One is the obvious that soccer is a second-banana sport in the U.S. and even Canada. They lose kids who excel in other sports.

They also lose considerable participation after age 12. A lot of kids play to hide (not as obvious as striking out or shooting an airball) just to satisfy whatever "I play a sport" thing. Then they drop sports and that includes soccer.

There isn't a priority among our top athletes, there isn't a passionate culture surrounding the sport and, as you said, the culture we do have around it is not the same sort of serious one we have around even niche sports, let alone mainstream ones.