In this final installment, I examine the case why the US needs not only American talent, but the Canadian talent (and more Mexican talent, for that matter) in order to achieve success amongst its global competition. If only the CSA would stop being so selfish….

Item #4 – US Soccer and the CSA must work together for the good of the game

FACT: The world’s strongest national associations and national team have strong professional circuits as well (or vice versa).

FACT: US Soccer (and CONCACAF, for that matter) needs the Canadian Soccer Association to be successful and Mexico to improve in order to be respected on the world stage.

Is it a coincidence that the world’s top ranked national soccer teams are from countries where the club competition is strong, well supported, and properly structured? Of course not.

According to the IFFHS, the top 5 leagues in the world, in order, belong to England , Italy(World Cup Champ), Argentina (Repeat U-20 Champ), Spain (Current FIFA No. 1, Euro Champ), and Brazil (three of past five World Cup Finals with two Wins).

The MLS is ranked 77th. The fact that four of the top five leagues are in countries with recent national team success speaks to a direct relationship between club system strength and national team success.

Another major difference between the top 5 and USA is the competition, geographically, around them. Using the average world rank of an associations national teams as a guide, the associations representing the top 5 teams, CONMEBOL and UEFA, are the No. 1 and 2 strongest in the world.

CONCACAF is No. 5, ahead of only the Oceanic region. Therefore, though the USA national team is ranked top 20 in the world, they will continuously face difficulty performing on the world stage due to the fact that that the teams that they face most often are among the world’s weakest.

USA was able to enter the top twenty partly due to the fact that they had significantly closed the gap with (and in fact overtook) Mexico.

However, the US now finds itself being the shark in an aquarium full of minnows, and many of its competitors lack the infrastructure and resources to close the gap with the regions new king.

That would be everyone except Canada. Mexico will be back as a regional power, but it will be the growth of Canada as a 3rd regional force that will give all parties the regular competition needed to improve one’s standing globally.

Pitifully however, while some Central and Caribbean Zone teams may arguable lack the resources, Canada, unfortunately, only lacks the organization and will.

Since the 1994 World Cup (of which the birth of MLS was actually a condition) US Soccer has done a great job of nurturing the club game within its borders, which has directly resulted in national team improvement.

The CSA meanwhile, ignorantly seems to expect success to fall out of the sky without any real effort (or coherent strategy). Sadly for the CSA, not every world sport is Hockey.

Now, in the defense of my national soccer body, geography and population does play a role in Canada’s inability to launch national professional leagues.

Thus, Canadian cities must rely on piggybacking US based leagues in order to support viable professional sport.

However, given this reality, the CSA has failed to realize that it is in its best interest to support, and lobby for the interests of professional soccer in Canadian cities.

For Example, the fact that only US based MLS teams are eligible for the CONCACAF Champions League is senseless. Canadian teams can only qualify through the Canadian Championship. Now imagine the day when Toronto FC wins the Supporters Shield, but loses the Canadian Championship.

The Reds will be left on the outside looking in while the 5th place  (or worse) US based side takes their place. This nightmare scenario is in fact possible under the current allocation.

However, the CSA has yet to lobby CONCACAF or work with US Soccer to make MLS (and potentially USL) CONCACAF spots shared. Otherwise, what incentive is there for players to want to play for Canadian teams when the format is structured such that US teams have 2 avenues to qualification vs 1 for Canadian squads?

This effectively puts one foot in the grave for Canadian club football. These are the situations in which the CSA, as champion of soccer in Canada, needs to step in.

Given the fact that the geo-economic facts dictate that Canada must work with US counterparts in order to have viable professional sport, logic says that the 5 spots between US Soccer and the CSA should be split as follows:

1 held by US Soccer to the US Open Cup Champion

1 held by CSA to the Canadian Championship Winner

2 jointly held to MLS (with qualification open to Canadian and American teams)

1 jointly held to USL (with qualification open to Canadian, American, and Caribbean Teams).

CSA is doing the Canadian system a great disservice by not working harder for soccer at the club level in Canada, from seeking more equity out of the current CONCACAF arrangement, to championing USL and MLS expansion in Canada.

Based on the model adopted by US Soccer and proven overseas, national team success can come directly out of having top tier professional soccer. If the CSA doesn’t recognize this, US Soccer should think outside of the usual protectionist interests of national sport and encourage the CSA’s development themselves.

The success of rival national teams from Europe and South America dictate that it is actually in USA’s best interest to work closer with the CSA (temporarily of course) and help Canada out of the basement.

Source: Click Here