YA Premiership Appearances (1992/93 - 2010/11)

Updated to include this past season's numbers. Thanks to Numerista on Bigsoccer for originally compiling the list through 2005/6, to which I've been adding to it since (so if anything's wrong, take it up with him :P). This does not include data for any seasons before the formation of the Premiership. I've also decided to leave out the non-USMNT Americans like Giuseppe Rossi. Ten Americans saw action in the EPL this past season, one more than in 2009/10. Clint Dempsey finished with 12 goals, and is now only three away from tying McBride for the most by an American. He's also one appearance away from matching McBride for the most by a field player. Brad Friedel has now played 400 games exactly, more than anyone in the MLS regular season (Ralston-378). Stuart Holden and Tim Howard also were full time starters, while Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, and Eric Lichaj played for the first time in England's highest level. Marcus Hahnemann, Eddie Johnson, and Jonathan Spector played on occasion, completing the list of ten. That's everyone, right? Games Goals Clubs 1 Brad Friedel 400 1 Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa 2 Tim Howard 231 0 Manchester Utd, Everton 3 Kasey Keller 201 0 Leicester, Tottenham, Southampton, Fulham 4 Brian McBride 148 36 Everton, Fulham 5 Clint Dempsey 147 33 Fulham 6 Jonathan Spector 124 2 Manchester Utd, Charlton, West Ham 7 Carlos Bocanegra 116 8 Fulham 8 Marcus Hahnemann 115 0 Reading, Wolves 9 Claudio Reyna 104 7 Sunderland, Manchester City 10 Roy Wegerle 75 13 Blackburn, Coventry 11 Joe-Max Moore 52 8 Everton 12 Preki 46 4 Everton 13 John Harkes 43 2 Sheff Wed, West Ham, Nottingham 14 Jay DeMerit 33 2 Watford 14 Juergen Sommer 33 0 QPR 16 Bobby Convey 29 0 Reading 17 Jozy Altidore 28 1 Hull 17 Stuart Holden 28 2 Bolton 19 Eddie Lewis 25 0 Fulham, Derby 20 Jovan Kirovski 23 2 Birmingham 21 Cobi Jones 21 2 Coventry 22 Eddie Johnson 19 0 Fulham 23 DaMarcus Beasley 18 3 Manchester City 24 Jermaine Jones 15 0 Blackburn 25 Oguchi Onyewu 12 0 Newcastle 26 Landon Donovan 10 2 Everton 26 Benny Feilhaber 10 0 Derby 28 Ian Feuer 5 0 West Ham, Derby 28 Jemal Johnson 5 0 Blackburn 28 Eric Lichaj 5 0 Aston Villa 31 Michael Bradley 3 0 Aston Villa 32 Brad Guzan 1 0 Aston Villa 32 Johann Smith 1 0 Bolton

YA Squads: Then & Now

One of the most interesting developments in US soccer over this World Cup cycle is the migration of American talent to Europe. The number of yanks abroad has been steadily increasing, as are the contributions to their teams: World Cup Squad Breakdowns MLS YA 1998 16 6 2002 11 12 2006 11 12 Even though the breakdown was the same for 2002 and 2006, it's clear that the amount of YA talent increased dramatically. That's continued to happen, and now as the 2010 World Cup approaches, it's possible that only five or fewer MLS players could make the roster. Quite a reversal from 1998. I wonder when the high point will be, since I'm sure most of us believe MLS will continue to increase in quality and therefore bring the numbers back down eventually. We should probably still have a clear YA advantage in 2014 as well. I'd really like to see how a foreign coach would handle things. Below is what a 23 man top YA squad looked like before the 2002/2006 cups and today. I posted on this four years ago, and I thought it was time to revisit it to pick the 2010 team. I'm picking players mostly based on their status with the national team, and I'm not taking injuries into account. I'll also pick players like Brad Friedel who are retired from the USA, but are still YA's. 2002 YA Squad Starters: Friedel, Regis, Vanney, Berhalter, Sanneh, Lewis, O'Brien, Reyna, Stewart, Kirovski, Moore Bench: Keller, Walker, Hejduk, Cherundolo, Gibson, Thorrington, Palomares, Lawson, Enochs, J.Beasley, Mason, Casey Very little to choose from, and virtually no depth. It's a real stretch to even get to 23 players, not to mention that many of the first xi barely played for their clubs. 2006 YA Squad Starters: Friedel, Bocanegra, Gibbs, Onyewu, Cherundolo, Lewis, O'Brien, Reyna, Beasley, Casey, McBride Bench: Keller, Howard, Berhalter, Califf, Pearce, Spector, Bradley, Corrales, Feilhaber, Convey, J. Johnson, Nguyen Much better. Solid defensively, but weak up top. Maybe a 4-5-1 with Convey starting in place of Casey would've been more realistic at the time. 2010 YA Squad Starters: Howard, Bocanegra, DeMerit, Onyewu, Spector, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Holden, Davies, Altidore Bench: Friedel, Guzan, Goodson, Cherundolo, Edu, Torres, Beasley, Feilhaber, Adu, Cooper, Johnson, Gomez No doubt an improvement in attacking talent, though there may be a depth issue on defense. I was pretty generous in picking Adu for the final spot (I still believe!) over Bedoya, but I don't think there's much arguing against the rest of the spots. You could possibly argue for another defender (Castillo/Parkhurst/Simek) over Cooper or Johnson, but those two have been a bigger part of the USMNT in the past year. Aside from those three and Friedel, this could be the World Cup squad. I've also decided to leave off Jermaine Jones, since he's done nothing since his announcement.