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USMNT Camp Notebook: Rogers looking to impress

Robbie Rogers 1 (ISIphotos.com) 

Photo by ISIphotos.com

 

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif.–The U.S. Men's National Team is set to head to Florida for its upcoming match against El Salvador, where the focus will be on reviewing the domestic players who expect to be contenders for World Cup roster slots in June. With the club traveling to Central Florida on Sunday,those who find themselves on the bubble are looking to make their case known to Head Coach Bob Bradley.

"Anybody who comes into a January of February camp during a World Cup year understands the importance of doing well. It's never an easy camp," said Bradley. "The last camp when we looked at everything, we weren't satisfied because we didn't play well enough against Honduras so now we'll see if this time will be different "

One player fighting for a spot is Columbus Crew winger Robbie Rogers, who is eager to play in his first World Cup. Rogers started and played 90 minutes against Honduras in January, but he played a majority of the match out of position, moving to left back after an early red card forced a move from midfield. He is fully aware that Wednesday's match could be his last chance to showcase himself for a full match.

 "When you're on the bubble, you still have to keep working hard," Rogers said. "This is going to be an important game for me and our team and we want to get our first win of 2010 to get that momentum going into the World Cup.

"It's a chance for me to prove to the coaches that I should be considered for a spot and that I deserve that spot."

In recent weeks, the impressive play of a number of the European based players like the resurgence of Freddy Adu has signaled an increased pressure for the Columbus Crew winger. Despite the increased competition, Rogers remains undeterred at continuing to look for improve as he pushes for a place on the roster.

"I think I need to be consistent and score some goals for the team and work on the defensive part of the game. You have to have the whole package and prove that you're hungry to get on the squad," said Rogers.

Another big story on the final day of the team's LA based camp was the continued rehabilitation of defender Oguchi Onyewu. The AC Milan center back participated in light training for a third day even taking part in a number of small training scrimmages with the rest of the squad.

Onyewu who is preparing for a return to Italy has looked impressive by all accounts during training seeming very active while participating in drills. Head Coach Bob Bradley was vocal in his approval of Onyewu's continued development.

"He's starting to do a lot of individual ball work and he's just starting to get on the field in small team exercises where he has that opportunity to take that next step and that's what has happened," said Bradley. "It's a sign of progress and a reward that the work has paid off to get back to this point and hopefully he'll keep pushing. He has worked incredibly hard."

Coach Bradley also made a point to praise the recent play of Landon Donovan who shined today in Everton's 3-1 victory over Manchester United this morning.

"(Everton) has played well in this stretch and he has been a big part in the effort of every game. It's great for (Landon) and his confidence," said Bradley. "It says a lot for what we're all about."

The national team released its travel roster on Saturday and three players were sent back home. Philadelphia Union defender Michael Orozco and Los Angeles Galaxy centerback Omar Gonzalez were each sent back to rejoin their respective club's preseason program while currently out of contract goalkeeper Kevin Hartman also left camp.

Comments

  1. I’m just wondering why Orozco, Gonzalez and Hartman were drop out this roster. well two of those players have Hispanic/Latino Last name, Ummm maybe there will be too many Latinos in this USNMT that Bob Bradley really don’t want in it. Torres, Orozco, Gonzalez, Castillo and other that never even made to the USNMT (Vidal, Padilla, Herculez Hernandez, Alvarez(now with the USA) and there are more upcoming from the U20-U17. Does anyone know why the were drop???

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  2. Bob just didn’t see it in them although I would have loved to have seen them given 45 minutes. Even if they were playing offish the past week, Gonzalez at least showed last year that he’s ready to take a lot on his shoulders.

    And all this nonesense of “he should be proud to have made it this far” or “he’s still young,” at his age in any other country, without a cap to his name, you’d write him off.

    We wait far too long to see what our youth can do and by then the rest of the world has moved on. Until we give them a real shot at playing above their limits, their limits will always be subpar.

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  3. I hope to see Pontius as I think he actually offers something different to our attack.

    We already know what most of the others offer and sorry but Dax will get run over on the wing – he’s not pacey enough to keep up with the Salvadorians.

    Was looking forward to this game, now it’ll be the closest to an MLS game we’ll see in some months : (

    Bob “Same ole, same ole” Bradley at it again!

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  4. Same ole, same ole – we’ll see the All-American MLS All-Star team of oldies without any vigor from the younger players.

    Was looking forward to seeing at least one of these two.. Guess I’ll have to wait for the season to begin…

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  5. Castillo is playing right now in Mexico. Boca is just fighting for his place in France. Spector is fighting for a spot in England. Beasley is coming back from and injury while trying to get back into the lineup in Scotland. So that leaves Bornstein and Pearce who are playing domestically and aren’t in season.

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  6. No it hasn’t been tired out. I see many adults now in their mid twenties who didn’t have a chance to play for the Metros unders because they need to pay at least something. Many were offered to get half of the money reduced but still was out of their range.

    Paying for other sports I understand fully. I don’t see many kids looking to be sports stars in a baseball team in Japan or Korea.

    And I’m pointing out the problem not dogging on it. And poor is a matter of opinion or is relative to the wealth of that specific country.

    MLS paying better is one step to getting inner city kids away from throwing their life away trying to make the 32 or so teams in the NBA, MLB or NFL.

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  7. Orozco & Gonzalez not on the roster for Wednesday game really sucks. I wanted no more but to watch these guys show what they can do on the field. It’s a bummer! Any true word on why they were let go ives?? I’m not buying this respective club thing. There is more to this.

    Rogers: Well, he is a salad player, nothing special in our soccer system. If he performs well, then good for him. But I hope he doesn’t make the W.C roster, we have better options.

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  8. Ching-Casey
    Rogers-Kljestan-Beckerman-Pontious
    Pearce-Bornstein-Marshall-Wynne
    Rimando

    I must admit, I don’t follow MLS, and I don’t know much about 8-10 players…

    However, I do know that Ching and Casey are the best forwards, I don’t like Perkins in the back, Pearce has shown well for the MNT in the past and deserves another look, Sacha could be on or off, either way he is entertainingly good or entertainingly bad, Beckerman rarely has an off day(last game was an off day) so he should be back to par, I know pontious had a great season in the MLS, Rogers is a strong back up left wing for the USMNT, and I believe in Marshall.

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  9. So you all mean to tell me that since Rogers was playing out of position it was his fault. No, it was not his fault it was Conrad’s fault. Also, you all saying Robbie is not an true winger because of what he did against Honduras, lol. So I guess then since Beasley did the same thing against Costa Rica he isn’t a true winger either, rotfl.

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