If, by some unbelievable chance, you just crawled out of a nuclear bomb shelter after eating canned beans for the last twenty years, allow me to fill you on the most recent happenings in the world of soccer.
Lionel Messi is really, really good. So good, in fact, that his status as a member of the human race is even now being considered by top men the world over. Is he perhaps the greatest footballer ever? Many, with apologies to Diego and Pele, would might make that very case. He's that good.
But it didn't take the four goals Messi scored against Arsenal in the quarterfinals of the Champions League to make us realize just how good the diminutive Argentine is¹; his status as "World Class" was already cemented, he just added a few more bits of evidence to an already large pile.
Messi's exploits, while fantastic enough to have me enraptured, nevertheless led to an inevitable thought as an American soccer fan; will the United States ever produce anyone on that level?
No, probably not. At least not during the lifetime of myself or anyone reading this, and even then the player in question could be raised elsewhere and represent America through the magic of dual-citizenship. But that doesn't preclude the States from spawning a player of amazing talent that will make a dent on the international stage. The US has only really taken the sports seriously, in a manner that sees young players go abroad to places like England, Holland, Germany, etc., in the last 25 years; based on the sheer size of our (ever growing) soccer-playing population and the element of chance, it's bound to happen one day, right?
This discussion could easily veer off into reviews of player development, the American youth club structure, and the need for more quality coaches. Most of those things will sort themselves out over time, or be mitigated by the numbers of players getting into the game at a young age; with a population of 300 million, participation among youth numbering in the multiple millions, and enough visibility in the sport to bring scouts here from Europe, Mexico, etc., there's no reason to doubt that one day, Americans will be featuring for the biggest clubs in Europe.
But that global superstar, the type that stops whole continents while he mesmerizes us with feats of jaw-dropping talent, is so far in the future he's almost impossible to see from here. A once or twice a generation phenomenon at best, players like Messi will continue to come from traditional soccer countries.
Donovan, Bradley, Dempsey, and others have proven that American outfield players can compete in some of Europe's top leagues. The next step is for the US to produce a star, a player who is the object of the affections of the world's top clubs, features prominently in competitions like the Champions League, and proves that America's next wave of talent will supersede is a harbinger of things to come.
Messi-caliber though? I don't even dare to dream.
¹I forget to add the footnote, where I intended to make a fairly lame joke that the phrase "diminutive Argetine" is mandatory in any piece about Messi. Fail.
