As I'm sure you've heard, the apparently annual USA-Sweden friendly is tomorrow night in Carson. Bob Bradley has called in a young squad loaded with MLSers, players who aren't currently tied up with club obligations, while Lars Lagerback has chosen an equally youthful squad, also made up of player's from his country's domestic league.

With the start of the 2009 National Team schedule, and the first Mexico qualifier just around the corner, I thought this might be a good time to take a bit of a snapshot of the USMNT. Comparing the two B-squads set to do battle tomorrow could be a good way to analyze the quality of depth and the up-and-coming talent we have in our program, as compared to a currently-middling-yet-traditionally-strong European side.

Point of comparison: Current FIFA Ranking
USA: 22
Sweden: 31

While Sweden is ranked 9 spots behind the U.S. at the moment, the two countries have been around the same level for most of the last calendar year. At the time of the last meeting in January 2008, Sweden was ranked 24th and the U.S. 26th. It can be argued that the current disparity in ranking doesn't really do the Swedes justice: they play in the world's strongest federation, UEFA, and boast one of the world's top strikers on their full-strength squad (Zlatan Ibrahimovic). They've also been historically a much stronger side than the U.S., and had a much better showing at the 2006 World Cup (not difficult, I know).

Point of Comparison: Average Roster Age
USA: 26
Sweden: 25

Using whole numbers (the US Soccer site uses decimals; I'm not statistically savvy enough to break it down that way), I have the average age for the U.S. camp at 26. The two rosters compare favorably in age, with Sweden's average age being 25. Both rosters are made up of group of young players balanced out by some plus-30s (Brian Ching and Jon Busch on the USA side for example). The oldest player in the U.S. camp is Busch at 32; if we throw out keepers, the average American comes down a year to 25. Sweden has one teenager on their roster, Andreas Landgren at 19. The U.S. roster has no teenagers, with the youngest player being Robbie Rodgers at 21. The differences seems fairly negligible, as both teams are utilizing their younger domestically-based players for the match. While it's impossible to determine the depth and quality of the respective player pools simply by looking at the age of their rosters for this friendly, it does give me comfort the U.S. isn't working with a group of later bloomer/fringe national team players. Simply being able to put out a competitive (and some would say favored) team for this match without dipping into too many regulars or older players is a sign that we're catching up developmentally.

Point of Comparison: Domestic Leagues

There's really no way of fairly comparing the respective domestic leagues from which these teams are largely made up; Sweden's domestic league seems comparable to other Nordic leagues, which often poach young American (and MLS) talent, so any gap in quality would negligible. I believe both are more than likely good proving grounds for those players not yet ready to make the jump to higher profile leagues. In this area, it's probably fair to say that the U.S. is on equal footing with Sweden.

Both managers will be setting their starting lineups with the future in mind. They'll be looking to learn about their player pools, hoping to see something that will give them confidence that some of their young talent can contribute to qualifying campaigns in the coming months and (hopefully) the World Cup in 2010. Sweden's road to South Africa is considerably more difficult that that of the U.S., so Lagerback's task is in some ways more difficult than Bradley's. While Bradley can throw players into the game with an eye towards 2010, Lagerback must find players that can contribute significantly in 2009.

While no hard conclusions can be gleaned from any of this, it does give me solace that our program seems to be inline with Sweden's. Although not a world power, the Swedes occasionally make waves on the world and European stages, and can always be counted on to put up a strong fight. They occasionally produce players of pure class, something the U.S. has yet to do but certainly is capable of in the future. For the time being, and as long as we're moving in a positive direction and progressing at a good clip, I'm comfortable calling the Swedes our world footballing peers.


One more note before I turn in for the evening (whoa, is it really 12:30 in the morning?!):
The U.S. Under-18s won a four-team tourney in Australia (against some admittedly weak opposition) at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. They tied Chile 1-1, thrashed China 14-0 (how is that even possible), and beat the host Aussies 5-0. Article here if you are interested.