The Future Of Soccer In The United States

What would it take for the United States to become a world soccer powerhouse? We'll kick it around.

World Cup fever has hit, of all places, the United States of America.  The big global latecomer to soccer.  Millions of American hearts went way up the Amazon Sunday night for the heartbreaking tie with Portugal.  Millions celebrated the nifty first game win over Ghana.  Millions more will tune in tomorrow for the big game with Germany.  Team USA is performing better than expected.  Of course, US women took the World Cup in ’91, ’99.  What would it take to put US men’s soccer firmly up in that top tier?  This hour, On Point:  World Cup fever, and building an American soccer powerhouse.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Andrew Das, assistant sports editor for the New York Times. (@AndrewDasNYT)

Paul Kennedy, Editor-in-chief and General Manager of Soccer America, a US Soccer magazine. (@pkedit)

Andrew Lewellen, writer for Grantland and former college soccer player. (@AndrewHLewellen)

Mike Burns, general manager for the New England Revolution.

New York Times: How Jurgen Klinsmann Plans to Make U.S. Soccer Better (and Less American) — "'We cannot win this World Cup, because we are not at that level yet,' Klinsmann told me over lunch in December. 'For us, we have to play the game of our lives seven times to win the tournament.'"

Fusion: When the U.S. Made A Baby Step in Basel — "As good as the Swiss looked against Austria was as bad as they looked against the U.S. Only 16,500 showed up in the Herzog & de Meuron-designed St. Jakob’s Park—all the starchitecture was in Basel—and they booed their team off at half time and full time. Michael Bradley scored the only goal in the eighty-sixth minute in an ugly game but a brave performance for the U.S. team. Winning ugly was something it needed to learn how to do—the hell with wining over new fans."

The Wall Street Journal: At World Cup, South America Is Ascendant -- "South American sides haven't had the pleasure of playing on home soil since 1978, and they are taking full advantage of it. Thursday, Uruguay pushed England to the brink of elimination with a 2-1 win that came just hours after Colombia notched a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast in front of thousands of delirious yellow-and-blue clad fans at Estadio Nacional in Brasilia."