US Soccer Messi and World Cup

Messi is coming to America to play in the MISL American Soccer league . Think these south american, european,central american superstars when their career is over sign with an American team and everyone in America goes crazy .. Think Pele, Geogio Chinagli and many more sign with these American teams when they all should of hung up their cleats. But we Americans don't care because even though they are a shadow of what they were we are happy to see them play,
American soccer has improved so much over the years. Our youth leagues,high schools and college teams have elevated the sport here in America. The media pounces on that BUT there is a problem As we improve here in America all those other countries also improve. We are so far behind in mens soccer its not even close. One of my all time favorite stories I read many years ago in the NY Post sports section still stands out in my mind. It puts in respective order where we are in soccer world wide. It was just announced the US will host the 2024 ? world Cup But this one article I read many years ago says it all.
the date was when the US hosted the last world cup games The host teams doesn't have to qualify to make it they get an automatic bid.
The article headline was " an Interview with Paulo a soccer fan " The writer is interviewing Paulo from Italy about the upcoming world Cup. As he is interviewing Paulo he has a soccer ball and is kicking it in the air and keeping it from hitting the ground. The writer asks Paulo what do you think of America and its chances in this years world cup. Paulo answers " not to good " You have Rudy Meoli a goalie who would be a good goalie but other then him in America you are very weak " you have a few Americans that play in the English league but they are avg players. Meanwhile Paula is still kicking the ball in each foot and switches over to the other foot. Again the soccer ball is never hitting the ground, A few more questions are asked and Paulo doesn't think his home team Italy will go far. He likes France West Germany Spain, Brazil, Argentina and some of the Eastern European. He likes a few African teams and South American countries Asked again about the American team and paulo again says no way can America compete with those countries. Again Paulo is continuing the entire interview flipping the ball with his foot. THe writer is amazed that for 5-10 minutes Paulo has continuously kept the ball in the air without letting it touch the ground . Its been so long I read this article but all I remember was the last sentence of the article . Paulo is 10 years old. I was floored. No wonder why international soccer is light years ahead of us There are Paulo's in Mexico, France Italy Germany and all those other soccer countries. I'm sure the US has improved over the years and there are some future Paulo's out there but we don;t have has many as those other countries . That article says it all . We are much better in world soccer. And we do have many of our stars playing abroad but our national teams is still so far behind the other countries There are dozen of reasons why and many know them . Our football baseball basketball etc youth get the best athletes But That article kind of puts everything in perspective when I heard Messi is coming to America and the world cup too Now Womans soccer is another story.

I think the USA has plenty of young talent but the talent in other country's is developed bc soccer is a religion, not so much here. Women's soccer and women sports in general? My 2 cents is the national team and WNBA are or have been too political imho. 

sportschat your right  US team lost to Jamaica tonite 1-0   But the US has so many sports that are so good  Baseball is dominated by Latin American players and think the Dominican Republic has more ML players now playing then American grown players  Not sure if that still exists today  When I was in Italy staying in Brecia with my cousins we were coming back from Milan  one night and as we got near Brescia my cousin drove by a lighted school yard . It was club team playing under the lights. The field had no grass all clay or dirt. My cousins wanted to show me soccer on a saturday night . There were maybe 200 people surrounding the field . They were high school or college kids playing and  my cousins wanted to show me  a soccer game being played on a saturday night in August in Italy  . We stayed for only 20 minutes but they wanted to give me a taste of soccer in Italy  I was pretty impressed especially the surface they wee playing on