As magazine points out, U.S. lags behind in top young soccer talent
It is safe to assume that the editors of the prestigious Spanish soccer magazine Don Balon did not call Bob Bradley to check and make sure their reporters got it right.
After all, it wasn’t exactly a leap into the dark that the 35-year-old Barcelona-based weekly made in a recent issue when it failed to include an American on its list of the world’s 100 finest young players.
Even the most passionately flag-waving U.S. fan would be hard pressed to mention an American player 21 or younger who could seriously be regarded as one of the world’s best.
So, no, Bradley, the U.S. national team coach, was not contacted to see whether a glaring omission had been made. As Bradley well knows, there is not another Landon Donovan anywhere on the horizon.
Donovan was one of three Americans who made the list the last time Don Balon ventured onto this thin limb nine years ago. Also on the list at that time were Eddie Johnson and Santino Quaranta.
Although Donovan has prospered and continues to do so, Johnson has seldom sparkled in his appearances for the U.S. and Quaranta’s national team career lasted only a short while.
Hitting one of three over the fence isn’t a total failure, and it must be pointed out that Don Balon’s 2001 list also featured Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres and Arjen Robben, all of whom were on the field in July’s World Cup final.
Still, you can understand the problem Bradley has when he looks to the future, thinks about a World Cup in Brazil four years hence and then looks at the talent available to him. Not to belabor the point, it is thin on the ground.
Why has another Donovan not emerged? Here’s one opinion from the player himself:
“I would argue there have been some very good players that have come along,” Donovan said. “I think what’s separated a few of us over the years has been the consistency. That’s something people don’t talk about a lot.
“You see a lot of guys come in for a year or two or three and then they fade away and you don’t hear from them again. The really hard part in sports is to do it year after year.
“That’s why I have so much respect for guys like Cobi [Jones], guys like [ Kevin] Garnett, guys like Peyton Manning, guys that do it year after year when the expectations are high. It’s not easy.”
Last week, Bradley dipped a bony and tentative finger into the player pool — deeper now but not necessarily better — and plucked out a few new names to take with him to Cape Town for Wednesday’s international friendly against South Africa.
With most of the first-choice players otherwise occupied, the game gave Bradley the chance to look beyond the obvious, which is why the likes of Gale Agbossoumonde are included on the 18-player U.S. roster.
Agbossoumonde turns 19 on Wednesday, the day of the game against the South Africans. Born in Togo, he grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., and is a regular starter on defense for the U.S. under-20 national team. He is on loan to Sporting Braga in Portugal from Miami FC.
Then there is Norwegian-born midfielder Mikkel “Mix” Diskerud, who turned 20 last month and who has played for Norway at the under-18 and under-19 level and for the U.S. at the under-20 level. He plays his club soccer for Stabaek in Norway and holds dual citizenship, but has opted to represent the U.S. internationally.
Also among the six newcomers is Juan Sebastian Agudelo, who made his breakthrough this season with the New York Red Bulls of MLS. The Colombian-born teenager, a forward, turns 18 on Nov. 23 and already has played for the U.S. at the under-17 and under-20 levels.
Another forward heading for Cape Town is Teal Bunbury, 20, of the Kansas City Wizards. Born in Hamilton, Canada, to an American mother and Canadian father, he has played for Canada’s under-17 and under-20 teams, but the U.S. offers the more likely chance of one day playing in a World Cup.
All four were age-eligible for Don Balon’s list but none made it. That’s because they are largely unproven and unknown, whereas many who were featured in the top 100 already are playing for leading teams in Europe.
The problem facing soccer in the U.S. appears to be an inability to identify prospects at an early age and then develop their talents quickly and correctly.
“We haven’t been able to get our finger on the ones we think might have a great future,” former U.S. and current Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena said. “In Landon’s era, he stuck out like a sore thumb.
“There are a lot more kids like the player in New York [Agudelo] but we haven’t been able to corral them in one place at one time” to assess them properly.
Which is why having every MLS teams simultaneously field reserve and youth teams is so important.
“The stupidity of eliminating a reserve league for a couple of years was mind-boggling,” Arena said. “In my view it was idiotic.”
