I think he mentions it in the article, but while players like John Brooks and Fabian Johnson may seem "black" to you, they were in fact born in Germany meaning they aren't "African-American" according to a US Census classification. Of course, this leads to a greater discussion of race, ethnicity, and nationality, but the point is that your numbers don't really fit into the cookie-cutter box you envision in the traditional US population paradigm. I will cut you a break given the current political context of race in this country.
More to the actual point of the article, in any given population, the majority percentage are "lower-class." In fact, by the current metric 50.1% of the US population is considered "lower-class." Now, the US, compared to the rest of the world, has higher "lower-class" per capita income. I think the average global take home pay is something like $12,000 a year. Minimum wage in the US is $17,500. The question is really, how do we get that group (not just one or two oddball "scholarship" players) playing at a competitive level. That's what the article was suggesting. Now, are many of the 50.1% black? Well, the poverty rate (according to PEW Research Center, I don't make this s*&t up like presidential candidates) for Whites is 9.6%, blacks = 27.2%. I'd venture to guess that in this GREAT state of SC, that number is even higher.
Moreover, for me, the solution is complicated and obscured by many coaches/clubs (some terrible in their craft) wearing $$$ goggles, culture, politics, economics, etc. All of those things were mentioned in some form or fashion in the article, but I think our national team proves time and time again that the current model is broken. Let's set aside the pay-to-play model for a second and examine other barriers:
1. The NCAA bottleneck - The traditional pathway to professional athletics in this country has been through the (proven corrupt) NCAA model of High School -> NCAA -> Pro. Obviously for the traditional "Big 3" of Basketball, Football, and Baseball this has worked somewhat well, relatively. But, perhaps that is because the rest of the world does not play those sports as religiously, with all of the financial and indeed state, backing as the US. The US was indeed pioneers in the professional standard for those sports. In soccer, the US was behind by about 60-70 years. Given that a current NCAA senior will graduate and matriculate to the pro ranks at 21-22, his counterpart pro in other parts of the world will have already been among the pro ranks since he was 16-17.
The recruiting process is skewed. Suffice it to say that many coaches care about "name" only. Where a kid comes from matters more than what they can bring to the field. Toss in academic requirements and you can start to see where a kid from a low-income family will most certainly "fall through the cracks."
Further, the NCAA game is super rigid. The emphasis is on coaches winning, not developing young talent for the pro ranks. Have you ever watched an NCAA game? Sure the level is a bit higher, the pace quicker, but it's boring. Players are scared to make mistakes. Coaches are scared to make mistakes. Many players quit the college game and leave the sport altogether. Their season lasts what, 4 months? Pros go from August-May. Every pitfall for the American game comes back to this model. Why do you think John Brooks is preferred? Because he's been playing CB at a professional level since age 16.
2. The lack of funding for "true" academy programs - As gloriously awful as the MLS is, it's requirement for academies is a step in the right direction. However, the funding for these academies needs to come from elsewhere. The for-profit motive in the US academy system could work, with the right vision and patience (selling players could lead to increased profit margins), but these academies (ALL OF THEM) need full-funding with secondary schools attached. Why did the SC academy implode? Money. Were they picking the best players? They seem to glorify their NCAA placement of players. That's nice...I don't have high hopes for this because this country is impatient and able to focus on things for 30 seconds at a time. We also can't seem to agree on anything like balancing a budget or banning banana clips for a civilian AR15, but I digress...shoot'em if you got'em I guess.
3. Geography - The US is massive in terms of size, and the population relatively spread out. If you look at countries with successful soccer histories, their population centers tend to be very dense. Even as massive as Brazil is, many of its areas are sparsely populated. This makes identification of players much easier as well as competition, access to training, etc. Coaches here seem to think it prudent and economically viable to recruit players from high level tournaments filled with minivans and soccer moms at Disney World rather than scour the favellas of Sao Paolo looking for the next Pele. They're happier with Brek Shea...
4. Culture - America loves two time-honored stories. Both of them conflict with one another, but nevertheless Americans love "get rich quick" and "making something out of nothing" narratives. I suppose that these narratives are supported in most places around the world, but they seem to be naturally built into the American character. I'm not sure of the science behind this in terms of on-field performance, but simply put - someone like Luis Suarez, who literally had to fight for his life at times in the poor neighborhoods of Uruguay competes at a higher level than Brek Shea or many other American athletes. For players like Luis Suarez, the game was literally, life or death. Not many Americans can say that. They simply never make it to a team. There are plenty of stories like this in the "Big 3." If you want an example of an American version of this narrative, I encourage you to research Clint Dempsey's story. It's quite incredible, but even in his story you can see how without his family's support and sacrifice, he would have never made it. In short, Clint, the son of a lower-class railroad worker, had to drive (or be driven by his parents) 2 hours one way to Dallas for practice at a high-level club. This would not have been possible had his sister (who Clint looked up to and was a budding tennis star) not passed away suddenly allowing the parents to direct what little money they had to Clint's club in Dallas. Most Clint's don't make it in American soccer because American soccer is not setup to enable Clint.
Blessed and easy.
