CANADA AND THE USA LEAVING EL TRI BEHIND IN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Whether we want to admit it or not, USA soccer is doing something right. Not only has the MLS grown in popularity, the level of the league is rapidly growing. They are also exporting youth to the old country at an accelerated rate. El Tri is in danger of falling horribly behind not only their arch nemesis, but also their neighbors to the far north, Canada.
Recently released numbers indicate that the USA is 6th in the world in nations with the most U21 minutes played in the Top 5 European Leagues this season. The Top 5 Leagues being the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), The Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), and The Serie A (Italy). The USA only trails these leagues home nations, trailing Germany by only 2878 minutes.
If those numbers aren’t worrying enough, the Americans more than doubled Brazil in the same category and are the top nation from the Americas in the same category. More worrying may be the fact that another CONCACAF nation is also in the Top 3, Canada.
If you look at the current standings of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, those two nations are currently in first and second place, both having beaten Mexico in the last round of qualifying.
More troubling should be the fact that El Tri ranks 5th in CONCACAF Nations with most goals & assists in the Top 5 European Leagues, behind Honduras, Canada, Jamaica, and, you guessed it, the Yankees.
El Tri needs to change its business model if it doesn’t want a repeat of the 2002 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers where El Vasco Aguirre had to come in and agonizingly qualify Mexico to the World Cup, or the 2014 cycle where it took the USA beating Panama to get La Seleccion to the repechaje match against New Zealand.
Canada has copied the US’s model and is on track to qualify for its first World Cup since 1986. The Canadiens have used the MLS to get its players to European clubs as have Argentina and Brazil.
While much is made of the USMNT not qualifying to the 2018 World Cup, they obviously learned their lesson. Does Mexico need to suffer the same fate before it changes its ways?
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El Tri Online was founded in December 2017 to serve English-speaking fans of Mexican Soccer. Our mission is to create compelling Mexican soccer content and share it via our website, streaming apps, social media, and any other medium for English-dominant Mexican-American fans of the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, and their players.
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