Rethinking Football

This is part 3 of our 3-part interview with Hugo Perez. The United States men’s national team experienced its worst moment in its recent history in 2017. Despite a desperate change in management, the team had a poor FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign which ended in its elimination, something that had not happened in 32 years. This campaign also brought out the best in some and the worst in others. For example, some of the most iconic senior players and coaches of the men’s and women’s programs made xenophobic comments about players with dual-citizenship that were being considered for the national squad. But not everything was bad news. Dual-citizenship holder, 18 year-old Christian Pulisic, was the leading scorer for the World Cup qualifier campaign, shifting fans’ interest and hopes to the next generation of players, those born in 1997 and younger. The next generation of U.S. players can potentially become the most successful one ever. For example, there are more young players competing in Mexico and d