Informational/Did You Know

When Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti was caught smoking while on vacation in Ibiza, the same alarm bells were ringing in everyone’s heads. As a professional footballer, it’s unhealthy, unprofessional and detrimental to both your career and your club. 

As we all know, smoking is detrimental to footballers in every way imaginable, but it’s incredible to see how the perception of this habit has rapidly changed over the last three or four decades in the professional game.

Phoenix is strongly making its case as the best place for youth soccer in the United States. Although one should take many factors into consideration when evaluating a metro area for its ability to develop players, it's clear that the level of competition in and around the Phoenix area is as strong as any other place in the U.S.

With preseason underway across the Premier League, you're going to see a lot of photos of players training with their now accustomary black vests on. A few years ago, these garments were an absolute rarity, and, apart from some sophomoric comments about male players wearing sports bras (how dare you), it was generally assumed that they measured heart rate and yada yada yada.

During the World Cup next summer, United States supporters across the nation will attend watch parties in droves, frequent bars adorned in red, white and blue and flood sporting goods stores to buy new jerseys.

There's no denying that World Cup Fever is a nationwide phenomenon every four years, but the players responsible for the frenzy do not necessarily come from all corners of the country.

In order to get a better idea of what areas of the U.S. develop the best soccer talent, we looked at where current and past members of the USMNT spent the majoirty of their childhood.