U.S. Men vs. U.S. Women: Which National Team Will Have a Better Future?

The United States men and women’s national teams will both be in action next month. The women take on Sweden in a friendly in Arizona, and the men travel to Europe to take on France and Slovenia.

As the women’s team finishes preparations before Olympic qualifying in January and the men continue to experiment with new lineups in their preparations for next summer’s World Cup qualifying, one wonders, which team will have a brighter future?

Coaches: Pia Sundhage vs. Jurgen Klinsmann

Both coaches have boundless enthusiasm and world-class reputations. Pia Sundhage has won an Olympic gold and led her team to a second-place finish at this past summer’s World Cup. Jurgen Klinsmann led the German team to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup.

Critics of Sundhage point to the fact that the United States was the most dominant team in women’s world football before she arrived and her performances have simply matched their talent level. However, the sports world is littered with talented teams who underperform, and Sundhage deserves credit for her leadership of the U.S., particularly taking over at a time when chemistry on the squad had openly deteriorated.

Klinsmann can be criticized for simply leading a world power to a third-place finish on home soil and winning their group over international minnows Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica. However, fans forget that Germany was in shambles when Klinsmann took over, finishing 0-2-1 at Euro 2004. Klinsmann came in and revamped the German team, implementing changes that have stayed with the team, as it has once again reasserted itself as a world power.

Klinsmann also had the courage to rebuild the team with youth and make his selections based on form, not reputation, the most famous example of which was his benching of German uber-legend Oliver Kahn.

Advantage: Tie

Goalkeepers: Hope Solo vs. Tim Howard

Tim Howard has been the most consistently excellent player for the men's national team since 2006, keeping the U.S. in games time and time again.

Hope Solo is universally regarded as the best female goalkeeper in the world.

Advantage: America

Defenders

For fans of the U.S. men’s national team, it is no secret that the position most lacking on the field over the past few years has been the defense.

With stalwarts Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo inching towards the end of their careers, the picture gets even more bleak. Even Oguchi Onyewu, who finally seems back in form, is 29 years old.

Young players like Timothy Chandler and Eric Lichaj have offered some hope as the outside backs of the future, but there is still far too much uncertainty at the center back position.

The U.S. women, meanwhile, are stocked in the back. Rachel Buehler, Becky Sauerbrunn, Ali Krieger and Stephanie Cox are all 27 and under. Amy LePeilet is 29, but still looks at the top of her game. The loss of Christie Rampone after the 2012 Olympics will be an almost irreplaceable loss, but the rest of the roster is stacked with talent in their prime.

Advantage: Women

Midfield

For the men’s team, the midfield is its greatest hope for future success.

Brek Shea, Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Alejandro Bedoya, Maurice Edu, Fabian Johnson, Danny Williams, Stuart Holden, Mix Diskerud, Josh Gatt and Sasha Kljestan are all 26 or under.

To have 12 players with that much potential at such a young age should have U.S. fans' mouths watering for the future. While Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan will move on sooner rather than later, the U.S. men are set in the midfield for the next decade.

The U.S. women have plenty of solid midfield options in Carli Lloyd, Shannon Boxx, Lori Lindsey, Yael Averbuch, Heather O’Reilly, Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath, but Lloyd and Boxx, the heart of the U.S. center midfield position for the greater part of the last decade, are in their swan song. The remaining players, as solid as they are, just can’t compete with the depth of the U.S. men’s midfield pool.

 Advantage: Men

Forward

While Jozy Altidore is having his best season yet in Europe and Juan Agudelo has shown flashes of brilliance, the U.S. men are terrifyingly thin at the forward position.

The U.S. women, meanwhile, are loaded and ready to go.

In addition to the unstoppable force that is Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan looks set to become the next American sports superstar. Lauren Cheney, when deployed at forward, brings a presence on the ball that U.S. men's national team fans wish one of their forwards had, and Amy Rodriguez provides some solid depth.

Waiting in the wings is U-20 superstar Sydney Leroux, who has scored 30 times in 36 appearances for the youth team.

Advantage: Women

Development

In this area, the U.S. women are in trouble. The Women’s Professional Soccer League dropped another team this week, leaving it with only five members. It also has little national appeal, as four of its five members are grouped together in the northeast, and it has no franchises west of Atlanta.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the women’s game is growing by the day. France’s fourth-place finish at last summer’s World Cup was fueled largely by the 10 players they rostered from Olympique Lyon’s Champions League-winning side.

For American women, the WPS remains highly competitive, as roster spots are hard to come by and each team has several American superstars, but the league’s volatility makes one wonder how much longer it will be around.

The men’s professional game in America, however, has been flourishing. Major League Soccer is now comprised of 18 teams and still looking to expand. U.S. Soccer also has two developmental leagues in the newly reborn North American Soccer League and the USL Professional Division.

Advantage: Men

Overall

So, who has a brighter future?

Despite some advantages for the men, the U.S. men 's national team still struggles to find consistent footing at the international level. It has been ranked as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 35 in recent years. It currently sits at No. 34.

The men’s team is also competing in an improving CONCACAF division, making World Cup qualification increasingly difficult; and, on the world stage, is competing against well-established world powers in Europe and South America.

The U.S. men's national team, while continuing to produce higher and higher quality players, still does not have a player of top international quality the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Mesut Ozil, Xavi, Wesley Sneider or Neymar.

Meanwhile, the U.S. women's national team is stocked with young world-class players like Alex Morgan, Lauren Cheney, Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath. The best players in the world have been and continue to be Americans, including Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Michelle Akers, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, Hope Solo and Shannon Boxx.

The U.S. women's national team is also already an established world power and walks on the field every single time expecting to win, and its record in doing so, even against the best team’s in the world, is remarkable.

The women's national team will continue to be a world power for many years to come. It may be quite awhile before anyone is able to say the same of the men's national team.

Advantage: Women

Follow me on Twitter @AmerTouchline