phins_4_ever
E12 FH Tailgate Gang
And that is where I see the failure. You can have all the talent in the world. If you can't develop the talent and don't use the talent the right way it is all for naught.there are some similarities with the US and Italy failing... and even the Netherlands but they are apples to oranges comparisons. All 3 kind of needed this to change culture.
Now that being said I do think the youth players who are going to be introduced in the next 4 years are pretty damn good. We all know about Pulisic, but you also have Weston McKinney, Tyler Adams.and Cameron Carter-Vickers who are all very top notch prospects. You also have guys in their early to mid 20's like Deandre Yedlin, John Brooks, Bobby Wood, Jordan Morris, Kellyn Accosta, and Paul Arriola who are becoming regulars and then guys like Kenny Saief, Christian Roldan, Dom Dwyer, Matt Miazga, Lynden Gooch, and Kelyn Rowe who could/should be regulars.
Also there are youth prospects that are getting some hype. Josh Sargeant had a great u-17 and u-20 World Cup and signed with Werder Bremen. Ayo Akinola is on trial with PSV and impressing. Andrew Carleton and Tim Weah (George's son) were named 2 of the top 60 prospects in the world. Now obviously doesn't mean much but we've got people making noise as youth prospects who are breaking into first teams and looking good.
We just need to make a smart hire. As much as I'd love David Wagner not happening, so it should be Greg Berhalter, Caleb Porter, or Jason Kreis in all honesty
Personally I like to see Ramos moved up into a GM-type position much like Bierhoff in Germany. Ramos is already coaching the U20 and as u stated there is some great talent coming up. He would be an important link between the young talent and the USNT.
As coach I probably would lean towards someone who has international experience as a player and/or coach.
You are right that all three countries have in common the need for change. I doubt that Italy and Netherlands will change much. Netherlands already failed to qualify for the last Euro and did not change at all. Italy is generally to stubborn. Neither country has a deep youth pool. Their professional teams are purchased and not much is done in youth development of Italian talent. They rather buy big international players and leave their youth undeveloped.
Germany made a complete change after they failed to survive the preliminary at Euro 2004. Almost every pro-Team has a soccer academy now. The link between the men's national team and the youth teams are almost seamless. They won the Confed Cup 2017 with literally a U-21 team. The coach decided to let the young ones play and compete with the best and leave most of the regulars at home. The talent pool is so deep that the U-21 playing the 2017 Euro at the same time won the tournament with a B-Team. Technically Germany should have won the Euro 2016 but they failed to turn their dominant performance against France into goals. Change? You bet. They scored an average of 4.3 goals per game in qualification and is the only team winning all 10 qualifiers. Coach Loew's biggest problem will be the decision who to take to Russia. They could have fielded two teams and both would have qualified.
A change like that I want to see in the US. Develop a culture throughout all national teams and narrow the transition gap.
The first step is to get rid of Gulati. The guy is running the show since 2006 and nothing has changed, it has gotten worse. US Soccer is internationally no better than in 2006.
Eric Wynalda's name is floating around as a possible candidate. For now the US has to rely on their best players and smartest players of the past. The players who have played internationally, have given their best on the field for the US. You have to rely on their expertise and desire to move the US up in the ranks. We need a complete overhaul like Germany did in 2004.