Germany sure as hell beats the US in developing soccer talent.

It's a case where America's dog-eat-dog culture and rampant achievement laundering undermines meritocracy. That is, even though the US puts a lot of kids into the bottom of the youth soccer pyramid, if you want to play through high school you have to be able to afford a pay-to-play league so the USNT is full of rich kids who have middling soccer talent instead of the best talent from whatever background.