Soccer's American Idols

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S. men's national team tripped him up. The labor council ruled against a work permit because he hadn't played enough for the senior men's team -- a requirement for foreigners to get a work permit in England. Convey returned to the States and rejoined his old team -- DC United. He remained patient and ensured his league play was landing him on the national team.

A year later, he joined England's Reading, in the second division, and breezed through the permit process. That bumped his salary threefold -- at least. After two years, Reading won a promotion to the Premiership. Convey just signed a new contract that could push his salary close to $1 million, including incentives.

One major reason for the discrepancy in pay is the economics underlying the U.S. and European leagues. When it comes to soccer, Europe is the quintessence of free-wheeling capitalism, with billionaire owners like Chelsea's Roman Abramovich bidding up the salaries of top players. The U.S. league is anything but extravagant. After many years of rocky financial results for U.S. soccer, the MLS was set up with tight controls over the teams.

It's the league -- not the teams -- that negotiate salaries with players, and a salary cap for each team is strictly enforced. The goal is to have a balance of talent so no one team can dominate. The result is that just 22 players out of the 336 active players make more than $200,000. On most teams, there are one or two stars who are highly paid and many who make modest, journeymen salaries. Each team has four or so development players who earn $11,000 a year.

TV EXPOSURE.

The league is backed by a number of prominent businessmen. They include Phil Anschutz, who made a fortune in oil and gas and founded Qwest Communications (Q), and Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and son of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt. One reason for the league's tight control over spending is that team revenues have been limited and there has been no contract for television coverage. This year, Walt Disney (DIS) cut a deal to carry MLS games on its ABC and ESPN channels.

As the World Cup nears, the European scouts are honing in on four top U.S. prospects: Dempsey, Onyewu, Johnson, and Beasley. If midfielder O'Brien stays healthy, he's likely to return to Europe at the end of the MLS season. Onyewu and Beasley play soccer for clubs in Belgium and Holland, respectively, considered second-tier to the big three -- England, Italy, and Spain.

Johnson kicks the ball for the MLS club in Kansas City. "Clint is versatile and creative and can score goals," says Richard Motzkin, the Los Angeles-based agent for Johnson and Dempsey and many other top-flight U.S. players. "Eddie's a proven goal scorer, he's strong, and he's fast. And Gooch [Onyewu] is an extremely solid and imposing defender who has already done well in Belgium. Those young players are clearly on the radar screens of European clubs, and with a good performance at the World Cup, could springboard to a European contract or to a bigger European club."

ATTENTION GRABBER.

Dempsey may have the most opportunity to break out financially. The charismatic midfielder, who won Rookie of the Year honors in the MLS in 2004, is a brash newcomer to professional soccer. He juggles the ball to hip-hop, and wrote, sang, and released a rap video produced for Nike (NKE) called Don't Tread on Me. The tune is now played before every U.S. soccer home match. But Dempsey typically doesn't start for the national team. He'll have to make the most of his playing time or push his way onto the starting squad to grab the attention of European clubs.

O'Brien, 28, who plied his trade with Dutch champions Ajax from age 16, has suffered through an unfortunate string of injuries since his decisive play for the men's quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup.