The World Cup roster is HERE!!!
Fans of US Soccer marked May 2nd, 2006, in their calendars months ago. The Bruce, on ESPN SportsCenter, announcing the US World Cup roster. Soccer doesn't get a lot of play on the nation's biggest daily sports show, so it is a big deal. Any sign that ESPN is thawing to the beautiful game sends bigsoccer posters into a twitter.
So the roster is out there. We know who, baring injury over the next month, will be flying to Germany to participate in the biggest sporting event in the world. Side note, I'll be there too. Yes!
Let's take a look at it through my blog colored glasses. Who went to an American college before entering the pros?
23 American men, going to do battle with the world's best soccer players. What could be better?
I ran some numbers on this team, let's go through them.
-74% of the American World Cup squad played college ball in the U.S. You can't argue with this fact. I believe this is solid evidence that the American college game is not doing harm to our young players. Many fans will argue and say that the young guys need to go abroad or sign with MLS to become a top player, but I don't think that is true, The Bruce doesn't think that is true, and this shows it.
-70% of the American World Cup squad played for the U-20 Nats at some time. This is another number you can't argue with. If you want to make it on the world stage, you had better be getting in front of the US Nats coaches at a young age.
-35% of the squad played both at College and on the U-20 team. This shows there may be two roads to the big time. While the U-20 guys are often spotted coming out of high school and snapped up by European clubs of MLS before making it to college, the college guys are developing a little slower but still learning the skills they need. It should also be said that the country's scouting system is more developed now then when Eddie Lewis and Kasey Keller were that age.
-35% of the team played for the U-17 team. So I guess the U-17 roster isn't always the place to find the future star. A lot of development happens between 16 and 19 so it stands to reason that the coaches picking the U-17 team have a harder time finding real skills as compared to the U-20 team where players have had more time to develop. However, the U-17 players are the big names in the group of under 26 year old players. Beasley, Donovan, Johnson, Convey, Howard...they all played for the U-17 team. So when you find the gems at that age, they're going to be great.
17% of the team came from the U-17 residency program. This is a little misleading as the first class to leave the school includes Donovan, Beasley, Onyewu & Convey. They're still considered the young guys on this team, so the residency program is going to continue to put guys into the World Cup and in 2010 I predict this number will grow to include names like Adu, Altidore, Bradley, etc. This will be even more true in the future since the class size doubled from 20 to 40.
48% of the US World Cup team currently plays in MLS. Currently being the key word. If you look at the MLS alumni added to the current players the percentage balloons to 83%. MLS has clearly done what its founders expected; it has brought professionalism and skill to the American soccer player. Without MLS we wouldn't have seen the US lose to Germany in the quarter-final in 2002. We wouldn't have heard Rob Stone yelling "Shock the World" when the US was up 3-0 against Portugal's golden generation. The American soccer landscape would be nothing like it is today without MLS, plain and simple.
17% of this team went to UCLA. Anyone following college soccer in the 90's knew UCLA was good, but 4 guys on this squad played there. That isn't a crazy number but it is something to look at. UVA put two guys on the team. I'm sure it helped Benny Olsen to have his college coach picking the roster as well. Those are two of the biggest college programs for sure. A little surprising that Indiana didn't get anyone on the team. Then there is the University of Portland. I bet their athletic department is excited to know two of their alumni are going to Germany.
Those are all the fun and exciting statistics I can conjure up for you. As always, the author can make statistics to prove whatever point he wants. I'm obviously using the data to show my interest. It's all in good fun. This is not to say any of this data is false, you can check my math. I just pointed out the numbers that make the most interest to me.
In summary, the World Cup is just over a month away. The first US match is in 17 days. I will be leaving for Germany on June 17th. I can't wait for this all to kick off!
So the roster is out there. We know who, baring injury over the next month, will be flying to Germany to participate in the biggest sporting event in the world. Side note, I'll be there too. Yes!
Let's take a look at it through my blog colored glasses. Who went to an American college before entering the pros?
| US College | |||||||
| DaMarcus | Beasley | , | Ft. Wayne, Ind. | - | PSV Eindhoven (Holland) | - | |
| Carlos | Bocanegra | , | Alto Loma, Calif. | - | Fulham FC (England) | - | UCLA |
| Steve | Cherundolo | , | San Diego, Calif. | - | Hannover 96 (Germany) | - | Portland |
| Brian | Ching | , | Haleiwa, Hawaii | - | Houston Dynamo (MLS) | - | Gonzaga |
| Jimmy | Conrad | , | Temple City, Calif. | - | Kansas City Wizards (MLS) | - | UCLA |
| Bobby | Convey | , | Philadelphia, Pa. | - | Reading FC (England) | - | |
| Clint | Dempsey | , | Nacogdoches, Texas | - | New England Revolution (MLS) | - | Furman |
| Landon | Donovan | , | Redlands, Calif. | - | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) | - | |
| Cory | Gibbs | , | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | - | ADO Den Haag (Holland) | - | Brown |
| Marcus | Hahnemann | , | Seattle, Wash. | - | Reading FC (England) | - | Seattle Pacific |
| Frankie | Hejduk | , | Cardiff, Calif. | - | Columbus Crew (MLS) | - | UCLA |
| Tim | Howard | , | North Brunswick, N.J. | - | Manchester United (England) | - | |
| Eddie | Johnson | , | Palm Coast, Fla. | - | Kansas City Wizards(MLS) | - | |
| Kasey | Keller | , | Lacey, Wash. | - | Bor. M'gladbach (Germany) | - | Portland |
| Eddie | Lewis | , | Cerritos, Calif. | - | Leeds United (England) | - | UCLA |
| Pablo | Mastroeni | , | Phoenix, Ariz. | - | Colorado Rapids (MLS) | - | NC State |
| Brian | McBride | , | Arlington Heights, Ill. | - | Fulham FC (England) | - | St. Louis University |
| John | O'Brien | , | Playa del Rey, Calif. | - | Chivas USA (MLS) | - | |
| Ben | Olsen | , | Middletown, Pa. | - | D.C. United (MLS) | - | Virginia |
| Oguchi | Onyewu | , | Olney, Md. | - | Standard de Liege (Belgium) | - | Clemson |
| Eddie | Pope | , | High Point, N.C. | - | Real Salt Lake (MLS) | - | North Carolina |
| Claudio | Reyna | , | Springfield, N.J. | - | Manchester City (England) | - | Virginia |
| Josh | Wolff | , | Stone Mountain, Ga. | - | Kansas City Wizards (MLS) | - | South Carolina |
23 American men, going to do battle with the world's best soccer players. What could be better?
I ran some numbers on this team, let's go through them.
-74% of the American World Cup squad played college ball in the U.S. You can't argue with this fact. I believe this is solid evidence that the American college game is not doing harm to our young players. Many fans will argue and say that the young guys need to go abroad or sign with MLS to become a top player, but I don't think that is true, The Bruce doesn't think that is true, and this shows it.
-70% of the American World Cup squad played for the U-20 Nats at some time. This is another number you can't argue with. If you want to make it on the world stage, you had better be getting in front of the US Nats coaches at a young age.
-35% of the squad played both at College and on the U-20 team. This shows there may be two roads to the big time. While the U-20 guys are often spotted coming out of high school and snapped up by European clubs of MLS before making it to college, the college guys are developing a little slower but still learning the skills they need. It should also be said that the country's scouting system is more developed now then when Eddie Lewis and Kasey Keller were that age.
-35% of the team played for the U-17 team. So I guess the U-17 roster isn't always the place to find the future star. A lot of development happens between 16 and 19 so it stands to reason that the coaches picking the U-17 team have a harder time finding real skills as compared to the U-20 team where players have had more time to develop. However, the U-17 players are the big names in the group of under 26 year old players. Beasley, Donovan, Johnson, Convey, Howard...they all played for the U-17 team. So when you find the gems at that age, they're going to be great.
17% of the team came from the U-17 residency program. This is a little misleading as the first class to leave the school includes Donovan, Beasley, Onyewu & Convey. They're still considered the young guys on this team, so the residency program is going to continue to put guys into the World Cup and in 2010 I predict this number will grow to include names like Adu, Altidore, Bradley, etc. This will be even more true in the future since the class size doubled from 20 to 40.
48% of the US World Cup team currently plays in MLS. Currently being the key word. If you look at the MLS alumni added to the current players the percentage balloons to 83%. MLS has clearly done what its founders expected; it has brought professionalism and skill to the American soccer player. Without MLS we wouldn't have seen the US lose to Germany in the quarter-final in 2002. We wouldn't have heard Rob Stone yelling "Shock the World" when the US was up 3-0 against Portugal's golden generation. The American soccer landscape would be nothing like it is today without MLS, plain and simple.
17% of this team went to UCLA. Anyone following college soccer in the 90's knew UCLA was good, but 4 guys on this squad played there. That isn't a crazy number but it is something to look at. UVA put two guys on the team. I'm sure it helped Benny Olsen to have his college coach picking the roster as well. Those are two of the biggest college programs for sure. A little surprising that Indiana didn't get anyone on the team. Then there is the University of Portland. I bet their athletic department is excited to know two of their alumni are going to Germany.
Those are all the fun and exciting statistics I can conjure up for you. As always, the author can make statistics to prove whatever point he wants. I'm obviously using the data to show my interest. It's all in good fun. This is not to say any of this data is false, you can check my math. I just pointed out the numbers that make the most interest to me.
In summary, the World Cup is just over a month away. The first US match is in 17 days. I will be leaving for Germany on June 17th. I can't wait for this all to kick off!
posted by Bonji at
3:49 PM
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