Photo by ISIphotos.net
One of the storylines of 2008 for the U.S. national team was how well the back-line played and how many quality performances the foursome of Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo and Heath Pearce have put together.
That group will be missing a player when the U.S. team takes on Mexico on Wednesday. Yanks Abroad is reporting that Cherundolo will miss the Mexico qualifier after an official from Cherundolo's club team, German side Hannover 96, confirmed that Cherundolo has not trained in four weeks because of a hip injury.
"He's been out of training for about four weeks and it's a long time, and he needs to go back slowly," Hannover 96 press officer Andreas Kuhnt told Yanks Abroad. "I don't think he will be back on Wednesday for the game. That's too early for him to return."
This news wasn't completely unexpected and now U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley will need to replace one of his veteran leaders. Frankie Hejduk looks like the obvious choice, both for his experience and his past success against Mexico. Marvell Wynne should also merit consideration for the 18-man roster for the Mexico match and appears to be No. 3 on the right back depth chart. He is also coming off a good performance against Sweden last month.
What do you think of this news? Worried? Confident that Hejduk can do the job? Think Marvell Wynne is ready for a game of this magnitutde?
Share your thoughts below.
Why would you think Bocanegra couldn’t play on the wing, arrogant sob? You know, not that he PLAYS ON THE OUTSIDE FOR HIS CLUB…
Moron….
I think Wynne is our future right back, but to throw him out against Mexico as the starter wouldn’t be fair to him. Hejduk will be get the job done.
It’s gonna be Heydude, and frankly (pun intended) it should be. Look, I really like Wynne and think that this year, its his opportunity to push Dolo as the starter. But today, for this very important match, as long as he’s fit (which he always is) how can you not go with Heydude! Sure, you lose offense from the right flank with him, but more importantly, you don’t get beat on that side of the field either. And if I remember correctly, didn’t Frankie play a nice ball for a goal in his last outing for the Nats? This guy is a team leader, and won’t make a defensive lapse. No way BB goes in any other direction.
“I’m amazed at all this love for fat frank.”
Fat Frank? Seriously? We are talking about Frankie Hejduk, right? Because that’s a crazy thing to say, at the same daftness level as the bearded guy on a city corner railing about dwarves who live in the hollow earth.
Hey longtime US soccer fans, think back to 1997. Would you have believed then that we’d ever be having this conversation about Hejduk now, one in which he’s the seasoned professional brought in to add stability to the backline?
I’m amazed at all this love for fat frank. Fit or not, the dude is still not a good footballer. He can’t hit a good cross, constantly makes mistakes, is always a threat to make a stupid tackle and get carded, the list goes on and on. The only reason I’ll be happy if he starts is that I will finally have the chance to heckle him in person.