Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team finally named its 20-man roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifier vs. Mexico on Wednesday and the group had no real surprises.
U.S. stars Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Oguchi Onyewu lead the way.Here is the squad:
Goalkeepers– Tim Howard (Everton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)
Defenders– Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA)
Midfielders– Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo)
Forwards– Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Charlie Davies (Sochaux), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids)
It's a pretty experienced group with only one player who hasn't appeared in a qualifier before (Holden).
Here are some thoughts on the group:
If there is a surprise (and it isn't much of one), it is Conor Casey getting the nod ahead of Kenny Cooper, but again, Casey is more a target forward than Cooper and the squad already has the likes of Davies, Altidore, Donovan and Dempsey who can play a similar forward role to Cooper. And before you get too crazy about Casey's inclusion, only 18 players dress, so he's as much Ching insurance as anything. If Ching is healthy enough to play on Wednesday, I doubt we'll see Casey in uniform on Wednesday.
Jonathan Bornstein gets the nod ahead of DaMarcus Beasley, who is officially on the outside looking in as far as World Cup aspirations. I thought Bornstein showed enough in the Confederations Cup to be considerable a viable back-up at left back to Bocanegra.
The rest of the group is pretty easy to predict. The fact that Torres is in the group should help ease concerns about his status in the pool.
So what is the starting lineup vs. Mexico? There's a very good chance it will look like this:
—————-Ching———Davies—————-
Donovan————————————Dempsey
—————-Bradley——–Clark—————–
Bocanegra—–Onyewu—–DeMerit——-Spector
————————-Howard———————-
The two decisions to be made are at forward and right back. Will Bob Bradley go with the veteran Ching, or Jozy Altidore (or might he play them together)? Altidore and Davies showed good flashes together in the Confederations Cup, but Ching works well with the group and can help create chances for the likes of Donovan and Dempsey, as well as whoever he is partnered with up top.
At right back you have Spector, coming off a great Confederations Cup, against a healthy Cherundolo There is also some question about whether you go with Clark or Feilhaber but something tells me we see Clark and Bradley together vs. Mexico, with Feilhaber a second-half substitute.
Now it's your turn. What do you think of the group? Feeling confident about the U.S. team's chances?
Share your thoughts below.
Miguelito,
Cooper scored 40 or so goals in some 90 MLS games. Whether he beat 3 men to roll them in or whether the cross hit him in the butt and bounced in they all count. For whatever reason, he scores everywhere he goes. This is not Olympic figure skating where points are added or subtracted for style. This is football.
You think PK’s are “padding” your stats? Ask Manchester United or the England team how easy it is to take penalties.
I have no idea how anybody can be a fan of Cooper. He is a big guy who plays without strength or an air game. So what’s the use? He’s not very good technically, and pads his MLS stats with PKs. He is not a very good passer, and doesn’t do anything defensively. I just can’t understand why anyone would be in favor of him. Watch his goal for 1860, he was uncontested trying to head it down, closed his eyes, and mis-hit it. Luckily for him it hit the crossbar and just got in. He is not good and should be nowhere near the national team. At least Casey plays with strength and can win balls in the air. If we want to advance as a soccer nation we need players like Cooper to stay off the national team.
What’s the word on Jermaine Jones?
Julio.. I agree.. The lineup after the confed cup should mostly pick itself.
For ne the biggest decision is the altitude. I’m currently in sun valley id (approx 5800 ft) vacationing on day 3 and I’ll tell you I feel waay better today than after 24 hours. I feel I could go today. That first morning I was short of breath up two flights of stairs. I hope this isn’t a big gaffe in bb’s part.. Worse than any ching or dolo decision he may make.
Rogers goal and assist tonight againt San Jose speaks volumes on why he should be with the USMNT instead of looking in from the outside.
http://web.mlsnet.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6000283
good squad. is the 3 pm start a response to making Mex play in cold weather in the USA?
Whatever happened to Jermaine Jones?
Jones is hurt
When is Jermaine Jones coming?
Cooper hardly played in the confed cup but scored a few nice goals. Anybody who thinks Casey brings more to the table is having a piss.
Cooper is getting settled into his club like BB wants him to.
If he was still in Dallas, he’d be taking his large, goofy, goal-scoring self to mexico.
i like the lineup except casey and ching they are not that good. i would rather see eddie johnson call up and kenny kooper. and i also prefer beckerman over clark he sucks. feilhaber is better as a backup and davies. torres is ok. here is my line up
———–altidore and donovan———–
holden—–bradly——torres——dempsey
cherundolo—onyewu—bocanegra—–spector
they need to call in beckerman to play alongside with bradly. and demerit as backup too.
The lineup looks great. I still would rather have Beasley,Adu,Edu if healthy, on the bench, or any other euro base player getting experience or adding some advice experience to the team. Adu & Edu like it or not they are the future of the U.S team. Casey & Holden in my opinion are just average. Casey should be nowhere near a U.S jersey, pure fact! Holden had some good games in the gold cup,..”gold cup”! Are you kidding me! I rather have Adu or EJ who practice with euro type players that bring more to practice than a gold cup match!! EJ’s goal in preseason is well ahead of anything that Holden did in the G.C!!lol
Holden has not convinced me futbolisticamente just yet!
NO COOPER or CASEY for the love of GOD!! Give these guys dual citizenship so they can play for Canada or Guatemala!:)
Not smart to leave Robbie Rogers off the list. We need his speed and Bradley needs to continue to bring him along and include him with the team.
Team needs to develop the true wings because we are awfully thin.
Understood…Truth be told, I do read closely those posts I wanna add to/rebut. I also try to be understanding and find agreement. And, finally, I try to be thorough so…Back to the subject of Ching v. others, it is one thing to hope that Jozy gets better (I do…really) but right now, he ain’t the back-to-goal guy that Ching is…period. Watch the tape, or better yet watch the game closely. As a team sport, soccer can be measured in ways that go beyond goals. Ching is #1 up top. Q for Bob is – Jozy for double ram, or Charlie for pace. Given the conditions & the tactical requirment of teh forwards doing a lot of dogged running (to harass MEX D-line and to win balls when our D is simply hoofing it) all 3 will see time….at least 20-25 mins for the sub. But @ start, Ching if healthly will start b/c he’s earned the right as #1…..In 2010, if Jozy gets it right quickly in ENG, then I’ll be the 1st guy to join the hosannas and say Jozy is ready to lead the line.
i actually would really like to see pearce. He is definitely better than bornstein, although i don’t like casey, i would much rather see him than cooper. The two are not comparable, Casey isn’t anything amazing but he knows his limitations and weaknesses. Cooper seriously thinks he is ronaldo when he is not very good with the ball at his feet or even has that good of a shot.
Just read G. Whal’s blog and he is right, the fact that the US will be in Azteca for only 24 hours can be a huge factor. More than we expect.
Ching is horrible!!! Altidore is horrible!!! Cooper has so much Heart!