I agree with your post except the part that says “best athletes”. I am of the opinion that soccer players are the most fit athletes, and in my eyes, that makes them the “best.”
There are very few American football, basketball, baseball, or hockey players who could play half of a half of a soccer game. They’d pass out or complain why they weren’t subbed in or out.
I know this will rankle many here, but IMHO, soccer players are among the finest athletes in the world.
Soccer players probably are the most fit athletes in the world. It is just not the popular sport in the USA so that our most talented, not necessarily most fit, athletes choose it.