A defender and midfielder whose wide-ranging career included becoming the first American man to play in four World Cups.
Beasley played 126 full internationals for the United States between 2001 and 2017, after breaking into the national team when he was 18. Those caps included 31 World Cup qualifiers in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2017, and 11 games at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups. He was a midfielder early in his national team career, and extended that career by playing left back in later years. In addition to his World Cup play, his national team appearances included four games at the 2003 and 2009 Confederations Cups and 20 games in five different CONCACAF Gold Cups. He was captain of the team that won the 2013 Gold Cup, and also played in victorious Gold Cup finals in 2005 and 2007. He twice scored two goals in a game in the Gold Cup. Perhaps his most memorable moments for the United States were his long lead pass to Clint Dempsey to produce a goal against Ghana at the 2006 World Cup and his crucial goal against Mexico in a World Cup qualifier in 2005. He scored what could have been the winning goal against eventual champion Italy in the first round of the 2006 World Cup had it not been called back for an offside violation by another player.
Beasley played 11 seasons in MLS between 2000 and 2019 for Chicago and Houston. He won U.S. Open Cup titles in 2000 and 2003 with Chicago, and reached the MLS final in those same two years. He was named to the MLS Best XI in 2003. In between his two stints in MLS, he played two seasons in the Dutch first division, one season in the English Premier League, three seasons in the Scottish Premier League, one season in the German first division and three seasons in the Mexican first division. He won a Scottish Premier League championship with Rangers in 2009, which made him one of the first Americans to win a national title in Europe.
Elected in 2023.
