Ursuline 100 (more or less) With DOBs

[Soccernethost]

Well, if you start with a 100 player list, the odds of getting 15-17 out of 23 WC members is pretty high obviously..

Do you EVER say anything worth reading?

The point of this thread, 3 1/2 years ago, wasn't to be prophetic. It was a resource just to see how old our likely players would be for the end of the next (current) cycle.

I came across it in a search yesterday and thought it was interesting.

[voros]

Well, if you start with a 100 player list, the odds of getting 15-17 out of 23 WC members is pretty high obviously.
Which is precisely the reason why you list so many players. It's not a prediction sheet as much as it is an information sheet anout the most reasonable guesses for future World Cups.

The idea is different people follow the National Team in different ways, so a list like this can be helpful in pointing out guys from the youth teams, from both domestic and aboroad, prospects and veterans and so on. A guy who follows mostly MLS and doesn't know much about the Yanks Abroad might not know about guys like Heath Pearce. Guys who concentrate on the big leagues and only know MLS in passing might miss a Brian Carroll or Chris Rolfe. Guys who don't follow the youth teams might not know Feilhaber.

This kind of puts everyone out there to look at.

You'll be mortified after the World Cup when I do one for 2014. I might put JohnR's kid on there. :)

[sidefootsitter]

Do you EVER say anything worth reading?... Ah, bite me, Dave.
Which is precisely the reason why you list so many players. It's not a prediction sheet as much as it is an information sheet anout the most reasonable guesses for future World Cups. Like I said, it's too broad.

IMO, with many WC-worthy Yanks going abroad, you'd see a much narrower field of candidates with the core 15 players turnover of about 50% from Cup to Cup.

[voros]

Like I said, it's too broad.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I think it's intersting to see players like Mykell Bates on there (a 15 year old defender who runs a 12.10 100 meters) just as an example of a player of an age where 10 players that same age made World Cup Rosters in 2002 (including Beasley and Donovan).

[davide]

LB: Boca and Convey were good picks. Maybe they should have known Barrett had already reached his peak. Forecasting the Eddie Lewis experiment would have been a stretch.

They picked this team right after the US played a friendly against El Salvador in late 2002. Wade Barrett and Sacha Victorine played as the outside backs, IIRC. That game clearly influenced the ballots. When this list came out, I chuckled that they showed so much respect for Barrett based on that friendly.

[ursula]

OK. Looking at the first list and projecting forward to 2010, I arbitrarily crossed off all players who will over 30 in June of '10 (GK's older than 35) just to see the number of players who look to be Nats quality over most of their careers and would still be eligible. I also eliminate the obvious, the Devin Barclay's. For the most part, these guys will be the core of the '10 team, with just a few players older then them having a real shot in 10(Bocanegra, Cherundolo for instance will be 31). Obviously this doesn't include voros' updates it just looks at who's been on the short list for a long time, the real vets on the team:

Name, Age in 2010, (DOB) in order of birth by position:

Goalkeepers:

Joe Cannon - 35 (1/75)
Tim Howard - 31 (3/79)

Defenders:

Corey Gibbs - 30 (1/80)
Danny Califf - 30 (3/80)
"Gooch" Onyewu - 28 (5/82)

Midfielders:

Kyle Martino - 29 (2/81)
DaMarcus Beasley - 28 (5/82)
Bobby Convey - 27 (5/83)
Justin Mapp - 25 (10/84)

Forwards:

Taylor Twellman - 30 (2/80)
Edson Buddle - 29 (5/81)
Conor Casey - 29 (7/81)
Landon Donovan - 28 (3/82)
Eddie Johnson - 26 (3/84)
Santino Quaranta - 25 (10/84)
Freddy Adu - 21 (6/89)

Again, I'm not trying for anything real profound here but you have to think that most of these guys will be on the 10 team. That's 16 players with three of them (Cannon, Twellman, and Buddle) long shots but possible.

(Players who have a shot (if healthy- and I'm casting a wide net here in saying who has a shot for Germany) for this team (06) and who will be older than 30 in '10 and thus likely over the hill: Keller, Berhalter, Pope, Hedjuk, Conrad, Bocanegra(31), Cherundolo (31), Armas, Reyna, Lewis, Ralston, Mastroeni, JOB, Olsen, McBride, Wolff.)

[GersMan]

I wrote Ursula when I first saw this, because I remembered doing these top 100 lists but didn't remember this one. I went into the archive and saw that one month someone had come up with a somewhat revised version of the one I'd been doing. Each month I would list these and then the debate would start.

I think ursula had the idea for it and I made a list and then named it after him - but I don't recall exactly. Maybe he does.

It seems like a LONG time ago. So much has happened since then, for me anyway. But in the original versions I had youth player included, and then saw it was better to have a separate youth list. That actually became the genesis for my then-new business.

By the way, I'm trying to figure out a way to make it free again - if any business geniuses out there have any ideas......