Mostly professionals. I think 14 were under contract to USSF in the year or so leading up to the WC, so the national team was effectively their full time job during that period. Lots of familiar names to MLS fans: John Doyle, John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Brian Bliss, Chris Sullivan, Peter Vermes, and Eric Wynalda were key players on the team.
Nrmnby: You say you're looking for primary captains, rather than game-by-game ones, so here are some primary captains up through Harkes: 1916---Thomas Swords 1924---Andy Stradan 1930---Tom Florie 1934---George Moorhouse 1937---John Dubienny 1949-57---Walter Bahr 1959-60---Zenon Snylyk 1965---Bob Kehoe 1968-69---Adolf Bachmeier 1972---Pat McBride 1973-75---Werner Roth 1976-78---Al Trost 1979---Glenn Myernick 1980---Steve Pecher 1984-88---Rick Davis 1989-90---Mike Windischmann 1991-94---Tony Meola 1995-98---John Harkes
I saw the USWNT movie and it was interesting. would love to see a movie about the return of the 1990 team and even going back to 1982 when the team got reinvigorated.
Is that the ESPN documentary or another? I think the 90's team has quite a collection of characters. Semi-pros against the worlds best. Return of the USA after 40 years. Has enough drama for Hollywood to get involved.
Noticing their likeness, get MacInerney to play Wynalda and in lieu of payment, pencil him a spot on the roster for Brazil.
Ok, here's a tough one for anyone who wants to test their memory. Reyna missed the 3-2 win over Portugal due to injury, and Stewart subbed out at the half. Then who wore the US armband? Hint: it wasn't Agoos.
Let's see if this works In case it doesn't, see here http://www.gettyimages.com/editorial/brad-friedel-pictures?page=13#14
Has JK ever stated who was the deputy captain? Has to be Howard right. But if he's injured, would it automatically go to Bradley or would he maybe try Beasley, as he's been in rejuvenating form and captain for the squad right now at the Gold Cup?
Yes, it's Howard. Followed by Bradley and Jones as leaders in the team hierarchy. That's basically how Jürgen worded it.
One of the things that made/makes Arena a good coach is his ability to keep the locker room and one of the ways he does that is to make gestures to the players that keep them loyal to him. To wit, letting Llamosa, a native of Colombia who emigrated from there at 21, be the captain for the US national team in a match against Colombia in a market with a lot of Colombians. That's the kind of thing players pick up on and even the players who weren't picked to be captain that day would appreciate the gesture.
Read it again. Stewart was subbed at the half with the same injury Reyna had. Who wore it with no Claudio and no Earnie. My guess is either Cobi, who came in for Stewart or Friedel. Edit: It was Big Brad
That's how it usually goes the first time a nation qualifies, or the first time back after a long absence. It took Mexico many cycles before they were competitive at the WC. Japan and Korea used to get clobbered all the time as well.
It was surprising to see how many rosters were from clubs of one country: Spain, Italy, Romania, Costa Rica, UAE, and South Korea. A number of other teams were stocked with all but a few players from their home country. And the three US players who played abroad were on clubs I never heard of. I doubt that would be true for more recent World Cups.
I played against some of the '86 and '90 guys in college. I thought John Stollmeyer (Indiana) was captain of the USA at some point during the late 80's, but no mention of it in Wikipedia.
There's a great site where someone did a graphical analysis of this. Well displayed and documented at least back to 1990 or 1986 for all WC rosters. Was very interesting to see the exact change you are talking about. Truly a global game!