

Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America and is trying to remember to update her Twitter account

In Peru in 2005, I was waiting in the mixed zone of the under-17 World Cup tournament, where the USA team had just suffered a loss to the favored Dutch team that was overlaid by some bad luck - Kevin Alston's broken leg and a send-off for a USA defender after two yellow cards.While waiting to interview players, I thought about the real goal of the youth national teams, to create a pipeline of talent to one day compete seriously at the senior level. Idly, I speculated on which USA players would become national team stars.As it turned out, two of the players on the field that day for the USA team's loss progressed to compete in the 2010 World Cup. One was Jozy Altidore, who played just over 10 minutes as a sub in 2005 versus the Netherlands. The other was Neven Subotic, who was actually the USA player carded out of the game that day. However, before the 2010 World Cup, Subotic exercised his option to play for another country and therefore Serbia in the tournament, not the United States.If the eulogy on the USA squad in this World Cup is "Plenty of heart, not enough talent", then a good hard look at how players are developed in this country must be taken.One country that would be useful to learn from is the Dutch. With a far smaller population pool than the United States, they have built a solid team and achieved impressive results.One might assume that a number of their young players from the U17 squad that defeated the USA that day in Peru have moved up the ladder to the national team.In actuality, not a single player from the U17 Netherlands roster of 2005 made the 2010 World Cup roster. Granted, they would be a bit young for the squad, but nevertheless, the simple fact is most of the player development for the Dutch is done at the club level, not via the youth national team programs.I've written before that the dearth of opportunities provided young players once Major League Soccer dumped its reserve league has hurt, and continues to hurt, the national team. Players signed at a young age who aren't quite ready for first team action languish in MLS, restricted to training and playing in sporadic secondary competitions, like the U.S. Open Cup.Now at least, it appears that one national team coach, Thomas Rongen of the USA under-20 squad, has had enough of the paucity of prepared MLS players. He's looking to leagues that actually invest in developing young stars.The latest U20 roster Rongen has brought in features eight players based with clubs in Mexico, (Justin Perez, Cristian Flores, Victor Garza, Ernest Nungaray, Roberto Romero, Julio Cesar Castillo, Adrian Ruelas and Omar Salgado) one who is with a club in Brazil (Kevyn Batista), one from a club in Portugal (Greg Garza) and one playing for a club in Costa Rica (Robert Medrano Williams).MLS, oddly enough, giveth USA teams talent even as it taketh away opportunities for talent to develop. Because resources have shifted to youth team development, the league is already seeing a payoff from the clubs that they run free of charge to young players. Although hundreds of clubs are enrolled in USA Soccer's Development Academy program, that fee-free incentive, coupled with access to professional facilities and coaching, has already given MLS Academy clubs a huge advantage. No wonder, then, that MLS clubs are often in the age-group finals of the Academy playoffs.More importantly, certain MLS Academy products, such as D.C. United's Bill Hamid and Andy Najar, are already making the jump to becoming professionals via the clubs they joined in their early teens.However, it's a hit or miss proposition for many players to get first-team action in MLS, especially as the league becomes more competitive. The league has been adding new clubs every year, so reaching the playoffs is a more difficult proposition.The symbiotic relationship between MLS and U.S. Soccer has at times taken a severe toll. Trying to avoid taking away too many players from MLS action has hampered, for example, the USA's ability to effectively compete internationally. In 2007, for example, after MLS teams lost players to the Gold Cup tournament, which the USA won, most of the stars of that tournament who played domestically, such as Landon Donovan, returned to MLS action. Bradley took a squad of mostly backup players to the prestigious Copa America, where the USA proceeded to lose every match. It was widely speculated that MLS clubs owners balked at releasing players for both tournaments.Not surprisingly, the USA has not been invited back to the Copa America, and the South American organizers can hardly be faulted for being miffed that the USA wouldn't send its best team to compete.Oddly enough, the year after U.S. Soccer took one on the chin for the sake of MLS, MLS killed the reserve league that directly aided the development of two 2010 World Cup players - Jozy Altidore and Herculez Gomez - both who played extensively in reserve games and transitioned to first-team action via that route.Given that player development is a key ingredient of the USA team's future success, Bradley, or whoever coaches the USA team in the future, has to take a long, hard look at whether or not future sacrifices for MLS are in any way merited. The other option, one that Rongen is exploring, is to simply look elsewhere for young talent.Visit the U.S. national team page on Goal.com for more and join Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page