🇺🇸 Soccer nation: The secrets behind the USA’s football revolution

In just one year, the entire planet will be looking at the United States. And not only for political or economic reasons, but also for football reasons. The country of bars and stars will host, along with Mexico and Canada, the 2026 FIFA World Cup. One of the biggest events in sports that will put all eyes on this place.

But, how is the United States doing in terms of football? Not only at a sporting level, but also organizationally, debates and questions about World Cup preparation are beginning to emerge a year before the tournament. And there is no more authoritative and knowledgeable voice about American football reality than Gio Savarese. The Venezuelan coach knows very well the development and growth of a Major League Soccer that has been a fundamental part of its recent history.

In conversation with OneFootball, Savarese explains how the return of the FIFA World Cup to the United States 32 years later will impact the sport. The most coveted trophy in world football will return to a country that has gone from not having a professional football league to becoming one of the most attractive on the planet. “Since 1994, the landscape of football in the United States has changed a lot. With the MLS starting in ’96, this has generated many more football fans, with Apple and many other channels showing not only MLS football but also world football. The American or the person living in the United States who may have come from outside has become much more educated about football,” Savarese comments.

The MLS has been the “culprit” of establishing a football culture that was unimaginable more than three decades ago. A football culture that is sustained thanks to a fan base that is increasingly young – “under 40 years old,” Savarese highlights – and established in places where other sports were the great tradition. Gio Savarese explains how the MLS has influenced the growth of football in the United States. “The league has taken an extraordinary direction and has managed to find the perfect places to grow in those places, to educate those cities and have not only American people who already had a passion for football, but also many more Americans who started to understand what football is when their teams started to arrive in their cities in the Major League Soccer.”

With the Club World Cup just around the corner, everyone is looking at this competition as the great ‘stress test’ that the United States will experience before the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A fact that will put the country’s strengths and weaknesses under the microscope a year in advance. But in the United States, this is seen as an opportunity to demonstrate the country’s elite level. A vision that, in Gio Savarese’s words, knows no borders or rivalries. “What’s important, beyond the competition, is that it will continue to educate Americans or people living in the United States about the highest level of international football. It will show everyone what we aspire to, how far we are, and what we need to keep doing for football to continue growing in the United States.”

Many of the FIFA Club World Cup venues will also be venues or sub-venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in a year’s time. Infrastructures that, like in any winning project, are always key to the development of any sport. And in the world of soccer, it’s no exception. “The United States and North America have some of the best stadiums, the best training facilities that we’ve seen in the world,” Savarese highlights when talking about the World Cup venues. However, each venue will be different and will have its own idiosyncrasy to make the global event of the coming year a unique one. “It won’t just be a spectacle inside the stadium, but also outside, where everyone who comes will not only have a World Cup experience but also an experience of what each city is like.”

If there’s something that marks a World Cup in the host country, it’s the role of the local team. When the host team does well, it can completely change the perception of the tournament among citizens. Gio Savarese is aware of this variable and has faith in the United States’ possibilities. “If the team does very well, the country will continue to grow, and hopefully, that will be the case: that these players, with Pochettino, who is the right coach we need to have at this moment in the national team, can get the best out of our team, because that will also be very important.”

📸 Kyle Rivas – 2024 Getty Images

Because the growth of the American team will bring competitiveness. And that competitiveness will be key to the growth of the MLS. “The competition between Mexico, Canada, and the United States in this World Cup will surely bring many benefits, many positive things for what will be football and what will be the Major League Soccer in the future,” Gio Savarese points out.

The outdated topic of the MLS as a “retirement home”

One of the epithets that the Major League Soccer has traditionally received from fans, especially from Europeans, is to see the American competition as a “retirement league” or a “place of retirement” where players go to retire. Nothing could be further from the truth. “Whoever still thinks that this league, the Major League Soccer, is a retirement league, means they are not up to date,” Gio Savarese says bluntly when talking about a thought that is slowly changing.

As an example, several cases can be cited: Evander, Jhon Durán, Thiago Almada, Alphonso Davies… the list of talents emerging from the MLS in the last decade is long. “Many young players who have come here, who start to see this league as a springboard to Europe or other leagues,” Savarese points out, knowing very well the development of the MLS.

The former Portland Timbers coach does not hesitate to explain the positive things that the arrival of a young player brings to the MLS. “It’s a league that serves not only for that player who still comes from other places, who is still in good physical condition to come with their experience to give good things, but also for young international players who come here as a showcase to be able to go to other places and do a great job here in the United States.”

Therefore, the contribution of young players is also fundamental in the development line of the MLS. “With the fact that many American owners also have international teams and some of them also have teams in the Major League Soccer, it starts to be seen that there is a direct route for these young players to arrive and continue growing not only in the United States in the Major League Soccer but also abroad,” Savarese highlights.

The 1994 FIFA World Cup left the creation of the MLS as its legacy. With the league already established as one of the most powerful in the American sports landscape, it’s worth wondering what legacy this next World Cup can leave. And Gio Savarese has it clear: making the United States a ‘Soccer Nation’.

“The next level where we need to continue growing is to celebrate football, which is already respected not only by fans but also by players who participate in other sports in the United States,” Savarese highlights before leaving a very clear headline. “Football is part of the DNA of the United States.” A DNA that will lead the United States to establish itself in the world as a true football nation. “People will be convinced that this country is a ‘Soccer Nation’,” Savarese remarks.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.