Future American World Cup Stars

Now that the Bob Bradley period of reign has commenced, it is time to begin thinking about the next World Cup and where the American talent is going to come from. I have heard that Bradley plans on looking at homegrown and groomed talent for these initial "friendlies", before he brings in the big guns.

This tactic is really more by-product of the fact that the European seasons are going on while these friendlies are taking place. I think it will be real interesting once the European season goes on National break and see who might emerge as future stars.

I think the following individuals have really solidified themselves over the last few months in Europe and deserve strong consideration for starting spots:

Carlos Bocanegra - Starting and contributing in defense for Fulham
Jay DeMerit - Playing real well for Watford in the EPL
Tim Howard - The rock at the back of one of the EPL's best defenses
Oguchi Onyewu - Chelsea is considering him for central defense as protection for John Terry
Jonathan Spector - Starting for struggling Charlton

The most important task in my mind is to bring in guys who have played at the highest level of competition. If you look at the best American players over the last few World Cups, they have been players who played in the best European Leagues (e.g Freidl, Reyna, Kellor, McBride); not the run-outs that have started recently (e.g. Donovan, Albright, Ching, Wolff, etc.).