Seven cracks in U.S. soccer that derail World Cup runs
A postmortem on the U.S. men’s World Cup exit argues seven structural flaws—pay-to-play youth development and limited public-school pathways, uneven grassroots coaching, no clear tactical identity, competition from other American sports, lack of a game-changing star, an insufficiently challenging schedule, and a controversial Balogun incident—left the team short of advancing beyond the round of 16 despite hosting and a Europe-based roster under Mauricio Pochettino.