balnogawon said it perfectly: 'God forbid we should concentrate our efforts at the grass roots level and truly allow development to take place. This cannot and will not happen unless we stop letting upper middle class to upper class insecurities dictate what will happen and who will be playing.'
That is the key - development at the grass roots. As much as I jest about the evil Red CESA empire, that is exactly what they seek as part of their overall mission in SC. If the US does not 'right its ship' this World Cup, then the US and the highly political ODP system of selection can be considered to be broken. Many younger quality players U14 to U18 do not even consider ODP because of its high- class image. Obviously our system of training is not equal to that of many other countries, i.e., the Netherlands, Brazil.
Also, the US system involves no passion, as you see from the Euro, African & Asian countries. Part of the reason is of course the excessive and multiple avenues of other entertainment available to our youth, many other organized sports, and our very own unique society of social soccer in many youth clubs. The Euros, Asians, Africans and South Americans would never conceive of soccer as a social sport.
The 'friggin' Ivory Coast even temporarily stopped a Civil War in its country so they could focus on their passion for soccer at the World Cup!!
I guess a determination will be made on the future of ODP and the National US approach to soccer after our next two games.
