Krisztian Nemeth in action for SKC
Photo Graham Green (Prost Amerika)
MLS has 236 players born outside the US and Canada from 58 countries, including 19 in Europe. This makes it the most diverse league in America.
(See: MLS Press Release: MLS Remains Most Diverse Professional Sports League in North America)
Place of birth, while a yardstick, is a less significant concept in football because many players choose to represent countries other than that of their birth.
So on MLS’s list are such players as Jermaine Jones and Mix Diskerud who have committed their international futures to the USA. There is French born Rais M’bolhi, the Philadelphia Union goalkeeper who plays for Algeria (his mother’s country) despite representing France at Under 18 level. Portland keeper Adam Kwarasey, like Diskerud, is Norwegian born but plays for Ghana.
MLS though still has some internationals being regularly selected for European sides, and some are likely to figure on the biggest stage of all EURO 2016.
Before that happens, these players need to be in form and of course their countries need to qualify. Still MLS can have some hope of representation. Who will therefore carry the MLS flag next summer in France?
NYCFC’s Adam Nemec plays for the highest flying country of all, Slovakia. Even though paired in a Group with Spain, they have won 6 out of 6.
Those 18 points is probably already sufficient to be the best third placed side but with Belarus at home and Luxembourg away to come, the Slovaks are unlikely to finish there. The 3rd place side with the best record automatically qualifies. Despite early difficulties in MLS, Nemec has played in five of Slovakia’s six qualifiers and would seem to be a certainty to be in France.
He scored against Luxembourg and in Macedonia though watched the victory over Spain from the bench. Other than that, he has played 418 of the 540 minutes in the all conquering Slovakian campaign so far.
LA Galaxy’s Robbie Keane is MLS’ most famous export and would certainly be selected by head coach Martin O’Neill if the Republic of Ireland qualified. However, they currently sit fourth out of 6 sides, with 9 points from 6 games.
To qualify, they would need to finish top 2 although all the third place sides are a guaranteed at least a play off. That best 3rd should almost certainly come from Group C when Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine are way ahead or Group A however where Iceland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are battling it out.
However, all is not lost for MLS if Keane’s side fail to qualify. Above them in the group lie Scotland, for whom Chicag Fire’s Shaun Maloney is sure to be selected.
Maloney actually scored Scotland’s equaliser in Dublin earlier this month in the 1-1 tie which kept Scotland in third place in Group D though it was later awarded as an own goal according to Maloney:
“I don’t think it’s been accredited to me I’m afraid. At the time it was just a brilliant feeling to get back into the game in such a high pressurised game.”
If the Scots can topple Poland on October 8th in Glasgow, then an automatic place may not be beyond them. As Maloney points out, the increase in the number of teams qualifying has opened doors for countries the size of Scotland:
“This EUROS have been made bigger. So before the draw was even made, we might have had more of a chance or at least that’s what we thought anyway.
“When the group was drawn, we were in one of the tougher groups. So it’s going to be a really difficult process to try and qualify. We’ve got Germany and Poland ahead of us at the moment, and Ireland only a couple of points behind. It’s a really hard group but I guess that’s why teams make it to the EUROS and teams don’t.
“It’s all to play for in the next couple of months.”
There is one other tenuous MLS connection in the Scotland camp. Toronto’s Scottish defender Steven Caldwell last full cap came against Northern Ireland in March 2013. His younger brother Gary who is still at Wigan might still make the squad however.
If the Republic however do bounce back, might that be enough to persuade Colorado defender Shane O’Neill to nail his colours to the Irish mast? He could still represent either the USA or the Irish Republic. That is the longest of longshots. However even after Nemec, MLS hopes do not rest solely on Group D anyway.
It was Shaun Maloney’s Scotland not Robbie Keane’s Irish Republic celebrating after the 1-1 tie in Dublin
Photo: Mark Szczuka/Prost Amerika
Sporting KC forward Krisztian Németh has seen Hungary start the qualifiers very well in Group F.
Hungary won 0-1 in Finland in June and this was a massive result for the Magyars. Nemeth played in the win in Helsinki replacing Tamas Priskin at half time, as he had in the friendly 4-0 win over Lithuania in the previous match.
With 11 points from six matches, they are now a solid third. With the Faroe Islands in 4th, Hungary are sure of at least a play-off. The Greece national team has collapsed quicker than their economy and turned a four horse race into a three. Only the surprise renaissance of Northern Ireland is stopping leaders Romania and Hungary sealing the deal early.
Nemeth appears humbled by the possibility and he is well aware of Hungary’s noble past in World Football when once they were considered invincible:
“It would be a tremendous honor to be part of the first team since 1972 to qualify for the European Championship. Qualifying for the tournament would mean a lot to my family and I.
“Hungary is a proud soccer country and it’s important for us to be a team that is able to compete every four years for
the European Championship. It would be a great honor for me to play in this competition against some of the best players in the world and with our results so far, I think we have put ourselves in a good position to qualify.”
Hungary’s next two matches are at home to Romania and a visit to Belfast, both in the first week of September. Two wins there and the Magyars and hopefully Németh are heading to France.
Talking of Finland, it would take an almighty miracle for them to qualify. They would need to win all four of their remaining games and hope Northern Ireland or Hungary collapse. The Finns don’t play Hungary again, so they’d be needing a boatload of favours.
If that happened, DC United’s Markus Halsti and and LA’s Mika Vayrynen might benefit. Halsti has been called up recently and started the match that Németh finished. He has made two appearances in Finland’s qualification campaign.
Vayrynen was born in Eskilstuna, which is actually in Sweden but opted to play for Finland. Eskilstuna lies in Sweden’s Finnish-speaking region although other players born there, such as Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson play for Sweden.
Vayrynen last played for Finland in January 2015 ironically against the country of his birth, but in the odd surroundings of Abu Dhabi. He came on for the last half hour, replacing HJK Helsinki’s Erfan Zeneli.
Halsti was fortunate enough to be spared that trip. More likely to be selected for Finland is Viktoria Koln’s Tim Väyrynen whose father is called Mika, but is not the same person as the Galaxy midfielder. Still, despite the tenuous nature of all that, it looks to be nearly over for the Finns.
Laurent Ciman has hopes of joining the Belgian squad in France
Photo: Prost Amerika
Montreal’s Laurent Ciman was named in Belgium’s squad for the 2014 World Cup. He was unused in the tournament in which Belgium reached the quarter-finals beating the USA along the way. Indeed, Ciman has seen a lot of the Red Devils recently. He was called upon to travel to the home game with Cyprus and the away match in Jerusalem. He sat and watched both from the bench. He did the same for the three previous qualifiers.
Luckily he was spared the trip to Cardiff for the 1-0 loss to Wales.
Clearly, Marc Wilmots likes having Ciman around and he’s a likely squad member. There’s a lot of talent ahead of him in a very strong Belgian squad with the likes of Athletico Madrids’s Toby Alderweireld, Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini, Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany and Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen all available to Wilmots in defence. It’s hard to see Ciman receiving too much playing time but not impossible to see him going.
If Adam Nemec is the most certain, who are the real outsiders to represent MLS?
Columbus Crew’s Kristinn Steindórsson was called up to the Iceland squad for the first time in January 2015 for a pair of friendlies against Canada in Florida. He scored his first international goal in a 2–1 win. However, he is yet to be considered important enough to be flown across the Atlantic.
Nonetheless he is upbeat about Iceland’s chances:
“We’re in a good position in the group. We just have to finish those last games to get to the Euros. If we make it to the Euros, obviously I have hopes of making the Euro squad and also to make the squad for the last (qualifying) games. I’m supporting the guys and just hoping to make it.”
That is not to say he might not be a surprise late inclusion in Lars Lagerbäck’s side but at 25 may be too old for the token place sometimes given to a youth to acclimate them to big time tournaments. There is no doubt though how much that first taste of the action appealed to him:
“It would mean a lot, of course. It’s your country and you want to represent it. I did it one time; I got the taste. It would be nice to be in more competitive games, in the qualifiers. It would mean a lot.”
On the very outside fringe are some top name players who have announced their retirements from international football but their appearance is still technically possible.
LA Galaxy’s Steve Gerrard announced his retirement from international football in July 2014 after 114 England caps. The next month. NYCFC’s Frank Lampard announced that he too was retiring from international football. He earned 106 caps. New York’s Spanish midfielder David Villa has retired from international football too. In all cases, shock comebacks are unlikely.
One less likely outsider plays in Canada. Sebastian Giovinco was called up by Antonio Conte the new Italy manager, for a qualifier against Azerbaijan in Palermo. Italy won 2-1.
MLS map of players born in Europe
European MLS players by birthplace
EUROPE (73) AUSTRIA (1) Emanuel Pogatetz (CLB)
BELGIUM (1) Laurent Ciman (MTL)
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA (2) Dzenan Catic (PHI) Baggio Husidic (LA)
DENMARK (1) David Ousted (VAN)
ENGLAND (22) Sam Adekugbe (VAN) Giles Barnes (HOU) Luke Boden (ORL) Andy Dorman (NE) Dom Dwyer (KC) Otis Earle (DAL) Shay Facey (NYC) Harrison Heath (ORL) Seb Hines (ORL) Frank Lampard (NYC) Tyrone Mears (SEA) Luke Moore (TOR) Luke Mulholland (RSL) Lewis Neal (ORL) Martin Paterson (ORL) Nigel Reo-Coker (MTL) Liam Ridgewell (POR) Lloyd Sam (NY) Jordan Stewart (SJ) Sean St Ledger (ORL) Matt Watson (CHI) Bradley Wright-Phillips (NY)
FINLAND (1) Markus Halsti (DC)
FRANCE (15) Hassoun Camara (MTL) Benoit Cheyrou (TOR) Aurélien Collin (ORL) Amadou Dia (KC) Romain Gall (CLB) Antoine Hoppenot (PHI) Wandrille Lefévre (MTL) Sebastien Le Toux (PHI) Rais Mbolhi (PHI) Soni Mustivar (KC) Vincent Nogueira (PHI) Damien Perquis (TOR) Damien Perrinelle (NY) Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi (SJ) Ronald Zubar (NY)
GERMANY (2) Jermaine Jones (NE) Leo Stolz (NY)
HUNGARY (1) Krisztian Nemeth (KC)
ICELAND (1) Kristinn Steindorsson (CLB)
REPUBLIC of IRELAND (3) Kevin Doyle (COL) Robbie Keane (LA) Shane O’Neill (COL)
ITALY (3) Marco Donadel (MTL) Sebastian Giovinco (TOR) Paolo Tornaghi (VAN)
NORWAY (3) Mix Diskerud (NYC) Adam Kwarasey (POR) Erik Johansen (NYC)
PORTUGAL (3) Jose Goncalves (NE) Rafael Ramos (ORL) Paulo Renato (SJ)
ROMANIA (1) Razvan Cocis (CHI)
SCOTLAND (2) Steven Caldwell (TOR) Calum Mallace (MTL)
SLOVAKIA (1) Adam Nemec (NYC)
SPAIN (6) Pablo Alvarez (NYC) Adrián López (MTL) Ignacio Maganto (LA) Víctor Pérez (CHI) Raúl Rodriguez (HOU) David Villa (NYC)
SWEDEN (4) Stefan Ishizaki (LA) Mohammed Saeid (CLB) Axel Sjöberg (COL) Mika Vayrynen (LA)
SWITZERLAND (1) Stefan Frei (SEA)
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