US Cable Soccer Ratings Nov 12-18

A light week last week due to the FIFA international break. USMNT v Panama lead the way, but with only 222k viewers. 

MLS restarts with their playoff tournament tonight. Over in the Premier League, there are a number of interesting matchups... Tottenham v Man City (NBC) tomorrow at noon then Sunday at 11:30 AM EST has Leeds v Arsenal and Liverpool v Leicester following that, both on NBCSN.

US Cable Soccer programs Nov 12-18
Viewers (000)	Event/Game	Network	Date
222	INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY L: USA/PANAMA	FS1	Nov 16, 20
215	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE   L: BELGIUM/ENGLAND	ESPN	Nov 15, 20
205	INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY L: WALES/USA	FS1	Nov 12, 20
159	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE: BELGICA / INGLATERRA	TUDN	Nov 15, 20
144	MNT R: MEXICO VS KOREA DEL SUR	TUDN	Nov 17, 20
133	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE   L: CROATIA/PORTUGAL	ESPN2	Nov 17, 20
127	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE L: GALES / IRELANDA	TUDN	Nov 15, 20
97	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE: POLAND/NETHERLANDS	ESPN2	Nov 18, 20

US Soccer Cable Ratings, Nov 1-15

League Soccer took a break last weekend to make way for international competition. Highlights this past weekend - UEFA Nations League Belgium v. England on ESPN (215k) and USA v. Wales on FS1 (205k).

ESPN, FS1, and UniMas will broadcast a bunch of MLS Playoff games starting on Nov. 20th.

US Cable Soccer programs Nov 1-15
Viewers (000)	Event/Game	Network	Date
420	LIGA MX FRI: FC JUAREZ / AMERICA	TUDN	Nov 6, 2020
401	PREMIER LEAGUE L: EVERTON/NEWCASTLE	NBCSN	Nov 1, 2020
394	LIGA MX SAT 2: CRUZ AZUL / UNAM	TUDN	Nov 7, 2020
388	LIGA MX EF SUN: AMERICA / TIGRES	TUDN	Nov 1, 2020
329	PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEEDS/CRYSTAL PALACE	NBCSN	Nov 7, 2020
329	PREMIER LEAGUE L: UNITED/EVERTON	NBCSN	Nov 7, 2020
304	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 7, 2020
302	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 1, 2020
282	PREMIER LEAGUE L: WOLVES/LEICESTER	NBCSN	Nov 8, 2020
281	UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE TUE 2: REAL MADRID / INTER	TUDN	Nov 3, 2020
245	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 8, 2020
215	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE   L: BELGIUM/ENGLAND	ESPN	Nov 15, 2020
210	LIGA MX SAT: TIGRES / ATLAS	TUDN	Nov 7, 2020
205	INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY L: WALES/USA	FS1	Nov 12, 2020
197	PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEICESTER/LEEDS	NBCSN	Nov 2, 2020
197	LIGA MX L: PUEBLA FC / CLUB ATLETICO	TUDN	Nov 6, 2020
189	LIGA MX L: LEON / SANTOS	TUDN	Nov 2, 2020
181	UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE BARCELONA VS. DYNAMO	TUDN	Nov 4, 2020
168	PREMIER LEAGUE L	NBCSN	Nov 8, 2020
164	LIGA MX: SANTOS VS MAZATLAN	FOX DEP	Nov 8, 2020
159	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE: BELGICA / INGLATERRA	TUDN	Nov 15, 2020
136	PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL ZONE	NBCSN	Nov 2, 2020
127	UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE L: GALES / IRELANDA	TUDN	Nov 15, 2020
121	MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: LAFC/TIMBERS	FS1	Nov 8, 2020
119	UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE: LOKOMOTIV VS. ATLETICO	TUDN	Nov 3, 2020
117	PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIO	NBCSN	Nov 2, 2020
103	LIGA MX SUN: TOLUCA / LEON	TUDN	Nov 8, 2020
100	UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE: BASAKSEHIR / MAN UNITED	TUDN	Nov 4, 2020
99	LIGA DE EXPANSION MX L	TUDN	Nov 1, 2020
84	LIGA MX L: QUERETARO / TIJUANA	TUDN	Nov 8, 2020
81	LIGA MX L: PACHUCA / NECAXA	TUDN	Nov 7, 2020
58	MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER: LA FC VS TIMBERS	FOX DEP	Nov 8, 2020
57	LIGA MX PREVIA	FOX DEP	Nov 8, 2020

USMNT Lost to Canada, Too Much MLS

The US Men's National Team lost to Canada for the first time since 1985, 2-0 up at BMO Field in Toronto. The US had a total of 17 matches unbeaten, which I have listed below (because no one seems to).

02 Apr 1985 - Canada v USA - L - 2-0 International Friendly
04 Apr 1985 - USA v Canada - D - 1-1 International Friendly
05 Feb 1986 - USA v Canada - D - 0-0 Miami Cup
16 Mar 1991 - USA v Canada - W - 2-0 North American Championship
03 Sep 1992 - Canada v USA - W - 0-2 International Friendly
09 Oct 1992 - USA v Canada - D - 0-0 International Friendly
03 Mar 1993 - USA v Canada - D - 2-2 International Friendly
16 Mar 1997 - USA v Canada - W - 3-0 FIFA World Cup
09 Nov 1997 - Canada v USA - W - 0-3 FIFA World Cup
30 Jan 2002 - USA v Canada - W - 0-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup
18 Jan 2003 - USA v Canada - W - 4-0 International Friendly
09 Jul 2005 - USA v Canada - W - 2-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup
22 Jan 2006 - USA v Canada - D - 0-0 International Friendly
21 Jun 2007 - USA v Canada - W - 2-1 CONCACAF Gold Cup
07 Jun 2011 - USA v Canada - W - 2-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup
03 Jun 2012 - Canada v USA - D - 0-0 International Friendly
29 Jan 2013 - USA v Canada - D - 0-0 International Friendly
05 Feb 2016 - USA v Canada - W - 1-0 International Friendly
15 Oct 2019 - Canada v USA - L - 2-0 CONCACAF Nations League

There a couple of things that jump out at you when combing over the results.

1. Yesterday was only the 5th time that the US has played in Canada since 1985 (5/17=29% of the time). The previous 17 matches between the two nations saw the match played 9 times out of 17 (53% of the time). The difference is more or less do to MLS and building interest. There was a run of six straight in the US between 2001 and 2011, a decade where the US racked up wins.

2. The USA doesn't play Canada for World Cup Qualifying. For a weak region like CONCACAF, it seems a bit strange. All-time, Canada has an advantage over the US in WC Qualifiers. The US has 13 played,  4 wins, 3 draws, 6 losses against those guys up north, but the last time the two played to qualify was 1997. Again, weird, but likely due to MLS.

MLS MINUTES LAST NIGHT

Over the last few years, MLS has been bringing in the best players from all over CONCACAF. Canada has always been here, however. Even going back to the old NASL days.

So what did the game look like last night? Lots of MLS experienced players.

What I've done is simply look up how many minutes each player that was in the 18 has this year. I quartered MLS players to quickly simplify things as most leagues across the world are only 25% of the way through the season.

The point of this exercise was to quickly get to the heart of things. Was this an MLS v. MLS duel?

Yes! It was an MLS duel. Something that sticks out first to me, when looking at the data this way, is the sheer number of leagues Canadian players play in. A total of 11, while we only see players from 5 different leagues for the USMNT. Maybe it shouldn't be all that surprising.

Also sticking out is how much MLS is on the bench for Gregg Berhalter's US team. It sort of speaks to the simplicity of scouting, but also to the preference based on marketing the league to non-MLS fans.

SOLUTIONS TO CATCHING... CANADA

US Players; England & Germany only

For me, this flyover look at where the two national team selections are playing tells an important story.

You need players fighting and scraping in uncomfortable situations. Simply put, it creates a better player. MLS has quality, but it is firmly 2nd tier, possibly 3rd. Your best players cannot be playing in a low impact, comfortable situation and expect to compete with players humping it every day in Belgium, Scotland, Chile, Norway, Mexico. It's great that the US is calling up players in England and Germany, but these are culturally similar countries that the pay to play youth model often treats like a teen going to college. Bundesliga being that rich kid prestigious university up north. England, a solid State school.

Canada is calling up its best players, regardless of league. The US team is calling marketable MLS players and sprinkling in a handful of others. Does that make sense? In order for the US to get back to being best in class in CONCACAF, they need to undo the MLS shackles.

Take a look at a "what if" situation. What if Gregg Berhalter only called in players in Germany and England - what would that look like? It looks like they would stomp the mix-matched MLS heavy team Berhalter is trying to put together.

Wood - Sargent - Shelton
Pulisic - McKennie - Gooch
Robinson - Brooks - Miazga - Yedlin
Steffen

The problem emerging is that the USMNT has gone from calling in plucky over-performing MLS guys to practically mandating it after the hire of Gregg Berhalter. The players being selected simply do not have what it takes. A random selection of the 250+ guys playing outside MLS would yield better results.

It's Gregg Berhalter's Narrative

“I see where the narrative is going now, it’s ‘Why are we playing the way we’re playing?’” Berhalter said. “The second is, ‘We don’t have the players to do it.’ That’s what all of you guys are thinking. And to me, it’s about developing players. We’re making progress. That’s not going to be your narrative right now, and I understand that. But internally, we believe we’re making progress.”

I'm taking a look at Gregg Berhalter's postgame comments after last Friday's 0-3 lost to Mexico. Just purely looking at the comments, and not looking at his demeanor from the videos or anything like that - he appears frustrated. It's clear he tried to head off criticism by putting forward what he thought the press would say after the loss, which, for me is a bit narcissistic. Deflecting criticism before it even got to him is "smartest guy in the room" stuff, not a great look.

Several media outlets, including heavy hitters (relatively in the soccer universe) like Yahoo Sports and The Athletic, have done exactly what Berhalter thought they would do in regards to the narrative after the game. Berhalter also claimed that he believed internally they were making progress and without a doubt, I do believe after following him here in Columbus for a number of years that he believes that. He did that exact same thing with the Crew when he stuck with it through losses and really poor results one of them led to the second-worst season in crew history back in 2016.

But my criticism of the way Berhalter is approaching this is simple and stems from the fact that he believes that he is developing these players. Whether that means he's developing them as overall players or developing them to fit into his specific system. I don't believe that you can run much of a rigid system at the National Team level because it is a revolving door of guys that are being called in and time with them is limited - it's just not possible.

Another thing to look at is trying to have players learn system like he's coaching some sort of Club is that players don't have the time to learn it. Both Sebastian Lletget and Christian Pulisic made mention of this after the game.

National team players, when they're called up, are usually on break or it's during the summer or something similar. They are mixing in vacations, recovery, or time off. I don't think a lot of the players are all that interested in really going out there and learning an entirely new system outside of what they're doing with their club - which is usually pretty intensive because these are good players.

No doubt Gregg Berhalter has a little bit of a mess on his hands. I don't think he really has a plan B outside of players just buckling down and learning what he has planned out.

“It’s the hardest thing in the world,” Pulisic said after Friday’s defeat. “You have short periods to train, and it’s hard to teach a real system and be very specific with it.”

USMNT: Berhalter Mined Mihailovic

Djordje Mihailovic was the first to score in a game for new USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter. Most likely never heard of the player before he was chosen to start, so who is he? How did he get on Berhalter's radar?

It likely starts with his father Aleks Mihailovic who is a well respected and well-known coach in the US soccer-sphere. Aleks was a player in the old NASL that turned into a major player in the United States Adult Soccer Association.

His son, Djordje, is a chip off that block. After spending time with his father's club (Chicago Blast) as a youth, he moved into the Chicago Fire Academy in 2013 around the age of 14. The Chicago Fire signed him in 2017 on a Homegrown deal where he now makes around $96k a year.

PERFORMING IN A SMALL WINDOW

At 20 years old, Djordje has played a total of around 1300 minutes in MLS, scoring 2 goals and assisting on another 6 in two seasons. Last year, Chicago only ran him out for 600 minutes where he scored a goal and assisted on another four.

Critical to his performance this past MLS season was starting against both Gregg Berhalter's Columbus Crew (August 24, 2018) and Bob Bradley's LAFC (September 29, 2018) where he had a goal and an assist to go along with 2 key passes in a rare Fire win on the season (3-1).

Djordje has a  0.54 non-penalty goal + assist (NPG+A) metric within 1300 minutes of MLS play. For a 20-year-old from Chicago, that is impressive. This past season his 1 Goal, 4 Assists (0.77 NPG+A per game) was the highest by an American with over 500 minutes.

At his age, the position he plays and that type of production it would have been hard for Berhalter to not bring him in.

GOAL, #USMNT

It's Djordje Mihailovic that scores in his debut, but Corey Baird did all the work finding him for the assist. The United States have the first goal in the Gregg Berhalter era.#USAvPAN | 1-0 pic.twitter.com/KbHG1N9xxn

— Last Word on Soccer (@LastWordSC) January 28, 2019

HEAD START, BUT PERFORMED

It's a positive sign that players like Djordje are getting a closer look. This may sound overly simple, but it means that at least someone is looking. It's hard not to put an asterisk on that because of who his father is, but a positive sign, none-the-less.

Berhalter put him in an attacking position up top. Not too terribly different to how he once deployed Ethan Finlay when he was with the Crew. It worked. He went out and played well.

OTHERS LIKE HIM

When looking at MLS / US eligible only, here are similar players attack-minded players 23 and under:


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Age	Name	Pos	Team	2019 Mins	Goals	Assists	NPG+A
21	Jonathan Lewis	Forward	NYCFC	218	1	3	1.65
23	Paul Arriola	Midfielder	DC	2184	7	8	0.62
22	Sebastian Saucedo	Midfielder	RSL	1044	3	4	0.60
23	Alex Muyl	Midfielder	NYR	1285	3	5	0.56
23	Kellyn Acosta	Midfielder	COL	1041	2	3	0.43

Not bad company to be in. Arriola might be a like player Mihailovic shoots for, in terms of production. To get there, however, he needs to get out of Chicago.

Another player to note here is Jonathan Lewis, who had an assist in last night's USMNT game vs. Panama late in the second half. He played a little for NYCFC but was loaned out to Louisville City (USL) where he again had to play off the bench.

Captain Trapp, Jan camp over

Wil Trapp wore the armband last night in a 0-0 draw between the US and Bosnia and Herzegovina that marked the end of this year's January Camp. Columbus GK Zach Steffen and new Crew signing Gyasi Zardes also featured in the friendly.

The match was more or less a frustrating end to the three week-long "camp cupcake." Younger players were expected to be featured but head coach Dave Sarachan seeming opted to go for what he thought would be a win by using older, more experienced, ones.

Up top, it was CJ Sapong (29), who had a good MLS season last year, was replaced by a seasoned Juan Agudelo (25) were not able to add much to the match.

In the midfield, we saw some younger players, but only one could be really considered a "young player" in Tyler Adams (18). The other four are well known MLS commodities. On the wings, Sarachan went with decidedly non-wing like players in Jordan Morris and Gyasi Zardes. In the middle of the pitch we saw Christan Roldan (22) and Wil Trapp (25).

In the back it there were two under the age of 25 in Matt Polster and Walker Zimmerman paired with two 30-year-olds in Ike Opara and Justin Morrow. Bill Hamid got the start in goal.

It was a messy game because the lineup was lumpy. Trapp held things together in the back but because of the relatively poor play of Jordan Morris and Zardes the US never approached anything in regards to possession.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, for their part, played pretty good. It was a "C" team missing guys who are currently mid-season overseas.

January camp is used to be a sort of primer for the MLS season. Players are selected from as many MLS teams as possible for exposure with the goal of putting a couple in the net against a weakened side playing far from home. By this measure, the USMNT failed.

Later today we will see MLS roll out a new plan for their Miami franchise. USSF/MLS picked today because, in a perfect MLS world, I think they wanted a result from the team of MLS-ers the night before to help with momentum. They didn't get it.

Motivations behind "Camp Cupcake"

It was only a month ago that the suggestion arose from Danny Williams, a USMNT player with over 20 appearances, spoke out about not being selected by the team in their failed attempt to qualify for Russia 2018.

"I think there are too many political things going on behind-the-scenes," Williams told NBC, though he also cautioned: "I wasn't really close enough with the team for that amount of time so I can't really talk, or give too much information, because I don't really know about what happened." 

He added: "Obviously I spoke to the boys when I was in Portugal. Everybody has a different view. I heard from a few people that they tried to 'market the MLS' a bit more, in the qualifying games and get a name for the MLS."

"At the end of the day it shouldn't be about that. It should be about quality and bringing the best players and having a plan. That is it."

From here we got a firm response from Bruce Arena that denied the accusation that USSF and MLS wanted to market the league by selecting MLS based players. Beyond that, we were treated to this by the writer that broke the story:

Everyone can quibble about Arena's player selection, but the idea that marketing of MLS players influenced his decisions is one I find to be absurd. https://t.co/eQPpF8sHxy

— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) December 12, 2017

It's no secret that Bruce Arena favored MLS players. He's spoken publically about that. However, is there a more powerful hand at work via the USSF/MLS offices directing both former US coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Bruce Arena?

Something J. Cruyff wrote in one of his books also suggested that team selection was directed from on high: “Jürgen Klinsmann, coach of the US national side since 2011, often couldn’t select the best possible team because he was obliged to include someone from each franchise.”

Digging into minutes and team selection for meaningful games yields a mix. Basically, 50% of the time is given to MLS players (or so), going back multiple World Cup cycles.

But when Williams made the quote it struck a nerve with me. MLS and USSF work in lockstep to grow their product. The comments made by Kathy Carter recently confirm this. I firmly believe that because of this relationship there is a directive to select MLS players to help market the league.

We don't see that with meaningful games, however. They have to win those, you need to select the best. Where we see this is the oddball USMNT January Camp ("Camp Cupcake") that takes place in the MLS offseason.

I decided to take a look and see if there was anything there that proved there is a marketing hand in selection. Turns out it is true that each team gets a callup. I do not this is by chance.

Here's a look at selections over the last two years. Each team, except two, have had a player in camp in January.

7 - Seattle Sounders FC
6 - D.C. United
5 - New York Red Bulls
5 - Toronto FC
4 - New England Revolution
4 - Philadelphia Union
4 - Real Salt Lake
3 - Columbus Crew SC
3 - FC Dallas
3 - LA Galaxy
3 - San Jose Earthquakes
3 - Sporting Kansas City
2 - Chicago Fire
2 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
1 - Atlanta United FC
1 - Colorado Rapids
1 - Los Angeles FC
1 - Minnesota United FC
1 - Orlando City SC
1 - Portland Timbers
1 - Houston Dynamo
0 - Montreal Impact
0 - New York City FC

Montreal and NYCFC missed out on the last two years, but going back one more year - they did. So there it is. Each MLS team represented.

There's certainly nothing illegal about this. But what makes it frustrating is that the league and USSF hide it and writers close to those groups claim it doesn't happen when it most certainly does.

Why not just say that they do this? Marketing the league using USMNT call-ups in a non-FIFA window would not be the worst thing in the world. The only thing I can think of is that USSF wants to keep up the idea that competition and playing ability drives selection when in reality it takes a back seat to making money.

That's frustrating. Cruyff was right when he said (while commenting further on the practice of selecting players from each MLS team): "... it’s very restrictive if you’re a coach, and something that would delay the national side’s development by years if it were to continue."

These are things that need to change, even at "Camp Cupcake" in order for the US to become better. The best players and prospects should be selected, regardless of team.

Talking USMNT and Crew

USMNT: Ceiling and Floor are Falling

Jurgen Klinsmann did a good job at making Americans believe that there was a deep pool of US eligible players of which to pull. When he started he had players like Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Mix Diskerud and Tim Howard still playing in top leagues.

The key phrase there is "when he started." That all changed in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup when MLS, almost as a response to Klinsmann's urging of players to go to Europe, brought them all back. In the back of our collective minds, many of us thought that there would be other players to back fill the work that those players were doing at the highest levels. There always had been. Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride, Frankie Hejduk, Ernie Stewart, Brad Friedel and Crew SC's own Gregg Berhalter (to name a few). There was a pipeline there, so to speak.

Because of that pipeline, the US had a decent height to the ceiling. Meaning, it was widely regarded that players training and pushing in better leagues are, well, better players. That has changed, however. The events by MLS/SUM starting in 2013 to bring back players is turning out to have a titanic impact on US players in Europe.

The table below is a quick overview of who the US currently has playing in leagues scattered across the pond. Since I am not close to most of these leagues outside of the EPL (and to a smaller degree, Bundesliga) I decided to whip up a quick point system based on the header categories below.


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Points >>		3				2				2
		1				1	1	1	1	1
Pts	Player	League	Club	Age, Position	Mins	% Pos Mins	G	A	MotM	Rating
9	Bobby Wood	Bundesliga	Hamburger SV	24, FW	267	99%	1		1	7.07
9	Christian Pulisic	Bundesliga	Borussia Dortmund	18, M(CLR)	266	99%	1	1		7.50
8	Timothy Chandler	Bundesliga	Eintracht Frankfurt	27, D(R),M(R)	270	100%			1	7.20
8	Mix Diskerud	Sweden	IFK Göteborg	26, M(CR)	1871	94%	3	3	3	7.00
7	Brendan Hines Ike	Sweden	Örebro	22, D(C)	1890	95%	1	1		6.84
6	Geoff Cameron	EPL	Stoke City	32, D(CLR),DMC	295	82%				6.00
5	Tim Ream	Champ	Fulham	29, D(CL),DMC	540	100%				6.71
5	Josh Wicks	Sweden	Sirius	33, GK	1980	100%			2	6.00
5	Alfredo Morales	Bundesliga II	Ingolstadt	27, M(C)	270	60%				7.00
4	Jerome Kiesewetter	Bundesliga II	Fortuna Düsseldorf	24, AM(R)	164	36%				6.92
4	Lynden Gooch	EPL	Sunderland	21, Forward	63	18%				6.11
4	Danny Williams	EPL	Huddersfield Town	28, M(C)	62	17%				6.20
4	Weston McKennie	Bundesliga	Schalke 04	19, Midfielder	25	9%				6.00
4	Andrew Wooten	Bundesliga II	Sandhausen	27, AM(R),FW	30	7%	1			7.21
4	Fabian Johnson	Bundesliga	Borussia M'gladbach	29, D(LR),M(CLR)	10	4%				5.00
4	Aron Jóhannsson	Bundesliga	Werder Bremen	26, FW	3	1%				5.00
3	Matt Miazga	Eredivisie	Vitesse	22, D(C)	150	42%				6.00
3	Romain Gall	Sweden	GIF Sundsvall	22, Midfielder	803	41%				6.00
3	Alex Horwath	Norway	Brann	30, GK	360	19%				6.80
3	E. Hyndman	EPL	AFC Bournemouth		0	0%
3	K. Scott	EPL	Chelsea		0	0%
3	D. Yedlin	EPL	Newcastle United		0	0%
3	C. Carter Vickers	EPL	Sheffield United		0	0%
3	B. Scott	Bundesliga	Köln		0	0%
3	C. Stanko	Bundesliga	Freiburg		0	0%
3	J. Brooks	Bundesliga	Wolfsburg		0	0%
2	Julian Green	Bundesliga II	Greuther Fürth	22, AM(L)	90	20%				6.4
2	Terrence Boyd	Bundesliga II	Darmstadt 98	26, FW	59	13%				6
2	Eric Lichaj	Champ	Nottingham Forest	28, D(LR),M(LR)	13	2%				6.11
2	Rubio Rubin	Norway	Stabæk	21, AM(C),FW	1	0%				6
1	H. Wright	Bundesliga II	Sandhausen		0	0%
1	S. Antonijevic	Norway	Lillestrøm		0	0%
1	J. Klinsmann	Germany	Hertha BSC		0	0%
1	D. Payne	Eredivisie	Excelsior		0	0%
1	S. O'Neill	Eredivisie	Excelsior		0	0%
1	L. de la Torre	Champ	Fulham		0	0%
1	M. Corboz	Bundesliga II	MSV Duisburg		0	0%
1	M. Gaines	Bundesliga II	Darmstadt 98		0	0%

Once you get past Bobby Wood and Christian Pulisic there is a bit of a drop-off. That isn't to minimize their impact because it has been great. Without them, the US might likely not be qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

Speaking of qualification for the World Cup. Below is a list of current US players who rank in the top 50 in MLS right now.

Rank	Player	Team, Age, Position	Mins	Goals	Assists	MotM	Rating
6	Lee Nguyen	New England Rev, 30, AM(CLR),FW	2124	9	8	3	7.43
7	Cristian Roldan	Seattle Sounders FC, 22, M(CR)	2340	6	2	4	7.43
11	Graham Zusi	Sporting Kansas City, 31, D(R),M(CLR)	1665	0	5	1	7.33
22	Sacha Kljestan	New York Red Bulls, 32, M(C)	2196	2	7	4	7.19
24	Jozy Altidore	Toronto FC, 27, FW	1932	13	5	2	7.18
25	CJ Sapong	Philadelphia Union, 28, AM(LR),FW	2263	13	4	4	7.18
26	Benny Feilhaber	Sporting Kansas City, 32, AM(C)	2013	5	1	2	7.16
27	Kelyn Rowe	New England Rev, 25, D(L),M(CLR)	1895	0	6	0	7.15
28	Dax McCarty	Chicago Fire, 30, DMC	1961	0	4	0	7.13
31	Clint Dempsey	Seattle Sounders FC, 34, M(CL),FW	1769	11	3	3	7.11
33	Justin Morrow	Toronto FC, 29, D(CLR),M(L)	1954	5	1	3	7.11
37	Matt Polster	Chicago Fire, 24, D(R),DMC	1277	1	4	0	7.09
38	Darlington Nagbe	Portland Timbers, 27, M(CLR)	1913	3	2	0	7.09
40	Sheanon Williams	Vancouver Whitecaps, 27, D(CLR)	1260	0	2	0	7.08
42	Ben Sweat	New York City FC, 26, D(L)	1718	1	6	1	7.07
47	Ike Opara	Sporting Kansas City, 28, D(C)	2070	2	0	3	7.05

After calling players in Europe the ceiling, I'm calling players in MLS the floor. This isn't to say MLS is poor. The league is fine (though, still second best to Liga MX in the region. I did not look players there as I used WhoScored data to filter through players).

Between these two lists, you can piece together a group of familiar names, but not great players. Both MLS and Europe are not providing what the US needs. Perhaps it will be Liga MX that produces what it needs - but Bruce Arena has made it clear that MLS based players is what he wants.

USMNT was in better shape in 2010.

2013-14 and the return of European based players changed that.

MLS isn't producing better players.

The team is stuck in nowheresville.