Arsène Wenger, Fifa's head of global football development, has said that improving American soccer will require long-term "consistency" and "education" in developing young talent, while also criticising the country's pay-to-play youth system for excluding poorer families. Speaking alongside US Soccer chief executive JT Batson and chief operating officer Dan Helfrich, the former Arsenal manager argued that the best players typically come from disadvantaged backgrounds, making cost barriers to youth soccer a significant obstacle to the sport's growth in America.

Wenger praised US Soccer's new $250m headquarters in Fayetteville, Georgia, and welcomed newer free-to-play academy setups emerging in MLS, the USL and other leagues, comparing the effort to France's academy system, which opened its first academy in 1973 and won the European Championship 11 years later in 1984. He said talent identification demands "an eye," education and patience, since results only become clear after years of investment. Batson acknowledged the scale of the task, noting it "will take time" and resources, and observed that the strongest performers at this World Cup tend to come from the best-resourced federations.