[GersMan]

100 Best American PRO players right now.

(separate youth list coming in a few days)

Goalkeepers (10)
1. Brad Friedel
2. Kasey Keller
3. Tim Howard
4. Nick Rimando
5. Tony Meola
6. Joe Cannon
7. Zach Thornton
8. Johnnie Walker
9. Adin Brown
10. Kevin Hartman

Defenders (30)
1. Tony Sanneh
2. Eddie Pope
3. Carlos Bocanegra
4. Greg Vanney
5. Steve Cherundolo
6. Greg Berhalter
7. Carlos Llamosa
8. Frankie Hedjuk
9. Gooch Onyewu
10. Corey Gibbs
11. Ryan Suarez
12. Steve Jolley
13. Wade Barrett
14. David Regis
15. Jeff Agoos
16. Ramiro Corrales
17. Mike Petke
18. Dan Califf
19. Jim Curtin
20. Phil Salyer
21. CJ Brown
22. Alexi Lalas
23. Rusty Pierce
24. Chad Marshall
25. Jim Conrad
26. Nick Garcia
27. Chad McCarty
28. Nelson Akwari
29. Rick Titus
30. Jay Heaps

Attacking (5-hole) Midfielders and Wingers
1. Landon Donovan
2. Damarcus Beasley
3. Ernie Stewart
4. Eddie Lewis
5. Bobby Convey
6. Kyle Martino
7. Brad Davis
8. Chris Henderson
9. Steve Ralston
10. Ben Olsen
11. Cobi Jones
12. Chris Klein
13, John Thornington
14. Justin Mapp
15. Raul Palomares


Central, Holding and Defensive Midfielders (15)
1. John O'Brien
2. Claudio Reyna
3. Pablo Mastroeni
4. Chris Armas
5. Brian Maisonneuve
6. Richard Mulrooney
7. Kelly Gray
8. Richie Williams
9. Diego Guttierez
10. Kerry Zavagnin
11. Daniel Hernandez
12. Jordan Stone
13. Francisco Gomez
14. Jeff Moore
15. Kyle Beckerman

Strikers (20)
1. Brian McBride
2. Taylor Twellman
3. Clint Mathis
4. Josh Wolff
5. Conor Casey
6. Ante Razov
7. Santino Quaranta
8. Jason Kreis
9. Jeff Cunningham
10. Chris Carrieri
11. Dema Kovalenko
12. Joe Max Moore
13. Edson Buddle
14, Eddie Johnson
15. Jovan Kirovski
16. Mike Magee
17. Rodriguo Faria
18. Bobby Rhine
19. Chris Brown
20. Freddy Adu (I don't care, he stays on the list)

10 Wildcards (in no order)
1. Chris Gbandi
3. Manny Lagos
4. Craig Capano
5. Alex Yi
6. Devin Barclay
7. Grover Gibson
8. David Johnson
9. Frank Simek
10. Brian West

#101 Jon Busch

(as always, your feedback is encouraged)

[zcgf02]

I'd have to put Zach Thornton above Nick Rimando. Rimando makes so sick saves, but he also lets in dumb goals too much for my tastes...

Plus I would move Chris Klein up to 5 or 6 on the midfield list.

[Sachin]

I believe defender Rick Titus is from Evil Canada.

Sachin

[wu-tang beez]

Joe Cannon is playing better than any American keeper right now, esp after watching Friedel's utter indifference to the 2nd he gave up v Liverpool. It's hard to accept, but Dudek outplayed him. Tim Howard has been peppered but he's allowing some soft onses to slip by too. Rimando is far worse than Thornton.

Suarez and Barret are better than Heydude and Llamosa on most days even though they lack caps. Gooch? are you being serious, he played in some preseason matches for Mezt, lets not overrate him yet. Curtin, CJ & garcia help their teams, goose hurts his.

Diego has been injured all year and maise is playing some of the best soccer in his professional career. Armas will see fewer than 10caps in a US jersey. He's as good as gone.

Klein has big play ability and can physically dominate any opponent. Eddie lewis, Chris henderson and Jordan Stone(although very young), on the other hand, wished they had the consistent contributions that ralston has made over his career. He leads the MLS w/ 15 assist this yr. None of those guys will ever tally that in a whole season. Raslton is one of the most creative wingers never to have been given a chance in US history.

Clint Mathis has been a virtual no show since the tourney, farria would take Magee's lunch money, Johnson has never done a thing outside the junior national teams aside from creating a stir, Carieri is finding his mark and is now a top scorer, but how could you put Kreis anywhere outside the top 3. When his career is over, everyone will know that he was the greatest american soccer player of any position of all time. Only Donovan & Adu have more potential, but potential just means you haven't done anything yet.

As far as your wild cards go, Yi couldn't beat SMU's finest in a friendly, capano and selections 6-10 have real tallent & are all fighting for pretty much the same position.

It must have taken a lot of work to crank this out, I confess to have gotten tired head and gave up long ago. We have the right to debate who's better and why, but this just shows how DEEP we are now. The future is so bright, I have to wear shades

[Sachin]

I missed this one, but Faria is from Brasil and is not a US Citizen. I don't know if he's trying to get citizenship or not.

Sachin

[FlashMan]

I wouldn't put Convey above Henderson and Ralston...and Chung isn't even on there! All three are better than Convey...who I like by the way, but has a good ways to go.

As long as we're talking about RIGHT NOW.

And yes, Titus is Canadian.

Rimando has been playing great. He just needs another inch or two.

[Ghost]

I think yiour defenders are out of order.

Why is Bocanegra so high? He's above Berhalter, who would play ahead of him if the cup were tomorrow. Suarez is way too low. Why is Hejduk so low? He had a very good cup.Bruce seems to have more faith in him than Cherundolo or Vanney.

[Karl K]

Originally posted by wu-tang beez
but how could you put Kreis anywhere outside the top 3. When his career is over, everyone will know that he was the greatest american soccer player of any position of all time. Only Donovan & Adu have more potential, but potential just means you haven't done anything yet.

Exsqueeze me?

Donovan is not potential, he is reality. He's played in 5 world cup games and has scored in World Cup competition.

Kreis? The greatest american soccer player of "all time"?

Brings new meaning to word "delusional."

[NSlander]

Brandon Prideaux.

Also, add me to the already substantial list of Galaxy fans who have little regard for Califf.

[Short Corner]

As before, this list mixes together potential and actuality, international and club play in very confusing ways. Rather than nitpick the defense list again (although I still think it has many flaws) lets compare the attacking midfielder list with the list of best attacking US midfielders in MLS since everyone returned from the world cup [Gers rank in brackets]

1-Cobi Jones [11]. Hottest player in MLS since his return—as any good fantasy manger can tell you.

1a-Chris Henderson[8].
1b-Mark Chung[x]. Leaving him off the list is inexcusable.
1c-Steve Ralston[9].

These four are very close and the class of MLS this season. Landon and DMB can be ranked above them because of the world cup, but their club form has not been as strong.

5-Preki[x] and 6-Chris Klein [12] Not nearly as productive as the top four, but marginally better than:

6a-Landon Donovan[1] and 6b- DMB [2]. (Again, I’m only talking about current form in MLS)

9-Brian West[wild card 10] Clearly an attacking midfielder, so why a “wild card”?

The remaining MLS amids who start regularly (in no particular order): Victorine, Lagos [wild card 3], Russell, Gomez[holding mid 13], Quill, Convey[5], Jim Rooney.

MLS amids who start semi-regularly: Brad Davis[7], Kyle Martino[6]

MLS amid just back from injury but has not played enough to possibly rank: Ben Olsen [10]

MLS amids who are rarely seen: Justin Mapp[14]

How any of the last four can be ranked at all is beyond me—unless, of course the list is really about potential to contribute in 2004-2006.

If being on the world cup squad is so important why is Cobi ranked so low? If it isn't important, how is Eddie Lewis ranked so high?

I’m still not sure what the list is trying to measure, but it is definitely not from the Church of Whats Happening Now.