***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***

[dafarmer]

I am actually rooting for England now...I've got like 15% English blood or something in me.

Bellingham and Kane...what a combination those guys are.

Irish blood, will never root for England.

 

[jdoggivjc]

But if this is the case, why is it only impeding our success in soccer? Youth baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, hockey etc. is also just a cash sucking machine. We have structured youth sports across the board to maximize profit. We still compete and win at the highest level internationally in all those sports. Soccer is the lone outlier.

You do realize the rest of the world is catching up to us in basketball and baseball, and while we own the gold in hockey from these Olympics, we're essentially level with Canada and many other nations aren't far behind?

How many of the last #1 draft picks and draft picks overall have come from Europe? Universities are also recruiting Europe hard for those that aren't ready to go to the NBA. Sure, it might take another generation or two for other countries to come level with the USA in basketball, but the gap has definitely narrowed, especially when you compare it to the Dream Team era. Hell - Kobe Bryant WARNED everyone that the AAU system was going to destroy America's dominance in basketball. It hasn't yet, but that gap has narrowed.

For baseball, the world's best player is Japanese. Sure, that's a freak generational talent, but there hasn't even been a clear cut dominance over Latin American players for decades now.

And if you need the most prevalent example: women's soccer. USA owned that for decades because it was the #1 women's sport in America and few countries ever invested in it. That is not the case anymore, and the USWNT winning the World Cup every cycle is now far from a foregone conclusion.