Better Players, Better Clubs, Better National Team
Comparing the clubs of US National Team players past, present and futureby Jeff Maurer | Friday, October 05, 2012
Is the United States National Team getting gradually better over time? Who knows?
End of article.
No, I should probably write more. Here’s one way to measure: by tracking the quality of the players’ club teams. When the first “modern” US team qualified in 1990, it was comprised mostly of amateur players playing college, indoor, and what I’ll call “disreputable league” soccer. By 2010, 19 of 23 players were playing professionally in Europe. Obviously this is progress. But has the progress been steady? Has it been substantial? That’s what I’m trying to measure.
Here’s my method: I’m looking at each American World Cup roster and assigning each player points based on the league in which his club team plays. I’m assigning points as follows:
3 - First tier in England, Spain, Italy and Germany
2.5 - First tier in France, Netherlands
2 - First tier in Mexico, Denmark, Scotland, and Belgium
1.5 - First tier in Greece, Norway, and Austria; second tier in England, Spain, Italy, and Germany
1- MLS; first tier in Hungary
0 - Anything below MLS (independent teams, indoor teams, USL, college, Danish second division)
We could argue all day about which league deserves how many points, but let’s just not. The logic of this point system is that it roughly gauges the difficulty of earning a roster spot in each league and gives a somewhat appropriate distance between leagues (which is why I didn’t just do a one to five scale; the Premiership should not be worth five times as much as MLS).
A better scoring system would take into account table position, a team’s historical table position, whether or not the player is actually playing, and make adjustments for injuries, recent or about-to-happen transfers, changes in transfer trends and work permit availability, and a variety of other factors. And I look forward to reading that article when someone writes it. But this is what I’m doing.
A few more disclaimers about my method: I’m a comedian, not a statistician or soccer historian (I’m not even sure if “soccer historian” is a thing). Much of my data is coming from Wikipedia, so who knows if Dick Hertz was actually the second goalkeeper in 1994. Furthermore, this method will measure trends in European scouting and transfer habits as much as it measures player quality. Also, the numbers are small enough that just a few anomalies can skew the data. But on the up-side, I made a very scientific-looking graph. Look!
I calculated a cumulative score for both the entire roster and the starting 11 of the first match. For years 2002 tp 2014 (yes, I made up a roster for 2014), I subtracted the third ‘keeper’s score (there were no third goalkeepers prior to 2002).
As you can see, the team has, indeed, had significantly more players playing in better leagues over time. The progress hasn’t been uninterrupted; there were regressions in both 1998 and 2006 (but we already knew that, didn’t we?). But overall, the trend is clear: more players are playing in better leagues. Here are the details:
1990:
Team score: 6.5
Starting 11 score: 5.5
Notes and anomalies: This team still played in the 22-man roster era (the rosters expanded to 23 before the 2002 tournament), but the third goalkeeper surely would have played for the Minnesota Thunderducks or the Toledo Krunk or some other now-defunct indoor team.
Though some on this roster would go on to notable international careers (John Harkes, Tab Ramos, and Kasey Keller in particular), there are only three points scorers on this team: Peter Vermes (Volendam in the Netherlands), Paul Caligiuri (Meppen in Germany) and Christopher Sullivan (Gyori in Hungary). I would be curious to find out how the hell Sullivan ended up in an ex-Soviet Bloc country just after the fall of the Berlin Wall - was he on a CNN film crew and just stuck around?
Tony Meola - no team (0)
Steve Trittschuh - Tampa Bay Rowdies (0)
John Doyle - SF Bay Blackhawks (0)
Jimmy Banks - Milwaukee Wave (0)
Mike Windischmann - Albany Capitals (0)
John Harkes - Albany Capitals (0)
Tab Ramos - Miami Freedom (0)
Brian Bliss - Albany Capitals (0)
Christopher Sullivan - Gyori (Hungary) (1)
Peter Vermes - Volendam (Netherlands) (2.5)
Eric Wynalda - San Francisco Bay Blackhawks (0)
Paul Krumpe - Chicago Sting (0)
Eric Eichmann - Fort Lauderdale Strikers (0)
John Stollmeyer - Washington Stars (0)
Desmond Armstrong - Baltimore Blast (0)
Bruce Murray - Washington Stars (0)
Marcelo Balboa - San Diego Sockers (0)
Kasey Keller - Portland Timbers (0)
Chris Henderson - UCLA (0)
Paul Caligiuri - Meppen (Germany) (3)
Neil Covone - Wake Forest (0)
David Vanole - Los Angeles Heat (0)
First game starting 11: Meola, Trittschuh, Mindischmann, Armstrong, Harkes, Ramos, Stollmeyer, Murray, Caligiuri, Vermes, Wynalda.
1994:
Team score: 35.5
Starting 11 score: 20.5
Notes and anomalies: Alexi Lalas and Padova were promoted after the 1993-94 season, at which point Lalas would become the first American ever to have an orange goatee in Serie A. I’m not sure what was going on in Denmark that year, but Mike Burns’ Viborg finished last in the 10 team Autumn 1993 Superliga campaign and then were not part of the eight team Spring 1994 campaign, which means that two teams were either relegated or executed. I’m also not sure what was up with Tony Meola’s agent; Friedel was on the books (though not playing) at Newcastle and the floodgates had clearly opened to American players going abroad, but Meola was with the honestly-if-not-cleverly-named Buffalo Blizzard.
Tony Meola - Buffalo Blizzard (0)
Mike Lapper - VfL Wolfsburg (German second) (1.5)
Mike Burns - Viborg (Danish second) (0)
Cle Kooiman - Cruz Azul (Mexico) (2)
Thomas Dooley - Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) (3)
John Harkes - Derby County (England second) (1.5)
Hugo Perez - San Diego Sockers (0)
Earnie Stewart - Willem II (Netherlands) (2.5)
Tab Ramos - Real Betis (Spanish second) (1.5)
Roy Wegerle - Coventry City (England) (3)
Eric Wynalda - Saarbrucken (German second) (1.5)
Juergen Sommer - Luton Town (England second) (1.5)
Cobi Jones - Coventry City (England) (3)
Frank Klopas - AEK Athens FC (Greece) (1.5)
Joe-Max Moore - Saarbrucken (German second) (1.5)
Mike Sorber - UNAM Pumas (Mexico) (2)
Marcelo Balboa - Leon (Mexico) (2)
Brad Friedel - Newcastle United (England) (3)
Claudia Reyna - University of Virginia (0)
Paul Caligiuri - SC Freiburg (Germany) (3)
Fernando Clavijo - St. Louis Storm (0)
Alexi Lalas - Padova (Italian second) (1.5)
First game starting 11: Meola, Kooiman, Dooley, Balboa, Lalas, Harkes, Ramos, Sorber, Caligiuri, Stewart, Wynalda
1998:
Team score: 33.5
Starting 11 score: 20.5
Notes and anomalies: Everyone knows what happened between 1994 and 1998: several US stars returned to the states to bolster the newly-formed MLS. Many of them took pay cuts to do so. Some of the best players on this squad were playing abroad in 1994 but had returned to MLS by 1998, which gives them a paltry “one” in my scoring system (Dooley, Jones, Balboa, Ramos, Moore, Wynalda, Sommer, and Lalas). Even so, this roster still scores almost as high as the ‘94 squad. This is the first team in which nobody scores a “zero”.
Brad Friedel - Liverpool (England) (3)
Frankie Hejduk - Tampa Bay Mutiny (1)
Eddie Pope - DC United (1)
Mike Burns - New England Revolution (1)
Thomas Dooley - Columbus Crew (1)
David Regis - Karlsruhe (Germany) (3)
Roy Wegerle - Tampa Bay Mutiny (1)
Earnie Stewart - NAC Breda (2.5)
Joe-Max Moore - New England Revolution (1)
Tab Ramos - NY/NJ Metrostars (1)
Eric Wynalda - San Jose Clash (1)
Jeff Agoos - DC United (1)
Cobi Jones - LA Galaxy (1)
Predrag Radosavljevic - KC Wizards (1)
Chad Deering - Wolfsburg (Germany) (3)
Juergen Sommer - Columbus Crew (1)
Marcelo Balboa - Colorado Rapids (1)
Kasey Keller - Leicester City (England) (3)
Brian Maisonneuve - Columbus Crew (1)
Brian McBride - Columbus Crew (1)
Claudio Reyna - Wolfsburg (Germany) (3)
Alexi Lalas - NY/NJ Metrostars (1)
First game starting 11: Keller, Pope, Burns, Dooley, Regis, Jones, Deering, Maisonneuve, Reyna, Stewart, Wynalda
2002:
Team score: 41.5
Starting 11 score: 20
Notes and anomalies: By 2002, the lure of more money had trumped patriotism, although pursuing the highest paycheck is in itself an American value, so maybe those players were being patriotic after all. It’s worth noting that although the starting 11 score goes down by half a point this cycle, some of the best performers - McBride, Donovan, Pope, and Beasley, specifically - were MLS players. Although Jeff Agoos was also an MLS player, and his World Cup was the worst performance in a major role since Jar Jar Binks.
Brad Friedel - Blackburn (England) (3)
Frankie Hejduk - Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) (3)
Gregg Berhalter - Crystal Palace (English second) (1.5)
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids (1)
John O’Brien - Ajax (Netherlands) (2.5)
David Regis - Metz (France) (2.5)
Eddie Lewis - Fulham (England) (3)
Earnie Stewart - NAC Breda (Netherlands) (2.5)
Joe-Max Moore - Everton (England) (3)
Claudio Reyna - Sunderland (England) (3)
Clint Mathis - NY/NJ Metrostars (1)
Jeff Agoos - San Jose Earthquakes (1)
Cobi Jones - LA Galaxy (1)
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96 (German second) (1.5)
Josh Wolff - Chicago Fire (1)
Carlos Llamosa - New England Revolution (1)
DaMarcus Beasley - Chicago Fire (1)
Kasey Keller - Tottenham (England) (3)
Tony Meola (third ‘keeper, subtracted from final score) - KC Wizards (1)
Brian McBride - Columbus Crew (1)
Landon Donovan - San Jose Earthquakes (1)
Tony Sanneh - Nuremberg (Germany) (3)
Eddie Pope - DC United (1)
First game starting 11: Friedel, Sanneh, Pope, Agoos, Hejduk, Stewart, Mastroeni, O’Brien, Beasley, Donovan, McBride
2006:
Team score: 38
Starting 11 score: 22.5
Notes and anomalies: This team’s score takes a step back from 2002. The bad news is that the team seemingly regressed a bit. The good news is that this outcome suggests that my scoring system might have some actual value: the team most definitely DID regress between 2002 and 2006. In fact, the two times in this model that a team fails to improve on the previous squad’s score are 1998 and 2006, aka the two disastrous US World Cups of the modern era.
Tim Howard - Manchester United (England) (3)
Chris Albright - LA Galaxy (1)
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham (England) (3)
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids (1)
John O’Brien - Chivas USA (1)
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96 (Germany) (3)
Eddie Lewis - Leeds (English second) (1.5)
Clint Dempsey - New England Revolution (1)
Eddie Johnson - Kansas City Wizards (1)
Claudio Reyna - Manchester City (England) (3)
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo (1)
Gregg Berhalter - Energie Cottbus (German second) (1.5)
Jimmy Conrad - KC Wizards (1)
Ben Olsen - DC United (1)
Bobby Convey - Reading (English second) (1.5)
Josh Wolff - KC Wizards (1)
Damarcus Beasley - PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) (2.5)
Kasey Keller - Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany) (3)
Marcus Hahnemann (third ‘keeper, subtracted from final score) - Reading (English second) (1.5)
Brian McBride - Fulham (England) (3)
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy (1)
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege (Belgium) (2)
Eddie Pope - Real Salt Lake (1)
First game starting 11: Keller, Mastroeni, Cherundolo, Onyewu, Pope, Lewis, Reyna, Convey, Beasley, Donovan, McBride
2010:
Team score: 49.5
Starting 11 score: 27
Notes and anomalies: Oguchi Onyewu and Ricardo Clark are inflating the score here, as both were on the roster but seldom seeing the field for European clubs. And in Onyewu’s case, he wasn’t even SEEING the field; he had been injured and was in transfer limbo. Donovan had proved he could play in England but was still officially an LA Galaxy player. For what it’s worth, as I go through these rosters there are only two players who strike me as clear mistakes, and both were pretty obvious at the time: Brian Maisonneuve and Robbie Findley.
Tim Howard - Everton (England) (3)
Jonathan Spector - West Ham (England) (3)
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes (France) (2.5)
Michael Bradley - Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany) (3)
Oguchi Onyewu - AC Milan (Italy) (3)
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96 (Germany) (3)
DaMarcus Beasley - Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) (2)
Clint Dempsey - Fulham (England) (3)
Herculez Gomez - Puebla (Mexico) (2)
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy (1)
Stuart Holden - Bolton Wanderers (England) (3)
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA (1)
Ricardo Clark - Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany) (3)
Edson Buddle - LA Galaxy (1)
Jay DeMerit - Watford (English second) (1.5)
Jose Torres - Pachuca (Mexico) (2)
Jozy Altidore - Hull City (England) (3)
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa (England) (3)
Maurice Edu - Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) (2)
Robbie Findley - Real Salt Lake (1)
Clarence Goodson - Start (Norway) (1.5)
Benny Feilhaber - AGF (Denmark) (2)
Marcus Hahnemann (third goalkeeper, subtracted from final score) - Wolverhampton (England) (3)
First game starting 11: Howard, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, Clark, Altidore, Findley
2014:
Team score: 54
Starting 11 score: 30.5
Notes and anomalies: OK, this one is pulled directly out of my ass, but this is just for fun. This is a hypothetical 2014 roster – it skews more towards the team I would like to see than the team Klinsmann will likely bring – and their hypothetical clubs. I mostly leave players on their current teams, but I made what I think are a few pretty reasonable transfer moves.
For example, I sent a healthy Omar Gonzalez back to Nuremberg. Perhaps out of guilt brought on by that cheap-shot move, I decided not to include Timothy Chandler, selecting Michael Parkhurst in his place (and overlooking the higher-scoring Michael Orozco-Fiscal and Edgar Castillo). It’s pretty easy to bump up the score in midfield: just get rid of the MLS guys and instead include Jose Torres, DaMarcus Beasley, or Joe Carona from Mexico, Josh Gatt from Norway, Sacha Kljestan from Belgium, or a healthy-again Stuart Holden from Bolton – although if he gets healthy I’ll bet he returns to the Premiership. Or transfer Pontius or Shea before summer 2014; that seems perfectly plausible.
I’ve adjusted for some of this by transferring one of my MLS guys - Graham Zusi - to Denmark. I also assume that Everton finally make an honest woman out of Landon Donovan. This roster also has the advantage of assuming nobody gets hurt or curses the coach or sleeps with somebody’s wife or does any of the other things that can get an otherwise good player left out of the squad. Still, this roster would have the highest-ever total score and the highest-ever starting 11 score; the starting 11 scores 30.5 out of a possible 33.
Tim Howard - Everton (England) (3)
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa (England) (3)
Bill Hamid (third ‘keeper, subtracted from final score) - DC United (1)
Clarence Goodson - Brondby (Denmark) (2)
Geoff Cameron - Stoke City (England) (3)
Omar Gonzalez - Nuremberg (Germany) (3)
Carlos Bocanegra - Racing Santander (Spanish second) (1.5)
Fabian Johnson - TSG Hoffenheim (Germany) (3)
Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa (England) (3)
Michael Parkhurst - FC Nordsjaelland (Norway) (1.5)
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96 (Germany) (3)
Michael Bradley - Roma (Italy) (3)
Jermaine Jones - Schalke 04 (Germany) (3)
Danny Williams - TSG Hoffenheim (Germany) (3)
Maurice Edu - Stoke City (England) (3)
Landon Donovan - Everton (England) (3)
Brek Shea - FC Dallas (1)
Chris Pontius - DC United (1)
Graham Zusi - somewhere in...oh let’s say...Denmark. AC Horsens, because I like the name. (2)
Jozy Altidore - AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) (2.5)
Clint Dempsey - Tottenham (England) (3)
Terence Boyd - Rapid Vienna (Austria) (1.5)
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna (Mexico) (2)
First game starting 11: Howard, Johnson, Cameron, Goodson, Cherundolo, Donovan, Jones, Bradley, Zusi, Altidore, Dempsey
Jeff MAURER
Nationality:
USA
College:
Georgetown Univ.
Club Domestic:
DC United
Club Foreign:
Fulham
A comedian and avid fan who blogs about DC United for The Washington Post. He was a semifinalist on season 7 of Last Comic Standing and performs nationwide. A decent passer with a good strike from distance, but is glacially slow and has no left foot.
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