I never argued against some staying home and that that has happened and will happen going forward. However, even with higher salaries going forward I fully expect this up and coming generation to have a fair amount of representation in top 4 leagues, especially compared to our current 22-30 yr old class. If and when guys at an Omar or Besler level choose to stay home, we're going to have more quality in higher quantity than now, so no matter if some choose to stay we're going to see guys in top 4 leagues. Pointing to a Clint coming home or an Omar/Besler staying in MLS only helps prove my point. With this next generation we're going to have a larger pool of talent and whether guys are in top leagues or not won't come down to whether 4 or 5 players decided to stay and play domestically. As far as SuDano, he's arguing against himself, per usual.
I see a lot of posters here claiming JK only favors Euro players, but let's not forget that he too Besler, Wonddo, Gonzalez, etc to Brazil. Not to mention an unknown rookie and home grown plaer named Yedlin.
Yeah, I don't really get this meme either. He cut Boyd in favor of Wondo for goodness' sakes. Beckerman was also the lynchpin. I think some have been so eager to tear down one false mythology of Klinsmann that they're busy erecting another.
Besides Yedlin, Klute, and Gil he really hasn't looked at the MLS guys in the age range of 20-24. He tried to call up Powers I believe. Maybe that was a circumstance of timing but, he really need to start taking a look at these guys.
We've had swashbuckling youth teams for years. Something new would be actually winning or even just making the finals of the Olympics/world youth championship.
El Tri have a deeper pool of well developed young players, but still don't have great representation in the top 4 of Europe. MLS like LigaMx is a well attended, well resourced, and well run league which mitigates against the push factor of going abroad. Additionally the UK which is the natural European landing point for Americans have rules which severely limit the number of non-EU players eligible for work permits. This limits the pull factor. The standard of the young American player as evinced by the year over increasing playing minutes of the 24 under 24 is improving but so is MLS pay. Larry Bird-style exceptions and a possible 4th dp will further limit the numbers seeking to go abroad. But yeah, I'd certainly like to see at least 7 or so US produced field players as regulars in the UEFA top 7. Guess right now we've Bedoya, Movssissyan, Cameron, and ?
Cameron is injured and is injured going to have to fight for a spot when he recovers. Bedoya, Guzan, Howard, and maybe Rubio Rubin are the only guys starting in top 7 leagues right now.
Cameron has been a regular for the last 2-plus seasons(72 league appearances), so it's reasonable to consider him a regular at Stoke.
Actually Mexico have ~8 players in la liga and Guardado/Corona in eridivisie but after that that's about it but for them that's pretty good. I definitely think guys like Rowe, Shipp, Finlay, Zardes, etc can be in Europe by 2018 and in a top 5 league. Unless they get DP deals they will probably stay though. Not to mention academy guys coming up the ranks (Flores, Novakovich, etc)
We did not really have a ton of Euro players playing at a high level. Which CB would have made the team? Gooch who was struggling with injury or Ream who hadn't played for the national team for 3 years.
I think what is becoming evident is that Klinsmann values speed a lot. The players might not be there technically, but speed might get you on the team quicker than any other talent or ability.
Pulisic looks Considering we started Zusi, and added Brad Davis + Wondolowski to the USMNT for Brazil, I don't really think this is true at all, at least relatively speaking. With that said, this U-17 group has been really impressive - I think there is a lot more talent in this group specifically than we've seen for quite a while, and the best part is that they seem very technically proficient unlike other groups which just got by on athleticism.
These kids are impressive, and I particularly like the way that we seem to be playing like that right now the same way, more or less, through all the age groups, but this is not the first group of ours to have technically-advanced young players by any means. If more of those players matriculate all the way to the senior teams of first division professional clubs as starters and have success at that level, then real progress really will have been made, because that sort of progression hasn't been consistent among our most technical youth players to date.
The terrible truth is that our U17s often look good. Our U20s made the semifinals of the U20 World Cup as long ago as 1989 (Kasey Keller, Chris Henderson, Steve Snow group). To some extent our biggest developmental challenge has been to take the raw talent of our U17/U20s and develop them into elite adult professionals. Adu is just a higher profile example of that. On our youth boards we often talk about the "dead zone" in US development that occurs for 18-22 year olds. MLS is trying to address this with the USLPro affiliate, reserve league, etc. Another method, of course, is to have all of your elite youth go abroad. Players on our U17, U18, and U20 teams are currently being scarfed up by Euro/Mexico clubs at an accelerated rate. On our U17s we've got Wright (Schalke), Pulisic (Dortmund), Perez (Fiorentina), Barbir (West Brom), etc. etc. With more being linked to Euro clubs every week. Joe Gallardo is one in Mexico (Monterrey), however he's injured at the moment. Our U20 World Cup roster could be >75% foreign-based (particularly if Palmer-Brown and Shaq Moore go abroad as rumored.) This is a talent drain away from the US, but is necessary at the moment.
name me a time in the history of ussoccer that we have had this much talent in every one our youth teams.