MLS Players In International Tournaments

The African Nations Cup is going on right now, without a single MLS player involved. Former Dallas forward Toni Nhleko was South Africa's squad, but didn't play in any of their three games. He did get into a game at the 2004 version as a Dallas player though. It's always cool to see MLS guys representing overseas. Last year, I became interested in all these soccer statistics, and one of the things I tried to compile was a list of all the MLS players who have taken part in international tournaments. Especially the guys who play for other countries. It's not complete, but there's a lot of cool stuff. Like for example, Dallas is the only MLS team, other than RSL, Chivas and Houston, who haven't had a player make a World Cup squad. Let's start with the big one, the World Cup. In 1998 there were 21 MLS players there, but that number shrunk to 11 in 2002. That's partially because in 1998, five players were on other countries' squads, versus none in 2002. We should be up a little this year, because there will be a couple of foreigners making it (thanks Trinidad). Here's a list of MLS World Cup players: (Those in italics did not play) Chicago 1998-Jorge Campos (MEX) 2002-DaMarcus Beasley, Josh Wolff Chivas USA none Colorado 1998-Marcelo Balboa 2002-Pablo Mastroeni Columbus 1998-Thomas Dooley, Brian Maisonneuve, Brian McBride, Jurgen Sommer; Andy Williams (JAM) 2002-Brian McBride Dallas none D.C. United 1998-Jeff Agoos, Eddie Pope 2002-Eddie Pope Houston none Kansas City 1998-Preki; Uche Okafor (NIG) 2002-Tony Meola Los Angeles 1998-Cobi Jones 2002-Cobi Jones Metrostars 1998-Alexi Lalas, Tab Ramos; Marcelo Vega (CHI) 2002-Clint Mathis Miami 1998-Carlos Valderrama (COL) New England 1998-Mike Burns, Joe-Max Moore 2002-Carlos Llamosa Real Salt Lake none San Jose 1998-Eric Wynalda 2002-Jeff Agoos, Landon Donovan Tampa Bay 1998-Frankie Hejduk, Roy Wegerle All five of the 1998 foreigners got playing time, which is pretty good. Columbus sent five players in 1998, a record which probably won't be broken for a while. The Revs will probably send at least three this time and will likely lead all teams. They have five guys who could conceivably go (John, Dempsey, Noonan, Ralston, Twellman), but that's very unlikely. I'm not going to list every American MLS player who has played in the Gold Cup (and Confederations Cup). It would be neater and easier just to focus on the foreigners who have played in other continental tournaments because it's happened very sparingly so far. No Gold Cup, because there's a million guys to list there (and I'm not completely sure of some of the squads). Copa America 1997-Marco Etcheverry (D.C. United-BOL), Jaime Moreno (D.C. United-BOL); Eduardo Hurtado (Los Angeles-ECU) 1999-Marco Etcheverry(D.C. United-BOL), Jaime Moreno (D.C. United-BOL) In 1997, Etcheverry scored 1 goal, while Moreno scored 2; I believe Moreno's total was the most by a foreign MLS player in a continental championship until Carlos Ruiz's 3 in the Gold Cup last year. How's that for a obscure stat? African Nations Cup 1998-Chiquinho Conde (Tampa Bay-MOZ) 2002-Nkosinathi Nhleko (Dallas-SAF) Confederations Cup 1997-Doctor Khumalo (Columbus-SAF) 1999-Marco Etcheverry(D.C. United-BOL), Jaime Moreno (D.C. United-BOL) 2001-Dwayne DeRosario (San Jose-Canada), Mark Watson (D.C. United-Canada) 2003-Simon Elliot (Columbus-NZ), Ryan Nelsen (D.C. United-NZ), Duncan Oughton (Columbus-NZ) Not sure if Canada's Jason Bent was with the Rapids during the 2001 tournament. European Championship 1996-Roberto Donadoni (Metrostars-ITA) 2000-Lothar Matthaus (Metrostars-GER); Miklos Molnar (Kansas City-DEN) Everyone of these guys in these four tournaments played at least one game. Also, one final thing: Last year, I believe W.Johnson, Gallardo, and Nunez were the first foreign MLS players to take part in an international youth tournament.