U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley has named a 17-man roster for the U.S. team’s World Cup qualifying match against Guatemala set for next Wednesday in Guatemala City. There are no real surprises, though one absence from the list is sure to rile up some of you.
Here is the roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.
DEFENDERS: Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Heath Pearce, Steve Cherundolo, Frankie Hejduk, Jay DeMerit.
MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Eddie Lewis.
FORWARDS: Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey.
The fact that it’s only a 17-man roster tells me that Bob Bradley will be adding a few names to the list before the team actually departs for Guatemala.
What do you think of the squad? Happy with it? Angry? Wondering where Kenny Cooper is? Share your thoughts below.
Regarding EJ: believe me, I can’t stand the guy, his attitude, his laziness, poor soccer IQ, etc. But we really need him. He’s got talent and a huge upside. Like it or not, and I can’t believe I’m actually writing this, EJ is probably our best option at forward RIGHT NOW. Altidore is not there yet and may never be, plus he’s hurt. Cooper looks good in MLS, but national team duty is another matter. Ching hustles and passes well, but is limited. Landon and Deuce are attacking midfielders. Tightshirt is a joke. Who am I forgetting? Davies and Buddle? Come on, be serious
I can hardly believe some of the comments on here. There is plenty of time in the next two years to get Cooper caps and work in some of the promising young talent. But not in the first real game of Qualifying – at Guatemala – when you’d really like to get a result. You win the first few qualifiers and the rest become meaningless, and then you can play an experimental side. Plus I’m sure we’ll be playing a full slate of friendlies over the next couple years. These six upcoming home & away qualifiers and the subsequent 10-match hexagonal are the games which demand results. If we see this same lineup on Oct. 15 or Nov. 19, then I’ll join the call for Bradley’s head. But not now. Patience young grasshoppers.
third round qualifiers:
Aug. 20 – @ GUA
Sep. 6 – @ CUB
Sep. 10 – T&T
Oct. 11 – CUB
Oct. 15 – @ T&T
Nov. 19 – GUA
Bob Bradley…is worse than Steve Sampson….Eddie Johnson and Frankie Hejduk…
What about Kenny Cooper ( who can put a shot on goal) or Neven Subotic who is a stud in the backline?
This is an damning indictment of US Soccer and Sunil Gulati – We could have had Klinsmann!!!!
Finally, WHERE’S KENNY COOPER
Dempsey is going to play right midfield in all likely hood.
Yeah anyone who doesn’t see the qaulity of Michael Bradley doesn’t kno anything about soccer. He is a team leader and he anchors the midfield. He play defense in midfield. He is a more exciting version of Pablo Mastroeni.
Edson Buddle really deserves to get some action. He’s in the best form of his life!
Look at the forwards Bradley picked:
Dempsey and Johnson haven’t even been playing!
Donovan and Ching are fine but I would throw Buddle in there too at the expense of the terrible Eddie Johnson!
Based on everyone’s reaction I am not sure I should watch, since Cooper isn’t on the team we are probably going to lose. He will be there soon enough. Bob should go for the most experienced line up he can for the toughest game in this group. Based on this Ching is the better choice, Cooper will get his shot. If he keeps it up he will be the starter in two years when it really counts.
All of that being said I think Cooper should be there to at least take it all in.
Ives,
You are the only journalist here… where is the hard hitting questions for Bob? Ask him flat out why Cooper is not on this roster and what it will take for him to earn caps in the future? If this were England he would have been lambasted for this decision…
man, ricardo clark must really be in the doghouse with BB
whats with all the doubting of cooper??
we bring up ching and EJ?? now dont get me wrong, ive made the “experience” arguement… but comon’.. some of our defenders have a better chance of scoring then them…. and they have… we need to bring in new blood…
as PapaBear mentioned, you leave of the likes of EJ, start Ching, and then bring Cooper in later in the game….
everyone, and i stress everyone, complained when BB brought up Wolff during the friendlies, but there aer several who are applauding BB on bringing up ching and EJ over the likes of Cooper?? drop EJ and add Cooper, thats all we are saying…. start Ching and Dempsey up top, or Ching and LD (Dempsey out right)… i dont really care, but we need to bring up a forward who is willing to shoot (accurately at that) and willing to take players on the dribble….
@Landis,
Yes I know that Bob has used other formations.
The point I was feebly trying to make is that Bob is a pretty stale coach with his tactics and his roster selections. He has his favorites and, for them, performance rarely matters especially at forward.
Remove the Barbados “games” and Onyewu is our leading scorer this year, if I’m not mistaken.
And if Cooper doesn’t have the game experience to go into Guatemala to play, that’s not a demerit against him. That’s on Bob for inadequate preparation.
This is a qualifier. If Bradley is making any decision based on club considerations, then he’s in the wrong job. These count. You bring your best team. If you don’t have the guts to do that, forget it.
EJ may be good in qualifiers, but he lacks as a quality forward when we play quality
teams.
Need i remind you guys of the England and Spain games. where EJ our forward got the ball and moved it backwards.
This team has aspirations to take down the world, not just take down CONCAAF. Beating Mexico should not be the highlight for this team. Therefore our best players should be playing (and in this case except for those who were just in the olympics). Gotta get experience somewhere. Gotta get used to having piss bombs thrown at them right.
So …. No Adu. No Cooper. No Buddle. No Davies. Yes Johnson. Yes Ching.
Heh. What can you say?
no cooper?!?