More than a dozen Americans are playing in the Premier League and for the first time, there are three with the same team. Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey are living the football life in London with Fulham FC.
They are at different phases of their careers, they play for one of the less fashionable teams in one of the most fashionable cities in the world, and every time they step on the field, they erase a little more of the stigma still attached to American soccer players.
Yet at the same time they personify images of their roots in the USA as Fulham FC fights to keep its spot in the English Premier League.
Brian McBride is a rugged, tough Midwesterner who never quits working and opponents can't seem to stop from scoring. Carlos Bocanegra is a laconic, laid-back Southern Californian whose sleepy demeanor belies a fierce commitment to defending. And Clint Dempsey mirrors another swashbuckling Clint named Eastwood, whose film characters rode brazenly through barren badlands not unlike the region of East Texas where Dempsey grew up.
Stereotypes notwithstanding, the personas of these players are stamping the multi-cultural makeup of the EPL with another identity: American.
Younger coaches like Fulham's Chris Coleman (35) and Everton's David Moyes (43) might be at the forefront of this movement, but another American believes the convergence of market forces and U.S. talent is driving English teams to look across the pond.
''It's not the younger guys,'' says Tim Howard, whom Moyes signed on loan from Manchester United and might seek on a transfer in a few months. ''It's England, it's Europe in general. I said this a couple of years ago, America is the new Africa. Ten years ago, they were plucking young Africans, they were diamonds in the rough, and they were phenomenal. I think it's the same here. Nobody thought much of American soccer players, now we get loads of players coming over at fairly decent prices, and they're good.''
Howard joined United in 2003 for 2.3 million pounds (approximately $3.6 million). Bocanegra came on a free transfer after his MLS deal expired and Dempsey's deal narrowly edged that of Howard as the highest price ever paid for an American leaving MLS.
The fans at Fulham's Craven Cottage, however, know a bargain when they see one, and so does their manager.
'POUND FOR POUND.' So pleased is Fulham with McBride that it made him an offer he had already refused, an additional one-year contract on top of the one-year extension he signed last year, which was supposed to be his final season overseas.
''It was an unusual situation, one that we didn't expect coming into the season,'' said McBride about a year ago. ''To be honest, we had a plan of two-and-one half years and getting back home. The way things turned out, it's been great, but we needed to make some decisions based on not necessarily monetary value. It was probably a week of figuring out things, but those decisions are a lot easier than the opposite.''
McBride's name came up almost as soon as the league's adoption of the Designated Player option. Columbus put in a lukewarm bid for him, and Chicago, where McBride grew up, never seriously considered making him a Designated Player. That might seem prudent, given that McBride turns 35 this summer and has a history of serious injuries and medical problems: concussions, facial fractures, blood clots.
Yet having been rewarded with 34 goals in 123 appearances, Coleman couldn't be blamed for crowing a bit about the purchase.
''If you look at it pound for pound, you can't buy anyone who attacks the ball like he does and score goals like he does,'' said Coleman of McBride on the Fulham web site. ''For the amount of money we spent and the service he has given us, it has got to be the best 700,000 pounds that anyone has ever spent. He looks after himself when he is not at training, and he rarely misses games. You know what you're getting with Brian.''
McBride closed out his U.S. career last summer at the World Cup and with the burden of international duty removed, set out to score 11 goals (as of mid-February) to rank among the EPL leaders. He re-signed in early February, and the increased salary is reportedly more than $2 million annually. He is only two years younger than Coleman, though the former Welsh international defender has been coaching since his career was ended by an injury in 2002.
''I think it's because he's just shortly been out of the game,'' said McBride of Coleman's success in keeping the Cottagers in the Premier League. ''He can relate to players and what they go through. He'll modify our schedule based on that. He knows when he needs to give some people some digs and when not to. The players respect him for that and what he's done as a player and now as a coach.''
What McBride has done since he came to Fulham is score goals consistently as well as carve out space for others, battle in the air and pressure opponents. Many are the chances created by McBride-forced turnovers, and he is a master of turning the half-chance into a solid shot on frame, if not a goal.
RETURN TO MIDFIELD. Bocanegra, who played mostly left back during his first season, has been used nearly as much as a defensive mid this season in addition to his preferred spot at centerback. The midfield role brings him back to the position he played as a youth, before Coach Sigi Schmid converted him to centerback at UCLA and with the U.S. under-20s.
''I was playing in the midfield for a while and I'm playing centerback now, we've won a few games, so wherever I play I don't mind,'' says Bocanegra. ''I feel comfortable, not comfortable like I'm going to play every game, but comfortable and confident. I feel like I belong and I've had a run of about 15 to 20 games and been lucky enough to stay healthy. The past few years I was playing well and got injured, and never really got back into the team.''
Dempsey arrived in January and lives about a mile from Bocanegra, which is convenient, since for about his first month in England he didn't have a car.
''Guys like him, he's enjoying it,'' says Bocanegra. ''He's moved into an apartment and he's picking up things quickly. Yeah, I'm freaking his chauffeur half the time, but it's OK. It's a new place, so he doesn't know many people, but he's fitting in good.''
Dempsey is also adapting rapidly to the pressures and thrills of passionate crowds, fierce opponents and intense games. ''It's really fast and it's a high level of play,'' says Dempsey, who left with a year remaining on his MLS deal with New England. ''It's exciting to go out there day-in and day-out with a lot on the line. You've got to get those points and make sure you're going up the table, not down it.''
When Fulham played Newcastle on the first Saturday of February, all three American Cottagers were in action and so was U.S. teammate Oguchi Oneywu, who was making his EPL debut for Newcastle. Fulham won, 2-1, with McBride netting the winner. Both Bocanegra and Oneywu played the full 90 minutes and picked up yellow cards. Dempsey played the last 12 minutes, showing a few glimpses of the attacking spark that prompted the club to buy him. Fulham sold midfielder Luis Boa Morte during the January window and Coleman has consigned striker Collins John, whom he once preferred to McBride in a one-forward alignment, to the bench.
''To me, that's always been the case,'' said Demspey of his inclinations to get the ball and run at people with it. ''You want the ball and you always want to create. I've never experienced anything other than that. That's all I've ever known really. I guess it's the case because that's how I play, but I'd say the American game is really diverse and it really depends on your coach and the style he wants you to play.
''Get tucked in and do your stuff in the right parts of the field. It's all about having a team plan and going with that. My role is to, defensively get tucked in and make my tackles and put pressure on the ball, but at the same time, in the attacking third, do the stuff I know how to do.''
The Fulham trio won't remind observers of past foreign-studded squads, such as the great AC Milan team of the late 1980s, which went Dutch with Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, and archrival Inter Milan, which countered with its German triad of Lothar Matthaeus, Andres Brehme and Juergen Klinsmann.
Yet when Fulham beat Newcastle by the same score in early September at St. James' Park, Bocanegra and McBride scored the goals. Dempsey may add yet another American element to the EPL, that of the brazen game-breaker whose talents were forged by playing in an Hispanic men's league during his high school years, and who has yet to fail at every obstacle he's encountered.
''The thing that Clint has is a confidence with the ball,'' says U.S. coach Bob Bradley, ''a confidence that even in tough situations, he can make a very good play, a play that makes a difference. Playing in England is going to mold him as a complete player because you don't play in England if every now and then you make a good play.
''You play in England when you do all the honest work every game and then on top of it, you make some great plays. I think he already understands that. The players at Fulham know that's the way they have to play every game. They're not a team that just steps on the field in the Premiership and wins.
''We all know that Brian does it with heart and effort and never giving up. I think for Clint to play a big role at Fulham he's going to develop even more in those areas.''
(This article originally appeared in the March 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)