***MOD'S NOTE***This thread was originally posted in 2004.***MOD'S NOTE*** Inspired by the other thread, I decided to update this one again as when I checked the last list there were some great new names not on it (like Clint Dempsey). Anyway I also decided to really throw a twist in and restrict the ages in a unique way. Taking the year of birth from all the players from the 2002 World Cup, I decided to fit the players so that the percentages from this top 100 list matched the percentage of players born in the same two year period (obviously with 8 years tacked on) who made 2002 World Cup rosters. I separated it into two groups: Goalkeepers and Outfielders. Here's the breakdown: Code: Years GK OF 1973-1974 1 1 1975-1976 1 4 1977-1978 1 8 1979-1980 2 11 1981-1982 2 19 1983-1984 1 17 1985-1986 1 15 1987-1988 1 10 1989-1990 1 5 As you can see, if the percentages hold, the majority of the prospects should be born between 1981 and 1986. The rankings below are completely subjective (I did the work I get to pick who ranks where), but the younger players will tend to rank lower as there's so much more we don't know about them. The older players (like John O'Brien and Clint Mathis) will generally slip a notch a two from where they're currently at as well, depending on how well players in that position age. Also, many players can obviously play several different positions, and I placed them so as to get as many of the best players on as possible, rather than holding players like Dempsey or Arnaud to their best positions. Here they are: Goalkeepers: 1. Tim Howard, Manchester United (England), 1979 2. Jonny Walker, Metrostars, 1974 3. Adin Brown, New England Revolution, 1978 4. Joe Cannon, Colorado Rapids, 1975 5. Steve Cronin, San Jose Earthquakes, 1983 6. Quentin Westberg, Troyes (France), 1986 7. D.J. Countess, Chicago Fire, 1982 8. Troy Perkins, DC United, 1981 9. Nick Rimando, DC United, 1979 10. Marcus Rein, Wake Forest (College), 1987 Left Backs 1. Bobby Convey, Reading (England), 1983 2. Jose Burciaga Jr., Kansas City Wizards, 1981 3. Todd Dunivant, San Jose Earthquakes, 1980 4. Greg Vanney, Bastia (France), 1974 5. Ricky Lewis, Los Angeles Galaxy, 1982 6. Chris Gbandi, Dallas Burn, 1979 7. Steven Curfman, Wake Forest (College), 1986 8. Mike Ordonez, Racing Cordoba (Argentina), 1985 9. Tim Ward, St. Louis University (College), 1987 10. Danny Karbassiyoon, Arsenal (England), 1984 Right Backs 1. Steve Cherundolo, Hannover 96 (Germany), 1979 2. Chris Albright, Los Angeles Galaxy, 1979 3. Nick Garcia, Kansas City Wizards, 1979 4. Robbie Russell, Rosenborg (Norway), 1979 5. Chris Wingert, Columbus Crew, 1982 6. Frank Simek, Arsenal (England), 1984 7. Philip Salyer, Dallas Burn, 1981 8. Kelly Gray, Chicago Fire, 1981 9. Drew Moor, Indiana University (College), 1984 10. Karl Schilling, University of Connecticut (College), 1986 Center Backs 1. Carlos Bocanegra, Fulham (England), 1979 2. Cory Gibbs, Dallas Burn, 1980 3. Pablo Mastroeni, Colorado Rapids, 1976 4. Jonathan Spector, Manchester United (England), 1986 5. Chad Marshall, Columbus Crew, 1984 6. Danny Califf, Los Angeles Galaxy, 1980 7. Oguchi Onyewu, Standard Liege (Belgium), 1982 8. Ryan Cochrane, San Jose Earthquakes, 1983 9. Jeff Parke, Metrostars, 1982 10. Nat Borchers, Colorado Rapids, 1981 11. Eddie Robinson, San Jose Earthquakes, 1978 12. Zak Whitbread, Liverpool (England), 1984 13. Alex Yi, No Club, 1982 14. Kiel McClung, UCLA (College), 1985 15. Patrick Phelan, Wake Forest (College), 1985 Defensive Midfielders 1. Ricardo Clark, Metrostars, 1983 2. John O'Brien, Ajax, 1977 3. Danny Szetela, Columbus Crew??, 1987 4. Clint Dempsey, New England Revolution, 1983 5. Richard Mulrooney, San Jose Eathquakes, 1976 6. Brian Carroll, DC United, 1981 7. Kyle Beckerman, Colorado Rapids, 1982 8. Michael Stephens, Bradenton Academy, 1989 9. Brian Mascarenhas, Tottenham (England), 1987 10. Andrew Giallombardo, Bradenton Academy, 1989 Left Midfielders 1. DaMarcus Beasley, PSV Eindhoven (Holland), 1982 2. Justin Mapp, Chicago Fire, 1984 3. Brad Davis, Dallas Burn, 1982 4. Josh Gros, DC United, 1982 5. Arturo Alvarez, San Jose Earthquakes, 1985 6. Dema Kovalenko*, DC United, 1977 7. Craig Capano, Chicago Fire, 1985 8. Rod Hidalgo, University of South Florida, 1987 9. Brian West, Fredrikstad (Norway), 1978 10. Gabriel Farfan, Bradenton Academy, 1988 Right Midfielders 1. Brian Mullan, San Jose Earthquakes, 1978 2. Pat Noonan, New England Revolution, 1980 3. Chris Klein, Kansas City Wizards, 1976 4. Ben Olsen, DC United, 1977 5. Ryan Soroka, Bradenton Academy, 1988 6. Santino Quaranta, DC United, 1984 7. Davy Arnaud, Kansas City Wizards, 1980 8. Jay Denny, Stoke City (England), 1985 9. Dax McCarty, University of North Carolina (College), 1987 10. Jemal Johnson, Blackburn (England), 1984 Attacking Midfielders 1. Landon Donovan, San Jose Earthquakes, 1982 2. Eddie Gaven, Metrostars, 1986 3. Kyle Martino, Columbus Crew, 1981 4. Ned Grabavoy, Los Angeles Galaxy, 1984 5. Clint Mathis, Hannover 96 (Germany), 1976 6. Ramon Nunez*, Dallas Burn, 1985 7. Memo Gonzalez, Los Angeles Galaxy, 1986 8. Michael Bradley, Metrostars, 1987 9. Cesar Nunez, Bradenton Academy, 1989 10. Cheezi Meltz, San Diego Nomads, 1990 Forwards 1. Freddy Adu, DC United, 1989 2. Eddie Johnson, Dallas Burn, 1984 3. Taylor Twellman, New England Revolution, 1980 4. Edson Buddle, Columbus Crew, 1981 5. Conor Casey, Mainz (Germany), 1981 6. Alecko Eskandarian, DC United, 1982 7. Mike Magee, Metrostars, 1984 8. Josh Wolff, Kansas City Wizards, 1977 9. Brian Ching, San Jose Earthquakes, 1978 10. Knox Cameron, University of Michigan (College), 1983 11. Kenny Cooper, Manchester United (England), 1984 12. Eddie Ababio, Bradenton Academy, 1988 13. Chad Barrett, UCLA (College), 1985 14. Charlie Davies, Boston College (College), 1986 15. Jamie Watson, North Carolina (College), 1986 *Not yet American citizen The oldest player on the list is Greg Vanney and the youngest is the infamous Cheezi Meltz. The potential in that starting 11 (particularly if you swap Gaven to right mid) is enormous if you ask me.
Adu will be a MF and Convey will not be a left back for a 2010 USMNT so long as Spector and Whitbread are around. Best guess at this point...and man will it probably be wrong... --------Casey-Gaven ---Beasley-Adu-Szetela-Donovan Spector-Whitbread-Gibbs-Cherundolo -----------Howard
This Cheezi Meltz kid, does anyone really know anything about him? I checked the region IV website and he is not listed on the '90 ODP team. If he is as good as we hear should'nt he be on his region's ODP team?
he is south african so that's probably why he wasn't on region IV ODP teams. His real name is adam and other than that, all I know he is a very technical player who plays withdrawn foward/a-mid.
He was on the California south's team if that helps. http://www.calsouth.com/resources/odppools/2004summerB.htm He's obviously more of a joke pick anyway. US Soccer doesn't start to gather 90s together for a while so its really hard for anyone to pick somebody, but I felt it was worth picking a '90 to illustrate that players that age are not really all that far away from being possible World Cup selections. Cheezi just has a goofy name and a couple of Newspaper stories so he's as good as anybody. He's also apparently very small so maybe that's one reason why he didn't make the regional team.
"10. Jemal Johnson, Blackburn (England), 1984" He will be on Canada's 2010 team! And where is Fro Adu???
Yet a kid who is currently at Arsenal places behind two younger kids who are currently in college. That makes sense
I saw a kid this weekend from Nomads, a 90 named Cesar Romero playing striker. Just as smooth as could be, scored a hattrick in the final and set up the fourth. I don't know about the South African, but Cesar is for real.
all i have to say is wow, look at that depth. this makes me so excited for the years to come in american soccer!
Nice list. I agree the depth is nice. I can't wait for WCQ for 2010. Should be an amazing time to see the US Nats.
Great list, but I would definitely put Onyewu above Califf. I would also move Adu to attacking mid, Grabavoy to d-mid, drop Caroll all together because he's crap, move Noonan up to striker, and move Josh Gros (he's naturally right footed) over to right mid. Also, isn't Hidalgo a big target forward?
GK: Howard LB: Danny K CB: Spector CB: Whitbread RB: Simek DM: Clark/Szetela/JOB (1 always injured others need to reach potential) LM: Beasly RM: Donovan AM: Gaven FW: Adu FW: Cooper Now that's a team
I think this thread is a testament to how boring this team is to follow. Guys sitting around trading fantasies of what they want to the team to look like 6 YEARS from now.
I think it's probably true around the world. It's more fun to speculate about unproven assets than re-hash things we already know about the "old guys." (Not that it doesn't stop Armas threads from popping up endlessly anyway.) Plus, young players haven't let us down yet -- they're "still young" or "full of potential" or whatever other words you want to use. They're perfect, for now... First it was Eddie Pope... Then Eddie Lewis... Then Eddie Johnson... This month it's Eddie Gaven... Give 'em a couple of years and it will be "All About Eddie Ababio" around here.
Just to clarify once again, Gros is actually a right side midfielder, but is currently playing on the left to get on the field. Also, no way Olsen is our 4th best option on the right side in 6 years. He's hardly that today, and I'm a fan of his. Convey is also unlikely to be left back. What will be interesting to watch is the development of those players in a European reserve team, vs those in college or MLS, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Think back 6 years and see how many people that are on the USMNT now that were obvious choices then. You can't predict that far ahead even with a list of a 100 or 200 or 300. Players will peak early in their development, not develop as predicted, get injured, change positions, lose favor with the staff, a new staff could come after 2006, etc.
Yes, Hildalgo is. Christian Jimenez is a Left Mid that should be on the list too. voros possibly confused Jimenez with Hildago, both are from brandenton and going to univ of so. florida. great list voros. thanks for a fun read!
since you apparently love EPL players. you should switch whitbread with Bocanegra so have at least one vet.