Most dont continue to develop. Players repeatedly plateau after a few years. Who outside of LD and Pope? Nagbe, Besler, Beckerman, Wondo, Gonzalez, Davis, Finley, Bornstein, Buddle, Albright, Conrad?
I'm not sure the threshold for excellent but Morris has been very good recently. It is true that the pickings are slim however.
Here's a list of players from 2002 on who started in a World Cup while still in MLS, and remained in MLS at least until the age of 25: Eddie Pope Jeff Agoos (not counting the year he spent in the German 4th division) Pablo Mastroeni Landon Donovan (not counting his time in the Bayer reserves or his 4 separate two-to-three-month spells in Europe) Clint Mathis Josh Wolff Brian McBride (not counting the year he spent in Bundesliga 2) Jimmy Conrad Jonathan Bornstein Robbie Findley Omar Gonzalez Matt Besler Kyle Beckerman Brad Davis Graham Zusi Others who started in a World Cup while still in MLS, but who moved before the age of 25: DaMarcus Beasley Clint Dempsey Make of that list what you will. Edit: This post previously only included players who had started at least 2 games but I realized that expanding the list to 1 start would only add 3 more players (Wolff, Conrad, and Davis).
The games you are referencing are two against Cuba and a home game against Canada. He also had a good play in an otherwise dreary outing against Mexico in September and Canada in October. He did nothing in the GC final. He was good in MLS in the Fall. We haven't had a competitive game against good competition much in the past 2 years. One against Mexico, which is not a Top 10 team. So, I don't know what we would even go on that anyone has proven anything. Adams would be the MLS player that performed very well in several friendlies against top teams. But he is the outlier in almost every conversation. Besler, Beckerman, in 2014? That is three coaches and 6 years ago. Arriola has not been excellent. Long? Can't say he has been excellent. He has been good at times. Lletget looked good at home against Canada, but are we now raising Canada to International Level? Cannon has been good against bad competition and ok against Mexico. I was just curious how the OP had in mind as being "excellent". Steffan?
Interesting thing about that list is how it starts to go downhill with time. Early on we had lots of good contributions from MLS players, even on our most successful team of all time. But, the list of more current players is much less impressive. My guess would be that opportunities abroad for Americans have gotten easier to come by and guys who would have stayed in MLS in years past are getting chances in Europe now, coupled with the league being old hat and the notion that players need to stay in the US to make sure the league survives is no longer so relevant to most.
makes sense especially when combined with a hole in our overall talent pipeline during today’s 25-30 age group.
I think MLS over paying and over valuing its players has a lot to do with it. Besler and Zusi could have gone abroad after 2014 but signed new contracts instead. I dont believe either would have been world beaters, but think it would have done a lot for them. Nagbe could have definitely used a move but he seems more focused on his personal life so may not have worked. With the money they'll pay for players returning, it makes it hard for guys to turn it down. Arriola came back after fighting his way into the line up in Tijuana and this window Hyndman and Parks gave up on a European career. Neither was going to make it where they were, but would have likely had other options. It also doesnt help that MLS players have a better chance with the USMNT.
I'm not sure that MLS teams wouldn't sell for EPL/B2 starter's money - the challenge is that buying teams don't appear willing to pay that for our guys. I read somewhere that the going rate for a lower end EPL starter is $7M and I'm pretty sure that NYRB would hit that bid....
The 2016 Copa America Centenario team featured 10 MLS players. Significant league representation on major tournament rosters will likely be the case for the foreseeable
That we've gotten g peroodformances from MLS-based players is all we have to go on as a certainty. Morris, Cannon, and Adams make for nice counterpoints. I agree.
But how many of those MLS players were formerly in Europe? Dempsey, Bradley, Bedoya, Jones were MLS players after spending most of the prior years in Europe. MLS representation on the 2016 and following WCQ'ing rosters was a result of the lack of talent in the USMNT pool. The 2010 WC team had no starting players from MLS until Davies was in a car crash. The entire 23 man roster only had 4 MLS players, one of which was Donovan who had just completed a half season at Everton.
I can think of many reasons this isnt likely true. This statement is about as vague as one can be. On what basis do you make this claim. Please elaborate.
It shouldnt be though. After watching the mess last year, there are only a handful that have any business playing international soccer. Holmes play is going to make it hard for him to continue to be ignored, the actual eight figure offer for Robinson should make them think they might want to look at him again, and the kids are going to continue to blow up at a rapid pace.
The USMNT is poised to move beyond MLS for the first time since 2010 really. In 1998, 2006, and 2014, MLS bought all the USMNT players in Europe and brought them back. In 2018, hardly any good Americans were playing outside MLS, or there were hardly any good Americans. As a midfielder in MLS, you can get by with 2 maybe more extra touches. I don't know if Aaronson or Yueill did anything going forward without multiple touches on Saturday. Midfielders that dribble and keep the ball are given TAM and DP contracts. But in Couva, dribbling and not making a decisive pass by Nagbe killed the team. Non-transition play is slow, especially outside the playoffs and in the Summer. CBs in MLS are last ditch defenders. Few MLS teams play out of the back and if they do, they are rarely pressed high. Long and Zimmerman are just not capable of starting possession. Zimmerman can't even properly play the fullback on his side. Yet, these are TAM defenders in MLS. Hopefully, the plan is not to buy all the USMNT players and bring them back. Hopefully, the league gets better. The coaching level in the league is getting better, more money in coming in, the better players are getting younger. The goal of competing with Liga MX has been better for the league than the old marketing plan of buying USMNT players.
Active MLS players, MLS old boys, and MLS academy products will likely be the strong majority of the team for quite some time.
What american player improved in MLS as Demspey did in the EPL? The list of american players in MLS that have looked promising and then stalled after a few years is pretty long.
Adams and Davies (if we’re analyzing MLS’ ability to develop players, let’s include Canadian players as they’re part of MLS) improved enough to walk into a major league team.
How would you describe how Dempsey improved from 24 to 30? I'd rather focus on aspects of his game that improved but since it seems you want some kind of statistic, let's go with goals. Here are the EPL goals he scored at Fulham. Pick any way you want to try to show an american improving in MLS from their mid to late 20s. 1 6 7 7 12 17