These European countries are identifying the best-of-the-best at an extremely early age and are spending 15 years training them professionally. That just isn't happening here. Sure, we have tons of kids playing club soccer. But how many of our most elite athletes are taking it up full time and receiving the type of training the Europeans are?
I think our reality is we have to just keep hoping European raised kids with ties to America continue to want to play for our national team. Because developing talent herein the US is just way too far behind. We've wound up with a few mid-level European trained players, and backfilling with average MLS guys. That just isn't going to work.