What a complicated thing it is for America to try and cultivate talent for sports. So when I read a very brief article on ESPN this morning that says MLS (Major League Soccer) wants to become among the worlds top leagues by 2022, I'm happy to hear the sentiment.

First off, it's an admission that MLS is pretty pedestrian compared to English (Premier League), Spanish (La Liga), French (Ligue 1), Italian (Serie A) and German (Bundesliga) leagues. So terrible that MLS puts together an all-star team to play against some of the top teams from those leagues. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose... but the point is that just to legitimately compete with those European clubs, we have to hand-pick the best of the best players in all of the league. So I'm glad that the leadership in MLS publicly recognizes their inadequate talent in the league.

Secondly, I think many people completely miss the point as to why America isn't competitive in soccer. It's not because Lebron James and Jerry Rice decided to play basketball and football instead of soccer. It's not because "our best athletes" don't play soccer. Some of the best soccer players in the world would not get so much as a passing glance in other sports. Arguably the best player in the world is an Argentinian named Lionel Messi. He's 25 years old, 5'7" and 148 lbs. The other player that could be considered the best in the world is a Portugese guy named Cristiano Ronaldo, he's 28 years old, 6'1" and 187 lbs. Do they sound like someone who could have obviously played in the NFL? MLB? NBA? NHL? ... One day, I hope we're able to see through the measurables of a player and start looking at their ability to just play the game... for MLS to do what it wants to do, it needs to start focusing on developmental leagues for teenagers and children. I hope that's the direction they take, and they don't try and talk a basketball star into giving soccer a try.