None. None in the Europa League either. When this thread hits 1000 posts, then we will have a seriously competitive Men's National Team.
If the tables stay as they are and if the players don't change clubs we could have these players in the UCL this August: Christian Pulisic Weston McKennie Timothy Chandler Kenny Saief Bill Hamid Keaton Parks (if he makes the first team)
IMO, there a big difference between the Big 4 UCL teams and the others. I’d probably put the major league Europa teams over the lesser league’s top teams. At a minimum, I’d focus on the UCL knockout rounds.
Totally agree. But teams like Anderlecht and Benfica routinely make the knock out rounds. Plus, beggars can't be choosers!
Anderlecht hasn't gotten past the CL Group Stage since 2000-2001 when they advanced to the Second Group Stage. In the three seasons from 2014-2015 to 2016-2017, the played in the EL Knockout Rounds. Benfica has done much better than Anderlecht. They were in the last four CL Group Stages and advanced twice. In 2013-2014 they lost the EL Final on penalties.
Just curious - do you mean out of the currently remaining teams in the quarterfinals? Because that seems a bit misleading, since there's only eight teams left. And they represent the best sides in all of Europe. And are mostly composed of European players. Has the US MNT ever had a player in a UEFA Champions League quarterfinal?
A few. Damarcus Beasley, John O'Brien, and Jermaine Jones. And Christian Pulisic last year. Donovan and Howard appeared in the knockout stages, but both got knocked out in the Round of 16.
Yes, currently. And yes, I'm aware no American is in there, was the point. But this thread should stay around and I thought it could be used like the Yanks Abroad or MLS Flavor of the Week threads, a way to track Americans in the Champions League. It was probably the worse year for Americans in the UCL, and it is no coincidence that coincided with our exit in WC qualifying, imo. Dortmund is a roller coaster, it will be a fight for CP to make it to the UCL next year. Jovan Kirovski not only made it to the quarterfinal, but won the competition with Dortmund in 96-97. He wasn't in the squad for the final, or maybe all the knockout rounds. He did appear twice for them in the competition, so gets the trophy.
What's much more meaningful is how many players are in the big five European leagues in the first place. Sure its awesome when Dortmund makes a deep run in the UCL. But lets get the majority of our pool in these better leagues and worry less about having them in UCL or even Europa.
I get that, but is playing at Hamburg, playing as a striker with no coherent midfield, better than playing for Benfica? I think league is overrated to some degree and Benfica might be a better situation for a young player than Hamburg, but it would be helpful to get many more players in the Bundesliga and La Liga (EPL is a tough one for foreigners). But the goal of that would be to get more players on to the top teams in those leagues and thus into the UCL. Plus, there are two or more threads for that. Spain had 69 players or such in the UCL this year. We had 1. If we are lucky, and teams do well, and player progress, we could get 4-6 next year. Top 4 or Top 5 League starter is definitely a minimum standard we should shoot for. But if we really want to compete, we need UCL knockout round players. If they are spread to many different positions, only need 9-13 to take a real step forward.
False! Technically Alexander-Arnold with Liverpool is eligible to play for the US, though its rather unlikely.
Kirovski never played in the knockout stages. He had two late sub appearances in the group stage the year Dortmund won the competition. The following year he again had two sub appearances, but also started (and scored in) Dortmund's final group stage game after they had already wrapped up first place in the group weeks earlier.
Beasley played in both legs that were Round of 16 losses by PSV against Lyon in the 2005-2006 Round of 16. Jones played in Barcelona 1-0 Schalke 04 in the Quarterfinals in 2007-2008.
If that's all it will take, I can generate 1000 posts for this thread in a day or two. Will be my small contribution to the greater glory of US Soccer!
Its an off year. There have been years where we have had lots. And there will be years when we have many more.
Damarcus played in the semi-final against AC Milan 26 april 2005! AFAIK he's the Yank with the furthest thrust in the CL! http://www.voetbalstats.nl/opstelec.php?wid=1535
Why do you think Benefica is better than Hamburg? didn't they get crushed vs. UCL group opponents this year? It's not clear to me that Benefica wouldn't get relegated in B1 or that Hamburg wouldn't qualify for UCL in Portugal but I don't really follow the Portugal league.
Portugal is seventh in the country coefficients. Benfica is in first, and I don't think they would get relegated out of any league.
It depends if you mean American citizen or USMNT player. !! An American citizen has started a Champions League final..............as recently as 2013 (Neven Subotic). By the way, multiple USMNTers have won the Europa League/UEFA Cup. That's a harder trivia question for people to get right. For instance, David Wagner and Thomas Dooley with Schalke in 1997. That team beat Inter Milan on aggregate. Both played throughout the event, but both stayed on the bench in the final I believe. We've had plenty of USMNTers in the Champions League/UEFA Cup. This is just a down year. Best goal by a USMNTer in European competition? Dempsey for Fulham to knock Juventus out of the Europa League quarterfinal. Although Fabian Johnson's goal against Sevilla in the Champions League was also nice: Maurice Edu against Valencia is a good one................from this angle