This map was created using the listed hometowns for each player on MLSnet. It shows, by county, where the players are coming from, with Southern California being the obvious hotspot of soccer talent.
Players that come from the same hometown:
Huntington Beach: Robbie Rogers (CLB), Sacha Kljestan (CHV)
Palmdale: Leonard Griffin (CLB), Sean Franklin (LA)
Danville: Chris and Stephen Wondolowski (HOU)
Mission Viejo: Matt Reis (NE), Jordon Harvey (COL)
San Diego: Ian Joy (RSL), Eric Avila (DAL)
Current players from California that have been MLS All-Stars:
Jonathon Bornstein (CHV)
Ante Razov (CHV)
Matt Reis (NE)
Jovan Kirovski (COL)
Frankie Hejduk (CLB)
Jimmy Conrad (KC)
Kevin Hartman (KC)
Landon Donovan (LA)
Joe Cannon (SJ)
California consitutes roughly 12% of the U.S. population - so having approximately 15% of MLS players from CA shows a slightly higher concentration...
ReplyDeleteIt actually is even higher because you should look at California players as a percent of US players in MLS - it's probably much higher (~20%).
Good point, I counted 205 US born MLS players.
ReplyDeleteThat means about 22% are from California out of the US player pool in MLS.