MLS has become a pretty good minor league relative to Europe, South America and Mexico in a short span of time. The contribution to the national team is undeniable. In a perfect world, there would be a big enough pool of players for the league to keep improving, and for our better players to go to Europe. Maybe in 15-20 years this will start happening.
Hmmmm........ LD does make a big difference (Q: Who, other than Reyna, makes a good Dmid for our YAs? I thought Beas was the best choice there, but...), but soccer is a funny enough game that I'd give the MLS side a chance - they'd still have speed in EJ, creativity in Martino & Gaven, ball-winners in Mulrooney and Maestro, tougness in Maestro (and Gibbs?), attack out of the back from Albright and Sanneh (who is out of position, but...), and good set-piece targets in EJ, Ching, and Sanneh. ------------Friedel Cher--Onyewu--Boca--Vanney ----Reyna---------Beasley ------LD-----------Lewis -------McBride--Casey --------EJ------Ching ----Martino--------Gaven -----Mulrooney--Maestro Sanneh--Gibbs--Pope--Albright ------------Cannon Some alternates... for YAs: Keeper: Keller, Hahnemann, Howard D: Russell, Barrett, Berhalter, Spector M: Convey, ?Mathis F: Mathis, West *not counting OBrien right now... for MLS: Keeper: Hartman, Walker, Meola... D: Hejduk, Dunnivant, Marshall... M: Mullan, KZ, Armas... F: Alecko, Twellman, Buddle, Cunningham...