While Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann are running away with the Championship with Reading, three other Americans are currently in the prime position to make the jump to the Premiership next Summer.
Danny Karbassiyoon and Burnley currently sit even on points with Preston for the final playoff spot, while Jay DeMerit's Watford sit in fourth. Just above them in third spot sit Leeds United, for whom Eddie Lewis has been an ever-present in this season's campaign.
Though the World Cup rapidly approaches, Lewis has other business to take care of first - get Leeds back to the top flight of English soccer after a two-year hiatus.
"We have gone through little spells throughout the season when we have started to put a run together and really started to play well but then fallen back a bit," he told YA. "If we can get through this Christmas period in the sort of shape we are in now and carry on then we will be amongst the top teams."
This season's race to the Premiership has been a two-horse affair all season with Reading and Sheffield United almost out of sight of the chasing pack.
But November saw Lewis' Leeds come up strongly on the ropes, overtaking Watford to move into third spot and pulling away from the Hornets after beating Leicester on December 3rd.
"A couple of results have gone our way," Lewis says. "We are playing well at the moment."
Their rugged style is far from the silky soccer Lewis thrived on for three seasons playing at Deepdale, but it may be his best bet yet of showcasing his skills despite the Premiership having agonizingly fallen at the final hurdle last season with Preston North End.
The Lillywhites lost their playoff final to send the Premiership tickets to West Ham instead, with Lewis unable to repeat the scintillating form he displayed in the semifinal win over Derby County.
With Leeds, Lewis still patrols the left wing but is frequently bypassed by the Whites' direct style of play that grinds out wins like their last gasp victory at The Den on November 26th.
The Elland Road side remain ten points behind their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United with a game in hand but have run a tight ship all season, unbeaten in seventeen of their twenty one games and losing only once by more than a single goal.
Playing down talk of a promotion challenge as premature, however, Lewis comments, "At the minute we are just focusing on ourselves. There is still quite a bit in front of us and I just try and handle things a game at a time."
When it comes to the goings-on in Germany next Summer however, a glint appears in the 31 year old's eyes.
"Certainly I would love to be a part of the group as it was a fantastic experience in 2002. If I am fortunate enough this time I would be honored," he says reverentially.
Lewis, then a relative unknown in Fulham's reserves alongside Marcus Hahnemann, played three times in Korea for the States, starting both knock out phase games and memorably finishing off a classic raid up the left flank with a perfect serve for Landon Donovan to head home the dagger in hated rival Mexico's heart in their second round clash in Jeonju.
It was an experience Lewis cites as the best of his career thus far.
"Yes I think so without a doubt. There was a lot going into it in terms of being responsible for trying to build the sport in America and from that perspective I think that group did a hell of a lot."
"I was proud to be a part of it."
And he remains optimistic that 2006 can match or even better the US' astounding achievements in Korea, thanks to a new crop of footballers arriving on the scene.
"It has taken a little while but we definitely have a decent new young group coming into Europe and playing at some decent clubs. Every quadrennial the young group is better than the last."
One name he singles out for praise is Oguchi Onyewu of Standard Liege.
"He is fantastic and I'm sure he is going to get a move up to the World Cup," says Lewis. "I am really hopeful that he is fit and he gets to play in the tournament."
"He has got the whole world in front of him and I hope it goes well for him as I could really see him being a big, big American player at a big club and I just hope it works out for him."
"I can really see him being at a big Premiership club so let's wait and see."
And as for the prospect of 'Steady Eddie' pulling on his spikes for a run at another World Cup, Lewis remains modest.
"I think if I can do a good job here at Leeds and the team does well, then yes, I think I'll probably be a good option for Bruce. But it is like anything - I need to be playing all the time and doing a good job."
Lewis remains the most experienced option the USA has on the left flank, an enduring problem area for England but one where the US has an embarrassment of riches with Lewis, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey all angling for a starting position.
"Bruce will have a few opportunities to assess everybody leading up to the World Cup," admits Lewis. "He has always been extremely fair with the players he chooses and he will want to pick players that are in form, and I think in that spring period everyone will either have a job to win or lose."
"Whoever is playing, hopefully the team will have the good chemistry it had at the last World Cup and that will take us a long way."
Despite his two and a half years in the wilderness of the Craven Cottage reserves, where he made the jump to the first team for only eight league starts, Lewis insists a move abroad is still the best option for young American players.
"I hope more and more players try and move abroad and test themselves, because in the end I think they are probably better for it and the US is better for it as well."
Lewis, of course, is also an MLS veteran of four seasons at the San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes), and came on as sub in the very first MLS game in April 1996.
Despite his time spent across the pond he still looks fondly on his American years and is concerned about the imminent evaporation of pro soccer at Spartan Stadium, following the MLS press release on November 15th stating a decision on the Earthquake's' future would arrive within thirty days - but that permission had already been granted to move the franchise ‘to a number of potential cities, including Houston'.
"Absolutely, it is tough," California born Lewis states, "The fans there have always been really good to us but they have been talking about that team moving since the day I got there in all honesty! I am not surprised and I am sure it has been very difficult from the fans' perspective."
Accepting the cold light of financial reality, he concedes, "They want their own stadium but sometimes you have to find real estate that is affordable and unfortunately in that area it is just not."
"There is tradition there and I know they have tried to make it work but unfortunately at this stage in US Soccer the business side of things is a little but more important than everything else."
But with a drop of hope he adds, "That is the way it has gone and it is going to be tough on them but hopefully if the league gets big enough soccer will come back there again. I have been out of that scene for a while but it is always going to be a big part of my career and my life."
note: Note: Yanks Abroad's Michael Adubato contributed to this exclusive |
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