Christian Pulisic: grew up in a European system. Properly brought up through the youths and in to the first team at a club that values youth and development in one of the best leagues in the world.
Large group of players: grow up in mls acadamies then go on to the mls team and play against poor competition with poor coaching and sit behind aging former stars that don’t give a **** about anything except living in LA and getting their check that is 100X bigger than everyone elses. May eventually go to a Championship side in England that has no goal other than making it to the top flight and can’t afford to lose any points so there is no emphasis on development.
Some other players: grow up in US club system and then eventually go back to Mexico and play against poor competition and get poor coaching with the goal of coming to MLS on a non minimum contract.
Small group of players: have name recognition young and then go to a giant club like psg or Barca as a kid and get lost in the shuffle and then progressively make their way around Europe to lesser and lesser leagues not getting any development or solidifying a place at a club.
On top of all this is the real problem of MLS and the fed working in unison to underhandedly get preference for MLS based players getting in to the NT which really stymies players from taking a chance and going to a good developmental club in Germany or France or any number of countries that value development and youth. As long as the easiest path to the NT is through MLS and MLS continues to be what it is then we will not be good.
End rant.
MLS is both the problem and the solution with the national team. The problem is that MLS teams like to throw money at the Altidores and the Bradleys, while also bringing in foreign DP's at attacking positions the US is traditionally weak at. MLS academies ARE apart of the solution, and we're already seeing the fruits of that at youth levels, and seeing a shift in mindset from MLS clubs on the whole. Talented American youth are going to MLS academies now, and the the cream are going to Europe from those academies with few exceptions. Gloster, Soto, Sargent, Richards, McKennie and even Pulisic grew up in MLS or DA system academies before making the jump to Europe. Adams thrived in MLS before going to Europe, as will Paxton Pomykal. Players of lesser talent will remain in MLS, or go to Liga MX or what have you, but those players will be in the fringes of the national team moving forward.
Clearly the national team values players that succeed in Europe, there just aren't enough of them at the moment. There's no conspiracy to choose MLS players. There's probably nepotism in the leadership and bias towards players they're familiar with (poor Danny Williams) but the main reason there's so many subpar MLS players in the national team right now is because there aren't enough good players in the pool, period. If there were 20 more Pulisics, McKennies, Adams, Brooks, Yedlins and Miazgas out there, guys like Wil Trapp would only be around for January camp. But since there are only a handful of quality players (I named them all), this is what we get. Gregg bringing Tyler Boyd and Duane Holmes into the team shows he knows he needs more talent in this pool.