Agreed ... the men's team has a history of being sloppy with the ball when encountering equal or better talent ... they seem unable to move the ball up the field without an "over the top" pass ... they lack the ball skills to beat others one on one .... Pulisic is the outlier, he can not only beat his man, he can beat a double team and STILL create opportunities ... I've read enough articles and watched enough Premier/Bundesliga/Champions league matches to understand that MLS games are wayyyy behind in skill level ... to get to the next level the Americans need to head over the pond to close the talent gap. Playing against top end talent is the only way to improve one's skill level ... Pulisic left before he hit 18 ... it's a tough decision to make, but staying home doesn't seem to be the answer. The other problem is that, historically, the most athletic kids in America are playing football, basketball, and baseball.
When soccer becomes the "cool" or "sexy" sport, and kids can see a career path (either playing or coaching), then American soccer will take off like a rocket ship ... right now it's the sport a lot of (BUT NOT ALL) kids play after they have tried the other major sports. Kids won't turn down schollies to the OSU, UM, OU, Alabama, Clemson's of the world (and the paycheck that may come afterwards) to go play soccer ... when that starts happening US men's soccer will look much like the woman's side ... a talent gap so large the 2nd team will be better than most other countries 1st team.