Biggest Underachievers/Disappointments in USMNT history

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by keller4president, Nov 4, 2018.

  1. manq360

    manq360 Member+

    Jun 17, 2009
    Portland, OR
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would like to add Ben Olsen's name to the injured players' list. As I recall, he played for a short period in England and was thought to have much promise. Injury sidelined his career, but I thought he was pretty good for a while.
     
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  2. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Robbie Rogers. He was amazing in 2008 and I thought he had all the tools.

    Miro Rys. Scored in his debut as a teen in 1976 and passed away in a car crash aged 20.
     
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  3. Jazzy Altidore

    Jazzy Altidore BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Sep 2, 2009
    San Francisco
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Solo continued playing with the national team for years after her 2007 meltdown. She then had many, many more public incidents, including crimes, (and God knows how many non-public incidents) before USSF finally said good-bye after she was washed-up anyway.
     
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  4. Jazzy Altidore

    Jazzy Altidore BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Sep 2, 2009
    San Francisco
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. raza_rebel

    raza_rebel Member+

    Dec 11, 2000
    Club:
    Univ de Chile
    I would like to add Corey Gibbs name and Gooch's to The Underachievers, soley due to injuries. Corey was injured in a USA match. He was being talked about and shown interest by bigger Euro clubs while playing at.... PSV Eindhoven? He never garnered nearly the interest he had pre-injury.

    Gooch's injury coincided right around his transfer to AC Milan. Ricardo Clark was a mild disappointment. He was injured actually on trial with a lower-tier La Liga team....Maybe Levante
     
  6. Master O

    Master O Member+

    Jul 7, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The biggest disappointment is easily Freddy Adu.

    Not even close.
     
  7. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    The Battle Spider
     
  8. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    Has anyone mentioned Santino Quaranta? Guy was the youngest ever MLS player before Adu, and his career fizzled out among drug problems and consistently under-performing until, he ended up moving to India --where he never even managed to be signed and had to retire at 27.
     
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  9. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gringo Torres.

    Thought he was going revolutionize our side and enable us to out-Mexico Mexico.

    Pfffffft.
     
  10. tbonepat11

    tbonepat11 Member+

    Jun 21, 2001
    Re: Connor Casey.

    But 1 game does make a legend and the most legendary thread of all time.
     
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  11. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Hard for me to put Adu there because on a career basis he produced somewhat in some meaningful games. He had some goals and assists in minor qualifiers. He had some decent plays in Gold Cup. Relative to the huge hype you could argue but he wasn't completely useless. To me truly disappointing there isn't even a debate. There once was an Adu Debate.

    Kind of like once upon a time long ago when he broke in as a 30 year old rookie with DC he was fairly productive. It was a good team that flattered him and I think his individual failings are well documented. But even as recent as 2012 he was 5G 1A for Philly. Again, the problem there would be the gap between hype based salary and production. If he was some $100k player with no ego that kind of production he'd still be in the league.
     
  12. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    How do you say that the guy who was part responsible for all 3 goals (2 scored 1 fouled for PK) in a clincher road win in Honduras 2009 was the worst disappointment ever.

    Way I look at it Casey was knee-knacked so early in his NT career that you take what you can get. He and Ching were underrated target guys in that period.
     
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  13. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    That's more like it. Debuted 10 years ago. Still only 31 and has been gone for years. Never got a goal.
     
  14. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Quaranta would be high up there, Bradenton, was supposed to be a big deal, derailed by drugs, out of soccer by 27.
     
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  15. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Szetela would be on up there, Bradenton, supposed to be a big deal, the future DM, had kind of an ego thing about MLS and wanting to go abroad, imploded, barely had a season of MLS games in 4 years, 3 international caps. Turned into a career minor leaguer.
     
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  16. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Kirovski played 60-something caps' worth of games and has an all time far post driven bombazo of a goal against Germany c.2000.

    Cooper had 4 goals in 10 caps.

    Holden and Clark were productive rotation players.
     
  17. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    He kind of found his feet at Crystal Palace and played a lot of games total starting then. I agree to the extent that some of this Zelalem- or Hyndman-style puddle jumping around name brand Europe is not necessarily good for the player. If you are the rare Pulisic who finds his feet a big club is great. If not, you can end up 23 with a modest amount of pro games, the NT forgets your number, and you basically reboot your career.
     
  18. punintended_13

    punintended_13 Member+

    Atlanta United
    Mar 22, 2010
    Atlanta, GA
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Looking at our LB depth chart, it's hard for me to not say Brek Shea. He was going to be a do-it-all LWB, but he just got worse as time went on.
     
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  19. soccersubjectively

    soccersubjectively BigSoccer Supporter

    Jan 17, 2012
    Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Our goalkeeper pool has had some unfortunate knocks over the years, but most of them went unreported because we had such a strong pipeline for so long. (Goalkeepers listed with birthyear)

    Mark Dodd (1965) - tore ligaments in his right hand (also think he had knee issues)
    Johnny Walker (1974) - anular tear in his back and multiple herniated discs
    Tom Presthus (1975) - torn ulnar collateral ligament
    Adin Brown (1978) - slew of injuries
    Will Hesmer (1981) - had hip issues
    DJ Countess (1982) - degenerative bone injury in his right hand
    Phil Marfuggi (1985?) - torn abdomen
    Brian Perk (1989) - fractured ankle
    Abraham Romero (1998) - switched to Mexico

    We went through a pretty big drought with our starting U20 WC starting gks:

    2001: DJ Countess
    2003: Steve Cronin
    2005: Quentin Westberg
    2007: Chris Seitz
    2009: Sean Johnson
    2011: Zac MacMath (DNQ)
    2013: Cody Cropper

    And then goalkeepers who had a lot of buzz but never really matched it (for me) would include Dominic Cervi (went to Celtic, never panned out), Andy Kirk (offered a trial with Rangers), Bill Hamid, and William Yarbrough.
     
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  20. juvechelsea

    juvechelsea Member+

    Feb 15, 2006
    Couple things, up to 1996 MLS didn't exist and then it was sometime in the 00s after some PR/Montreal upsets that they upped reserve salaries to a liveable wage. Particularly for a developmental keeper the wages were rough. People may remember the stories about Perkins working at a bank to make ends meet, until he was upgraded to a "pro" salary finally. But for a period there he was making like $10k on a DC reserve deal but starting and even getting NT interest.

    I also think minor league soccer has spread and stabilized somewhat.

    I say this because it affected the dynamic on sticking with the sport through travails and injuries.

    I think keeper in particular takes some smarts in terms of where you land because you can end up a starter and flourish, or a backup like Horvath or worse, and that tends to be a set and forget position where if healthy the backup plays a handful of cup games and the 3rd keeper is practice fodder and may rarely dress. The 3rd best mid or back is on the field starting or at least subbing. The 3rd best keeper sits in the stands and doesn't even dress.

    I say this because normally it matters if you start or sit in terms of NT. Cropper has been a golden boy type as a youth player but his senior career is stuttering. Some of that may have to do with years not really playing in the UK. Next thing you know he's 25. Could be worse, keepers have a longer lease on the game. You struggle to find a field player niche til 25 and you're probably in USL.

    Another thing worth lobbing out there which is true in general but particularly of Cervi is that work permit rules distort who gets into Europe. He had an Italian passport and that got him in when if he had to earn a UK work permit he wasn't going.

    I say that because you can get an overinflated idea. If he's stuck here he has to battle it out for MLS jobs and we probably get a quicker sense what we're dealing with. And he only goes to Europe if he's a stud. But if he has the right passport maybe he gets a premature European gig and a premature NT call but gets found out at camp and then big picture never gets a career started, or way later. So it looks like a meteoric career but then crashes soon after.

    Side note on that, has there been any talk on what happens to EU passport players after Brexit? The subtle thing there was right to work/freedom of movement within the EU. If that happens not only does it affect Europeans sliding across but if you are an American eluding work permit by having an EU passport will it still be an end around of those rules after the split?
     
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  21. puttputtfc

    puttputtfc Member+

    Sep 7, 1999
    Does Kreis count as a NT underachiever? Great MLS career but it never translated to the international level.
     
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  22. due time

    due time Member+

    Mar 1, 1999
    Santa Clara
    Remember rec/sport/soccer discussion group? Yeah, we talked about Jovan there. Unfortunately so long ago, I have no memory of what we talked about...
     
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  23. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    rec.sport.soccer on Usenet was the place where the old-timers posted. And alt.binaries.soccer is where people got the pics/vids of the best plays of the week.

    Of course back then we had to download 35+ messages of 12,000 lines each and put them through UUDecode to get a 15 second clip of a goal.

    Ah, those were the days.
     
  24. Dignan

    Dignan Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Granada
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A lot of these guys seem to be flame outs and dissapointing because back in the day, there were only a handful of prospects showing up every year. Now with MLS, academies, college (which is almost completely irrelevant) and the glut of young players in Europe there is an icredible glut of potential talent.

    Kirovski was really the first, and so a lot of pressure got piled on him to be the big Euro star. Anyway to my knowledge he was the first to really be a wanted commodity. He was at Man U and considered one of their best prospects. Hyped by Ferguson and Cantona. Good enough to when he was denied a work permit get a gig at a very good Dortmund team... that included Sammer, Kohl, Moller, and Reidle. I believe Kirovski was the first American to score in the CL and first to win it.

    I remember watching that final against Juve and being so stoked to see Jovan get his CL medal, even though he was in street clothes. But he was like 19 at the time.

    But, like a lot of young Americans his career stalled out in Europe. MLS was new and couldn't pay that well, and the level wasn't great. They offered him contracts, but Jovan always chose to stay in Europe. Perhaps had MLS been more at its apex, Jovan would have come back and re-started his career to then earn a new lease on life in Europe and glory.

    Anyway he stuck it out, put together a decent Euro career, some significant caps, but never good enough for the WC, as many MLS players eclipsed him.

    I think his problem was that he spent too much time on Euro benches... even though he had a good run with Birmingham. Guys like McBride built their resume and confidence in MLS, and then launched themselves into Euro success... or a guy like Corey Gibbs returned to MLS to then re-launch in Europe.

    He had talent, but probably was unlucky with timing.

    Still he was a trail blazer. The first of many, and I think for many he became a cautionary tale.

    I imagine he made really good money, and in the end he still had what for 99.999% of the world is an incredible soccer career.
     
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  25. Dignan

    Dignan Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Granada
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some other guys:

    Frank Simek and Danny Karbasiyoon, who were both at Arsenal for a while. Simek had a solid UK career but never really got traction with the US.

    Karby ended his career early with injury.

    Johnathan Spector. After Adu in that age gap, he was probably the highest touted player. He was amazing at the U-17 level. A dominate player. Once again a solid career in both England and MLS and a trip to the WC, but he never really was the dominant player he looked at the youth level.

    Bryan Arguez, Kamani Hill, and Sal Zizzo were all guys who got shots at the Bundesliga at young ages but never materialized beyond juorneymen.

    Devin Barclay... heck of a kicker for Ohio State.

    Alex Yi, Onyewu's youth partner, and a cup of coffee in Belgium and with FC Dallas before dissapearing.

    Jamar Beasley.
     
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