[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Let's be fair, any squad would have had problems replacing an arguably Top 5 all time player.

Oh, of course, but that's my point - Portugal, Argentina, France, Brazil, Germany, Spain are thought of as light years ahead of us, but there's still luck in getting a Zidane, Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi, etc. And even in those countries infrastructure, you still get huge surprises like a Drogba or Klose who develops via a non-traditional path. People want to pretend there's clear evidence of consistent improvement, but that's not how international soccer works - sometimes you get lucky and get a world-class talent or generation that matches together well, sometimes even the best nations go through droughts. I do like the improvements in youth development, but our improvement internationally is going to be measured in fits and starts, not some consistent measurable baseline, especially if people really only use World Cup results as their evidence.

Originally Posted by whomario

Maybe i phrased that wrongly, i´ll try again

This is exactly why you need to be ready to play a style of football that is viable at the top stages for when you have the talent available. And ideally, the current generation already plays a modern style and plays against decent competition. It is a process.

Fact remains also, that you can´t expect to beat teams with 80% of the players in one the best 25 or so clubs in the world, when your own team includes maybe 1 or 2 of those players. It is not about having 2 or 3 world class players, but you need the majority of your team to have at least "international class".
Of course it is great for the MLS when guys stay there or come back, but longterm for the national side it would be better if only rarely a player between age 21 and 30 had to be chosen from the MLS IMO.

Colombian players also have begun to Europe much more frequently i would bet, as have chilean players probably. A Vidal did not go to Europe as a finished player, either.

And as for the tactical side or the "culture": This needs to go by the trickle-down-effect. The national team has to embrace modern style of play to give young MLS guys the oportunity to play that system against international competition, to give young technical players a goal to achieve and an oportunity within the youth system

I guess I just disagree with you on what constitutes a "modern style". A pressing, counter-attacking team in the Mourinho or Beilsa mode is a timeless style, and if anything we took a step back towards bunkering this World Cup. Some of our older teams like 2002 actually played more possession-based football and had players better equipped to break down a settled defense, but at its base it was still a team that was all about being defensively sound and then scoring with speed off counters or on set pieces. Yes, we need a couple better players, but that style is effective and can win world cups.

I also think you underrate MLS as a league for players to develop in. Brian McBride, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan all improved their international reputation (and bank account balances) when they played in the EPL, but they developed here in America and moved to a situation when and where they could get consistent playing time. People are in love with the potential of Green, Yedlin, and Brooks, and I hope I'm wrong, but odds are that this will be the high point of the career for at least one of them. Yes, there is a level where they should move on from the MLS, but whether they are in Bayern Munich's reserves or playing regularly in MLS at age 21 isn't going to be the deciding factor. Throw in Llegett or Gyau or Nagbe or Fagundez or Parker or Zelalem or whoever is the next flavor of the month future USMNT savior people want to talk about.