I had this debate with a fellow diehard Arsenal fan and buddy before the WC started. He believes that the path to success comes through MLS and building out the academies, which we've really only started to scratch the surface on. I couldn't agree or disagree at the time and my hypothesis was mostly centered around soccer needing to become more popular domestically, even by a few % points, and we'll organically get to where we need to go over the next 3-5 WC cycles (mostly propelled by a social media era WC on home soil). In more relection, I do think we have the infrastructure now to really propel this via the MLS academy system....IF done right. Currently, we're pretending it's there when it's simply not. If we were to couple an NIL type funding system through the USSF with significant funding and build out that youth system, I think we get there. I just don't have faith in USSF leadership to get us there anytime soon.

fig96 said:

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JimJonesAg11 said:

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birdman said:

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People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

This makes no sense, they have Pro/Rel in places like Brazil for example which is a huge country land wise.

---

The investments and structure of MLS don't allow for pro/rel, all the teams are controlled centrally by the league and teams wouldn't be sustainable bouncing between divisions.

---

If Houston Dynamo was relegated to USL and San Antonio was promoted from USL to MLS right now, there would be more risk for ownership and maybe more investment.. there would be economic impacts and perhaps more investment. ...but I think the cart is way before the horse on this idea. The sport needs to increase in popularity by a large margin. USL clubs and player salaries (if they have any?) needs to be viable.

Mathguy64 said:

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birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

Geographic size has nothing to do with it.

It's the franchise model that MLS (and every other pro sports league in the US) uses.

No ownership group would be ok with paying $500MM -$1B in franchise fees to buy into a league to suddenly be kicked down.

Pro/Rel just isn't ever happening here.

---

If anybody wants an example of what can happen to your club under pro/reg, read up on Leicester City. They shockingly won the Premier League 10 years ago and just got relegated to the 3rd division this past season. It's a complete financial disaster. Revenues drop drastically (TV revenues alone see a steep drop when get relegated from the premier league) and players typically have deeply discounted release clauses when their club is relegated.

No way US owners agree to this sort of system, especially not at the prices they are paying.

zgolfz85 said:

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YouBet said:

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We were not athleted and we are not out skilled. We simply **** the bed on the biggest stage and did not show up.

We played other teams Belgium has played equal or better than they did. There is not that big of a drop off from our R32 to R16 quality.

Three of those goals were practically own goals because our players just went totally brain dead.

The problem is way more due to mental prep than anything physical. For whatever reason, we weren't mentally ready and that was 100% plain as day.

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100%. It's being overthunk by most. We laid an egg. The fact we weren't mentally prepared makes me think the Balogun drama played a role.....because alternatively, I just can't picture a world where Poch wouldn't have these guys mentally prepared. The R32 game and R16 games from a mental perspective shouldn't have been monumentally different. Maybe the March friendly played into it as well, as well as the unfortunate history we've had against Belgium. But, more than anything, we just laid an egg. It was our random 30 point loss in a 7 game NBA playoff series. Just outta nowhere.

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On a good night where everything went our way we'd have a shot, and that was not last night.

Belgium is a clearly superior team on paper. Any one of their starting 11 would start over ours, save for maybe Jedi and Richards.

Mental prep is one of those things we can debate all night with no real knowledge of what was actually going on in the locker room. But whatever the reason we came out flat, went down early, came back then immediately lost focus and never recovered from there.

ccaggie05 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

---

birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

Geographic size has nothing to do with it.

It's the franchise model that MLS (and every other pro sports league in the US) uses.

No ownership group would be ok with paying $500MM -$1B in franchise fees to buy into a league to suddenly be kicked down.

Pro/Rel just isn't ever happening here.

---

If anybody wants an example of what can happen to your club under pro/reg, read up on Leicester City. They shockingly won the Premier League 10 years ago and just got relegated to the 3rd division this past season. It's a complete financial disaster. Revenues drop drastically (TV revenues alone see a steep drop when get relegated from the premier league) and players typically have deeply discounted release clauses when their club is relegated.

No way US owners agree to this sort of system, especially not at the prices they are paying.

---

So King Power will take that risk but US owners wont', would actually require them to give a ***** sigh

oh no said:

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fig96 said:

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JimJonesAg11 said:

---

birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

This makes no sense, they have Pro/Rel in places like Brazil for example which is a huge country land wise.

---

The investments and structure of MLS don't allow for pro/rel, all the teams are controlled centrally by the league and teams wouldn't be sustainable bouncing between divisions.

---

If Houston Dynamo was relegated to USL and San Antonio was promoted from USL to MLS right now, there would be more risk for ownership and maybe more investment.. there would be economic impacts and perhaps more investment. ...but I think the cart is way before the horse on this idea. The sport needs to increase in popularity by a large margin. USL clubs and player salaries (if they have any?) needs to be viable.

---

It's more complicated than that though, the existing MLS model is centrally owned. That means the league technically owns all the teams and owners pay massive fees for franchise rights, not to mention get tax breaks for stadiums and infrastructure.

On the second division side there's a few USL teams like San Antonio that have made investments to facilities but most haven't to a large extent and couldn't support the scale up.

It's a cool idea, it's just never going to happen.

YouBet said:

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The problem is way more due to mental prep than anything physical. For whatever reason, we weren't mentally ready and that was 100% plain as day.

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I can only imagine what it's like to create an entire game plan around a player not being there for 5 and a half days and then trying to put that toothpaste back in the tube 24 hours out.

Yeah, I'd agreem but we gotta get the kids into the system right around their fish year in high school. And not a glorified club team with a licensed logo. A real, actual professional development system focused on player, skill and knowledge development over wins and losses.

ccaggie05 said:

---

Mathguy64 said:

---

birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

Geographic size has nothing to do with it.

It's the franchise model that MLS (and every other pro sports league in the US) uses.

No ownership group would be ok with paying $500MM -$1B in franchise fees to buy into a league to suddenly be kicked down.

Pro/Rel just isn't ever happening here.

---

If anybody wants an example of what can happen to your club under pro/reg, read up on Leicester City. They shockingly won the Premier League 10 years ago and just got relegated to the 3rd division this past season. It's a complete financial disaster. Revenues drop drastically (TV revenues alone see a steep drop when get relegated from the premier league) and players typically have deeply discounted release clauses when their club is relegated.

No way US owners agree to this sort of system, especially not at the prices they are paying.

---

But also the entire business model is different in England. There are almost 100 pro teams, and almost every pro team has an academy where player solidarity payments (domestic and international) can be used to offset some costs.

Even little ole troussard was having his way last night

With a very humiliating loss 4-1 loss to Belgium, all three host nations are eliminated. Several factors are commonly cited as explaining why the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) has historically lagged behind soccer powers such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, and France.

1. Soccer competes with other major sports
In many countries, soccer attracts most of the top young athletes. In the U.S., elite athletes often choose American football, basketball, baseball, or hockey instead, which spreads talent across multiple sports.

2. The "pay-to-play" youth system
For many years, top youth soccer in the U.S. required families to pay substantial club, travel, and tournament costs. Critics argue that this excludes talented players from lower-income backgrounds and reduces the overall talent pool.

3. Later professional development
Top soccer nations often place elite prospects in professional club academies during their mid-teens. Historically, many American players followed a college route, which some analysts believe is less effective for developing world-class soccer talent.

4. Soccer culture and experience
Countries with long soccer traditions have generations of coaches, academies, and highly competitive environments. The U.S. soccer ecosystem is younger and still developing compared with nations where soccer is the dominant sport.

5. Development-system issues
Some observers have argued that American youth soccer has focused too much on winning youth games, structured play, and tournaments rather than creativity, technical skill, and long-term player development.

The U.S. has plenty of athletes and resources, but historical issues in youth development, talent identification, and competition from other sports have made it harder to reach the level of the world's top soccer nations.

Who?mikejones! said:

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Yeah, I'd agreem but we gotta get the kids into the system right around their fish year in high school. And not a glorified club team with a licensed logo. A real, actual professional development system focused on player, skill and knowledge development over wins and losses.

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MLS is doing this and it starts earlier. But it's still relatively new (in the grand scheme). We're seeing some players come out of it.

Enrico Pallazzo said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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Yeah, I'd agreem but we gotta get the kids into the system right around their fish year in high school. And not a glorified club team with a licensed logo. A real, actual professional development system focused on player, skill and knowledge development over wins and losses.

---

MLS is doing this and it starts earlier. But it's still relatively new (in the grand scheme). We're seeing some players come out of it.

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Mls is doing this at like age 10 now, and has been for close to a decade. It takes a while for this to build up
We still have a long way to go with scouting and player identification, and not every club does a good job of this either.

tysker said:

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ccaggie05 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

---

birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

Geographic size has nothing to do with it.

It's the franchise model that MLS (and every other pro sports league in the US) uses.

No ownership group would be ok with paying $500MM -$1B in franchise fees to buy into a league to suddenly be kicked down.

Pro/Rel just isn't ever happening here.

---

If anybody wants an example of what can happen to your club under pro/reg, read up on Leicester City. They shockingly won the Premier League 10 years ago and just got relegated to the 3rd division this past season. It's a complete financial disaster. Revenues drop drastically (TV revenues alone see a steep drop when get relegated from the premier league) and players typically have deeply discounted release clauses when their club is relegated.

No way US owners agree to this sort of system, especially not at the prices they are paying.

---

But also the entire business model is different in England. There are almost 100 pro teams, and almost every pro team has an academy where player solidarity payments (domestic and international) can be used to offset some costs.

---

Yup, the overhaul it would take to make pro/rel remotely feasible in the US is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. It's just not gonna happen.

Right, as posted above, I'm very familiar with the MLS programs due a close friend. By "grand scheme", my point is that a decade is not that long. However, it isn't going to be some magic bullet for USMNT. I think it will continue to be a very slow benefit grind, but culturally, I don't see anything bridging us to elite status. This is stuff that will help us be relevant (which we are now) but not upper tier.

Enrico Pallazzo said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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Yeah, I'd agreem but we gotta get the kids into the system right around their fish year in high school. And not a glorified club team with a licensed logo. A real, actual professional development system focused on player, skill and knowledge development over wins and losses.

---

MLS is doing this and it starts earlier. But it's still relatively new (in the grand scheme). We're seeing some players come out of it.

---

it's tough though. one of my sons played on a USDA team in it's final years and played with a bunch of players that moved over to MLS Next Plus academy teams after DA went under. He had a teammate whose whole family moved from Laredo to Houston just be on the DA team, then the kid made the Austin FC MLS academy so the whole family moved to Austin. Then the kid got cut the next year because Austin FC brought in some teenagers from Argentina and Chile. Even if that kid had made it to the level of making a youth international team, he would have chosen Mex over USA anyway. I think most of Houston Dynamo's MLS Next + teams would choose Mexico.

Howard and Donovan discussing last night's match live for anyone interested.

fig96 said:

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tysker said:

---

ccaggie05 said:

---

Mathguy64 said:

---

birdman said:

---

People want relegation in American soccer. It's never going to happen. When the EPL was founded, they were in serious discussions to have no relegation. The US market is too vast to make relegation work.

All of the teams in English Premiere League would fit in the size of Louisiana.

---

Geographic size has nothing to do with it.

It's the franchise model that MLS (and every other pro sports league in the US) uses.

No ownership group would be ok with paying $500MM -$1B in franchise fees to buy into a league to suddenly be kicked down.

Pro/Rel just isn't ever happening here.

---

If anybody wants an example of what can happen to your club under pro/reg, read up on Leicester City. They shockingly won the Premier League 10 years ago and just got relegated to the 3rd division this past season. It's a complete financial disaster. Revenues drop drastically (TV revenues alone see a steep drop when get relegated from the premier league) and players typically have deeply discounted release clauses when their club is relegated.

No way US owners agree to this sort of system, especially not at the prices they are paying.

---

But also the entire business model is different in England. There are almost 100 pro teams, and almost every pro team has an academy where player solidarity payments (domestic and international) can be used to offset some costs.

---

Yup, the overhaul it would take to make pro/rel remotely feasible in the US is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. It's just not gonna happen.

---

It's also a cultural thing. Countries with relegation are more of a collective culture in general. We are the gold standard of meritocracy, individualistic cultures. To voluntarily open your team up to relegation to the point you could just freefall into total irrelevant oblivion is not in our cultural DNA.

Yes, it's a grind. These Texas MLS programs in particular are definitely pulling from latin american countries and can be blockers for American players. After 4 years with FC Dallas, our friends sent their 16 year old to live in Cincy, mostly on his own although his mom spent a ton of time there with him his first year. Big sacrifice for a family. Ultimately paid off as he got into a high profile college he wouldn't have otherwise and with a path to professional soccer. But there are all sorts of derailers that can happen

YouBet said:

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Max Power said:

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I know there's probably plenty of the posters here that understand how the system works better than I do, and I'm sure things vary geographically, but we've seen an unintended impact of how some of this works. My daughter is 10 and we basically had to stop playing soccer because it's no longer fun for her anymore. Even at the recreational level where I live in the Midwest teams with girls like her, who just want to play for fun and have practice once a week, have to play against teams with girls who play on multiple leagues on multiple teams. These other girls play every single day, so they've left kids like my daughter far behind in skill, which I understand but the local leagues will let anyone play that pays the fee. It's not recreational soccer anymore here, it doesn't exist. Soccer was my favorite sport growing up, I loved it, and my daughter is never going to play it again. I know we're not alone in this, plenty of other girls she started playing with at 4 years old are also done with the sport now. I don't blame them, what should be a fun weekend game turned totally disheartening for the girls and the parents. There's nothing fun for you or your kid watching them get destroyed week after week, it just made me sad. Luckily she has another activity to keep her busy but I never thought when I was playing with her in the backyard she'd be done with soccer before she hit middle school.

Sorry, I didn't mean to pivot away from the topic at hand as much as I did, but it goes to show you that the families with the money to participate at a high level are contributing to an unintended consequence.

---

That's sports in the US now. Baseball is the same way. It's all club and no longer recreational. That's the catch 22. We would likely still be god awful in soccer if not for all of the club crap that has come about in the last 20-30 years. I think it sucks too and has removed the fun from the game, but you are going to need intense life-long programs for these kids if we want to compete on the national stage.

My nephew is a badass soccer player for his age. Plays on multiple teams. Would score 4-5 goals per game on his rec team because he just can't be stopped. Scores 1-2 goals per game on his FC Dallas feeder team. But then he doesn't get to play at all on his high school team because (1) he's the only white kid on the team with an all Hispanic team and coach and (2) the coach is playing everyone else because nephew already on the club team. He's likely going to quit playing high school and just focus on the club team because of it.

Would likely help his school go to state but can't do that while sitting on the bench.

---

Im surprised the club even leta him play for his high-school team

PatAg said:

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YouBet said:

---

Max Power said:

---

I know there's probably plenty of the posters here that understand how the system works better than I do, and I'm sure things vary geographically, but we've seen an unintended impact of how some of this works. My daughter is 10 and we basically had to stop playing soccer because it's no longer fun for her anymore. Even at the recreational level where I live in the Midwest teams with girls like her, who just want to play for fun and have practice once a week, have to play against teams with girls who play on multiple leagues on multiple teams. These other girls play every single day, so they've left kids like my daughter far behind in skill, which I understand but the local leagues will let anyone play that pays the fee. It's not recreational soccer anymore here, it doesn't exist. Soccer was my favorite sport growing up, I loved it, and my daughter is never going to play it again. I know we're not alone in this, plenty of other girls she started playing with at 4 years old are also done with the sport now. I don't blame them, what should be a fun weekend game turned totally disheartening for the girls and the parents. There's nothing fun for you or your kid watching them get destroyed week after week, it just made me sad. Luckily she has another activity to keep her busy but I never thought when I was playing with her in the backyard she'd be done with soccer before she hit middle school.

Sorry, I didn't mean to pivot away from the topic at hand as much as I did, but it goes to show you that the families with the money to participate at a high level are contributing to an unintended consequence.

---

That's sports in the US now. Baseball is the same way. It's all club and no longer recreational. That's the catch 22. We would likely still be god awful in soccer if not for all of the club crap that has come about in the last 20-30 years. I think it sucks too and has removed the fun from the game, but you are going to need intense life-long programs for these kids if we want to compete on the national stage.

My nephew is a badass soccer player for his age. Plays on multiple teams. Would score 4-5 goals per game on his rec team because he just can't be stopped. Scores 1-2 goals per game on his FC Dallas feeder team. But then he doesn't get to play at all on his high school team because (1) he's the only white kid on the team with an all Hispanic team and coach and (2) the coach is playing everyone else because nephew already on the club team. He's likely going to quit playing high school and just focus on the club team because of it.

Would likely help his school go to state but can't do that while sitting on the bench.

---

Im surprised the club even leta him play for his high-school team

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I am too. Been meaning to ask my brother about that.

Just like USDA before, MLS Next does not allow their players to play on high school teams. My kid's high school has 4 MLS Next players in the school that couldn't help them win state this year. ..another draw to high level kids playing on an ECNL team instead of an MLS Next team - they get to enjoy the high school experience.

Enrico Pallazzo said:

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Yes, it's a grind. These Texas MLS programs in particular are definitely pulling from latin american countries and can be blockers for American players. After 4 years with FC Dallas, our friends sent their 16 year old to live in Cincy, mostly on his own although his mom spent a ton of time there with him his first year. Big sacrifice for a family. Ultimately paid off as he got into a high profile college he wouldn't have otherwise and with a path to professional soccer. But there are all sorts of derailers that can happen

---

Its not uncommon in the UK and Europe to send your child to live at the academy in their teenage years. Boarding school-like education is much more common overseas. Its also an opportunity for some of those players to get out of bad situations at home and the neighborhood

It's funny that our view of public schooling has led to some side-eye toward the IMG and the sport-specific high schools. Even though it's basically the same as our art-based, performing arts schools (e.g., Booker T here in Dallas).

oh no said:

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Just like USDA before, MLS Next does not allow their players to play on high school teams. My kid's high school has 4 MLS Next players in the school that couldn't help them win state this year. ..another draw to high level kids playing on an ECNL team instead of an MLS Next team - they get to enjoy the high school experience.

---

That's interesting. When I was in high school 1984-88, there was a UIL rule that you could not play club and high school.

We lost two of our best players to club teams. One went on to play at then North Texas State and the other went to South Alabama and then played a short time professionally in Europe.

Need our military and business men to start having kids in europe, then once those kids have been good and trained by the european soccer system have them use their dual citizenship for that sweet USA moolah.

pretty much how half the team exists now anyhow....and no MLS quality goalies in the future.

zgolfz85 said:

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YouBet said:

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We were not athleted and we are not out skilled. We simply **** the bed on the biggest stage and did not show up.

We played other teams Belgium has played equal or better than they did. There is not that big of a drop off from our R32 to R16 quality.

Three of those goals were practically own goals because our players just went totally brain dead.

The problem is way more due to mental prep than anything physical. For whatever reason, we weren't mentally ready and that was 100% plain as day.

---

100%. It's being overthunk by most. We laid an egg. The fact we weren't mentally prepared makes me think the Balogun drama played a role.....because alternatively, I just can't picture a world where Poch wouldn't have these guys mentally prepared. The R32 game and R16 games from a mental perspective shouldn't have been monumentally different. Maybe the March friendly played into it as well, as well as the unfortunate history we've had against Belgium. But, more than anything, we just laid an egg. It was our random 30 point loss in a 7 game NBA playoff series. Just outta nowhere.

---

Id also add the other side of the coin. Belgium have looked bang average this tournament. Hell, Trossard and Teilemans nearly fought each other on the fieldbin their last match. But the whole Balogun thing made them all rally around what they feel is a massive grievance by FIFA and by the USA. I think that one thing made them lock in on the one thing they wanted to do to correct that which was whoop our ass. We handed them all the ammunition they needed to finally get their **** together

We also need to have MLS get rid of territory rights to player discovery.
For as many good.things thay are doing , there are just as many gaps and things thst need to be better

wangus12 said:

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zgolfz85 said:

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YouBet said:

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We were not athleted and we are not out skilled. We simply **** the bed on the biggest stage and did not show up.

We played other teams Belgium has played equal or better than they did. There is not that big of a drop off from our R32 to R16 quality.

Three of those goals were practically own goals because our players just went totally brain dead.

The problem is way more due to mental prep than anything physical. For whatever reason, we weren't mentally ready and that was 100% plain as day.

---

100%. It's being overthunk by most. We laid an egg. The fact we weren't mentally prepared makes me think the Balogun drama played a role.....because alternatively, I just can't picture a world where Poch wouldn't have these guys mentally prepared. The R32 game and R16 games from a mental perspective shouldn't have been monumentally different. Maybe the March friendly played into it as well, as well as the unfortunate history we've had against Belgium. But, more than anything, we just laid an egg. It was our random 30 point loss in a 7 game NBA playoff series. Just outta nowhere.

---

Id also add the other side of the coin. Belgium have looked bang average this tournament. Hell, Trossard and Teilemans nearly fought each other on the fieldbin their last match. But the whole Balogun thing made them all rally around what they feel is a massive grievance by FIFA and by the USA. I think that one thing made them lock in on the one thing they wanted to do to correct that which was whoop our ass. We handed them all the ammunition they needed to finally get their **** together

---

totally agree. What should have been a plus for us ended up being a huge minus by giving them a massive chip on their shoulder and reason to band together. I fully believe we'd have been better off with Flo banned for that match with none of the back and forth.

GoAgs92 said:

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Need our military and business men to start having kids in europe, then once those kids have been good and trained by the european soccer system have them use their dual citizenship for that sweet USA moolah.

pretty much how half the team exists now anyhow....and no MLS quality goalies in the future.

---

1) For decades, a large part of our first team and the top players in our player pool were sons of German women who slept with African American service members while they were stationed on bases in Germany. We have fewer and fewer of those and more "home grown" players now than ever, and haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I think it's good thing, even if I think youth development in our country is currently stuck in neutral or possibly sliding in reverse slightly at the moment. The 26 man roster at this world cup included Balogan, A. Robinson, Dest, Tillman.. but for the most part, they were actual Americans who played in Europe, not Europeans who had some dual cit path to play for USA. We just need to keep pressing forward.

2) We've had GKs like Turner and Steffen get big contracts to go to Europe, only to not get minutes and fall off. The MLS keepers get lots of minutes and see lots of shots, which is a good thing. I think it was an unfortunate stretch of bad luck that we just didn't have any really good GK for this cycle, but it's not because our GKs are in the MLS.

wangus12 said:

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oh no said:

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Enrico Pallazzo said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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Yeah, I'd agreem but we gotta get the kids into the system right around their fish year in high school. And not a glorified club team with a licensed logo. A real, actual professional development system focused on player, skill and knowledge development over wins and losses.

---

MLS is doing this and it starts earlier. But it's still relatively new (in the grand scheme). We're seeing some players come out of it.

---

it's tough though. one of my sons played on a USDA team in it's final years and played with a bunch of players that moved over to MLS Next Plus academy teams after DA went under. He had a teammate whose whole family moved from Laredo to Houston just be on the DA team, then the kid made the Austin FC MLS academy so the whole family moved to Austin. Then the kid got cut the next year because Austin FC brought in some teenagers from Argentina and Chile. Even if that kid had made it to the level of making a youth international team, he would have chosen Mex over USA anyway. I think most of Houston Dynamo's MLS Next + teams would choose Mexico.

---

Will never happen, but MLS should implement home grown quotas like England does. They require a certain amount of players on pro teams to be English. Require especially the MLS academy systems to develop mostly American youth players rather than international

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i think they have that.. there is a limit to designated players in MLS.. but the challenges remain.