Community Corner: What upsets you most about American soccer right now?

Well, it’s been a long 7 months since the United States lost to Trinidad and Tobago on that fateful night in Couva to crash out of 2018 World Cup contention. We’ve experienced all of the negative emotions that would come with such an outcome: grief, anger, shock, disbelief, and intense rage. In the months that followed, U.S. Soccer has given fans so many reasons to conjure those same emotions, whether it was the Federation’s presidential election to comments from former USMNT coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Bruce Arena about who was to blame for the team’s failure to Jonathan Gonzalez’s decision to play for Mexico or so many other moments in the middle.

Still, the time we had to be blindly and irrationally mad without solutions is over. The World Cup begins next month and the United States Men’s National Team will not be in it. After the World Cup is done on July 15th, the entire world will be in the same boat we are in: a dead period that consists of friendlies and a new road to the next World Cup ready to be paved. We just got started with the evaluation and restructuring of our soccer system a few months earlier than we wanted.

It’s time we really get to the root of why we are upset at U.S. Soccer or what upsets us the most about the game in America right now and what can be done to fix it. So, this Community Corner has been established for you all to do just that. We want to give you a space to express why you are angry and specifically what about American soccer makes you the most upset.

The question: What issue upsets you the most about American soccer right now, and what realistic solutions do you offer to fix it? This is not the time to be irrational in your response by calling for something to happen tomorrow that will take weeks or months to truly execute. This community corner exists so that we can actually make some strides in identifying the main problems that U.S. Soccer has from your eyes. Once we identify what that issue is and why that issue makes us so angry or apathetic or otherwise down on the future of the USMNT, USWNT or U.S. Soccer as a whole and explain it with clear forethought, we will be able to move to the solutions phase.

For solutions, again we want you to put some thought into this. Be candid in your response, but be thoughtful as well. Is this a long-term issue that requires a long-term fix? Or is this something where the answer may be a band-aid just to turn a quick corner while the long-term implementation takes place? We don’t want offers of something to happen now that cannot realistically be an immediate solution. If something will take years to implement, break down that lengthy process. If the solution is a coaching hire or a GM hire, back that up with who that is, how that will truly affect the team and what U.S. Soccer can do to satisfy you that your main issue will be corrected.

We will mention that this is not the time to issue personal attacks or vent or even disparage someone else’s thoughts on the state of American soccer and what remedies are available. What one person may think is the reason American soccer is in this sunken place may not be your reason. That shouldn’t be the focus. Instead, we want the community to hone in on their individual problems with the game in this country or its federation and national teams and really move the conversation to how we can all move U.S. Soccer back in a positive direction.

Let’s really begin the deep analysis of what gets us riled up about American soccer. We may have several issues, but let’s crawl before we run. Hit the comments everyone, and let’s start this important conversation.