[MLS] At the end of every season commences speculation about which Americans playing overseas are ready to come back to America. The speculation, and the process, has begun.

On the current list are two former MLS players, defender Dan Califf and goalkeeper Adin Brown, and striker Jeremiah White, who bounced between clubs in Serbia, Greece and France before landing in Denmark in 2007 with AGF Aarhus, his first first-division team.

As capped U.S. players White and Califf would be subject to the allocation process, and so would Brown as a player named on various USA squads, including the 2000 Olympic team before an injury forced his withdrawal. Atop the allocation list sits expansion entry Philadelphia. The rankings are always used in the case of returning U.S. national team players and in other special circumstances as determined by the league's Competition Committee.

Teams must file allocation requests, as they do for discovery players, and in those situations, the rankings will come into play only if more than one team files a claim on the same player on the same day. If a team uses its allocation rank to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list, though the order can also be changed by teams using allocation placings in trades.

Califf, 29, left MLS in 2005 after four seasons with the Galaxy and one in San Jose. He helped Aalborg win the 2008 Danish Superliga title but left after a contract dispute to sign with rival club Midtjylland. He played twice for the USA in 2009, serving as captain in a 3-2 defeat of Sweden in January and playing the full 90 minutes as the Americans rallied to tie El Salvador, 2-2. He has made 20 U.S. appearances since his debut in 2002.

Brown, 31, has played for Aalesund in the Norwegian league since leaving the Revs after the 2004 season and has been dogged by injuries for much of his career. A long stint on the bench prompted initial contact with MLS back in September. He has been named to USA squads many times, including the 2003 Gold Cup, and played with Califf at the 1999 Pan American Games, but has never been capped.

White, 27, earned his only cap with the national team nearly two years ago, against Sweden in a friendly Jan. 19, 2008. He is on a preliminary list of players to be called into a national training camp next month and is under contract with Aarhus until the summer, but under FIFA rules can begin negotiating with other clubs in the last six months of his contract.