Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
Historically, the United States Men’s National soccer team has had a golden generation of players from Spain, Germany, France, and Brazil, which eventually turned into a World Cup-winning team. Three years ago, US Soccer suffered a significant blow when in October 2017, the United States lost to last-place Trinidad and Tobago in the final match of qualification. This result allowed Panama to get an automatic qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. For the first time since 1986, the United States Men’s Soccer Team failed to qualify for a World Cup. Former USMNT player and soccer analyst Janusz Michallik, who played for the US national team from 1991-1994, said, “I think it’s in transition, it’s obvious in a rebuild after the unsuccessful World Cup qualifying.” Since then, there has been a complete change to the federation and player development as we are seeing more American players playing in the bigger soccer clubs in the world.
In the summer of 2020, American Defender Sergino Dest joined La Liga side FC Barcelona for a 24-million-dollar transfer. Dest was born in Almere, Netherlands, the son of a Dutch mother and Surinamese American father. After joining FC Barcelona last month, Sergino Dest made history by becoming the first American player to feature in Barcelona’s competitive match. Sooner rather than later, an American player for FC Barcelona. Michallik said, “I knew it was going to take, but I don’t know how much time, but I’m surprised to have this success because again, this is still the beginning.” According to US Soccer, Dest became the fifth US player to appear in Spanish League Top Division. “Soccer is not the biggest sport in the US, so hopefully, we as a generation can let it grow and get more fans from the US that will support us in soccer, making soccer a little bigger in the US,” Dest said in an ESPN interview.
The 9-time Serie A champion Juventus also announced the signing of American Midfielder, Weston McKennie from German side FC Schalke 04. McKennie became the first United States player to sign for Juventus. According to the Associated Press, McKennie said, “The idea of coming to play here, in a club with a great history, immediately thrilled me.” McKennie joined Schalke U19s, a German first division club in 2016, where the academy developed four 2014 FIFA World Cup winners from Germany. “Having the opportunity to wear this shirt, representing my country and bringing young Americans closer to football make me proud,” McKennie said in an interview with sbisoccer.com. “We have players not only in Europe because back then have had players in Europe like Tab Ramos, playing in the second division in Spain, Peter Vermes was there as well, and Johnny Harkes was in England but look at it now, the Pulisic’s, McKennie’s. Not only how many of these players but the type of clubs they are playing for, which was unthinkable,” Michallik said.
These are only two examples of the incredible pool of talent playing in Europe. Some notable mentions were 18-year-old Giovani Reyna, who plays for Borussia Dortmund(Germany), and 22-year-old Christian Pulisic, who plays for Chelsea FC(England). “It’s always going to take a catalyst, and maybe Christian (Pulisic) was the catalyst, and probably some others deserve mention. I just thought this would happen because I have been around so long in this, and I always seen tremendous amount of talent. It’s just the European countries were skeptical. As Major League Soccer was growing, everybody started respecting that a little bit,” Michallik said.
USMNT has had great players like Eric Wynalda, Kasey Keller, Claudio Reyna, and many more that laid the foundation for the new generation. Looking back, the United States Men’s Soccer Team failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2017, but as we have seen from the past and new history, there is a bright future for US Soccer. Michallik said, “A new generation starting to come in, and it’s a transition, it’s a new manager Gregg Berhalter, and we have to give them time.”
