The end of the DA also affects the importance of college soccer in player development. There is a stigma out there that college soccer is bad for players but that only tells half of the story. With a proper system in place, college soccer could return to the impact it once had on professional soccer.
The best the U.S. has ever performed was at the 2002 World Cup, losing in the Quarter Finals to a Germany team that would go on to the final. Of the 23 players on that team, 17 of them played college soccer.
Ironically, the first time the U.S. missed the world cup in decades came after an emphasis on developing players away from college soccer. Correlation does not always equal causation, but it's worth thinking about.
As we've said before, with the right design and the right coaching, College Soccer could easily turn into what is essentially a U23 league for the best players to continue their development in prep for a professional career. It would take a revamp of the schedule, more funding, and more attention paid to the process, but it is possible.