October 10, 2017 is a day U.S. men's national team (usmnt) lost to Trinidad and Tobago 2-1. The result of that score will keep the usmnt from booking a ticket to play in the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia. The nation's soccer community were in frustrated disbelief, which were expressed by soccer analysts such as Taylor Twellman who's rant will be replayed over again until the men's team qualifies for the 2020 FIFA World Cup. A positive that can be taken from this outcome is that soccer in the United States matters a lot more than during its infancy stage. However, this is not time to look for positives. Now is the time to look at what sits right front of us. Most were aware of the poor symptoms plaguing US soccer. From issues such as pay-to-play, inequality issues, and the ambiguous path the current USSF currently has on how to "grow the sport." The failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia served as an amplifier of what has been obvious for some time. There is no secret that there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed. Major League Soccer is an issue that has been overlooked due to Don Garber, the league's commissioner, publicly overselling the value of the league. Garber and former usmnt head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, didn't agree on how effective the MLS would be in benefitting the men's national team. Klinsmann advocated for players to seek to play overseas. Klinsmann wanted American players to challenge themselves and go play in stronger more competitive European leagues. Garber clearly did not agree with those comments and countered that if players stayed in the MLS they would get more playing time, which is essentially important to a player's development.
Garber's comments are not incorrect, but they should be analyzed on how it effects the US men's national team. There is no surprise in stating that the MLS is not at the same level as the leagues in Europe. (I understand that there are other leagues that exist that have a strong case in a debate on having a much higher standard than the MLS, but in this case Klinsmann meant Europe) I would argue that the Portuguese and Dutch league are still ahead in quality and player development when compared to Major League Soccer along with the top 5 leagues in the old continent. I am aware one could go case by case through individual cases when it comes to player development. Which are valid, but not the main focus at the moment. I provided a very unaesthetic chart that categorized players that represented the U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams in past tournaments and are currently affiliated with a MLS side. I searched the MLS website to attain the information regarding players' appearances during the season or past seasons if applicable. Most players from the U-17 and U-20 have limited appearance which can be expected due to the general difficulty in breaking into any professional team's starting line up. The U-23 players have an extra column. International cap (Int'l caps) is the number of times that player has played for the US men's national team.
Garber argued that players will get more playing if they sign with an MLS team. From the data I retrieved players who have league experience under their belt tend to be overlooked, unnoticed , or possibly deemed not good enough to play on the senior team. In this case, players with at least 50 matches played is what I consider "League experience." I highlighted the players with experience in purple, the only exception is Tommy Redding who currently has 37 appearance respectively. Jordan Morris has 24 caps and Kellyn Acosta has 16. These two players are the only players on the list that get called up regularly. Morris sustained an injury that prevented him from being called up to play in the last two world cup qualifiers. The other players have a combined total of 6 caps. Which is concerning on the cooperation and awareness between the US men's national team and the MLS. Keep in mind that there are players in Europe and veteran usmnt players playing in MLS that Arena relied on. The usmnt has been cursed in finding a reliable left back. Beasley and Villafana are the two players on the national team that share playing time at the left back position. Brandon Vincent who plays left back for Chicago Fire has only played for the national team once, yet has appeared in 50 matches for Chicago Fire over two seasons. Each player can be analyzed on individual situations on the limited or exempt from the national team. But, as explained on the left back position, it is shocking how neither, Kilnsmann or Arena looked more closely at Chicago's Brandon Vincent.
I'm not advocating that Major league soccer is not a good, competitive, of decent quality league, but clearly those who stay to play at home are not rewarded with justifiable opportunity to represent the US men's national team. This isn't a radical idea in any means, American players need to challenge themselves and play in Europe.
Garber's comments are not incorrect, but they should be analyzed on how it effects the US men's national team. There is no surprise in stating that the MLS is not at the same level as the leagues in Europe. (I understand that there are other leagues that exist that have a strong case in a debate on having a much higher standard than the MLS, but in this case Klinsmann meant Europe) I would argue that the Portuguese and Dutch league are still ahead in quality and player development when compared to Major League Soccer along with the top 5 leagues in the old continent. I am aware one could go case by case through individual cases when it comes to player development. Which are valid, but not the main focus at the moment. I provided a very unaesthetic chart that categorized players that represented the U-17, U-20, and U-23 teams in past tournaments and are currently affiliated with a MLS side. I searched the MLS website to attain the information regarding players' appearances during the season or past seasons if applicable. Most players from the U-17 and U-20 have limited appearance which can be expected due to the general difficulty in breaking into any professional team's starting line up. The U-23 players have an extra column. International cap (Int'l caps) is the number of times that player has played for the US men's national team.
Garber argued that players will get more playing if they sign with an MLS team. From the data I retrieved players who have league experience under their belt tend to be overlooked, unnoticed , or possibly deemed not good enough to play on the senior team. In this case, players with at least 50 matches played is what I consider "League experience." I highlighted the players with experience in purple, the only exception is Tommy Redding who currently has 37 appearance respectively. Jordan Morris has 24 caps and Kellyn Acosta has 16. These two players are the only players on the list that get called up regularly. Morris sustained an injury that prevented him from being called up to play in the last two world cup qualifiers. The other players have a combined total of 6 caps. Which is concerning on the cooperation and awareness between the US men's national team and the MLS. Keep in mind that there are players in Europe and veteran usmnt players playing in MLS that Arena relied on. The usmnt has been cursed in finding a reliable left back. Beasley and Villafana are the two players on the national team that share playing time at the left back position. Brandon Vincent who plays left back for Chicago Fire has only played for the national team once, yet has appeared in 50 matches for Chicago Fire over two seasons. Each player can be analyzed on individual situations on the limited or exempt from the national team. But, as explained on the left back position, it is shocking how neither, Kilnsmann or Arena looked more closely at Chicago's Brandon Vincent.
I'm not advocating that Major league soccer is not a good, competitive, of decent quality league, but clearly those who stay to play at home are not rewarded with justifiable opportunity to represent the US men's national team. This isn't a radical idea in any means, American players need to challenge themselves and play in Europe.
US Soccer
U-17 M World cup Squad age ProMatches- play MLS team years played
GK Justin Garces 17 0 Atlanta United 0
DF Jaylin Lindsay 17 0 Sporting Kansas City 0
DF Chris Gloster 17 0 New York Red Bulls 0
DF James Sands 17 1 New York City FC 1
DF Tyler Shaver 17 0 New York City FC 0
DF Chris Durkin 17 0 D.C. United 2
DF Akil Watts 17 0 Portland Timbers 0
MF Andrew Carleston 17 1 Atlanta United 1
MF Taylor Booth 16 0 Real Salt Lake 0
MF Chris Goslin 17 0 Atlanta United 0
FW Bryan Reynolds Jr 16 0 FC Dallas 1
U-20 M World Cup Squad
Int'l Caps
DF Danny Acosta 19 15 Real Salt Lake 2
DF Justin Glad 20 51 Real Salt Lake 4 0
DF Erik Palmer-Brown 20 20 Sporting Kansas City 4
DF Tommy Redding 20 37 Orlando City 3 0
DF Auston Trusty 19 0 Philadelphia Union 2
MF Tyler Adams 18 23 New York Red Bulls 2
MF Derrick Jones 20 12 Philadelphia Union 2
FW Jeremy Ebobisse 20 12 Portland Timbers 1
FW Lagos Kunga 18 0 Atlanta United 0
FW Brooks Lennon 20 23 Real Salt Lake 1
FW Sebastian Saucedo 20 0 Real Salt Lake 0
U-23 M Squad
GK Cody Cropper 24 29 New England Revolution 2
GK Tyler Miller 24 2 Seattle Sounders FC 2
DF Tim Parker 24 74 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 3 0
DF Brandon Vincent 23 51 Chicago Fire 2 1
DF Kellyn Acosta 22 102 FC Dallas 5 16
DF Eric Miller 24 84 Colorado Rapids 4 0
DF Walker Zimmerman 24 89 FC Dallas 5 1
MF Paul Arriola 22 9 D.C. United 1
MF Dillon Serna 23 69 Colorado Rapids 5 0
MF Matt Polster 24 77 Chicago Fire 3 0
MF Fatai Alashe 23 73 San Jose Earthquakes 3 0
MF Will Trapp 24 125 Columbus Crew SC 5 2
MF Luis Gill 23 155 Colorado Rapids 7 2
FW Khiry Shelton 24 52 New York City FC 3 0
FW Jordan Morris 22 57 Seattle Sounders FC 2 24
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