So recently Fifa pro came out with their shortlist of who they believe would be the World 11, consisting of 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 3 forwards. What I intend to do is breakdown the list that fifa chose, and give reasons to consider that player as part of the top 11 or reasons not too.
In evaluating players, I will take this into consideration, was that player injury free for most of the season? What level did that player play at, was it the top league? And how good players skills are for their position, such as how a forward finishes. Bonus points are also given if a player does something that is not associated with their position, such as a defender who scores, or a forward who defends.  I have also included notable players omitted from the list, who I thought deserved a mention.  I however have removed them from consideration as they were not on the official list put out by Fifa.

The final World XI will be announced at 5th October 2007.
Goalkeepers:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/ Juventus) If Buffon had moved on to another team, than I probably would have no trouble putting him as the best keeper, but because he was for the most part facing the best the Serie B had to offer, I feel I cannot put him as the best goalkeeper in the world given he wasn’t facing the best opposition possible, day in and day out.

Iker Casillas (Spain/ Real Madrid) Of all the goalkeepers Fifa picked I would pick Iker, because I felt he had the most complete season. Iker is also very conisistent, and has to be a very good goalkeeper with the way Real defends sometimes.

Petr Cech (Czech Republic/ Chelsea) Between Petr Cech and Buffon, you have the world’s best two goalkeepers. It was quite evident when Cech went down, how sorely he was missed during that time. Had Cech not been injured it could have been enough to help Chelsea overtake Man U for the title.

Nelson de Jesus Silva 'Dida' (Brazil/ AC Milan)- I don’t really understand how Dida made this list, for one he was injured for a good part of the season, and when he did come back AC Milan chose to start Zeljko Kalac in his place. Fortunatly for Dida, Kalac was worse, and he won his place back.

Edwin van der Sar (Holland/ Manchester United) Van Der Sar did what he had to do in net for United to win, nothing more nothing less. I didn’t feel he was outstanding, but he didn’t put Manchester United in a position to lose either. He won the EPL GK of the year, but I felt Tim Howard was more deserving of it.

Notable Omissions Tim Howard(USA/Everton), Jose Reina(Spain/Liverpool)

Midfielders:
David Beckham (England/ Real Madrid) Beckham is a great player, but it is hard to put Beckham in the top 11 for many reasons. One there are many players much better than him, two he was benched for a large portion of last season, and three he on top of being benched missed a lot of games through suspension and injury. Also consider this, when Real won the title, they clinched it on the final day when Reyes scored two goals, Reyes came in for the injured David Beckham.

Anderson Deco (Portugal/ Barcelona) I rate Deco very high, but unfortunately the midfield of Barcelona is both deep and very talented. Deco should move to an EPL team like Chelsea or a team like Valencia.

Micheal Essien (Ghana/ Chelsea) Probably the most complete player in the world. His preferred position is a box to box midfielder, who is defensive minded, but can also shoot from distance. He showed his versatility by also playing right back and central back for Chelsea when injuries hit them. Essien also scored some timely goals last year, one against Arsenal to tie it, and one against Valencia to put Chelsea into the semifinals of the Champions league.

Gennaro Gattuso (Italy/ AC Milan) Probably the best holding midfielder in the world. Gattuso earned the nickname the snarling dog because of the way he plays. If there was no Gattuso, Pirlo would not have done nearly as well for both Italy, or AC Milan.

Steven Gerrard (England/ Liverpool) In competition with Essien for the most complete player in the world. While Essien has played more positions, Gerrard is given more freedom to roam all over the field, he also does well to give defensive cover. Gerrard also has a much better goal scoring tally then Essien does.

Andreys Iniesta (Spain/ Barcelona) A very creative midfielder, I feel Iniesta doesn’t always get the respect he deserves, mainly because he is overshadowed by his larger than life teammates. Iniesta is an excellent passer, as well as with the ball at his feet. When he is in the middle he can control the game, and speed it up or slow it down as he sees fit.

Ricardo Kaka (Brazil/ AC Milan) Regarded by many as the best player in the world. Kaka doesn’t run he glides across the ground, blessed with a great shot, and probably one of the fasted player in the world with the ball at his feet. He carried AC Milan on his shoulders as they won the champions league.

Frank Lampard (England/ Chelsea) A consistent goal scorer at Chelsea, he regurly scores more goals than most forwards. His big knock is he and Gerrard can not play in the same midfield together. It should also be pointed out that Lampard has missed very few games in his time at Stamford bridge.

Claude Makalele (France/ Chelsea) If stats alone were used to judge a player, than Makalele would be considered a failure. Fortunatley for him, stats don’t tell the whole story, Frank Lampard, and Zinadine Zidane both have had very successful careers, due in large part to the defensive work that Makalele has done. He does all the little things that allow other players to succeed.

Andrea Pirlo (Italy/ AC Milan) A player who pulls all the strings for a world cup winning national team, as well as a champions league trophy. Often overshadowed by players like Totti, and Kaka. He is also one of the best free kick takers in the world.

Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina/ Villareal/Boca Juniors) A temperamental player who can both amaze and disappoint depending on what day it is. He led the way in a very good Argentine football team at Copa America. However the fact that he couldn’t win the Argentine first division against Veron’s Estudianties is a strike against him.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/ Manchester United) An immensely talented player, who still has his best days ahead of him. On his day he is unstoppable, unfortunately I feel he disappears too much in big games. I will give him a pass in the FA Cup final, because he was exhausted, but still needs some more consistency to be considered the worlds best.

Paul Scholes (England/ Manchester United) Apparently found the fountain of youth. Had an excellent season, in which he pulled the strings for the United midfield. Has great vision on the field, and a motor that doesn’t end.

Clarence Seedorf (Holland/ AC Milan) Four champions league trophies, and four league titles with three different teams speaks for themselves. Equipped with a blistering shot, he has formed a great partnership with Kaka.

Xavi (Spain/ Barcelona) Along with Iniesta, he is often overshadowed by the bigger names at the club, however Xavi seems to also do the little things that help a team win, if not so much get noticed.

Notable Omissions Cesc Fabregas (Spain/ Arsenal), Gilberto (Brazil/Arsenal), Pablo Aimar (Argentina/Real Zaragoza), Elano Blumer (Brazil/Manchester City), Diego (Brazil/Werder Bremen), Michael Carrick(England/Manchester United) Frank Ribery (France/Bayern Munich), Hamit Altintop (Turkey/Bayern Munich), Florent Malouda(France/Chelsea) Robinho (Brazil/Real Madrid) Ryan Giggs (Wales/Manchester United)

Forwards:
Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria/ Tottenham Hotspur) He was a revelation last year in his first season at Tottenham. Blessed with a great first touch, he has the size of a prototypical target striker, but the touch of a central midfielder. Forged an excellent partnership up front with Robbie Keane.

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/ Chelsea) It was pretty much a tie between Drogba and Ronaldo for the EPL player of the year. In the end Ronaldo ended up winning it because his team won the league, but that shouldn’t take away from the year Drogba had. He had faced a lot of criticism the previous year about his diving, but reacted by scoring 30 goals in all competitions last year and silencing his critics. He also played very well for the Ivory Coast in a very tough group.

Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon/ Barcelona) If not for his injury he would definitely be considered one of the best strikers in the world.

Thierry Henry (France/ Arsenal) Same as Samuel Eto’o if not for injury he would have had a great campaign. Even though he missed over half the season Henry still finished as the leading scorer for Arsenal.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/ Inter) A personal favorite of mine, Zlatan and Berbatov to me are very similar players, however I feel that Zlatan is a faster player. The one negative for Ibrahimovic is his attitude. Still you can’t ignore the fact that he led the frontline for one of the greatest Serie A campaigns ever.

Filippo Inzaghi (Italy/ AC Milan) A predator of the highest degree, Pippo loves to walk the line and is constantly caught offsides for doing it, but all he needs is one chance, and he will put it away. Just ask Liverpool

Lionel Messi (Argentina/ Barcelona) Last year was Messi’s coming out year, including two like for like replicas of goals scored by Maradona. The goal against Getafe was amazing, while I feel he received too much flack for his version for the hand of god. While cheating shouldn’t be encouraged, I feel it is the refs job to make sure that doesn’t happen on the field.

Ruud van Nistelrooy (Holland/ Real Madrid) Rejuvenated his career at Real Madrid, he led La Liga in goals, and was instrumental in Real lifting their first trophy in three years.

Ronaldinho (Brazil/ Barcelona) I feel Ronaldinho deserves to be in the midfield section, but since Fifa made the list I will leave him right here. At the moment he seems to be struggling, and on review last year wasn’t nearly as a good a year as the 2005-2006 season. It started with a poor World Cup, and a slow start to the La Liga season. There were flashes of why Ronaldinho became known as the worlds greatest player, but I think at this point that title belongs to Kaka.

Ronaldo (Brazil/ Real Madrid/ AC Milan) Has been battling injuries, and being benched at Real Madrid. Once he moved to AC Milan he began to find his scoring touch, however it was too little too late. We probably will never see the Ronaldo of the 02 World Cup again.

Wayne Rooney (England/ Manchester United) Feelings about Rooney seems to be very universal at very overrated. I however feel he is underrated. While Rooney seemed to have a quiet year last year, he did score 24 goals in 51 games he started in all competitions last year. However I feel you cannot just judge Rooney solely on goals scored, he hustles back and plays good defense, and works his #### off to get to loose balls, certain things statistics don’t tell.

Carlos Tevez (Argentina/ West Ham United) I think very highly of Carlos Tevez, see what Rooney does and you can apply it to this player. However Tevez took a long time to get regular playing time at West Ham, and even longer to register his first goal. He did save West Ham from relegation, but I however don’t feel a few months of good play merits a spot on the World 11, maybe in a year or two.

Luca Toni (Italy/ Fiorentina) Quietly scored 16 goals in Serie A, and 2 in the World Cup, which was a massive drop off from the 31 he scored for Fiorentina the previous season. A great forward but I feel falls short of being considered the worlds best.

Francesco Totti (Italy/ AS Roma) Had an excellent season in which he scored 32 goals in all competitions. He bleeds his teams colors and says he will never play for another team, you have to respect that kind of commitment.

David Villa (Spain/ Valencia) Was involved in a lot of speculation as to whether he would head to a team like Chelsea during the transfer window. He didn’t and you should look for Valencia to have a big season because of him. I don’t know too much about him, but the few times I have seen him play I was very impressed.

Notable Omissions Diego Milito(Argentina/Real Zaragoza), Hernan Crespo(Argentina/ Inter Milan), Julio Cruz(Argentina/Argentina), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar(Netherlands/Ajax), Freddie Kanoute(Mali/Seville) Benni McCarthy(South Africa/Blackburn), Robbie Keane(Ireland/Tottenham Hotspur), Nicolas Anelka (France/Bolton), Kevin Doyle(Ireland/Reading), Miroslov Klose(Germany/Bayern Munich), Fernando Torres(Spain/Liverpool)

Now in picking my top 11, I aimed to pick my best group without any consideration of how they would play together, I also tried to focus on the last year, and not their careers as a whole, however that will always play some part in the decision making process. Without further ado here it is. . .

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas, with Cech and Buffon either injured or playing in lower leagues, I felt Casillas wins on default. I actually don’t feel he is the best goalkeeper in the world, but with the way the list came out, I felt he was the only one I could pick. My personal pick would be a tie between Buffon and Cech.

In defense the three that I would choose are Eric Abidal, Marco Materazzi, and Fabio Cannavaro. I chose these three because all three were very influential in helping their teams win their respective leagues. Materazzi just barely notched out Terry because of Terry’s being injured, and Materazzi’s scoring record last year.

In midfield, I would pick Kaka, Essien, Gerrard, and Gattuso. I feel there is no need to explain my first three choices, but doubt many would pick Gattuso. However I think he is one of the most underrated players, and was an integral part of winning two of the most prestigious and coveted cups in the world, in the world cup and champions league.

At Forward I would pick Drogba, Francesco Totti, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, just barely edging out Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

So there you have it, my World XI, tell me what you think, was I even close?

My friend and I have started up our own blog on www.survivingmonday.com, I intend to continue posting as regarly as possible.  I will try and make a fantasy article every thursday, and at least one article about something most likely concerning soccer after the weekends.

My friend focuses much more on the rest of the mainstream sports in the US.  If you are a Bill Simmons fan, you will like my friends articles, he is very funny, and heavily influenced by Bill Simmons, but not a copycat.

Also we will be looking to add people to add content to the website, so if you have a voice and want it heard about something sports related, let us know and we will see what we can do.

Hope to see you all over there

While I will admit I have not really cared much for the women’s world cup.  I have turned it on in the morning, and watched as much as I could.  While I might not follow the women’s team nearly as much as the men’s team, I do root for them and hope we win each game we play.  And winning games can be much more difficult when the coach steals the spotlight like he did the last two days with his questionable decision.

For those of you who don’t follow women’s soccer and I know there are many of you, here is what happened.  Two days ago Greg Ryan, who is the women’s national team coached announced that he would be starting Brianna Scurry in goal over Hope Solo.  Hope Solo had started every game since June, including all three group games, and their quarterfinal against England in Europe.  Hope Solo had two goals scored on her in the North Korean game, but since that game had a shutout streak of almost 300 minutes.  Of the first two goals scored on her, she did allow one to slip through her fingers, however it was wet that day, and that did play a part.

Greg Ryan said he was starting Scurry because of the way she played against Brazil in June, and probably also because of her play in the 2004 Olympics against Brazil.

Brianna Scurry is by no means an amateur, and would be a starter on most national teams, but the timing of the decision is very debatable, and I would rank it as one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen, and if it wasn’t for Greg Ryan’s unbeaten streak of 51 games is his saving grace.  But there are other examples of coaches who had good records who got fired, because they could take their team to the next level.  Grady Little got fired from the Boston Red Sox, because he kept Pedro Martinez in the game against the Yankees in game 7 of the ALCS.  In which the Yankees won in large part because of a tired Pedro on the mound.   Marty Schottenheimer last year was fired by the Chargers, despite having a record of 14-2 in the regular season, but was out coached in the playoffs.  And last Tony Dungy was let go by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because they didn’t think he could get them to the next level, and he eventually went on to win last years super bowl with the Colts.

While I don’t think putting Brianna Scurry lost the game for the US national team, the red card, and Brazil just outplaying USA were the main reasons.  I feel the decision distracted enough to give any edge the US might have had, and tipped in Brazil’s favor, and time will tell if Greg Ryan will learn from that mistake.

This is a quickie soccer fantasy update, because I have been slacking the last couple of weeks, but without further ado here it is.

Man City defenders-  Manchester city gave up 3 goals to Fulham, which was totally unexpected.  Those 3 goals scored, are more than Man City has let in all season.  Man City also hasn't conceded a goal at home, so look for them to have a big game against Newcastle, along with Schmeichel in net.  Plus no Michael Owen facing them.

Charles N'Zogbia- Kinda goes against my pick of Man City Defense, but this is more of a long term pick, maybe the week after.  Currently has 3 goals and 2 assists, and is playing great.

Anelka vs Derby Defense- Anelka is in fine form, and look for him to have a field day against the team that has allowed the most goals (20)

Adebayor- He has looked awesome this season, and not just on easy goals, I think every goal I have seen him score, other than the PK have all been of the highest calibre.  I had Van Persie, but with his current form, and Van Persie's current lack of minutes I would go with the Adebayor.  He is also relatively cheap at this point.

Kanu - I had him last year, and the forward gave me some great points in the first half of hte season.  I expect more of the same, if you pick him up, be wary of his performance after December.  He is also facing a weak Reading side at home, and Portsmouth are a very good home team.

Dead weight

Ronaldo has failed to recreate the form that saw him single handidly win my fantasy season last year.  I wouldn't say drop him just yet if you have him, because he could catch fire at any time.  But if he continues the way he is you might as well put that money to better use on a forward, or midfielder.

Gerrard - When he becomes healthy again I would pick him up, but at this point I think it will take a couple of weeks, if you have him keep him.  If you want him hold out a little longer if you can.

Arteta - Was my darkhorse last year.  No one really knew who he was, but he in my opinion single handidly brought Everton up to a UEFA Cup spot.  He is also struggling with injury at the moment.

Some good like for like replacements

Gerrard, Ronaldo pick up Fabregas (When did he learn how to shoot?), or possibly Elano, who has yet to score, but has produced a lot of assists so far.

Arteta- Elano, or Petrov of Man City.  Petrov has looked good all season, his only downside I have seen so far is that his crossing needs work, and he forgot his shooting boots in spain, maybe that will all change after the Fulham game.

         Last Thursday I happened to be home at night for the first time in awhile and noticed the ESPN primetime Thursday game was on.  It was between Dallas and Chicago, and I was excited to see Blanco and Denilson in action.  However it became very apparent to me early on that ESPN would do everything in its power to annoy me enough that I would not want to watch the game any longer.  This isn’t the first time either, between the women’s world cup(which I have caught glimpses of as I get ready for work), and the friendly between LA Galaxy and Chelsea FC(Beckham’s first game) ESPN has taken every opportunity to try and put their own stamp on the coverage of the game, and it drives me insane. Before I go off ranting about what they did wrong, let me tell you what I feel is the right way to broadcast a soccer game.  Tune in any weekend on Fox soccer channel and watch any premier league game.  Typically there are two commentators, but sometimes only one.  During the game they do something so incredible, so amazing, I am blown away every time I watch.  What is it, you ask?  Well they tell me what is happening in the game in nothing else!!  I don’t hear about this person’s contribution to charity, or this person’s criminal record, or how this person made it from the slums, against all odds, no they just tell me basically who has the ball, and small tidbits about what is going on in the game.  Sometimes the announcers don’t even talk, which is quite amazing if you compare it to any of the major sports in the US, where the commentator feels they must fill us in on every conceivable thing that is going on with each and every one of the players on the field, football being the worst. 

Now too what is wrong with how ESPN broadcasts a game?  I already touched on the fact that the commentators talk too much, but let’s go even further, sideline reporters, and halftime talks.  I get so angry when I hear these in basketball and football that I wanted to cry when I first saw ESPN due this in Beckham’s first game.  Let me give a good example of useless material a sideline reporter donates to the game.  Recently I was watching the Patriots vs. Chargers game, when it was halftime.  At the half the Chargers were down by a score of 24-0, when the reporter gave us this little bit of insight into the game, she said “I talked to one of the Chargers players, and they said they had them right where they wanted them.”  How does that even make sense, since when does  a teams game plan start with ok guys we want to lull them into a false sense of security, so we are going to give them a really big league for the half, let them totally dominate us in every facet of the game, and then somehow make a miraculous comeback.  It never happens, and because of sideline reporters and their useless information, I had to think about this for much longer than I should have.  

The reason I bring up sideline reporting is because in the LA Galaxy vs. Chelsea FC game, they had them all over the field, the one that sticks out most vividly in my mind was when they talked to Jennifer Love Hewitt.  It was quite evident that she absolutely knew nothing about the sport, and could offer nothing of substance about what was happening in the game, which is fine, I could care less if she knows nothing she has huge boobs, but for the love of god don’t talk to her during the game.  

This helps me segway into my next problem with ESPN, cutting away from the game, or minimizing the window for other information.  I understand why they do this, but I wish they would stop.  ESPN is used to producing American games which as we all know have many small breaks, which are filled with advertising, and when there is too much advertising, they give us lots of stats and other useless info to help pass the time.  So ESPN has decided to do this with soccer, but they are missing one small thing, soccer doesn’t stop.  Some good examples of this are when they cut away to talk to Jennifer Love Hewitt, or even better was the Dallas vs. Chicago game, when they decided to have a little fluff piece in the middle of the game about Denilson learning English, in which they actually showed him in a classroom learning.  Don’t get me wrong that is great Denilson is learning the language, but for the love of god don’t cut away in the middle of the game to show me that ####!  On top of that ESPN really enjoys minimizing the screen so they can show other stats, like the teams Denilson played for, or the Becks Cam.   

The Becks cam was during the LA Chelsea game where they had one camera showing the game, and another showing just David Beckham himself.  It was so disorienting, and pointless.  I will give you a great reason why they should never do this again, in soccer camp years ago, to prove a point about not dribbling too much, my coach asked me how long I thought a player like Maradona touched the ball for the entire game.  He told me on average Maradona had the ball for only two minutes a game.  Consider that for a second, arguably the world’s greatest player, who was known for dribbling by many defenders only had the ball for just over two percent of the entire game.  Now picture a camera on a player like Beckham who is known for his long passes, and probably holds a ball for no more than 20 seconds an entire game, it means you are just watching a guy run around doing what looks like nothing.  

My last complaint is about the announcing in general, but this is mainly carry over from the World Cup.  I touched on most of this in the beginning, but I didn’t mention ESPN’s dumbing down of the game.  By this I mean how after every foul, every shot, every pass, Marcelo Balboa and Shep Messing broke it down like I had never seen a soccer game before.  Now I think I understand why this was done, ESPN probably thought a lot of the viewers were watching the game for the first time, and they wanted those people to understand what is going on, but you know what?  It is soccer, it really isn’t that hard a sport to comprehend, if they don’t get it, they can look it up on the internet.  Dumbing down the game is not only annoying, I felt it was quite insulting to the millions of other people who actually understood what was going on.  I also never noticed this done in any of the other major sports, they assume you understand what is going on, and the game is that more watch able because of that.  

That’s my two cents; let me know what you think.

After reading countless articles, and quotes on Beckham's move to the US, I have grown increasingly tired of reading about people misinterpreting everything involved in the circus that is Beckham, so I will do my best to clear things up for you.

 Beckham is getting paid 250 million dollars

I have seen the 250 million dollar mark, or 128 pound mark all over between American and English sites.  Let me clear this up, that is a completely estimated amount.  It is based on hypothetical figures, that estimate every game being sold out, a large amount of shirts being sold, and a whole lot more seasons tickets being sold, to put it simply as possible, which in all very likely hood, especially after how this season went, isn't going to happen.  David Beckham is guaranteed 32 million dollars over 5 years, the rest  is anyones guess.  I would not be surprised if he made 100 million after his five years are up.  Another important note, the MLS is only responsible for the 32 million portion of Beck's contract, the rest has to be paid by AEG, who can afford it, so he won't bankrupt the league.

 Beckham is coming to make soccer big in the US

This along with the money figure is the biggest misnomer about the Beckham move.   Beckham was brought here to raise the profile of the league and to make a lot of money for the MLS.  I don't care who the MLS brings in whether it be Beck's, Ronaldinho, or Kaka, no one player can make this sport more popular than any of the other big three sports.  With David coming to the US he has raised the profile of the game, he has gotten everyone talking about soccer, whether it be in a negative or positive light, and you know how the old saying goes, any press is good press.  Listen whether you like it or not soccer is here to stay, and will continue to grow in popularity, but I think it will take years for this to happen. 

My favorite sport to compare it too is basketball, and the NBA.  The NBA has been around for a long time, but before the 80's it really wasn't that popular.  My point being the MLS has been in existence for 11 years, this is going to take time if it ever happens, but I think people like Don Garber are being very smart in trying not to overextend the league and bankrupt it.  So it is unfair to say this league is not doing well, it will take a long time before we can make that opinion.

 The other reason Beckham is here in the US is for money.  The simple fact is his name and his image is worth alot, especially to the team who gets to put his name on their jersey.  I have no  idea if this is true or not, but when Beckham transferred to Real Madrid from Manchester United, it was said his transfer fee was paid for before he even kicked a ball because of all the shirts that were sold.  Not only that, but during Beckhams time at Real Madrid they surpassed Manchester United as the richest soccer club in the world, without winning a trophy in that time, and it was in larger part because of Beckham.

 Beckham is the greatest player in the world

"Is Beckham the world's greatest player?"  Is a question I get the most from people who don't know anything about soccer.  Beckham is not the greatest player in the world, nor has he ever been.  It can be argued that he has one of the best right foots in the game, but he is not the best in the world.  What he is is a player capable of delivering awesome free kicks, and cross field perfect passes for teammates to tap the ball into the goal.  He is not a great dribbler, or defender, nor is he very fast.  He is however very marketable, and is the most popular player in the world, and this is why the MLS did everything they could to bring him here.

 The MLS is a mickey mouse, or #### league

The British press has especially enjoyed taking potshots at the MLS, as does pretty much anyone I can think of, but people fail to keep things in perspective.  Is the MLS the greatest league in the world?  No, not by a longshot, but is it as bad as people make it out to be?  No it isn't.  Lets look closer at the league, and the country it is played in, or countries.  First off, the league has been around for 11 years, I would say you would have to wait at least 20 before you can make a real judgment of the level of the league.  We haven't really gotten a good set of young players into the league yet to raise the level.

I personally see three generations of soccer players in this country right now.  The first generation is the group that consists of players like Cobi Jones who is still playing, and Eric Wynalda and Marcelo Balboa, who commentate on ESPN, and Alexi Lalas who is the GM of the LA galaxy.  These players played in the 90, 94, and 98 World Cups, they were the first Americans we really got a chance to watch and idolize, and actually knew the names of, at least for me anyways. 

They paved the way for players like Brian McBride, Landon Donovan, and Claudio Reyna, whom I consider part of the second generation of soccer players.  These guys had the first generation to look up too, but still lacked the opportunity to watch alot of soccer on TV, and get to follow some of the european leagues, and thus help them learn more and help develop even more.  This generation made it so we actually had expectations at the World Cup, and when they didn't live up to those expectations, we were unhappy.  Whereas in years past, it was a feat to actually make it to the World Cup, now they were expected to win!

The third generation is the U-20 level and below, the biggest name you will recognize is Freddy Adu.  These players are growing up with soccer all around them, now it is easier than ever to catch soccer on TV, with Gol TV, Setenta, Fox Soccer channel, and ESPN, these players can follow their favorite players, and learn from them.  Not only that but more and more of these younger players are being snatched up by European teams, because they realize that these players are going to be good.  Sal Zizzo to Hamburg, Danny Szetla to Racing Santander and of course Freddy Adu to Benfica.  I feel when these players like this reach the age of 25 and older, you will see a dramatic improvement in the play of the MLS.

 The MLS isn't the greatest league, but it isn't a horrible league, I would put it on par with a 15 place EPL team to a championship team in England as to the level of the soccer here.  And to be honest, I really don't think that is that bad considering our brief history in the sport, I feel we can only get better.