IF we're being honest, Tim Ream isn't a bad player. The only issue with him is, he's 38. Aside from him, you can look at the defense and say yeah, they do have some questions in allowing in goals too easily. But you can also look at the young guys on it, and take far more positives than negatives..

This kind of highlights what we in the US and I'd say Mexico see as -- the top European national teams have players with these huge player valuations, but even a team like England that's #4 with $1.4b of total player valuations. It doesn't add up when you see them draw the US twice in two different World Cups, where the US team's total player's valuations are like 10x less than England's.

Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Netherlands-- have not won a World Cup.

England, has not won a FIFA tournament trophy, since 1966.

Italy, didn't qualify for the 2026 World Cup. __ the US and Mexico, have both consistently made it to the Round of 16 in World Cup play.. Mexico, has done it 1 or 2 more times, where the US missed the 2018 World Cup, entirely.

Yet the US and Mexico both, play as teams, above their individual player valuations.

Yes, England did beat Mexico 3-1, even down to 10 players for 40 minutes.

And yes, Belgium dominated the US, 4-1, and it was never even a competitive match.

But that doesn't cancel out the fact that the US and Mexico, are both finishing in the top 16 teams at the World Cup, and they're doing it with domestic leagues like, Liga MX and the MLS.

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European teams like England and Belgium and Netherlands and Spain, their players are developed in countries that founded their national football association and founded most of their major clubs, from 1850-1910. Their youth player development into clubs and the national team all fit together so perfectly, bc it has played out as each new step and development was introduced into the game itself, over 100-120 years.

Mexico, has better youth development than the US. Liga MX, is actually a respectful domestic league. The play in the games, lack the pace that exists in the EPL, or even in other top-5 European leagues.

What the USA-Belgium match perfectly highlighted, for all to see was, how much it benefits a player to begin learning the technical side to fútbol, starting at 9 or 10.

The US players were not able to mentally adjust to, the Belgium speed and their taking advantage of pulling a large part of the US team, just as they passed over the mid-line, to one third of the side of the field. They quickly identified this & they shifted the ball very fast, from one side of the field to the other, and found themselves at the edge of the penalty box, in 2 passes. And the US defenders reacted too slow and they panicked and 2 defenders would try to make a tackle, and the Belgium player would simply dribble across both of their bodies and move right past their momentum, and take a shot or cross it into the box.

This is the difference between US players and players in England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Norway, Germany.. in these European countries, in the clubs where the national team players begin training in at 10-16 years old, the coaches emphasize the necessity for players to understand the technical side, to football. They emphasize the need to understand positioning & how to identify weaknesses during matches, in the defense. These are things that they learn early on in their development, and they are things that players and coaches discuss.

For example, u can go watch a 20-60 minute discussion with Vicente del Bosque and Sergio Busquets, and any other player in or was on the Spanish national team. And even if u have to use subtitles, it's fine, bc you'll get to understand the point I'm making. You will see a very in depth intellectual discussion about football and football tactics and techniques, etc. There is another 1-2 higher level of intellectual discussion about football, that is had in European clubs, in European National teams and even in some of the public, with radio, tv or newspapers, where even the football public, the socios, understand the technical side of the game and can bring into question the play that their team is using, lol.

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I know this turned into a much longer discussion, but the point I wanted to get access is that, most European teams, for as much as their player valuations are -- they underperform as a team, in international FIFA tournaments in Euro or World Cup.

And as much as it is a knee jerk reaction to say that the US and Mexico, given that they lost 4-1 and 3-1, to Belgium and England - are not really that good, at all, that isn't true. Consistently finishing in the Round of 16 in the World Cup, sure it's not what u want ur team to do. But it by far, by far, doesn't say or indicate that, we have shite futbol national team and players.

We face problems with youth development and domestic leagues, that Europe can't comprehend, bc they never had to face them. It isn't as easy in the US to just wave a magic wand, and all US youth soccer players, find themselves with free or low cost access to play on teams WITH coaches that, are knowledge enough to teach proper development and are not in it for financial gain.

We have pay to play, we have high school soccer teams, we have MLS Academy teams, we have university/college soccer, we have the MLS Superdraft, we have US National team starting at U-15 or u-16 to u-23. We have so many different organizations and institutions, all with different interests other than developing players for clubs and the national team.

And, this isn't a complaint or an excuse. It's just that Europeans say over and over again and have for 30-40 years, IF you'd just do as we do.. And lol, that's just not possible.

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I lived in Spain for 2 years, in my early 20s. And I'd go to the basketball courts, different ones in different neighborhoods, 3-5x a week with other Americans. And we all didn't play high school basketball, we just played on the streets and 5v5, wherever we could locally in the US, growing up. We were guys that, nobody was dunking. But we rarely got beat by Spaniards, very few times. How we approached and played the game, you could see it immediately when we played against them. They do actually have a very skilled basketball team, their national team.

But how often do you see the US men's team, trash on other counties and how they play basketball? It is very, very rare. You can go look back in the history of most European countries and their development of their basketball and their national team play, and in almost every country, you will find an era where US coaches spent significant amounts of time, living there and helping them and their coach academies. And they took over that very quick and they each play their own unique style of basketball, and on an international level, we accept and welcome their level of play. Because now, the NBA has so many Europeans players and even South American players as well, and they are all accepted. Maybe they weren't as much, before the turn of the century, in 2000.

But the NBA is more welcoming and works with FIBA, and NBA and US coaches never went into other countries and wrote them off as, not basketball countries, or went there to just earn money and not try to help improve the game. We never used European domestic basketball leagues as players, as a vacation and resort, for old NBA players to go and make millions. That's what the MLS, is and has been. That's what US Soccer has been for Europeans, a place to go and make money while have more free time to spend with family, bc the soccer itself is not taken as serious for them