For the U.S., a Global Nations League would be another avenue to matchups with the world’s best, like Lionel Messi and Argentina. (Getty)

In the days after the heartbreak, with waves of anger from that infamous night in Trinidad still crashing onto American shores, a deflating realization washed over American soccer fans. Five years of emptiness were staring them in the face.

The U.S. men’s national team won’t play another competitive match for 20 months. From a casual fans’ perspective, it won’t play a truly meaningful one for over 60. The road ahead is barren. The foreseeable future, outside of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, is bland.

But fortunately, years before American fans came to that conclusion, soccer executives around the world arrived at a similar one. They realized they had an incredibly potent product that wasn’t being sold effectively. They realized that the three years and 11 months in between men’s World Cups were a men’s international soccer wasteland. They realized that the international calendar, clogged with tiresome friendlies and forgettable qualifiers, had largely become an afterthought. And they resolved to doing something about it.

The seeds of change were sowed within UEFA. The Nations League was born in March 2014, via unanimous vote. Three-and-a-half years after its birth, before it has even taken its first steps, other confederations have come to the table. Some are ready to follow in Europe’s footsteps. They have proposed a Global Nations League that would permanently shake up international soccer.

Now the question the confederations and FIFA must answer is an agonizing one: Would the shakeup enhance the game? Or harm it?

The future of the sport rides on the answer.

THE PROPOSAL

So what exactly is a Nations League? We can start by understanding UEFA’s. It’s essentially a biennial, multi-tier league of national teams with promotion and relegation, and a finals tournament every odd-numbered summer. Here’s a handy visualization:

View photos The UEFA Nations League format (via UEFA.com) More

The top 12 European sides have been placed in League A, and will be drawn into four groups of three. Nations ranked 13-24 go into League B, and are subject to a similar draw. Leagues C and D are adjusted to accommodate all 55 UEFA members. The group stage consists of a double round-robin over the September, October and November international breaks. The winner of each League A group goes to the Final Four the following June. The winners of the lower-league groups are promoted. Last-place finishers are relegated.

A Global Nations League would more or less be an extension of UEFA’s version. It would revolve around an eight-team tournament – rather than four – in June 2021, 2023 and so on. The eight teams would come from Europe (3), South America (2), North/Central America (1), Africa (1) and Asia (1).

Europe, therefore, would likely restructure its top league to feature three groups of four teams. South America’s top division would likely be two groups of three. In Asia, Africa and CONCACAF, the first division would probably be one group of four.

The winners of the eight groups would go into a finals draw that would pair them in quarterfinal matchups. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals would be a straight knockout-style tournament at a central location over one week.

The other six divisions – there would be seven in total – would then fall in line and stage their own finals on similar schedules. All 223 members of the six confederations – even those that aren’t FIFA members – would be involved. The following is all educated guesswork, but here’s how representation in each league could be divvied up:

View photos Theoretical Global Nations League format. (Henry Bushnell/Yahoo Sports) More

Nations would be placed in leagues based on the FIFA Rankings, with non-FIFA members presumably going into League 7. They could then move between leagues every two years through intra-confederation promotion and relegation systems that would be tailored to fit the format.

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