Matt Besler: U.S. youngsters playing at big European clubs has reached "an unprecedented level"

On Wednesday morning, Sporting Kansas City center back and Kansas City native Matt Besler joined The Border Patrol on Sports Radio 810 WHB with hosts Nate Bukaty, Steven St. John and Jake Gutierrez for a fascinating weekly segment that touched on multiple topics.

First on deck was Besler’s new platform designed to give back to local high school athletes. The defender shared details about the first Goodcents #GoodSport contest, which honored 10 area student-athletes with free Goodcents subs for a year, Sporting swag and the chance to appear in Besler’s new Goodcents commercial.

Besler had more business to discuss when he provided an update on States Soccer, a new American soccer lifestyle brand that he has helped launch with a number of other colleagues, including former Sporting teammate and current New England Revolution defender Seth Sinovic.

The conversation then turned toward the increasing number of young American soccer players venturing abroad to join major European clubs. The likes of Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Sergino Dest (FC Barcelona), Chris Richards (FC Bayern Munich), Weston McKennie (Juventus) and Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund) have all broken into some of the deepest and most talented squads in the world, painting a bright picture for the future of the men’s national team.

“We’re at an unprecedented level in terms of how many U.S. players are playing at big clubs in Europe,” Besler said. “It’s just never happened before. There were always maybe one or two guys at random clubs, and it was always a big deal if those guys broke in and got regular playing time. Now it’s almost becoming commonplace and we’re getting used to it. It’s scary to think how many players are over there playing right now and getting incredible experience. It’s extremely exciting and the future is promising.

“To me, the World Cup to really put all of your eggs into is the 2026 World Cup. All of these guys are going to be in their primes and it’s going to be hosted here. I’m really excited to see what happens with that one.”

Besler also provided a forecast for the final stretch of the MLS regular season, with Sporting preparing to host the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. Sporting sit one point out of first place despite a frustrating run of road results last week at FC Dallas and Chicago Fire FC—both of which were marred by controversial refereeing decisions.

“We felt snake bitten a little bit,” Besler said. “We’ve talked about it in our locker room about how we want to handle it. This isn’t going to affect us. It’s going to be something that motivates us, and we’re going to use it for the better—to refocus ourselves. We’re reaching the part of the season where there aren’t a whole lot of games left.

“What happens every year at this time is the intensity raises and teams start fighting for their life…and you can really feel the sense of desperation from all of the teams. We have to use our experience to know that is coming, and we have to match that intensity. Once we do that, we can rely on our qualities of actually playing soccer and using that to our advantage.”