Best uncapped US player of all time

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by Chesco United, Feb 13, 2020.

  1. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

    DC United
    Jun 24, 2001
    Chester County, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Like the title says. Mike Magee is my pick.
     
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  2. TOAzer

    TOAzer Member+

    The Man With No Club
    May 29, 2016
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Shalrie Joseph... [yeah, I know.......]
    Rossi .....[Yeah, I know........]
    Subotic.....[Yeah, I know......]

    Ok, Magee is a good choice. Was Lawrentowicz ever capped?
     
  3. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
  4. manfromgallifrey91

    Swansea City
    United States
    Jul 24, 2015
    Wyoming, USA
    Club:
    Southampton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Stefan Frei
     
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  5. keller4president

    Jan 5, 2006
    José Burciaga Jr. - Former MLX Best XI selection (2006).

    Tim Melia - Former MLS Best XI selection (2017).

    Jack Jewsbury - Most MLS games played without a cap (352).

    Jordan Harvey.

    Carey Talley.

    Shea Shalinas.

    Jason Hernandez.

    Quincy Amarikwa.

    Chris Tierney.

    Marcus Tracy.

    Zak Whitbread.

    Ned Grabavoy.

    Shane O'Neill.

    Hunter Freeman.

    Michael Harrington.

    Jacob Peterson.

    Preston Zimmerman.

    Quentin Westberg.

    Patrick Ianni.

    Will John.

    Sheanon Williams.

    Danny Cruz.

    Jared Jeffrey.

    Dilly Duka.

    Dillon Powers.

    Nathan Sturgis.

    Sebastian Le Toux.

    Aurélien Collin.

    Gedion Zelalem.

    Maki Tall.

    Desevio Payne.
     
  6. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Good shout on Burciaga. Sturgis has one cap.
     
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  7. thedukeofsoccer

    thedukeofsoccer Member+

    Jul 11, 2004
    Wussconsin
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Whitbread was at the forefront of my mind. Adequate defender in the EPL for a couple years and never got capped. In the slow cb mold, he was better than Omar, a more coordinated version.

    Salinas is a good shout. Always was interested to see what he'd do in some capacity w/ the United States. He was very versatile, fast, technical, and competitive. I feel like he at least could have contributed to the level Arriola has.

    Tierney and Magee had good MLS careers.

    George John was a rising star as a cb who we dragged our feet on, he kind of stagnated, then was felled by injury. His career easily could have gone much differently.

    There are a lot of players who suffered early injuries and never got capped as a result but probably would have otherwise - see Tracey. Usually they sneak in a cap or two beforehand if it was obvious they would have been something otherwise - see Gyau and Gatt.
     
  8. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    Whitbread was too slow. Great shout on George John. Coulda been a contender if not for the injuries.
     
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  9. rgli13

    rgli13 Member+

    Mar 23, 2005
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i dont know that frei would be my answer, but i do think the answer would be a keeper.
     
  10. dlokteff

    dlokteff Member+

    Jan 22, 2002
    San Francisco, CA
    Gio Reyna!

    More seriously, currently, Hollingshead.

    I thought I could find someone from the last 30 or so years not on Keller's list but every time I looked they had like 1 or 2 caps that I guess faded from memory. Jim Curtin was decent. Corey Ashe?
     
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  11. OWN(yewu)ED

    OWN(yewu)ED Member+

    Club: Venezia F.C.
    May 26, 2006
    chico, CA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    gotta say Hollingshead and TomTom for my money.
     
  12. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    Mike Getchell. Former UCLA midfielder spent the 88-89 season in Mexico, where he played 19 games for Morelia, at the time in the first division.

    Now, 19 games might not seem like a lot today, but in the late 80s, an American getting regular first team games in a league like the Mexican top flight should have warranted a look from the US National Team, considering back then college kids and APSL and indoor players were getting most of the caps.


    A little bit more recently, Robbie Russell. Back when the Scandinavian leagues were still better than MLS, after playing four years at Duke, from 01 to Russell played over 100 games in the top flights of Norway and Denmark, won a pair of Norwegian league titles with Rosenborg and played in four UEFA Champions' League games, starting three. Not UCL qualifiers, actual group-stage games at a time when that was still pretty damn novel for an American.

    I'm not saying Russell would have been an upgrade over Frankie Hejudk and whomever else the US tried at right back, but his club resume should have at least earned him a cap or two.

    And here's an obscure one: Pato Margetic. While most of the original NASL players were older veterans, occasionally they signed a younger player and that was the case with Margetic, who came to the NASL in 1979 at age 19. He became an All-League player and won two titles with the Chicago Sting and when the league went tits-up, he moved to the indoor circuits and was a multiple all-star there.

    In the late 80s, two interesting things happened; Margetic became a US citizen and, somehow, he got plucked from the MISL by Borussia Dortmund. Yes, that Borussia Dortmund. He was only with them for the 88-89 season and he only played a handful of games for them, but again, you have to put it in context. Here was a 29-year old recently naturalized American citizen playing for a team in the damn Bundesliga while Eric Wynalda and Bruce Murray were still in college and he somehow doesn't get a look from the US National Team?

    Keep in mind that naturalized Americans from the indoor leagues often got capped by the US. Fernando Clavijo, Brian Quinn, Victor Nogueira, Scoop Stanisic, Juli Vee, Janusz Michalik. All these dudes were naturalized while playing indoor soccer in the US and got looks from the national team.

    But somehow Margetic, who was showing he could still play indoors, and who was younger than Fernando Clavijo, couldn't get a look. Crazy shit back then.
     
  13. IndividualEleven

    Mar 16, 2006
    I like Frei, George John, Thompson, and Hollingshead.
     
  14. Patrick167

    Patrick167 Member+

    Dortmund
    United States
    May 4, 2017
    The list might be more interesting if they didn't count Camp Cupcake games as actual caps.

    Justin Glad
     
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  15. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Jose Burciaga or
    Adin Brown
     
  16. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

    DC United
    Jun 24, 2001
    Chester County, PA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Getchell was actually at Monterrey, but good post!
     
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  17. keller4president

    Jan 5, 2006
    Maybe Borussia wouldn't release him? Don't know what the rules on releasing players were back then (e.g. if mandatory or not). Also, Margetic might not have wanted to travel the long distance via plane for a single friendly or qualifier, even if called up.

    Plus he only played two games for Borussia, no goals, so not like he was world-beater.
     
  18. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Magee is my choice. His movement off the ball was phenomenal. He created many of the Galaxy's scoring chances and passing combinations without even touching the ball, just by dragging defenders out of position. Robbie Keane said Magee should be a USMNT regular, then when the USMNT ignored him, tried to get Ireland to look at Magee. Keane also said at one point that he would be in favor of spending DP money to keep Magee in LA.

    It's really mind-boggling that Magee never got a look, when just about every above-average American starter in MLS got at least a Camp Cupcake cap or two.
     
  19. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It wasn't only Camp Cupcake. There have been "lifetime achievement" caps for players at the end of their careers too. Jay Heaps (who had the record for MLS appearances without a cap before Jewsbury) made his USMNT debut in the Gold Cup three months before he retired.

    I suspect Magee would have gotten that type of cap had he not been so injury-plagued at the very end of his career.
     
  20. dlokteff

    dlokteff Member+

    Jan 22, 2002
    San Francisco, CA
    Magee was called into Camp Cupcake under JK in 2014. But he got food poisoning and couldn't play.
     
  21. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Adin Brown

    I was a big fan.

    If Adin came around today, he'd unquestionably be a capped USMNTer. But he had the misfortune of breaking thru at the tail end of the Keller/Friedel era, and then the start of the Howard era. In fact, he was selected over Howard on occasion for the US U23s.

    Adin is/was a Christian Scientist, and thus chose to not treat his injuries in the "standard" way early in his career. His knee problems, which he didn't treat properly at first, had a lasting effect on his career.

    He's talked about that the challenging balance he faced between his religious beliefs and his sporting career. He would only "succumb" to treatment as a very last option. Even antibiotic, anti-inflammatory treatment.

    But at his height, he was a really, really good keeper. Unquestionably worthy of USMNT caps. Was named to rosters such as the 2003 Gold Cup................but never played.
     
  22. Pedro Rondon H de Sá

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jan 13, 2014
    Rio de Janeiro
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Goalkeeper: Tim Melia, Mike Ammann.
    Defenders: George John, Tommy Thompson.
    Midfielder: Jim Rooney, Brian Kamler, Seth Stammler, Mike Magee, Ian Russell.
    Forwards: Steve Rammel, Pete Marino.
     
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  23. Rahbiefowlah

    Rahbiefowlah Member+

    Oct 22, 2001
    Las Vegas
    Anybody say Daniel Hernandez? That guy was a beast and I would have liked to see him in a Concacaf game or two. He played a bit in Liga MX I remember for Necaxa. He bounced around MLS a lot but I always thought he had potential.
     
  24. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Brian Sciaretta with an interesting nomination. He was called into USMNT camps, but never made an appearance. Retired in May 2013. Enrolled at Georgetown Med School Program June 2013. Now fighting Coronavirus in the ER.
     
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