I think it's hilarious that the USA did not qualify, but there are other sides that did not, including the Dutch and maybe the Argies. However, USA has no significant talents other than Pulisic, so I'm not surprised at this. We utilize our college programs to develop young players, but they are already 21 years old or so by the time they graduate and make a career of it. In football hotbeds all over the world, kids sign with club academies at a very early age, and many benefit in their development as players by doing so.
Heck, we are not even developing top goalkeeper talent any more.
DeAndre Yedlin is pretty decent, but other than that, I agree with everything else.
There's just no interest in developing kids, nor interest from kids taking up the sport. This is why I asked about the naturalization process, as I don't know how it works.
Also, I think the key here is indeed Christian Pulisic. Kid is 19 and in the football world, he's already making a buzz. If he could (and he can) make an international buzz in the next four years, make a lot of money, be an international face of football, be marketed as a top athlete, he could carry along the sport with him. A lot of ifs, but it's doable.
But he won't do that in Borussia Dortmund, unfortunately, he needs to be really good, and be good enough to move to a giant club that can market him well.