QUINTANAMO BAY 🦅

Patrick | Eagles fan

[Cenk Uygur @cenkuygur]

So, now we know the score. As things stand now, there are 104 Americans in Congress and 314 Israelis.

[Kei @RealMamaEagle]

"Jalen Hurts doesn't elevate his team."

Cool. When is your top 10 guy gonna start elevating his in January so we can be shown how it's done?

[CBS Mornings @CBSMornings]

Folarin Balogun will “for sure” return to the pitch with the U.S. Men’s National Team for the next World Cup, he told CBS Mornings.

[tom stakes @tomstakes]

The Eagles can win with a QB ranked outside the top 10. Your favorite team can’t even win with a QB ranked within the top 10.

That Hurts.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[NFL Memes @NFLMemes]

Me, a soccer fan of two weeks, watching Team USA lose in the round of 16

[QUINTANAMO BAY 🦅 @BirdGangPat]

@FDSportsbook @AdamCrafton_ What does that even mean lol?

[433 @433]

Cape Verde can be so incredibly proud 🥺👏

[Dan Orlovsky @danorlovsky7]

Incredible incredible game.

[PrizePicks @PrizePicks]

“Dad how good was Cape Verde vs Argentina”

[QUINTANAMO BAY 🦅 @BirdGangPat]

@USMNT @balogun Birthright citizen born on the 4th of July, can't write it any better lol! #FreeBalogun

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

🎉 happy birthday @balogun! 🎉

[James Seltzer @JamesSeltzer]

VAR sucks. Clear no doubt worst thing about this World Cup has been VAR.

[Skip Bayless @RealSkipBayless]

TILLMAN, GAME-SAVER. USA!!!

[Anthony DiBona @DiBonaNFL]

10 players? No problem! BANG! 💥🇺🇸

[Dan Orlovsky @danorlovsky7]

🇺🇸

[Jason Kelce @JasonKelce]

Ball don’t lie bitch!!!!

[QUINTANAMO BAY 🦅 @BirdGangPat]

BALL DON'T LIE!

[IcyVert @IcyVert]

Man Pulisic may not be a world superstar but goddamnit he is OUR superstar

[QUINTANAMO BAY 🦅 @BirdGangPat]

@RayEsq08 Ngl the best wedding I’ve ever seen.