Yeah I assume he means that era.
23 player squad for the 2002 WC had this number of players at or formerly at clubs in the leagues below (I didn't double count):
Premier League : 7
Bundesliga: 5
Ligue 1: 1
La Liga
Serie A
Eredivisie: 2
This doesn't include Wolff and Beasley who played in Europe later.
13 of 23 in a top 5 league, 2 more in a league just below and 2 players who would go on to that level.
Well hang on now just a minute. Let's do a side-by-side.
2002 WC first-choice team, by position (age / # starts in WCF out of 5):
GK Brad Friedel (31 / 5) - Blackburn Rovers (EPL), full-time starter, in year 5 of 17 straight in the EPL
RB Tony Sanneh (30 / 5) - Nurnburg (Bundesliga), part-time starter, in year 3 of 5
CB Eddie Pope (28 / 5) - DC United
CB Jeff Agoos (34 / 3 [injured]) - SJ Earthquakes
LB Frankie Hejduk (27 / 4) - Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga), fringe bencher, manager had declared he had no future there (year 4 of 4 in europe)
RM Earnie Stewart (33 / 2.5) - NAC Breda (Eredivisie), first-choice starter, year 13 of 15 in the league (Dutch mom, grew up there)
MF John O'Brien (24 / 5) - Ajax (Eredivisie), first-choice starter, year 4 of 7 in the league (n.b. signed with them at age 17)
MF Claudio Reyna (28 / 4) - Sunderland (EPL), part-time starter, year 2 of 5 in the EPL, 7 of 10 in Europe
LM DaMarcus Beasley (20 / 2.5) - Chicago Fire, would move to PSV 2 years later, would spend 7 years in Europe (2 PSV, 1 Man City, 3 Rangers, 1 Hannover)
FW Brian McBride (29 / 5) - Columbus Crew, had done a part season at Wolfsburg, would get picked up by Everton after the WC and do 6 years in the EPL
FW Landon Donovan (20 / 5) - SJ Earthquakes on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, would get short spells in a couple places but never stick in Europe
Major subs / rotation players:
DM Pablo Mastroeni (25 / 3) - Colorado Rapids
CB Gregg Berhalter (28 / 2 starts after Agoos was injured) - Crystal Palace (EPL), squad player, after 6 seasons in the Eredivisie. Would move to Cottbus (Bundesliga) for 4 seasons.
LW Eddie Lewis (28 / 2) - Fulham (EPL), reserve, moving to Preston North End (FL First Div) as a 4-year full-time starter
AM Clint Mathis (25 / 2) - MetroStars / NYRB, would move to Hannover a year later, spent one season there as a part-time starter, then returned to MLS
MF Cobi Jones (31 / 4 subs) - LA Galaxy. Had spent 1 year at Coventry City (EPL) as a part-time starter early in his career but was mostly an MLS lifer
CF Joe-Max Moore (31 / 2 subs) - Everton (EPL), squad player, having just finished his 3rd of 3 years there making only 3 starts
CB Carlos Llamosa (32 / 2 subs) - NE Revolution
So among the starting 11 (plus subs,
italics), that's:
- 1 (2) current top-4 starter (Friedel,
Keller)
- 2 (2) current top-4 rotation players (Sanneh, Reyna)
- 2 (3) future top-4 starters (Beasley, McBride,
Berhalter, plus Reyna again)
- 2 (3) current/future lower-league starters (Stewart, O'Brien,
Lewis)
- 2 (4) who failed in Europe (Donovan, Hejduk,
Mathis, Moore)
- 2 (4) who were MLS lifers (Pope, Agoos,
Jones, Mastroeni)
And even among those first 3 categories, which were the biggest/best clubs any American made it at? Fulham? Pre-Abu Dhabi Man City? PSV? Rangers?
And that's as good as it has ever gotten for us. Among those on the roster who never saw the field, Steve Cherundolo would spend a full starter's career at Hannover, most of it in the 1.Bundesliga, David Regis had an 8-year starting career mostly in Ligue 1, and Kasey Keller was then a full-time starter for Tottenham, in year 6 of 13 in Europe (mostly EPL). Others failed in trials in Europe (Tony Meola, Josh Wolff) or in Mexico (Carlos Llamosa).
Now let's compare to the current / developing USMNT roster, the team we're hoping to see in October or March:
Hypothetical first-choice team, by position (starting from
that projected lineup, with a few tweaks by me):
GK Zack Steffen (25) - Man City (EPL), after 1 year as 2nd keeper (17 starts) in Dusseldorf (Bundesliga). Clearly headed for a top-4 league career if he can stay healthy and focused.
LB Antonee Robinson (23) - Fulham (EPL), full-time starter in 1 year at Wigan (EFL Championship). After a near-deal to AC Milan, and a 7-year youth career for Everton, seems to have top-4 written all over him.
CB John Brooks (27) - Wolfsburg (Bundesliga), full-time starter in his 3rd year there after 5 full-time seasons at Hertha. Currently our best Germerican (sorry, Fabian Johnson and Tim Chandler!).
CB Tim Ream (32) - Fulham (EPL), full-time starter and team captain there, after 5 years at Fulham and 9 in England (2 in the EPL and about to have a 3rd). Still getting MNT callups.
RB DeAndre Yedlin (27) - Newcastle (EPL), part-time starter, 6 years in England, 5 in EPL. May be about to be sold somewhere.
DM Michael Bradley* (33) - Toronto FC, full-time 7-year starter there, after 10 respectable seasons in Europe incl 3x Heerenveen, 3x Gladbach, 1x Villa, 1x Chievo and 2x Roma, 5 of them as full-time starter.
CM Tyler Adams (21) - RB Leipzig (Bundesliga), 2 years part-time starter there, scored a massive goal in the UCL QFs
AM Weston McKennie (21) - Schalke 04 (Bundesliga), 4 years full-time starter there, already sometimes regarded as their best player.
LW Christian Pulisic (21) - Chelsea (EPL), 1 year part-time, clearly going to be full-time going forward, after 4 years at Dortmund, 3 of them as full-time starter.
RW Gio Reyna (17 holy crap) - Dortmund (Bundesliga), 1 year part-time, likely to be full-time going forward
CF Jozy Altidore (30) - Toronto FC, full-time 6-year starter there, after 7 years in Europe with mixed results, including 2 starting years in EPL, 1 reserve in EPL, and 2 very good years in the Eredivisie for AZ.
Notable rotation players:
LB Sergino Dest (19) - Ajax (Eredivisie), part-time starter this year, tons of UCL-level transfer rumors; he's on a world-class track right now, on one of the best development clubs in the world
DM Jackson Yueill (23) - SJ Earthquakes, 4 years, 2 of them as full-time starter. Have not heard many transfer rumors.
CF Josh Sargent (20) - Werder Bremen (Bundesliga), part-time starter in his 2nd year with the first-team, miraculously avoided relegation, seems to be at least part-time starter material.
RW Tim Weah (20) - Lille (Ligue 1), squad player, has been injured a lot. Some success at Celtic on loan last year.
CB Chris Richards (20) - Bayern Munich II (3.Liga), got 1 sub appearance for the big boys;
some articles make it sound like he might get a chance.
RB Reggie Cannon (22) - FC Dallas, in his 4th year, 3rd as full-time starter. Some EU transfer rumors but no big clubs.
DM Paxton Pomykal (20) - FC Dallas, in his 4th pro year, 2nd as starter. Some transfer rumors but nothing serious.
CB Matt Miazga (25) - Reading (EFL Championship), 2 years part-time starter, after 2x Vitesse (full-time), 1x Nantes (squad player)
Breaking that down and projecting out some career trajectories, that puts us roughly at:
- 5 current top-4 starters (Brooks, Ream, Yedlin, McKennie, Pulisic)
- 2 current top-4 rotation players (Steffen, Robinson)
- 2 (3) future top-4 starters (Adams, Reyna, Dest)
- 0 (2) current/future lower-league starters (Miazga, Weah)
- 2 could not sustain career in Europe (Bradley, Altidore)
- 0 (3) MLS lifers (Yueill, Cannon, Pomykal)
Depending on how some of those top prospects shake out, and maybe some additional contributions from MLS talent that has no interest in Europe (by one party or the other), that is a much better-looking projection for me. You have starters at UCL-level clubs like Dortmund, Leipzig and Chelsea, UEL clubs like Schalke (ok not right now but that's where McKennie's level seems to be), and a ton of players making their way over to Europe at an age early enough that they stand a chance of moving up to the big clubs. There's not a position on the field, other than Goalkeeper, where I'd trade our current situation for the 2002 situation - not even that boss 2002 midfield that beclowned Mexico in front of the world. If Steffen can keep his shit together, I think in a year or two, you could put our squad up against the 2002 WC squad and we'd win like 8 of 10 matches.
So, after much consideration, I still respectfully think Bruce Arena is full of shit.
* look I'm sorry I put Bradley in there over Yueill, but I think Berhalter would too right now. I almost didn't.