Up to this point, the American footballers lacking energy and resistance (4,3)

'up to this point' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'the american footballers lacking energy and resistance' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'american' could be 'us' (United States) and 'us' is located in the answer.
'footballers' could be 'fa' (Football Association abbreviation) and 'fa' is present in the answer.
'resistance' could be 'r' (electronics abbreviation) and 'r' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'h' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?