It depends on what quality you are referring to as well as what sports compete against another in terms of the season. When I went to school, baseball competed against track and field for the best athletes. We didn'tg have a soccer team, but that was in the late 50's and early 60s. Today, there are boys and girls soccer teams. That was in upstate NY.
Here in the DC metro area, soccer is a big time high school sport for both boys and girls. I certainly wouldn't call the athletes second tier. The reality is that there are far more kids playing high school soccer today than ever before. And the US performance on the world stage has been improving as a result. Our women have been among or at the top of the heap for almost two decades. The men are getting there with many American players playing in Europe, including in the UK Premier league.
In 1989, the U.S. Men's National Team hadn't played in a World Cup in 40 years and the U.S. Women's program was just four years old. U.S. Soccer was playing games in small stadiums that were rarely filled to capacity. There were few games being televised (and none without commercials during play). There were no soccer-specific stadiums, and there were no high-level professional outdoor leagues of which to speak.
Since that time, things have evolved significantly. The U.S. MNT has qualified for their fifth consecutive World Cup, and advanced to the quarterfinals at the 2002 event. U.S. Soccer is a world leader in women’s soccer at every level, and the team has won two Women's World Cups, along with two Olympic Gold Medals. The United States has also hosted three World Cups with the support of its members and strong organizational abilities.
That is a reality. The best athletes in America play football, basketball, and baseball. As a rule, soccer gets the kids who aren’t physical or determined enough to play football and practice to hit a small baseball coming in at a high rate of speed.
I think you are living in the past. I played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. In football, I just wasn't big enough to be competitive, which is why I quit JV football after playing freshman football. There are plenty of good, first tier athletes playing high school soccer. And frankly, there are plenty of second and third tier athletes playing football and basketball.
“Here in the DC metro area, soccer is a big time high school sport for both boys and girls. I certainly wouldn’t call the athletes second tier.”
Having coached football athletes in the DC Metro area, PG, I can tell you that I totally disagree with you.
I’ve seen 6 6 310 lbs athletes lineup at Def End and Tight end and dominate...you can’t compare the size and speed of football athletes in the DC Metro area against soccer athletes...football athletes are freaks like the above I described...he could have played bball at Clemson or Football at a host of D1 football schools. He now plays professionally.
...and then there are the pure speed athletes...wow...plenty of 4.4s in the DC Metro area and some sub 4.4’s.
Again, I’m taking nothing away from soccer athletes...they are well conditioned and extremely skilled...but objectively they can’t compare to football, bball and baseball athletes...I’m talking about pure speed, agility, strength and power/explosiveness combination...it’s no comparison my friend.