http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/06/christian_pulisic_us_soccer.htmlThere's a stereotype of the American player. Olsen, who embodied it, knows it as a sort of England-lite – hardworking, not particularly skilled or artistic, coachable – and lite.
Though fading, it's real.
"I notice it less and less, is what I would say, each couple of years," Burke said.
Stereotypical American players do not become No. 10s. Systematically and directly, the country has insisted on it.
Pre-USSDA, the imbalance of games instead of practices made it too easy for coaches to emphasize winning what were relatively meaningless youth tournaments in the short term, over longterm player development. Trophy chasing incentivized excessively direct soccer, leaving even less of a place for vision or vibrant passing.
An overmatched and underprepared team drops players deeper in defense, launches passes to the two or three attackers it leaves upfield and, tactically speaking, just hopes for the best.
The lengthened game leaves a void for the undersized-but-sly player. His knack for gliding into space unseen loses utility when his teammates, out of habit, don't bother to look at it.
Good article, as much about the youth development system as Pulisic himself.