1. Eddie Pope 2. Marcelo Balboa 3. Paul Caligiuri 4. Steve Cherundolo 5. DaMarcus Beasley Honorable mention: Alexi Lalas, Fernando Clavijo, Carlos Bocanegra Note: Tom Dooley was mostly a defensive midfielder
Good topic but clearly not as easy as simply who had the most goals and assists. But what the heck, a few honorable mentions: Chris Armas Pablo Mastoeni I always thought they were good on the defensive side of midfield, but that was a while ago and I may watch the game a bit differently today. Interesting to see what others remember. Oguchi Onyewu When he was anchoring the back, I felt good about our chances. Jay Demerit Loved having him out there! ETA: But sticking with the topic, for me the greatest of all time has to be Pope. But he might well be surpassed by someone in the pool now.
I think its Eddie Pope by a mile. One forgets that the reigning Champions League winners at the time submitted a transfer bid for Pope that was accepted by DCU. He turned it down to stay in MLS and grown the game here. He was very humble and unassuming. Still is. I also think we massively underestimate how good Carlos Bocanegra was. If we're talking about USMNT performance, I put him second. The guy did play about 250 games in the Premier League and Ligue 1 on top of his great play in MLS. He also added versatility on top of being just a CB. Able to play LB and DCM when needed. He always appeared to be a fantastic captain for the USMNT. Also great, great, great on set pieces both in the offensive and defensive end. He's our all-time leading goal-scorer for a defender (I'm not counting Beasley). His goals per game rate is exactly the same as some of our attacking legends like DeMarcus Beasley. Better than Reyna, Ramos, Cobi Jones and many of our wingers/midfielders. 1) Pope 2) Bocanegra 3) Cherundolo
Yep. That's the easiest one. Pope was incredible. The best pure defender in US history by a mile. Bocanegra was indeed great at times. That's why I mentioned him. However, this memory sticks in my mind. Probably the most important play of his career, and he bottled it. You've got to foul Asamoah Gyan here. Not a little bump, but a trip. Take the yellow. It was not an OGSO in the early stages. You simply cannot let him get past you.
All defenders have bad moments. Its the nature of the beast. Let's not forget that Eddie Pope was red carded in the world cup (2010 against Italy).
This is Eddie Pope's red card. Clean tackle. Yes it was from behind ... sort of. This is a yellow at best. Also, just for the record, it was 2006.
Definitely all defenders have bad moments. Eddie Pope had very few. Look at the following video at 3:02. This is how you stop a defender who is running on to a dangerous long pass. You stay goal side, put your arm on them, and obstruct their path. Perfectly played.
Yeah, it was a sad way to bow out of the international game. He had been tasked with marking Gilardino and he clearly wasn't up to it. In fact, I think Arena's biggest mistake in that match was not subbing out Pope at halftime. He was already on a yellow for a foul on Gilardino, and then failed to mark him when he scored the opener. So when I saw him walk on the field to start the second half I couldn't believe it. I just knew it was just a matter of time before his second booking came. Which it did. For a foul on Gilardino.
I think (partly because of his underwhelmingreturn to MLS, partly because of his underwhelming front office career in MLS, partly because of his blowhard media persona) we forget just how good Lalas was in his prime. Italy was virtually closed to American players at the time that he won a starting gig in Serie A. And while I wouldn't put him in the top three, maybe not the top 5, Onyewu deserves an honorable mention.
I have no idea how many caps he had in defense, but Tony Sanneh was great at right back in the 2002 WC and terrorized Luis Hernandez in the 2001 WCQ at Columbus, causing him to retaliate and break a bone in his foot, an injury Sanneh finished the game with, IIRC. Memory is hazy, so not sure if he played defense naturally or pulled a Hejduk and filled a role for the tournament.
This seems like a questionable way of evaluating a defender's career. That's partly because (by definition) a defender's "most important" defensive plays will usually tend to be ones where the other team scored; other plays are less memorable or less obviously impactful. If Boca had fouled Gyan and the FK had gone nowhere, would anyone consider that moment the most important play of Bocanegra's career? Or even remember the play much at all? There's also the fact that defenders regularly make mistakes like that (and worse) that go unremembered because they didn't lead to goals. For example, consider the play by Demerit at 35 seconds into this video: If the Algerian player had sent his shot under the bar instead of off it, would we then have to reevaluate DeMerit's entire career based on something that he had nothing to do with? It's not like DeMerit used Jedi mind powers to make the shot miss; he just got lucky.
The WC games are the most important. He played 6 WC games. Which other play was more important? He had a nice goal in WCQ in 2008. He's a good defender. That's why he's in the conversation. It isn't just the one big mistake. The other players are better.
Wow, you're right. It was a 2nd yellow. I don't agree with the yellow, but it is in the realm of possibility. I would say the tackle was more from the side than from behind, but you can make the case that it was from behind.
I would agree with you that I would rank both of those over Onyewu. In my opinion, that is mostly due to his short peak. Onyewu had about two-three years when he was really, really good. But it was really short. I think at his peak he was as good as Boca, but Boca ranks ahead on longevity (and versatility).
At that match. Slightly farther away, though. 1. Pope -------------- 2. Cherundolo 3. Bocanegra 4. Dooley ------------- 5. Gooch 6. Balboa 7. Hejduk 8. Lalas 9. Sanneh
Sanneh is interesting. For most of his time in Germany he was considered one of the worst players to hold onto a starting role in the Bundesliga. But in the second half of the 2001-02 season he played lights-out and was arguably the best right back in the Bundesliga (had the best average Kicker rating of any right back) for that half-season. That form continued through the World Cup.
This post captured my thoughts 100%. Eddie Pope is the clear #1 in my mind. Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo are criminally underrated by many USMNT fans. Both were extremely consistent and rarely, if ever, put in a bad shift for the US. Here's my top-5: Eddie Pope Carlos Bocanegra Steve Cherundolo Marcelo Balboa Oguchi Onyewu Also, big ups to Tony Sanneh -- as others have mentioned, he caught lightning in a bottle and was sensational at the 2002 World Cup. His performance in that tournament is still one of the greatest of any US male player in any international tournament to date. Honorable mention awards go to: Sanneh Frankie Hejduk Alexi Lalas Paul Caligiuri Tom Dooley (also played DM for us) Jay DeMerit Matt Besler (like Bocanegra, was also solid and relatively mistake-free in virtually every USMNT appearance) Fabian Johnson (excelled at both the 2014 World Cup + the 2016 Copa America Centenario, which earns him a mention, despite his international career being a bit unfulfilled).
Hard to argue this list for me. I think Brooks is better than Balboa and he has done enough to be in the top 5 of all-time defenders for me. Dooley deserves to be listed, maybe not this high. 1. Pope 2. Cherundolo 3t. Gooch 3t. Boca 5. Brooks Gooch and Boca are neck and neck for me. For his era, he was pretty damn solid as was Boca. Pope is the only defender I felt was close to world-class for a USMNT player. Him, LD, and Demps are the holy grail of elite MLS field players Dolo is a face of good. Not very good or great but just good. I always liked him and he deserves to be considered a top 3 defender of all time for the USMNT.