sidefootsitter
15 Aug 2005, 01:27 PM
As "Ursula" brought up in the Parkhurst thread, the US soccer has been undergoing gradual transformation over the years. The "big bang", as it were, was the Paul Caliguiri's goal that took the US team to the WC'90 in Italy. With that commenced the new era of the sport in the US of A.
Era I. The Newbies.
The composition of the team prior to and including the World Cup has been of college players, the old A-league or the Pacific Coast League (?). The US teams looked happy just to be in the Cup, bunkered against its opponents and was content not to be embarrassed. It put up a game effort vs. Italy but bowed out overwhelmed.
But one had to start somewhere.
Era II. Riff-raff.
When you start from almost nothing and then get something, you consider it a giant leap and that's what the US team in 1994 was. The roster featured a few European based pros, most of them having solid careers in the 2nd divisions (Wynalda, Ramos, Wegerle, Harkes, Klopas*, Kooiman*), a few players naturalized as adults (Clavijo, Dooley, Stewart**), a few post-college Yanks (Balboa, Lalas, Meola, Jones) and an assortment of back-ups.
The team's grandest achievement was its win against Columbia (Elo had US as #50, Columbia as #16), which propelled the US into the 2nd round.
The style of play under Bora was still "bunker+counter" but it worked well on occasions. Possession was still tough to come by.
Era III. MLS.
This was stated with the creation of MLS and can be considered as lasting until the 1998 Cup.
The qualifying process for the WC'98 wasn't easy, but the player mix in France was basically of the established by then MLS'ers (Pope, Burns, Jones, Maisoneuve, Hejduk, Agoos, Balboa, Lalas, Wynalda, Ramos) with a sprinkling of a few European based players (Regis, Dooley, Stewart, Keller, Reyna). The US "Euros" were basically the lower tier kind, either by their league or their team.
Era IV. Yanks go abroad.
With MLS marking half-decade in business, the US born players have been slowly becoming more attractive to European clubs looking for bargains. Some Yanks go to Europe directly. The qualification for the WC'02 is still tough due to little depth behind the starters but, once the US gets to Japorea, it becomes one of the revelations of the tournament.
Bruce Arena's squad features several US born/Euro based players (Friedel, Hejduk, Sanneh, O'Brien, Stewart*, Keller, Berhalter, Lewis, Moore, Cherundolo) with the rest coming from MLS (Agoos, Beasley, Mastroeni, Pope, Mathis, Wolff). Several have had experience in Europe but are based in MLS (McBride, Donovan). A few are naturalized citizens (Regis, Llamosa, Mastroeni).
Generalizing the US in WC'02, the European based players provided skill, the MLS provided speed. Performance exceeded most folks' expectation as the US reached the quaterfinals with a little luck along the way.
Era V. Breakfast in America.
MLS keeps producing talent but the ratio of the YA/MLS begins to tilt toward the YAs. Bruce's defense of Keller-'Dolo-Gooch-Gibbs-Boca/Convey is all-European and, if it wasn't for Donovan's re-defection and Eddie Johnson's emergence, so would be the rest of the roster.
The qualification for the WC'06 has been a gimme.
Performance in the WC?
Era VI. Bigger is better.
With the recent rumors of Oguchi Onyewu joining Tim Howard at Manchester United, the Yanks are finally beginning to move into the elite clubs.
Landon Donovan could have chosen to stay at Bayer Leverkusen ... alas, that was not meant to be. John O'Brien's injuries (and perhaps management issues) did not allow him to stay at Ajax. Jonathan Spector is on loan at Charlton. Benny Feilhaber is trying to make it up Hamburg's food chain. Da Marcus Beasley is a PSV Eindhoven and Cory Gibbs is at Feyenoord. All those are clubs that are probably half-a-step below the likes of the G-14.
ManCity, Fulham, Leeds, Reading, Hanover, Mainz, Aalesund, Ham-Kam, Fredrikstad, et al., are further down.
Other MLS players like Eddie Johnson or maybe even Quaranta will probably join a fairly big club within a couple of years.
By 2,010, the US should be considered a real contender.
Era VII The Final Step.
The US will have a roster made up of international superstars, looking to get the first US World Cup title. Brazil is within 5. Others are much closer.
Era I. The Newbies.
The composition of the team prior to and including the World Cup has been of college players, the old A-league or the Pacific Coast League (?). The US teams looked happy just to be in the Cup, bunkered against its opponents and was content not to be embarrassed. It put up a game effort vs. Italy but bowed out overwhelmed.
But one had to start somewhere.
Era II. Riff-raff.
When you start from almost nothing and then get something, you consider it a giant leap and that's what the US team in 1994 was. The roster featured a few European based pros, most of them having solid careers in the 2nd divisions (Wynalda, Ramos, Wegerle, Harkes, Klopas*, Kooiman*), a few players naturalized as adults (Clavijo, Dooley, Stewart**), a few post-college Yanks (Balboa, Lalas, Meola, Jones) and an assortment of back-ups.
The team's grandest achievement was its win against Columbia (Elo had US as #50, Columbia as #16), which propelled the US into the 2nd round.
The style of play under Bora was still "bunker+counter" but it worked well on occasions. Possession was still tough to come by.
Era III. MLS.
This was stated with the creation of MLS and can be considered as lasting until the 1998 Cup.
The qualifying process for the WC'98 wasn't easy, but the player mix in France was basically of the established by then MLS'ers (Pope, Burns, Jones, Maisoneuve, Hejduk, Agoos, Balboa, Lalas, Wynalda, Ramos) with a sprinkling of a few European based players (Regis, Dooley, Stewart, Keller, Reyna). The US "Euros" were basically the lower tier kind, either by their league or their team.
Era IV. Yanks go abroad.
With MLS marking half-decade in business, the US born players have been slowly becoming more attractive to European clubs looking for bargains. Some Yanks go to Europe directly. The qualification for the WC'02 is still tough due to little depth behind the starters but, once the US gets to Japorea, it becomes one of the revelations of the tournament.
Bruce Arena's squad features several US born/Euro based players (Friedel, Hejduk, Sanneh, O'Brien, Stewart*, Keller, Berhalter, Lewis, Moore, Cherundolo) with the rest coming from MLS (Agoos, Beasley, Mastroeni, Pope, Mathis, Wolff). Several have had experience in Europe but are based in MLS (McBride, Donovan). A few are naturalized citizens (Regis, Llamosa, Mastroeni).
Generalizing the US in WC'02, the European based players provided skill, the MLS provided speed. Performance exceeded most folks' expectation as the US reached the quaterfinals with a little luck along the way.
Era V. Breakfast in America.
MLS keeps producing talent but the ratio of the YA/MLS begins to tilt toward the YAs. Bruce's defense of Keller-'Dolo-Gooch-Gibbs-Boca/Convey is all-European and, if it wasn't for Donovan's re-defection and Eddie Johnson's emergence, so would be the rest of the roster.
The qualification for the WC'06 has been a gimme.
Performance in the WC?
Era VI. Bigger is better.
With the recent rumors of Oguchi Onyewu joining Tim Howard at Manchester United, the Yanks are finally beginning to move into the elite clubs.
Landon Donovan could have chosen to stay at Bayer Leverkusen ... alas, that was not meant to be. John O'Brien's injuries (and perhaps management issues) did not allow him to stay at Ajax. Jonathan Spector is on loan at Charlton. Benny Feilhaber is trying to make it up Hamburg's food chain. Da Marcus Beasley is a PSV Eindhoven and Cory Gibbs is at Feyenoord. All those are clubs that are probably half-a-step below the likes of the G-14.
ManCity, Fulham, Leeds, Reading, Hanover, Mainz, Aalesund, Ham-Kam, Fredrikstad, et al., are further down.
Other MLS players like Eddie Johnson or maybe even Quaranta will probably join a fairly big club within a couple of years.
By 2,010, the US should be considered a real contender.
Era VII The Final Step.
The US will have a roster made up of international superstars, looking to get the first US World Cup title. Brazil is within 5. Others are much closer.