SI Story On Aging US Men's National Soccer Team

There's an article today on SI.com about the state of the United State Men's National Soccer Team. Written by Steve Davis, it explores the thought that our top-level soccer talent has plateaued and that there doesn't seem to be a lot of young, superior talent coming in the near future.

Certainly with the sluggish, inconsistent way that the US Team has played over the last few  years, one could argue that fresh young talent could shake the team out of its complacency.

Playing against a young, highly talented team in Mexico, it was easy to see during the Gold Cup Final that we were ultimately outmatched and too slow. Our current top offensive player is Clint Dempsey who, at 28, and we don't seem to have anything that equals him coming down the line.

The only exception to that was the play of former pariah Freddy Adu, who did things with the ball that we don't normally see out of Americans.  He was as quick and skillful in a way that we normally associate with Europeans.  Typically, our American soccer players just don't seem as instinctual with the ball as our European or South American counterparts and against the top international talent they are exposed.

One MLS soccer coach, Hans Backe of the New York Red Bulls, says this of American soccer players:

"There is just something missing sometimes with the American player," he said. "I can't always put my finger on it."