Seemed an hugely outrageous idea a year ago....would be unusual, but could happen now (w/ a couple breaks...) Forwards- Donovan (Leverkusen, good shot of advancing in CL), Casey (only 2 pts off UEFA spot at this time) Midfielders- Beasley (Final 16 CL w/Eindhoven), Dempsey (if signed by Feyenood, currently impressing in trial, likely 2005 UEFA), Reyna (CL and UEFA experience), Cherundolo (Hannover currently UEFA bound) Defenders- O'Brien (CL and UEFA w/Ajax), Gooch (UEFA, maybe final 32 w/Liege), Spector (bench for CL, maybe CL next season), Russell (CL) Goalkeeper- Howard (CL) Potentially, US 'could' (I emphasize) field a lineup with 7 CL experienced, 4 UEFA experienced players by 2006. Also, there is a shot that Simek (Arsenal), Karbyisoon (Arsenal), Phillapokos (Olympikos) or Whitbread (L'Pool) could make an appearance in 2005. Boca/McBride (Fulham) look too weak to make it. Pretty amazing leap in depth, breadth of US Nat team experience overall I'd say....even if this does not come to pass.... Here's our lineup against Portugal in 2002: 1] FRIEDEL Brad (GK) [ 2] HEJDUK Frankie [ 4] MASTROENI Pablo [ 5] O BRIEN John [ 7] [ 8] STEWART Earnie (C) (-46') [ 12] AGOOS Jeff [ 17] BEASLEY DaMarcus [ 20] MC BRIDE Brian [ 21] DONOVAN Landon (-75') [ 22] SANNEH Anthony [ 23] POPE Eddie (-80') I believe only O'Brien had European competition experience from that group, and only O'Brien, Sanneh, Stewart and Friedel were regularly playing in a good/great European league at the time (I believe Nuremberg were getting relegated from BL1 however).... Amazing difference on paper (2002 vs. proposed 2006 lineup)...
Looks like Dempsey did not get a contract from Feyenood....well, filling all 11 spots w/Euro competition just got a lot harder, but the progress is still remarkable..
Re: Could Men's Nats field a WC 2006 squad w/all players w/Euro competition experienc Hey, Kirovski has Champion League experience, that should guarantee success.
Brad Freidel has played EUFA cup matches. According to http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/fo/profiles/3906.html He's played in 10 toal with Liverpool and Rovers. Funny since I had expected him to have some with Galatasaray.
i think its realistic to believe by 2010 you will see that when guys like dempsey, EJ, marshall, szetella and Adu will be in europe.
I think we should field an all-MLS WC squad, if you ask me. They get the job done better than the "full team". Our domestic boys work very hard, that's why Europe wants them (and why they shouldn't have them). Many of them even do as well or better for their European clubs when they make the move. Whenever they come back and play in a US jersey, though, I get really nervous. Our keepers excepted, there hasn't been a real contribution from a YA in semifinal qualifying. European competitions are good fun and it's nice to see Americans in these competitions, and there's a case to be made that the US doesn't go anywhere without at least a few YAs, but MLS players have the lion's share of success at the international level. Leaving out the foreign contingent may make things difficult for 2006, but excluding the domestic players from the squad is absolute suicide. Ditto for 2010 - since 1998 the US has relied more and more on the domestic league, there's no real reason to expect that to change in the near future.
I understand about McBride, but fill me in on how Boca is too weak to play in the 2006 WC but Spector can start.
well everyone should thank god no one is asking you. playing without beasley, donovan, obrien, keller, howard, reyna, mcbride, gooch, spector, cherundolo, bocanegra, lewis, casey, and not to forget all of the players that will go overseas before 2006. yeah lets play without our best player(and current captain, LD), our best wide players(beasley, lewis), our best defender(bocanegra), our best goalies, etc. wonderful idea