Photo by ISIphotos.com
by GIANFRANCO PANIZO
You can add Los Angeles Galaxy defender Sean Franklin to the list of defenders who have been bitten by the injury bug during the United States Men's National Team camp. Franklin, who was poised to earn his first cap with the National Team, had suffered a lower abdominal strain earlier in the week and has now been ruled out of the Sweden friendly on January 24 after failing to show signs of recovery.
Defenders Clarence Goodson and Chad Marshall and midfielder Geoff Cameron are other players who have been ruled out of the exhibition match next week due to injuries. Defender Cory Gibbs, who turned 29 just two days ago, also withdrew from the camp but did so for personal reasons and not because of an injury.
If you're confused as to who is still on the roster for the United States' first match of 2009 then here is the list of players that remain:
GOALKEEPERS (4): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Will Hesmer (Columbus Crew), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Matt Pickens (Colorado Rapids)
DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Jason Hernandez (San Jose Earthquakes), Ugo Ihemelu (Colorado Rapids) Chris Wingert (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Jack Jewsbury (Kansas City Wizards), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire)
FORWARDS (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)
*(Sacha Kljestan is supposedly expected to return state-side in time for the Sweden match.)
With Franklin, the 2008 Rookie of the Year, heading back to Los Angeles to treat his injury another void is created by his absence. Sure, Jonathan Bornstein and Marvell Wynne appear to be locks to start on the outside but the middle part of the defense could prove to be the weakest link.
What do you think of Franklin missing out on the Sweden match? Disappointed? Think Danny Califf and (fill in the blank) can get the job done against Henrik Larsson and co? Think Bob Bradley should call in a replacement defender? If so, who?
Share your thoughts below.
Does anyone have good info on how we actually match up with Sweden’s squad? I did a quick search for stories but came up empty.
Swedens squad will consist of players from the scandinavian leagues. wich probably is swedens C team, some players may even belong in the D team.
Although, you should probably watch out for the forward nannskog, he has been the top scorer in the norwegian league for a few years now and recently voted the best foreigner ever to play in that league.
Does anyone have good info on how we actually match up with Sweden’s squad? I did a quick search for stories but came up empty.
I, for one, am very interested to see how our MLS guys measure up against any Euro side. We hear a lot of trash talking from the rest of the world. Now is an opportunity to have some real action.
Parkurst is abroad, this is a B team friendly, no way they cal him back.
Parkhurst or Robinson might need to be looked into, if Conrad is a no go
Ugh. Not enough relevant players in this squad to fill out a starting XI. Call in Conrad just to try to save face against Sweden at least.
NYC, with it not being a FIFA sanctioned window, Torres and Orozco will probably have club games that weekend. I’d especially like to see what Torres can do, but Pachuca probably wouldn’t release him.
D- team if your specifically grading our backfield :X
don’t we have anyone else in lower tier leagues in Europe to call in?
No love for Ugo? He should get an opportunity to impress and I am surprised so many people left him off their projected line-ups with the defenders that remain. You would have to think he would be paired up with Califf in a 4-4-2 with bornstein on the left and wynne on the right, but what do i know?
Ives or anyone else know who Sweden is rolling out against our C+ team?
I think this is a GREAT opportunity for the defenders that remain, particularly Ihemulu, Hernandez, and Wynne.
A better than solid game may put any of those three in the mix for future camps.
Won’t BB call in a few non-MLS players? What about Orozco and Torres?
See if Alexi Lalas wants to earn another cap 🙂
We had already scraped the barrel.. I suppose now we will be have to turn it over and look at slithers out of its underbelly… and I think we can still win with that.
I really wish some people would get it thru their thick skulls that Ibisevic does not have US citizenship. Jeez.
Is the door not wide open for Conrad? To me Conrad is the overwhelmingly obvious choice to step in next to Califf.
If not him, then maybe see is Orozco could play this game. He seems to have made his mark with his club, and missing a few days to play in a friendly shouldn’t hurt much.
Boswell?
Man this game is losing its luster… I hope we can make a good game out of this…
JIMMY CONRAD.
I just hope wingert gets some playing time!
Gibbs – personal reasons? I wonder what’s up there.
What about Eddie robinson or Parkie? What has Jason Hernandez done? Is Nathan Sturgis healthy?
Perkins’s team training was just for a few days. He should be back for the match.
Wonder if Sacha will come back after his week tryout at Celtic.
If no Sacha:
Davies-Cooper/Ching
Rogers-Clark-Holden-Thorrington
Bornstein-Califf-Harnandez-Wynne
Perkins/Busch
Conrad needs to be called in immediately.
i thought Perkins went back to Norway to do some sort of special forces thing?
I feel bad for the guy, but on a team level anything other than a loss would be a bonus for me. I think our national team is much better than Sweden (just my opinion), but not this particular version of it. I’d love to see these guys pull off a nice little win, but I can’t see hit happening.
imagine if we had Ibisevic, Rossi, and Subotic all in our player pool? I hate coming back to those thoughts
lol, well our defenders seem to be taking a knock back….
time to scrape the barrel….
i think KC have a veteran defender who could be of use
Not a ‘Nat, just an adopted son, but speaking of injury, Vedad Ibisevic went down for the year at Hoffenheim 🙁
Wynne and Bornstein are horribly suited to a 3-5-2.
What does Jimmy Conrad have to do to get called back in?
Gooch? just kidding.
maybe our backline will be wingert, califf, hernandez, and wynne…
come on eddie gaven, what better way to top an MLS championship than to go out and play your ass off for your country and get back in the mix. haven’t you learned anything from frankie hejduk??
Man, I think we’re gonna get taught a lesson. I don’t think there’s a starting XI in there that can get us points. I hope I’m wrong.
sounds like we should try out a 3-5-2:
Cooper – Davies
Holden – Kljestan – Rogers
Clark -Carroll
Borenstein Califf Wynne
Of course I can understand if Bradley wants to line up in his preferred formation just to see guys in that situation as opposed to the one above. It would be fun to see it though.
Damn! Was looking forward to seeing how he did at the international level.