AMSTERDAM – The time has come once again to make the tough calls in forming our American Exports Team of the Season for those playing across Europe's first and second flights.
As always, we remove differences in opposition strength to paint a more accurate picture of each player's importance to his team. Still, the Bundesliga and English Premier League have two representatives apiece, and only four of our honorees for the term worked in the second division.
GK – Brad Guzan
Despite his late-season benching, the Villans star claims the prize, just nudging out Tim Howard. The Everton ‘keeper had more shutouts, enjoyed some Europa League glory and had a better year with distribution, but he also had a far better team in front of him. Guzan finished seventh in the EPL with 101 saves, 37 more than his compatriot. Reducing his season to a kicking flub against Manchester City would be taking a lot for granted. It was some trick to manage nine shutouts in 34 starts behind that defense.
RB – Geoff Cameron
The Stoke handyman made 18 of his 27 Premier League starts at right back, and that's enough to get him the slight nod over Timothy Chandler on this honor roll. Combining all positions played, Cameron passed at a 75-percent clip while notching 100 clearances, 56 interceptions and 54 tackles at the defensive end. The Massachusetts native also did plenty of work helping the team move into attack, even if his crossing game stills needs consistency.
CB – John Anthony Brooks
The young center back matured a good bit over the second half of the season, which saw Hertha Berlin post a seven-game unbeaten run that keyed their survival and notch seven shutouts from his last 14 starts. Brooks finished eighth in the Bundesliga with 5.9 clearances per game and 12th with 2.9 pass interceptions per game, all while committing but one foul per game. Showing he can be a two-way central defender, the 22-year-old also completed 75.2 percent of his passes and routinely displayed some “giddy-up” on the ball.
CB – Jonathan Spector
The Birmingham defender had a decent early stretch at right back before being sidelined due to injury. Upon his January return, Spector was pushed inside to center back during a selection crisis, and his season took off from there. After posting just five shutouts from the first 26 league games, the St. Andrews crew peeled off seven from his 18 starts in the middle. In all, the USMNT veteran rang up 121 clearances, 74 interceptions, 28 tackles and 21 blocks in just 24 appearances.
LB – Tim Ream
The majority of Ream's 44 Championship starts came on the left flank, as he scooped up back-to-back Player of the Season awards from both the club and the Bolton supporters. The St. Louis native led all Americans playing in the top two flights in Europe with 106 pass interceptions and finished second in the same field with 167 clearances and 97 tackles. He also cracked the American Export top five in both pass-completion rate and offensive chances created.
DM – Alfredo Morales
The Ingolstadt midfielder (pictured at right) was consistently a key man for the 2.Bundesliga champs, making considerable impact on both sides of the ball. Morales added to his disruptive defensive play with two goals and seven assists. The No. 6 took slightly more than two shots per match and won 80 free kicks, further rounding out his game as the Audi Boys clinched their first adventure in the German top flight for next season with surprising ease.
DM – Daniel Williams
Like several of the names above, Williams had his season abbreviated by injuries. The US midfielder was limited to 25 starts, and Reading nearly struggled their way into the relegation race by winning just one of their last 14 games without him. He edges out Conor O'Brien for this spot by virtue of a sterling 87.5-percent passing success rate, good enough to top his team and stand second in the Championship. Despite playing in heavy traffic in a fast, physical league, he committed just 1.7 turnovers per match.
RM – Alejandro Bedoya
The Nantes workhorse started eight games as the No. 10, but most of his appearances and most of his top outings came on the right – where he often plays for the US. Though his three goals and one assist did represent a step back in offensive production, Bedoya was a tad unlucky. He created 25 chances that needed a better finish while averaging 1.3 shots per game this season. To demonstrate his two-way worth, the Boston College product also finished fourth among all Americans in Europe's top two flights with 59 tackles.
OM – Rubio Rubin
Sure, he only made five starts and a few sub appearances in the middle, but they made up most of his top displays. The Eredivisie rookie tallied three goals and five assists for an Utrecht side that was continually beset by injuries in attack. For the most part, Rubin even made it look fairly easy. From four positions, he passed to the tune of 80.6 percent, finished second among all Americans in Europe with 30 chances created, fired 40 shots and earned 53 free kicks.
LM – Fabian Johnson
Though it took a good while for the Borussia Mönchengladbach recruit to dig his claws into the lineup, both player and team flew nasty once he established himself on the wing. Johnson closed the season with a goal and six assists in his last 10 starts, in which the Foals went 8-0-2 to secure an automatic Champions League group phase invite. Given a year to adapt to competing in a top-three side, he should shine even brighter next season.
F – Cesar Romero
The former Chivas USA striker became the first American to win a European top flight Golden Boot by bagging his 21st goal of the season on closing day. In all, Romero chalked up 26 goals and nine assists for Armenia's double-winning Pyunik. He opened the scoring in nine games, smashed home four of five spot kicks and buried a few direct restarts while hitting seven winners and four late equalizers in his first European go-around.
Honorable mentions: Tim Howard, Timothy Chandler, Zak Whitbread, Eric Lichaj, Conor O'Brien, Andrew Wooten, Aron Johannsson
