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Who should the USMNT start vs. Chile?

USASouthAfricaLineup (ISIPhotos.com)

The first U.S. national team match of the year won't feature many familiar faces. In fact, there are no players who could be considered first-choice national team options. No, Saturday's friendly against Chile is instead about new faces and Bob Bradley's chance to see how a new crop of MLS players can measure up in what will be a first or second appearance for many of them.

So who will Bob Bradley start against Chile? Will MLS veterans like Jeff Larentowicz and Chris Wondolowski get the nod, or will Bradley turn to new faces like Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury to lead the charge?

Perhaps an even more intriguing question is just what formation Bob Bradley will trot out. Will he continue his recent fascination with a variation of a 4-2-3-1, or will he try a two-forward formation?

Here is the lineup we can see Bob Bradley trotting out against Chile on Saturday:

PROJECTED USMNT STARTING LINEUP vs. CHILE 

——————–Bunbury—————–

Agudelo———–Diskerud———Bedoya

———Larentowicz—McCarty———–

Wallace—-Ream—–Gonzalez–Franklin

—————–Rimando——————–

Some thoughts on this squad:

Agudelo gets the nod over Brek Shea. Agudelo isn't a pure winger, but he has played wide for the Red Bulls and plays wide for the U.S. Under-20s in their 4-3-3. Sliding Bedoya centrally and putting Shea on the wing is another option, but we'll give Diskerud the nod here.

Now, if it's a 4-4-2, we could see this lineup:

———–Bunbury——-Agudelo———–

Shea————McCarty————Bedoya

—————-Larentowicz—————–

Wallace—-Ream—–Gonzalez–Franklin

—————–Rimando——————–

Dax McCarty gets the nod over Diskerud, though a good camp could push Diskerud into the lineup.

In both lineups, left back is a question mark. Anthony Wallace is the lone natural left back in the camp so we give him the nod, but it's a safe bet Bob Bradley will have a look at one of his many right back options on the left to see which of them can slot in and be comfortable on that side of the field.

What do you think of the lineups above? Which of them would you prefer to see? What lineup would you like to see Bob Bradley use?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’ve been watching Franklin play for a few years now and he has actually performed well when inserted into the midfield with the Galaxy. He wasn’t used specifically as a defensive MF however, he is a solid ball winner with tackling capabilities. Same thing goes for Miller however Miller is a natural MF with defensive experience as well as being a better ball distributer than Franklin. Miller’s game would compliment Franklin’s. Those assignments should not require Franklin or Miller to play outside of their capabilities. Just two names I’d like to see play together. If I want to see a win then yeah…I’m certain we can find a better pairing however I’m more excited about seeing new faces on the field…win or lose.

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  2. Gacm32 said in reply to Erik …

    Gam,

    A Eurosnob? Nice judgment considering you know nothing about me. I want to watch good soccer, period. That doesn’t mean it has to be from Europe or from anywhere for that matter. MLS has good games, just not many of them. I think watching England play is like watching paint dry, same goes for Chelsea. I watch Uefa Cup games over Champions League games because they are more intriguing.

    Using C teams in the National arena is usually a recipe for a bad/boring game.

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  3. Jack, above I defended ESPN and it’s soccer coverage. I just don’t care if this game is on TV. I want to watch high level games, not middling also rans or hope to be’s knock the ball around and flub scoring chances and try to string 3 passes together.

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  4. Angel FAN,

    I agree with you in a way. The problem we have is we are calling in C players and players who don’t play a normal calendar year. The rest of the world (blanket statement I know) has their players performing in some sort of league 8-10 months out of the year. We have college kids who have unlimited substitutions and MLS players who only play half the year.

    Of course there are exceptions to the rule you can find, but those exceptions typically have gone straight to Europe from college or skipped college all together to become better players. Putting Nick Rimando on a team again is just a waste of time…

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  5. Pancho,

    We all saw how how well bringing in C level players worked for us in 2010. We got plenty of Beckerman and Findley and 100 other players who never saw the field for us again. I’m intrigued about Agudulo but he’s still young.

    I may have changed personally, but after the WC I just can’t get up to watching these pointless games anymore. Trust me, I used to watch everything I could concerning the US but when fans on a blog site like this one can pick a lineup better than the actual organization running the show, there are deep problems.

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  6. Starting whoever plays best in practice is the correct policy, regardless of age, experience, or past performance. Bradley doesn’t get to spend and entire season developing a cohesive team. Show up or go home. Do the job or or watch from the bench as someone else does it for you. Nothing else should matter… ever.

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  7. Chile has a C squad too they did not bring none of the good players either all of the players they have are home based. Chile’s top players play in Europe if you can see on the roster no European based players.

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  8. FWIW I’m fine with the backline and the 4 attackers. But again, Franklin and Miller at Defensive mid? Both of them are primarily right sided players (right back and right mid). Franklin has played centerback and I believe Ryan Miller has played some left back.

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  9. totally agree with what Loko said about hype for USA young players – Wondo finds the goal (object of the game right! ) you guys have never played the game at a high level (right ?), so your understanding of who is good or bad sometimes sounds so weird

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  10. Not even that. It’d be like if the USMNT brought Edson Buddle and the rest were youngsters and average domestic league players. Chile has one guy on their squad (a striker) for this friendly that was a sub in the World Cup

    Reply

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