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.
