New Wave of American Soccer Players in Europe Bucks a Trend

Reus, Gotze and Schurlle will provide Pulisic plenty of challenge and it will only make him better. Dortmund understands he is only 17 and if he can't claim first team minutes, I am sure they will provide time elsewhere while he continues to develop. Would love to see him beat those guys out for significant first team minutes.

When I want to relax to a slow moving game of kick the ball around, I watch an MLS match. Then I watched the highlights of my home team losing an NSL match. Sometimes I'll even watch women's league soccer match which I think could beat my NSL home team. They all can be pretty relaxing. And sometimes there is some excitement.

I consider the MSL as a league where players go when they don't have the talent to play in the best Euro leagues and players who are past their prime come to play because they love the game and still want to play with their diminished skills.

I'm with Klinsi on this one. U.S. players should definitely get out there and play in the European Leagues, if at all possible.
Yes, there are vast differences between the training level, and the expectations of where one should be at, at a certain age -- but to gain international playing exprience is priceless.
And of course we take this game very seriously in Germany, which is why someone at 20 who hasn't made it out of the Second League probably won't, but that isn't something that should deter American players from going abroad.

My career - promising as it was - in football was cut short by a lack of talent; so, I really admire the drive of some of these players - Yedlin comes to mind - who have made it in Europe. True, Yanks don't have that football culture, but I watch a lot of EPL and remember thinking, after watching Donovan, Dempsey, Cameron, Yedlin et al., through several matches, yes, they belong here.

What's not mentioned is that it's difficult for *everyone* to break out in the best European leagues, especially the Premiere. How long did it take Jamie Vardy, and he's a pretty serviceable player. And English as well.

But I think that playing regularly is more important than sitting on the bench of a big time team. So, if the MLS is where you can keep playing, than that's better than the alternative.

The US is in a bit of a conundrum. We need a top level domestic league (MLS) to best develop our talent. Since we don't have that, our players are better off playing abroad. With our best players playing abroad, MLS struggles to reach that level.

As MLS develops, hopefully more and more of our native talent will play here and improve the league. Eventually it will become on of the top leagues, it's just going to take a while. Until then, our young players have a difficult choice.

There are many Americans playing in Europe but it's hard to see since none of them play for the biggest clubs that are on TV all the time (e.g. Chelsea, Man City, Barcelona, Juventus). Americans are also up against a perception that the US is still not a "soccer country." If a European coach is given a choice between an American player and Argentinian player, both of equal skill and salary demands, the coach will take the Argentinian player 90% of the time. It's up to US players to change that perception by performing on the field when given the opportunity. The game at the youth level in the US is slowly changing. Based on what I have seen as a youth coach for the last 10 years, there is much more emphasis on "development" and not as much on winning. There is still a long way to go mind you but the top youth clubs are making a concerted effort to keep the focus on developing players. Layered on top of that are the MLS academies, many of which have become quite good at developing talent and either pushing those kids up to the senior team like Sean Davis at NY Red Bulls or selling them off to European teams like Matt Miazga to Chelsea. Over the next 10-20 years, almost all of the top level of young US players will not play in high school or college. They will either be in an MLS academy or a USSF academy club. We have to remember that Europe and South America have a 100-year head start on us. The US is developing more talent than ever. People just need to be patient.

OK, let's get serious. Many of the comments below walk past the bedrock reason more Americans don't play in the EPL, etc. Here are the reasons: multi billion dollar sports such as football, hockey, basketball, baseball and tennis. Simply saying soccer is "a better sport" or "the beautiful" game has appeal to those who, generally, grew up with it. Most Americans grew up with the sports mentioned above. Soccer/MLS is trying to create a separate path to the big leagues. This often involves notable expense and, perhaps more importantly, youth teams and leagues that NO ONE CARES ABOUT. Let's take High School basketball or football for example. Generally speaking this is where potential college players and pros play their developmental game. This is where social interaction occurs among other students. They know the players, they become attached to the sports beyond their own early experiences. Soccer wants to look to Europe and remove the stronger players from HS sports and put them on US Soccer Development Academy teams. Two things: 1) This is not Europe, Europe has no history of High School sports to speak of 2) While I am sure these teams do offer fine coaching, it is ABSOLUTELY part of a money making business for these coaches and these coaches are strong proponents of these leagues and teams for this reason. It is year round employment.
If soccer wants to cultivate organic enthusiasm for the game, place or train High School coaches, don't try and recreate Europe.

Unlike many European and South American countries, soccer in the United States is still in it’s infancy. The sport continues to grow, but the United States still manages to struggle whenever the most demanding competition arises. In order to improve the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT), there must be some cultural changes in the development of young players. These changes are seen in the trend of sending young players to Europe. This should ultimately improve the USMNT and allow for America to grow as a soccer playing nation. Unfortunately, there are difficulties for American players who must try to further their career abroad. Breaking into a high profile European team is never an easy task. Often, European talent tends to be more prepared for a first team breakthrough than some American players. Additionally, the quality of the game is on a significantly higher level than that of the MLS or collegiate leagues. In fact, it is astonishing that certain players such as Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard would return to the MLS. Dempsey, one of the more prolific goal scorers for the USMNT has had good spells in the Premier League, scoring over fifty goals for clubs including Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur. Playing in such a physical league has no doubt improved his skills. Experience at a high level of play is vital for young Americans to succeed in Europe. Sending young players directly into Europe’s top leagues will improve the quality of the USMNT.

It's all about SPEED + time allowed on the ball - watch an MLS game (inp person) & a La Liga(Serie A/Bundesliga/Premier League game (in person) and you'll immediately notice the players' pace & how fast space closes down. that's what JK knows the USMNT faces in int'l play (& it's not Frank Lampard)

One of the reasons why American soccer players find playing in the European stage difficult IS because Americans aren't associated with "the beautiful game". In American schools students some times face ridicule for playing soccer; nicknames like "grass fairy" or "twinkle toes" create an atmosphere where a choice has to be made. Play the game you love or face backlash. Americans play soccer with grit and more determination than due to the fact that he or she has to prove that the game being played is a game of warriors and champions. To make soccer more popular in america we have to fix the MLS create a new league of talented players and not a league for retired players. The potential for American greats to play In teams like Paris Saint Germane or Bayern Munich is there but a cultural change has to occur to make young and women turn to soccer and to experience the beautiful game first hand.

American players face unique challenges to break into European squads, most notably the restrictions that many leagues place on the number of non-EU players allowed per club. It's telling that a number of the Americans mentioned in this article benefitted from having EU citizenship through a parent or grandparent (Gooch: UK/Ireland; Miazga: Poland; Hyndman: Portugal; Pulisic: Croatia). Getting a work permit to the English FA is especially challenging. For non-EU players because they are required to play a minimum number of competitive matches with their senior national team in order to qualify for a work permit. This creates a chicken-and-egg dilemma for players who cannot break into Klinsmann's senior USA squad because they lack club experience in European leagues that won't admit them until they have played enough games for their national teams. Even Tim Howard (Hungary) and Deandre Yedlin (Latvia) had a "Plan B" for work permitting via their direct European links to fall back on if their work permits had been denied. How many talented American players can't break through into Europe largely because they can't help their case by holding an EU passport?

I would hardly characterize Miazga to Chelsea as a success. He played a grand total of two matches when injuries and suspension left them threadbare. He's far better off getting a regular run out at Utrecht than training and playing reserve matches at Chelsea. The same thing happened for Yedlin at Spurs (not to mention Demosey, who went from Europa League finalist at Fulham to afterthought at Spurs). If Yedlin plays regularly for Benitez at Newcastle, he'll be far more polshed than he's been, particularly in defense, his weakness.
A lot of this is the vagaries of who is managing the team. Nobody illustrates that better than Bradley, whose European career was so capriciously tossed and turned by management changes and jumps to clubs just above his capacity to break into.
On the first week of the Bundesliga season, Bobby Wood scored an excellent goal, running the inside right channel, taking in a pass, holding off an experienced defender before beating the keeper on the run. That was a big time goal. And it was a tougher goal to make than anything Jordan Morris has had to do for MLS playoff bubble team Seattle ( and the subject of a Times profile being said to be good at soccer).
John Anthony Brooks has profited handsomely by a steady hand at Hertha, and has improved by leaps and bounds the last two seasons. Playing in Europe, a player has no upper limit, not true in the slower, less skilled MLS game.

Until we create a cohesive system of player development, and we continue to rely on European clubs to do our development, we're going to be a second-tier soccer nation. We need an extensive soccer academy to develop players using a common approach, rather than the hodgepodge we have now with college systems, youth systems, club systems. Players should be taught the same concepts from their earliest age all the up the ladder. And MLS clubs should have developmental academies themselves, like European clubs do. This way, American players can develop consistently here at home, instead of having to go abroad. Sure, playing in Europe should be an option, but it shouldn't be doing our work for us.

Good article. The MLS is a joke. Playing at the wrong time of year, with retreads and old men from Europe. The only way we complete on the world stage is to complete via Europe and its time zone and against them. Otherwise we will always be second tier.

Anyone actually watching Christian Pulisic play would not describe him as "not an impact player."

Sad to see that European attitudes haven't changed as US players are in their third decade of meaningful contributions there.