By: Colin Reese
World Soccer Source’s rankings for the Best American Footballers (March 2014) are an attempt to rank the American footballers based on talent and/or form.
For this writer, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Michael Bradley are the best three American footballers, and after those three, ranking American players is very difficult and subjective.
As far as American soccer players go, Clint Dempsey is still the king, and one of the only American players to have displayed high-level technical ability and the fire to compete and succeed against real competition.
Ultimately, soccer is a skill sport, and below is World Soccer Source’s rankings of the Best American Footballers (March 2014), which tries to be fair to players of all positions and different club situations:
1. Clint DEMPSEY (Seattle Sounders)
2. Landon DONOVAN (LA Galaxy)
3. Michael BRADLEY (Toronto FC)
4. Tim HOWARD (Everton)
5. Benny FEILHABER (Sporting KC)
6. Jermaine JONES (Besiktas)
7. Jozy ALTIDORE (Sunderland)
8. Geoff CAMERON (Stoke City)
9. Juan AGUDELO (Utrecht)
10. Joe CORONA (Tijuana)
11. Freddy ADU (No Club Team)
12. Mix DISKERUD (Rosenborg)
13. Aron JÓHANNSSON (AZ Alkmaar)
14. Fabian JOHNSON (Hoffenheim)
15. Brad GUZAN (Aston Villa)
16. Benji JOYA (Chicago Fire)
17. Michael OROZCO (Puebla)
18. Eddie JOHNSON (DC United)
19. Maurice EDU (Philadelphia Union)
20. Eric LICHAJ (Nottingham Forest)
21. Jonathan SPECTOR (Birmingham City)
22. Terrence BOYD (Rapid Wien)
23. John Anthony BROOKS (Hertha Berlin)
24. Kofi SARKODIE (Houston Dynamo)
25.Shane O’NEILL (Colorado Rapids)
26. DeAndre YEDLIN (Seattle Sounders)
27. Chris KLUTE (Colorado Rapids)
28. Andrew FARRELL (New England Revolution)
29. Mario RODRIGUEZ (Borussia Mönchengladbach U-23)
30. Gyasi ZARDES (LA Galaxy)
31. José VILLARREAL (Cruz Azul)
32. Paul ARRIOLA (Tijuana)
33. Alonso HERNANDEZ (Monterrey)
34. Luis GIL (Real Salt Lake)
35. Amobi OKUGO (Philadelphia Union)
36. Joe GYAU (Hoffenheim)
37. Sebastian LLETGET (West Ham United)
38. Brek SHEA (Stoke City/Barnesley)
39. Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE (Toronto FC)
40. Kellyn ACOSTA (FC Dallas)
Editor’s Note: Julian GREEN, born in the United States but raised in Germany, may decide to play for the United States.