I said nothing about why the US lost - I was saying that for all of the soccer participants in the US - the athletic talent level and passion/culture are relatively low.

IMO this is what prevents it from being an elite soccer country - not why it lost yesterday and didn't make the next World Cup.

This particular US team didn't make this World Cup because it wasn't that good (for whatever reasons) and played even worse. As a non-elite country, the odds are the US isn't going make every World Cup despite the easy qualifying bracket. This year happened to be when the odds caught up to the US team. It wasn't specifically due to lack passion or culture or talent in the pipeline.

Soccer is the great equalizer sport -- it doesn't require the better athletes to be competitive - or to even win or tie on the not-so-rare occasion.

But over time, only the elite countries with elite talent pipelines and a culture for soccer are going to consistently rise to the top. And the combo of the lack of talent and soccer passion/culture is why the US isn't and may never be an elite soccer country despite the never-ending hopes of ESPN, the elite media, and the chattering class of convincing us how great soccer is and how it will be the next big thing despite its decidedly "un-American" mindset (lack of scoring, lack of scoring opportunity, ties, continual play, etc.).

Momentum isn't being harmed by the US loss because there is little momentum in US soccer to be harmed by the loss. The biggest factor in soccer momentum will likely be football lawsuits. But even in the event of the demise of US football I'm not sure soccer will be a biggest beneficiary.
[Post edited by marcbvtgm at 10/11/2017 3:12PM]