[MODS] Perhaps we need a general discussion board for this? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-scored-a-wonder-goal/?utm_term=.f029bceb3636
I don’t have a complete history in front of me but I think 2007/2008 was kind of a heyday with about a dozen first teamers in the EPL Not all these guys overlapped directly and im sure im missing som but here is a list off the top of my head from around that time... McBride Dempsey Bocanegra Keller E. Johnson Hahnemann Guzan Friedel Howard Spector E. Lewis Feilhaber Reyna Beasley Obviously this isn’t all of Europe but its pretty indicative of the YA heyday I think
If we broaden out and look at the list based on the number of younger players abroad, I don't remember this many young, US players playing overseas.
Seems like the Intersection Year for most if not all these players are 2007-2008, with some older leaving and younger coming. 5x GK and 9 Field Players some playing second division at the time. McBride 2003 → Everton (loan) 8 (4) 2004–2008 Fulham 140 (33 Dempsey 2007–2012 Fulham 184 (50) 2012–2013 Tottenham Hotspur 29 (7) Bocanegra 2004–2008 Fulham 116 (8) 2008–2010 Rennes 64 (2) 2010–2011 Saint-Étienne 35 (2) 2011–2013 Rangers 32 (2) 2012–2013 → Racing Santander (loan) 23 (0 Keller 1992–1996 Millwall 176 (0) 1996–1999 Leicester City 99 (0) 1999–2001 Rayo Vallecano 51 (0) 2001–2005 Tottenham Hotspur 85 (0) 2004 → Southampton (loan) 4 (0) 2005–2007 Borussia Mönchengladbach 78 (0) 2007–2008 Fulham 13 (0 E. Johnson 2008–2011 Fulham 19 (0) 2008–2009 → Cardiff City (loan) 30 (2) 2010 → Aris (loan) 14 (5) 2011 → Preston North End (loan) 16 (0) Hahnemann 1999–2002 Fulham 2 (0) 2001 → Rochdale (loan) 5 (0) 2001–2002 → Reading (loan) 6 (0) 2002–2009 Reading 276 (0) 2009–2011 Wolverhampton Wanderers 40 (0) 2011–2012 Everton 0 (0 Guzan 2008–2016 Aston Villa 144 (0) 2011 → Hull City (loan) 16 (0) 2016–2017 Middlesbrough 9 (0) Friedel 1994 → Newcastle United (loan) 0 (0) 1995 → Brøndby (loan) 0 (0) 1995–1996 Galatasaray 30 (0) 1996–1997 Columbus Crew 38 (0) 1997–2000 Liverpool 25 (0) 2000–2008 Blackburn Rovers 287 (1) 2008–2011 Aston Villa 114 (0) 2011–2015 Tottenham Hotspur 50 (0 Howard 2003–2007 Manchester United 45 (0) 2006–2007 → Everton (loan) 25 (0) 2007–2016 Everton 329 (1 Spector 2003–2006 Manchester United 3 (0) 2005–2006 → Charlton Athletic (loan) 20 (0) 2006–2011 West Ham United 101 (1) 2011–2017 Birmingham City 153 (0 E. Lewis 2000–2002 Fulham 16 (0) 2002–2005 Preston North End 111 (15) 2005–2007 Leeds United 85 (8) 2007–2008 Derby County 24 (0 Feilhaber 2005–2007 Hamburger SV II 49 (3) 2006–2007 Hamburger SV 9 (0) 2007–2008 Derby County 10 (0) 2008–2011 AGF Aarhus 65 (5 Reyna 1994–1999 Bayer Leverkusen 26 (0) 1997–1999 → VfL Wolfsburg (loan) 48 (6) 1999–2001 Rangers 64 (10) 2001–2003 Sunderland 28 (3) 2003–2007 Manchester City 87 (4) Beasley 2004–2007 PSV 56 (10) 2006–2007 → Manchester City (loan) 18 (3) 2007–2010 Rangers 29 (4) 2010–2011 Hannover 96 4 (0) 2011–2014 Puebla 92 (12
It's one of the least enjoyable times in the modern era to follow YA's. Don't think 5-10 years ago we'd have paid much mind to one of the better scorers in the Eerste Divisie. He'd have been in the back of people's minds, not the front.
I thought last year might have been a high-water mark with regard to Yanks in the Bundesliga. We had half the teams covered: Pulisic (Dortmund) Johnson ('Gladbach) Chandler (Frankfurt) Brooks (Hertha) Johannsson (Bremen) Green (Bayern...for the 1st half anyhow) Boyd (Darmstadt) Morales (Ingolstadt) Wood (Hamburg)
I don't like that we have so many! Life was so much more simple when you just had to track Ian Feuer, John van Buskirk and Junior McDougald.
After the 94 World Cup and before MLS started, there were a LOT of American abroad. Not all were at foreign clubs at the exact same time, but during that 18-month or so period, these guys all played for foreign clubs. (And I am no doubt forgetting some) Marcelo Balboa - Leon (Mexico) Gregg Berhalter - Zwolle (Denmark) Brian Bliss - Carl Zeiss Jena (Germany) Mike Burns - Viborg (Denmark) Paul Caligiuri - St. Pauli (Germany) Chad Deering - Schalke (Germany) and Rosenborg (Norway) Thomas Dooley - Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke (Germany) Brad Friedel - Galtasaray (Turkey) John Harkes - Derby County and West Ham (England) Chris Henderson - Frankfurt (Germany) Cobi Jones - Coventry City (England)/Vasco da Gama (Brazil) Kasey Keller - Millwall (England) John Kerr - Millwall (England) Dominic Kinnear - Necaxa (Mexico) Jovan Kirovski - Man. United (England) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany) Frank Klopas - Apollon (Greece) Cle Kooiman - Morelia (Mexico) Alexi Lalas - Padova (Italy) Mike Lapper - Woflsburg (Germany)/Southend (England) Roy Lassiter - Alajulense (Costa Rica) Brian McBride - Wolfsburg (Germany) Joe-Max Moore - Saarbrucken and Nurnberg (Germany) Bruce Murray - Millwall (England) Hugo Perez - FAS (El Salvador) Steve Pittman - Partick Thistle (Scotland) Tab Ramos - Real Betis (Spain)/UANL Tigres (Mexico) Claudio Reyna - Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) Mike Sorber - UNAM (Mexico) Juergen Sommer - Queens Park Rangers (England) Earnie Stewart - Willem II (Netherlands) Peter Vermes - Figueres (Spain) Roy Wegerle - Coventry City (England) Peter Woodring - Aalborg (Denmark) Eric Wynalda - Bochum (Germany)
You have to account for the fact that many (if not most) of us visit Yanks abroad chiefly to follow American-farmed talent. And so while we fully support our Euro-raised brethren in their careers (foreign and domestic), we fixate on the Pulisics and Mckennies of the world.
We have also gotten very good at finding younger players and dual-nationals that we would never have known about in the past. There are some great posters here who help find that information. Also, there's so much more information available about lower level leagues, youth teams, etc. So, the answer may be "yes", but don't discount the fact that we just have more information available to us now.
The level of football is also better world wide, IMHO. And our players don't have to go over seas to get games on a high caliber. The group before the '94 WC didn't have the options young players do today.
US SOCCER should really do a documentary on this. Or maybe 30 for 30. Especially players in the late 80's and early 90's compared to guys in Europe at the peak of late 00's when nearly the whole team was based abroad.
For me we are in the complete dark ages of Yanks abroad with the exception CP. WE have no impact players and after Freddy I am not going to wet my pants on a new generation playing 2 games a season.
This is a good point. I do believe more people are paying attention than there were 10 years ago, and 20 years ago, but do we have more going on than back when we had DMB in the CL semis, McB was a Fulham legend, Reyna was a captain's captain and US keepers were the new black? Looking at the WPost list, a lot of did not make the 18s, and then we had the Puli wonder goal. More than a high water mark, it reminded me of back in the day, when we went wild for Harkes wonder FA Cup goal and were just happy when folks got games.
Because thinking about Convey in 07/08 is just sad. The 05/06 Convey is what we should remember. Stupid knee never really did fully recover from that Italy game.
Well I am sure the novelty of us pioneering back in the day may affect our lensing of how this ya generation is performing. But it is simply a fundamentall delusional to think that after us not qualifying for the world cup, jurgen klinnsman despotism and any potential player being bought by the "sunderland"s and getting a kicker 6 for the season(s) that we are in the darkest spot in our soccer history including 6-1 chekoslovkia We have what 3 regular starters in ya? By regularri mean they regularly start and no bs blah blah blah. Lol man it hurts... I guess the last fairy dies when Bradley left roma. Maybe the op is a Mexican and just trolling us...
I miss the days of the late 00's/early 10's. Watching Dempsey score. Or hearing about a Jozy brace in the Netherlands or how Bradley went 90 for Roma in a win. Those were great to read on here.
I think Fulham fans would suggest both McB and Demps had high impact on their sides. Rangers fans throw in Reyna. Convey was devastating for Reading in the best single season in English football history. Harkes is a Wednesday legend. Lalas will never buy his own beer in Padova. DMB at PSV was thrilling. DeMerit's Watford stay was one of the better stories in football. I'd maintain that Mathis made quite an impact over here (seen as both a star and a total ass). More recently, Wood is a Union football god (record single season scorer), though his status at Hamburg is a bit lower.