Considering a lot of people like to question the strength and ability of MLS, can someone please tell me what percentage of the USA team in World Cup '02(When we made it to the quarterfinals and almost beat Germany) was comprised of MLS players? That stat alone should prove to the world the caliber of soccer(football) that is being played in the U.S.
Here was the United States's 2002 World Cup roster: 10 out of 23 (43%) were playing in MLS at the time and 4 (Hejduk, Stewart, Moore, and Sanneh) are now in MLS, and all of those 4 except Stewart played in MLS before going to Europe. 2 (Friedel and Lewis) of the European-based players began in MLS. Also Mathis, Beasley, and McBride are now playing in Europe. Donovan is highly likely to play in Germany next season. Wow, now I feel like such a stats geek.
Thanks for posting that. However, I count 11 out of 23 (48%) were playing in MLS at the time: 4 Pablo Mastroeni D 25 8 Colorado Rapids (MLS) 11 Clint Mathis M/F 25 19 MetroStars (MLS) 12 Jeff Agoos D 33 127 San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) 13 Cobi Jones M 31 153 Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) 15 Josh Wolff F 25 16 Chicago Fire (MLS) 16 Carlos Llamosa D 32 26 New England Revolution (MLS) 17 DaMarcus Beasley M 20 9 Chicago Fire (MLS) 19 Tony Meola GK 33 98 Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 20 Brian McBride F 29 58 Columbus Crew (MLS) 21 Landon Donovan F 20 20 San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) 23 Eddie Pope D 28 48 D.C. United (MLS) Add in Friedel, Lewis, Sanneh, Moore and Hedjuk and 16/23 = 69.5% of the roster had MLS experience. Pretty good.