. Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood are becoming something of a dynamic duo up top, supported by Jordan Morris, Terrence Boyd, and, if he can recover from a heart ailment, Clint Dempsey. Teenager Christian Pulisic <a href="https://theringer.com/christian-pulisic-next-big-thing-usmnt-c5f1bf69c1d6">already might be the best player on the team</a>, and he continues to improve. The most frustrating part of Klinsmann’s tenure was that he was adding a degree of difficulty to his job, using players out of position and in unfamiliar formations while giving little, if any, tactical instruction. Arena shouldn’t have difficulty getting 16 points out of the next eight qualifying matches.</p>
<p>Arena does come with his own baggage. “Players on the national team should be American,” Arena <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNMag/status/312307621619200000">said</a> back in 2013. “If they’re born in other countries, we aren’t making progress.” He walked <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewDasNYT/status/799708475295154177">those comments back a bit in April</a>, but it’s still not the best sentiment for the coach of a team that started six dual nationals in its last match. It’s also a stark contrast from Klinsmann, who, for all his faults, had success recruiting not just players with German eligibility but also guys like Aron Johannsson (Iceland) and Lynden Gooch (Ireland).</p>
<p>Regardless, Arena has a strong core to build from, and can add to it with players like Benny Feilhaber, one of MLS’s most creative players who couldn’t get a look under Klinsmann (and <a href="https://twitter.com/b_feilhaber22/status/800794412158742528">wasn’t sorry to see him go</a>), right back Eric Lichaj, and MLSers like Darlington Nagbe, Matt Hedges, Dax McCarty, and maybe even Landon Donovan, who came out of retirement to play for the Galaxy earlier this year. Klinsmann favorite Jermaine Jones might see his national team tenure end sooner than he planned, as might Timmy Chandler, whose commitment to the side has wavered.</p>
<p>The U.S. is the same team Monday as it was Sunday: a squad that’s more than good enough to qualify for Russia. The only thing that changed was the man in charge. Gulati stuck by Klinsmann, a coach he pursued for six years before finally convincing him to come on board, for longer than many would have. That’s fine. Coaching stability has been a strength of the American program in the past, with managers given time to figure things out rather than impulsively being fired at the first sign of trouble. But after the loss to Mexico, the U.S. didn’t bounce back as it has in the past. Instead, the team fell further, forcing an American coaching change in the middle of a qualifying cycle for the first time since 1989.</p>
<p>Now, it’s in Arena we trust.</p>
https://www.theringer.com/2016/11/21/16045090/with-klinsmann-out-what-now-for-the-usmnt-8febc7035f51Noah Davis