‘You can’t have barriers’: is pay-to-play having a corrosive affect on US soccer?

Another tournament failure has seen the dismissal of a coach and criticism of the current USMNT squad. But the problems start at the youth levels

Nine days after the USMNT were eliminated from the 2024 Copa America at the group stage, head coach Gregg Berhalter was fired.

Berhalter's dismissal was the correct, if easy, way forward for the national team after a poor showing. But any review of this summer's failing must be broader than one coach. Questions about the quality of the current squad are fair, but there is another potential culprit: the pay-to-play model.