If someone asked me how I would stack up Australia footie vs. US footie, my knee-jerk reaction would be to give the nod to the US. After all, Australia just qualified for their first World Cup in dog’s years and their fledgling domestic league is worse than our somewhat less-fledgling domestic league.

Yet I would reassess that position after looking at the below table. One of my big peeves is the US fan talking about how many players we have in the Premier League like it’s the best thing in the world; I maintain that you also need to consider the team they’re on and the role they play. This table shows the regular Australian and American players in the Premier League ranked by league position. US players are in gray, goalkeepers are italicized, players who can’t get in the team get an asterisk.

So, what jumps out at me right away is that although there are way more Americans than Aussies in England, they’re also clustered at the foot of the table. And can you even imagine an American making such a huge splash as Tim Cahill has for Everton? Or playing for (alleged) title contender and Champions League winner Liverpool, like the oft-injured Harry Kewell? Hell, even Mark Viduka is on a “big” team in Newcastle.

I do want to say that I think there’s a serious bias in England that’s pro-US goalkeepers and anti-US field players. I hope that Clint Dempsey, who has been a stand-out for Fulham, would get picked up somewhere else should Fulham get relegated, a scenario for which they are well on course. But for who? It’s far more likely that scrappers Boro or Bolton would go in for him rather than upward-looking clubs like Spurs, Newcastle, or Man City. I like Bobby Convey too, but would he be playing much at a bigger club? I don’t know.

Alarmingly, this also suggests a dearth of talent for the US in the center of the park. Benny Feilhaber can’t even get in the Derby first eleven for Christs sake, and they’re going down as the worst team in Premier League history. Yes, this is only looking at England, but you tell me where Americans are truly standing out in other foreign leagues. And I’m far from sold on England being the heads n’ shoulders best league in the world. How many Americans are playing significant roles on teams in Spain, Italy, or Germany? I’m thinking of a number that’s less than one…

The future of the US national team kind of depresses me.

Current Mood: Kind of Depressed |