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[quote=Anonymous]College soccer isn't conducive to producing pro-players. At least not at an international level.

I'd argue that the US Women are going to start feeling this more as well.

The MLS Academy programs are still relatively young when compared to the rest of the world and aren't nearly enough for a country of our size and population, but at least it's something.

Most of the US sports progression has been HS->College->Pro. This works internally and is probably the right path for most kids who won't become professional athletes, but from a pure player development standpoint doesn't work as well internationally. Look at the number of international players starting to dominate in sports we've traditionally been world leaders on, now that they are starting to become popular there (basketball, baseball, etc.)

The fact is we don't really haven't had a good model in the US previously for a strictly pro development pathway like some other countries have had for decades, and most of those other systems are tied directly to their pro teams, like the MLS Academy model. I'm not as familiar with baseball but their minor league system may also be a good example.

But all of this takes money, which is where the pay-to-play model has really hurt us. The MLS only has so much to go around and the USSF has peanuts compared to some of the other FAs. [/quote]

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