the yanks: an educational post

I'm not really what you'd call a very patriotic person. I've always been fascinated by other cultures, and often been embarrassed by America and the way we are perceived and portrayed abroad. I also know many American soccer fans choose other national teams to support (*cough*Stephanie!*cough*), often based on their heritage, but just as often based solely on players they like. Which is perfectly fine; Iker knows I'm guilty of this too (um, Spain anyone?). Despite this, I can't help but love my Americans first and foremost.

Even though America is considered this big pushy superpower, the US soccer team remains a massive underdog. I feel like the boys work so hard at a sport that has no hope of gaining the type of popularity that American football or basketball has in the States, and they therefore deserve my respect and support. If I don't cheer for them, who will? I also love the fact that there are so many different cultures represented by the guys on the team. America, to use a cliche, is known as a "melting pot", and the USMNT is certainly no less. Kljestan, Torres, Ching, Mastroeni, Bocanegra, Feilhaber...there are so many different players from so many different backgrounds, and they all add up to create a very cool team dynamic.

Anyways, enough of my rambling. I'm pretty sure most of my readers don't know much (if anything) about the US Men's National Team, so I have decided to educate you all. I'm not going to go through the whole player pool because that would take forever, but here are some of my current faves.

In alphabetical order, we have...

Name: Josmer "Jozy" Altidore
Position: Striker
Club: Villareal CF, Spain
Fun Fact: First American to score in La Liga (Giuseppe Rossi, the Italian traitor, does not count.)

Name: DaMarcus Beasley
Position: Left Winger
Club: Rangers FC, Scotland
Fun Fact: Highest-scoring American in the Champions League. (Is he the only American who's scored in the Champions League?)

Name: Carlos Bocanegra
Position: Central Defender
Club: Stade Rennais CF, France
Fun Fact: Current US captain

Name: Michael Bradley
Position: Midfielder
Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany
Fun Fact: His father is the current US National team coach

Name: Steve Cherundolo (R)
Position: Right Back
Club: Hannover 96, Germany
Fun Fact: Serves as one of the deputy captains at Hannover

Name: Brian Ching (L)
Position: Striker
Club: Houston Dynamo, USA
Fun Fact: People call him the Flyin' Hawaiian

Name: Jimmy Conrad
Position: Central Defender
Club: Kansas City Wizards, USA
Fun Fact: Moonlights as a columnist for Soccernet

Name: Bobby Convey
Position: Left Winger
Club: Reading FC, England
Fun Fact: He is partially blind in his left eye. Also likes to strip on the pitch after he has helped his team to promotion.

Name: Kenny Cooper
Position: Striker
Club: FC Dallas, USA
Fun Fact: Played for the Manchester United reserves until they dropped him a few years ago. Which is fine by me, I wouldn't want him there anyways.

Name: Clint Dempsey
Position: Attacking Midfielder, Winger, sometimes Striker
Club: Fulham FC, England
Fun Fact: Likes to rap (just like B-to-the-A-to-the-B-E-L). Goes by the alias "Deuce".

Name: Benny Feilhaber
Position: Midfielder
Club: Aarhus Gymnastikforening, Denmark
Fun Fact: Of Austrian-Jewish descent, but was born in Brazil

Name: Stuart Holden (L); Brad Guzan (R)
Position: Midfielder; Goalkeeper
Club: Houston Dynamo, USA; Aston Villa, England
Fun Fact: They like to wear compression pants on long airplane flights

Name: Sacha Kljestan
Position: Midfielder, Winger
Club: Chivas USA
Fun Fact: His dad played football in the former Yugoslavia

Name: Pablo Mastroeni
Position: Defensive Midfielder
Club: Colorado Rapids, USA
Fun Fact: Described as "Italian Argentine American". That's quite a mouthful.

Name: Robbie Rogers
Position: Winger, Striker
Club: Columbus Crew, USA
Fun Fact: He looks like he could be a character on the OC. Aptly enough, he's from Huntington Beach.

Name: Jonathan Spector
Position: Defender
Club: West Ham United, England
Fun Fact: Also played for Manchester United for a while. Again, glad he's not there anymore.

Name: Jose Torres
Position: Midfielder
Club: Pachuca, Mexico
Fun Fact: He chose to play for the US National team even though he could have played for Mexico. Way to go, kid.