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[quote=Anonymous][quote=RantingSoccerDad]Bear in mind that U.S. players are often less than half of the players you'll see on the field at a given time. Last year, 73 countries were represented on MLS rosters.

Conversely, most of the current national team pool plays in Europe and Mexico. Here's the roster for the June friendlies:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2018/05/29/15/05/20180529-news-mnt-sarachan-calls-25-players-to-europe-for-ireland-france

That's a change from the disastrous final World Cup qualifier:

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2017/10/01/05/47/20171001-news-arena-calls-26-players-world-cup-qualifiers-get3-panama-trinidad-tobago

But I don't think that's a difference between Arena and Sarachan. I think it shows that most *young* U.S. players are going overseas. Arena relied on veterans for the final World Cup qualifiers -- perhaps too much, though historically, that's been the way to go. A lot of those players -- Guzan, Howard, Beasley, Bradley, Altidore and Dempsey in particular -- are currently in MLS but have years of European experience.

MLS has plenty of issues, most notably the Columbus situation. But the knock on the quality of play is a little overstated.

Check the stats on pass completion percentage. The median per team in MLS 2017 was 79.65%. (DC United, alas, was last in the league.)

https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/233/Tournaments/85/Seasons/6620/Stages/15593/TeamStatistics/USA-Major-League-Soccer-2017

In the Premier League, it's *lower* -- 75.5%. Even DC United would be well above the basement there. The top six teams, though, are off the charts.

https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/6829/Stages/15151/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2017-2018

In MLS, the team you really want to watch is Atlanta United. Young South American talent that you may end up seeing in the Champions League in a few years. They're fun to watch.

As for NWSL -- that IS mostly American, and you can tell how much we've valued athleticism over skill. Also, the referees are incompetent, and a good player can easily suffer a nasty injury while the ref leaves the cards in the pocket. Some decent games and a lot of good players -- Tobin Heath can be petulant but can also make some dazzling moves.[/quote]

Thanks for the information, but I wonder about the reliability of this "whoscored" source.  They have 15 MLS teams with over 80% passing accuracy!  La Liga has only 11 teams in this category.  Wow, I certainly don't see this type of passing accuracy on the field at MLS games.   :idea:  Perhaps MLS could send their coaches to coach up these clumsy Spanish players. [/quote]

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