The world according to Jim:
• They sucked us in again, didn’t they?
The U.S. Men’s National Team – you know, this country’s soccer side that hasn’t ever come close to winning a World Cup – teased us for a few weeks. And let’s put l’affaire le carton rouge aside for now. The furor surrounding the red card assessed to Folarin Balogun, including the latest instance of FIFA president Gianni Infantino kissing up to this country’s Commander in Chief and allowing Balogun to avoid sitting out the mandatory one-game penalty, had little to do with the USMNT’s latest fold. …
• Simply put, this nation’s team raised people’s hopes by winning the group and then winning their Round of 32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But it’s not anywhere near ready to actually compete for a World Cup, as our Scott M. Reid made clear in his postmortem after Belgium had made it clear on the pitch.
(Yep, I’ll admit it. I bought in, sort of, though I did hedge. My initial skepticism, it turned out, was warranted.) …
• To be honest, the USMNT likely will never, ever, get to even the quarterfinal round without radical changes in the way U.S. Soccer finds and nurtures talent. The player development system in this country still stinks, dominated by the pay-to-play culture of club programs. (More on that in a bit.) Major League Soccer, established as a condition of the U.S. getting the 1994 tournament, has now been in business for 30 years and each team has an academy system, but the league contributed only eight of the 26 players on the 2026 U.S. roster. …
• At least MLS partisans can brag that Lionel Messi is still in the tournament with Argentina. But I wouldn’t call that a flex. …
• Many of our national team players are dual nationals whose games were developed elsewhere. I don’t have a problem with that, at all – it’s sort of the natural progression of the words on a plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty – but doesn’t that say everything you need to know about the system of soccer development in this country? …
• So, who do you trust in this debate?
Here’s Alexi Lalas’ social media post on the club and travel team culture that dominates youth sports in this country: “Youth soccer (youth sports) is a competitive market with businesses selling a product that obviously customers are willing to pay for. I’d love if soccer was free to all. But who is going to pay for all this free soccer?”
And here is Landon Donovan’s view:
“There was a study – this was actually in 2016, so I’m sure it’s gotten worse – only 2% of kids playing organized soccer in America came from households that made less than $50,000, meaning if you don’t make $50,000, your kid cannot play organized soccer. Think about how many kids you’re missing out on in this country because they can’t afford to play the game.
“Growing up, there is zero chance I could have played club soccer. My mom made $34,000 a year, single mom raising three kids. … She couldn’t pay $4,000 for me to play club. Are you kidding? She couldn’t pay $400. But somebody let me on that team and paid for me. That’s not a good system to create good players.” …
• Nor is it only soccer that has been overtaken by club and travel team culture. I had this conversation years ago with one of Southern California high school softball’s most respected coaches, Corona’s JoAnn Byrd, and we reached the same conclusion: The money that parents shell out for fees, travel costs, private coaches and the like in pursuit of those elusive scholarships would be better spent opening savings accounts to pay for their children’s college educations.
Then again, who could have predicted what today’s tuition costs would look like? …
• Incidentally, Article 27 (see: Balogun, red cards, etc.) is the new go-to device for navigating sticky situations. Thanks, FIFA! …
• But here’s a reason why the World Cup will almost certainly be back on these shores, be it in 2038 or ’42 or ’46: As Reid reported, FIFA will take away $13 billion – with a “b” – in profit from this tournament (and it enjoys tax exempt status in this country).
No wonder Infantino has been so accommodating. …
• Looking forward to another marquee event, here’s a reminder: Monday night’s All-Star Home Run Derby in Philadelphia will be shown on Netflix, another jolt to that generation of sports fans frustrated at having to subscribe to multiple streaming services to see everything they would like to see.
For those folks: Hate to tell you, but it’s not going to get any easier …
• Today’s quiz, then: There have been 39 previous Home Run Derbies. How many of those have been won by a Dodger or an Angel, and who did it? Answer below. …
• There should have been little doubt that the Ducks would match Philadelphia’s offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, as much as that five-year, $90 million deal – and specifically the $18 million salary cap number, the highest in NHL history – might limit the team’s other moves.
But this should be a lesson, not only to Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek but to others in his position: When you have a franchise player, it’s better to be a little less hard-nosed early in negotiations. It might save you money later. …
• As of Thursday afternoon, the Clippers’ trade of Kawhi Leonard to Toronto was on hold pending the result of the Aspiration investigation. Given the rate at which this investigation is moving, there’s a 50/50 chance the trade will be official by opening night. …
• Rash act of the week: The Dodgers’ Alex Call lost two ABS challenges, in the first inning, on consecutive pitches on Wednesday night against Colorado. Neither was close to being a ball.
And I’ll disagree with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts here. He said he wouldn’t talk to Call about it afterward. If I were the manager I would have, and this would have been the message: “We don’t trust you to challenge. Do not even think of tapping your helmet until we tell you otherwise.” …
• Quiz answer: Four, or maybe it should be 3½. Wally Joyner of the Angels tied the New York Mets Darryl Strawberry in the 1986 event at the Astrodome in Houston. The Angels’ Garret Anderson won it in 2003 with the Chicago White Sox as hosts (and went on to win All-Star Game MVP honors the next night). Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels won it in 2007 in San Francisco (and his son, Vlad Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, won it in 2023 in Seattle). And Teoscar Hernández became the first Dodger to win it in 2024 in Arlington, Texas. …
• Incidentally, when Guerrero Sr. won the derby the Giants’ home was known as AT&T Park. Now it’s Oracle Park. But if you’re a Dodger fan and you remember which L.A. player hit three home runs in the park’s first regular-season game on April 11, 2000, feel free to call it Kevin Elster Park.
jalexander@scng.com