Shalrie Joseph... [yeah, I know.......] Rossi .....[Yeah, I know........] Subotic.....[Yeah, I know......] Ok, Magee is a good choice. Was Lawrentowicz ever capped?
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.
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.
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?
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.
The list might be more interesting if they didn't count Camp Cupcake games as actual caps. Justin Glad
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Such a cool story. Robbie Russell is also one of the best American players of the past 20 years to never get a #USMNT cap. Maybe he’s the best? He started in the group stages of the Champions League. Won MLS Cup & a Norwegian Tippeligaen title. Now an ER doctor. https://t.co/LPXgnBMmXZ— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) April 6, 2020