Is Arsene Wenger the right man to overhaul U.S. Soccer?
Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros of The Cooligans discuss some of the things the U.S. Men's National Team needs to improve the most before the 2030 World Cup. Check out the full conversation on the "The Cooligans" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , or wherever you listen .
Video Transcript
Arsne Wenger recently took a trip to US Soccer and they released a statement together, which is that they need to find a way to make youth development more equitable across everyone, not just those that can afford it.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm not trying to sound like Mamdani or nothing- but I do, I do think everybody needs to be able to afford to play soccer, and that means probably we make it free.
So for me, let Arsne Wenger completely overhaul the system here.
And we're seeing the quote, you know, "I felt people from a poor background had no real access to the game."
Yeah.
Wenger has not been here that long and he saw it.
It's not fair.
And, we're seeing that, and like he says, football across the world, people of all, of all levels, of all economic, backgrounds get a chance to play.
In fact, the majority of players come from poor backgrounds.
Not to suggest that that makes you a better player or anything, but it, it's access to everybody, and I think that needs, that's what needs to change.
We have 330 million people here.
You know, we have like a high protein diet at a young age, which creates relatively athletic youngsters, and we see it in youth development how American players stand out till right around the 16, 17 years old.
And then all of a sudden it drops off a cliff, and the reason is, is they're not getting the right coaching, they're not getting access to the academies.
And once, once the players of, around the world that have access to that level of coaching start to continue to develop, we stop because we're not just faster and taller than everybody else anymore.
