In 1990, after the United States‘ first appearance in the FIFA World Cup in 40 years, forward John Harkes signed with Sheffield Wednesday, a second-division English club. That was a big deal. While the U.S. player pool had growing promise, Europe wasn’t really taking notice. Tab Ramos would play for Real Betis for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, Eric Wynalda for FC Saarbrucken and Bochum, and Claudio Reyna for Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City (among others). But the signings were few and far between. It was pretty easy to keep track of all of them.
A generation later, in the “good problems to have” category, fans of American men’s soccer officially have far too many players to track in Europe. With the World Cup in Qatar less than a year away, and with the qualification process entering the home stretch — six matches remain for the USMNT, beginning with a match next Thursday against El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio — let’s look at which Americans are thriving overseas, which are battling a tough stretch and who’s in form with the World Cup on the horizon.