While it's more or less accepted that the quality of play in MLS has improved the last few years, not so readily acknowledged is whether the league has also raised the level of the U.S. national team.

Ten games into the 2017 season, defending champion Seattle is scuffling below the playoff tier against a lineup of injuries and motivated opponents. A game Wednesday at Sporting Kansas City takes the team and head coach Brian Schmetzer back to where the man he served as an assistant, Sigi Schmid, coached his last game before being dismissed.

On Monday the Galaxy announced that midfielder Jermaine Jones had suffered a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and would miss three to four weeks, which nudges his return right on the cusp of several U.S. games, including a June 11 World Cup qualifier against Mexico.

Todd Eason, who played and coached in the USL and the Premier Development League, has been PDL Director since October of 2014. We spoke with Eason as the PDL kicks off its 23rd season, with 72 teams, this weekend. Of particular interest is how the league provides high-level competition to young players aspiring to play professionally.

When midweek games start to pile up, MLS teams need to go deeper into the rosters and perhaps rely on players they have groomed in their academies and USL squads.