The academies are the only way. Not sure of their model but travel youth sports are a racket. They have no incentive to identify the best talent, weed out the others, and focus on development of those who remain. Their model is the opposite. What will help USA Soccer tremendously is their new facility in Georgia. It's arguably the best in the world. Best thing is the intelligence and information focus. It's a central meeting spot for all things USA soccer. From there we will start to see a concerted effort and focus on an American style of play and the development that goes towards it. Spain is the blueprint. When the country understands what it takes to play on the national team, all development will go towards that style of play. Instead, we change with every new coach we have now. Getting away from that will be paramount.
Blame the parents.
My daughter is on a gymnastics team that travels to competitions every year in Florida, always in the winter and always in South Florida near the beach. It is more about the moms getting their nails done poolside than gymnastics. Plenty of good competitions exists in the Northeast that are day trips or two day driving trips.
The dads put up with it but don't attend the Florida competitions. When I ask my daughter what her favorite part of the trip was, it is always the meal the team ate at whatever fast food place is popular on TikTok that week.