Gentlepersons, As I was contemplating the approaching match between Reyna and Keller (Carling Cup?) a stray thought occurred to me. Is the English Premiership the top league for the numbers of Yanks Abroad in terms of number of players? I figured that I would go to the font of all that is good and pure for the answer Big Soccer! If the English Premier League really has more Yanks than any other league outside the USofA it seems to me that this is a good sign for US soccer. My only thought to the contrary is that perhaps one of the lower German leagues may have more Yanks. Any idea? Cheers
By my count, you are correct: EPL - 5 Bundesliga 2 - 4 Dutch - 3 Norway, English 1, Belgium , Denmark - 2 Bundesliga, English 2, France - 1
which one? Aren't they spread over 3 or 4 divisions? I really am a bit hazy on the organization of German lower leagues. (Not surprisingly it rarely comes up in conversation.) I do know however that if you go low enough they are split up geographically.
Actually, the best sign for US soccer is when we finally see players in Spain and Italy. These are the 2 top leagues in the world. And if players finally go to Italy we will know they will become better players. Because every player that leaves Italy is a better player than before they arrived in Italy. The same can't be said for England and Germany.
Re: Re: Top League for Yanks Abroad (R) Not always true. Lalas sucked when he went to Italy and he sucked when he came back.
i don't want our players in serie blAh (although with milan would be cool) - i don't want them learning 'calcio', which is certainly italian for whiny, backpass, diving football
Well, if by 'learn calcio' you mean the things that Zidane, Henry, Mutu, Crespo, Desailly, Batistuta, Shevchenko, Gullit, Van Basten, Nedved, Davids, Maradona, etc. all learned then I guess your right. We don't need our players learning all the crap skills that those players learned in Italy do we?
and which ones 'developed' in serie A? i'll give you mutu... anyone else? - van freakin basten?! who are you kidding dude? zidane - bordeaux henry - monaco crespo - river plate desailly - nantes batigol - boca jr maradona - boca jr sheva - dynamo kyiv gullit - psv van B - AJAX davids - AJAX nedved - sparta prague these guys were already established studs before they made money moves to serie A so roll your eyes back into your head - nice try... learned in italy... HA!
Did I ever say they developed in Serie A? No I didn't. I said all of those players became better players in Serie A than before they came to Italy. And you can't deny that.
Hey Spartak while I will agree that more americans in italy and spain will be great, I have to disagree with your comment that all players leave italy as better footballers. numerous examples of players who rotted in italy after making it in top leagues before italy are: Gazza - was a top talent in EPL (maybe you will quote his injury problems? Ian Rush - England Lalas - as mentioned previously Gaizka Mendieta - Played wicked good in valencia (and just recently has found his form ) ivan De la Peña - was fantastic in spain, but fell off the radar in italy(lazio) I'm sure others can add some names I have omitted. But my point is that a blatant sweeping generalization that all players improve in italy is wrong.
Italian football won't be able to keep its current level of play for much longer. Just wait until the European Union declares Berlusconi's new bogus financial law for clubs as illegal, many Italian teams will join the Fiorentina in the graveyard. And rightfully so, I might add, because this kind of spending is simply an unfair advantage. Hell, if Grasshoppers were able to spend 500 mio. on their team, we would be more competitive in Europe also. Lazio: 472 mio. debt Roma: 340 mio. debt Ridiculous...
\ Charles Kazlausakas at NEC, though he has been invited to find a new club as he has never actually played. But he is on the pro team, so he counts. As for the Regionalliga, that's probably right. But I don't track the third level leagues anywhere but England (because I believe the quality is higher), so I don't count those in my count. That's just my way of doing it.
Re: Re: Hey Spartak as anybody who relies on the beautiful game might - i will amend my earlier statement though... i'd be cool if we had sturdy striker types in italy - if buddle,casey, etc. could handle that hatchet league they could handle anything