The Yanks Are Coming!

As detailed at Soccer Times, no fewer than 3 United States internationals have signed to play with top division clubs in Europe. Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride have moved to Fulham of the English Premier League, while Clint Mathis is on his way to Hannover 96 of the German Bundislega. Bocanegra started in Fulhams 3-1 loss to Newcastle this week.

This is a possible watershed moment for US soccer. There are plenty Americans plying their trades in Europe. However, most of them have either played their entire professional career in Europe (ala Claudio Reyna, currently with Manchester City) or are goalkeepers who are, fairly or not, generally considered not very "skillful" (goalkeepers as a whole, not just ours). By contrast, Bocanegra, McBride, and Mathis all developed themselves in Major League Soccer and will be the first field players to migrate from MLS to top leagues in Europe. Hopefully, they'll prove how for US soccer has come in the past decade and how valuable MLS really is.

The next few months should be very fun and well worth the digital cable bill for FoxSportsWorld. :)