Photo by ISIphotos.com
With the Confederations Cup in the rearview mirror now, we can start to look ahead to the rest of the summer for the U.S. men's national team.
The CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off in a week, with the United States opening play against Grenada in Seattle. The U.S. Gold Cup team is largely a B team, but the tournament should still provide some insight into the status and progress of several key players, as well as helping identify some potential newcomers to the A-team pool.
After the Gold Cup comes a match most U.S. fans have been anxiously awaiting, the World Cup qualifier against Mexico at Estadio Azteca. After that, the U.S. team's full squad will play its first home game after the Confederations Cup against El Salvador at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah.
Here is a rundown of the U.S. team's scheduled (and potential) matches for the remainder of the summer:
JULY
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4th- vs. Grenada, Qwest Field, Seattle
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8th- vs. Honduras, RFK Stadium, Washington D.C.
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11th- vs. Haiti, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
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18th- Gold Cup quarterfinals, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
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23rd- Gold Cup semifinals, Soldier Field, Chicago
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26th- Gold Cup Final, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
AUGUST
- 12th- at Mexico, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
SEPTEMBER
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5th- vs. El Salvador, Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
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9th- at Trinidad & Tobago, site TBD
What matches are you looking forward to the most the rest of this summer? Which match or matches will you make it to? Think the United States can finally win at Azteca? Starting to believe that the United States can roll through this scheduled undefeated? Worried about the B Team being able to win the Gold Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
Everyone should remember that at the Confed Cup we lacked ‘Dolo, Ching, Jones, and Edu. Edu would probably have been a better replacement for Rico throughout the tourney and Jones would probably have been a better replacement for Bradley for the final. Also, Ching would probably have started the games with Davies subbing for him or Alt. around the 65th.
So as good as we were, we could have been even better without injuries. With one more year of experience and a better idea of our depth through the GC, how can a fan not be pumped for 2010?
@smokeinside,
Did you not see the erfect pass he played to donovan for the goal? He doesnt need vision as a striker, he needs to play good combination plays and go to goal, which he does. He tries to take people on and in one case in the second half, could have gone to goal but passed instead. He’s still raw and young. He’s better than you think and without him we dont beat spain or play as well as we did against brazil.
I love how people are penciling in Jermaine Jones for next year’s WC roster before: 1.) he is even eligible to play for the U.S. and 2.) before he’s even stepped on the pitch for the U.S.
Let’s see how he does, but I’m not ready to annoint him as a fixture in the midfield just yet. Bradley and Clark seemed to hold their own just fine and Feilhaber isn’t much of a step down either. Keep in mind Maurice Edu is also in the mix. Is Jones heads and shoulders better than those four? He might be better, but not by a huge margin, and that says nothing of his potential to disrupt team chemistry.
Benny is the best player on the team.
Does anyone know if the Gold Cup games will be available on youtube again this year? Last year CONCACAF compressed the games to about 60 minutes and uploaded them onto youtube.
Charlie Davies is reportedly attracting interest from clubs in Germany, France and Holland after some stand-out performances at the Confederations Cup.
If you are american ..and go to Azteca.. There is a possibility that you will never come back…mexico is a scary place right now!!!
All Gold Cup games will be on Fox Soccer Channel…
After the Confederations Cup, I see no reason to think the USA cannot win in Azteca for the next WCQ. I’m looking forward to it now rather than dreading it.
I’m excited about the Gold Cup and I for one am glad they have it every two years. Why not? It’s a great opportunity for Bob to look at new talent. I want to see who from our B team will step up and push for the A squad.
That being said, I’m really disappointed with the squad selections. A good group from MLS, but I really wish he called in more of the European and Mexican players. This is a FIFA sponsored tournament, so the clubs have to release the players.
Why no Torres, Orozco, Szetela, Feilhaber, Tracy, Vidal, etc.?
Mixed with the best of the MLS players, we could put together a real strong team. This is great opportunity for these guys to get some games together. Some of these guys need the games.
Why not bring our real B team instead of a bunch of guys who have only a slight chance of ever making our world cup squad?
AZTECA
DC Josh
Honduras is bringing a B team of largely inexperienced players. Costa Rica is bringing its A team.
I really don’t see this squad winning Gold Cup, but I do not think it will impede our momentum to Azteca since few names on this roster will make the trip to Mexico. There are also better teams in the Gold Cup. The US really needs use this to find much needed depth and get some players experience.
First: QUALIFY!
Second: We need to sort out this midfield situation for 2010. We can only take 8 (9 if LD or CD is used as a striker instead of mid). Here are the candidates: LD, CD, MB, Jones, Edu, Feilhaber, Clark, Adu, Torres, Beasley, Sasha, Pablo. I would cut the last 4 on the list, but it’s tough.
Ives,
Anyway of giving us a list of the MLS players from all of the countries involved in the Gold Cup? My fantasy team may totally implode next weekend. Thanks..
very excited about seeing our youngsters in the Gold Cup. I’m worried about Costa Rica and Honduras, are they bringing their B team? I’ll be in DC to see our boys take on Honduras.
The game in the Azteca obviously is the biggest game this summer. I’ve thought they can go down there and defeat El Tri ever since I witnessed dos a cero in Columbus in February.
Don’t understand all the love for Davies. He doesn’t see the field, doesn’t see his options to pass, takes on two or three defenders when often all he has to do is dump the ball to someone else.
Love his speed and tenacity, but not his lack of vision.
Agree Gold Cup should only be every 4 years, but besides US, Canada and Mexico, who really has the facilities to host it.
I groan in pain ever time I see our Gold Cup roster.
I understand that we have to rest our A team, but there were so many better options. I watch many Fire games..trust me you dont want him starting although Tigres UNL are big fans now.
The team we sent to Copa America would beat this team 2-0 and that team was pretty bad.
hard to blame Bradley for not having any real experienced talent on the bench
And for those whining about Bradley being the subject of intense criticism…
Heres some more for ya…Because without it, You are complacent.
Making the moves too F-ing late when brazil is making them at the correct point in the match. That was mistake #1 when he made that swich to Sasha, Bradley decided we were going to bunker in. didnt do much good. Sasha was God-aweful. AGAIN. I would have much rather seen Torres in to hold the ball and push forward. Bornstien should have never been inserted into the midfield. The move there was clearly for the gassed Boca. Torres should have come in rather than sasha.
Great inspired ball by our guys…poor decisions by our staff in the second half.
Much learned by our players…and (lesson learned by Bradley).
Great job. Go USA.
The Gold Cup is ridiculous. There shouldn’t be two in a 4 year cycle and it shouldn’t ONLY be in the US. Changing this would benefit not just the US but all of Concacaf.
As far as the Azteca.. a tie would be nice for me. ANything but a win for “el Vasco” and Mexico is in serious serious trouble. And wait, didn’t we convincingly beat the best team in the world and almost beat the other best team on the planet?
Let’s see which team shows up in Mexico.
the Juan Carlos Osorio in me wants to try Cherendolo at RM for a few games…we may need a RM once we decide to push Deuce to the forward spot
as far as azteca i’d like to see
—-jozy—davies—
donovan———dempsey–
—–bradley–feilhaber—
spector–gooch-boca–cherendolo
push dempsey up top, adu out wide and edu beside bradley and the team looks good by next june
New Don’t Tread On Me T-shirt by Objectivo – http://store.objectivo.com/home/usa-don-t-tread-on-me-flag-t-shirt.html
Looking forward to the Azteca game and than watching USMNT v El Salvador in person at Rio Tinto Stadium!
Why wasn’t Torres part of the Gold Cup Team? What’s going on with him and BB?
i will take mcbride for azteca… he wants back in… he’ll do instead of ching
Angel: you are 5 people over the 23 man squad limit? And Beasley sucks. He has always sucked. I will always remember watching him vs Ghana thinking: “see Demarcus, being fast doesn’t mean you have to be so tiny you can be knocked over by a leaf blower” … he was looking around in that game going “uh, but you guys are faster than me and like 2 times stronger and with skill … boy I suck!”
Kung fu,
So you are going to sub in a back line defender (assumption that the defending is going badly in Azteca)
Benny (for Offense)
Then sub in Ching to kill off the game (assumption that we are winning)
– all in the 65th minute?
Great.
My prediction for the USMNT A squad by the end of the summer:
GK: Howard
LB: Bocanegra
CB: Onyewu
CB: Demerit
RB: Cherundolo
RM: Donvan
CM: Bradley
CM: Jermaine Jones
LM: Dempsey
ST: Davies
F: Altidore
BENCH: Guzan, Perkins, Bornstein, Spector, Pearce, Marshal, Edu, Clark, Feilhaber, Torres (or Holden), Adu, Ching
Notice, no more team space wasted on Beasley or Sacha. The Torres/Holden choice depends on how they play the rest of this summer and you might take off Pearce or Marshall for Hedjuk.
Just imagine if we had Subotic and Rossi in the starting squad bumping DeMerit and Davies to make an even stronger bench. Ah, too bad eh?
My team for the world Cup 2010 is
Goal keepers: Howard, Guzan, Robles
Defenders: Spector, Bocanegra, Oguchie, DeMerit, Orozco, Cherendulo, Pearce, Bornstein, Simek.
Midfielders: Donovan, Adu, Torres, Jones, Bradley, Feilhaber, Clark, Beasley, Edu, Zizzo, *Beasley (if he gets in shape)
Fowards: Altidore, Davis, Dempsey, Cooper, Ching, Tracy
————Altidore———-Davies—————
Donovan———————————-Dempsey
—————Bradley———-Jones————
Bocanegra—-Onyewu——DeMerit——Spector
———————–Howard———————-
You can add more to the list who would like to see on the World Cup 2010 please no Sasha, Casey, Mastroeni, heyduk (maybe just in case) but please noone over the 32 yrs of age.
They are who we thought they were. And we let em off the hooK!!!
it has to be azteca as the most anticipated. i am excited to see some of the new talent. although, i am disapponted not to see pontius or cameron on the list of players.
azteca line up…
ching davies
donovan bradley edu (jones injured) dempsey
boca gooch demerit spector
howard
altidore in for forward
feilhaber in for ACM
clark if edu isn’t ready for DM
cherundolo for back
Gold Cup going to be on TV?
Starting line-up for Azteca should be:
Altidore Davies
Donovan Dempsey
Bradley Clark / Jones(if when avail)
Spector Boca Gooch Dolo
Howard
Subs in the 65th minute:
– DeMerit in for Spector – Move Boca to LB
– Benny in for Clark
– Ching in for one of the forwards – great for holding the ball up and killing off the game
Job number one for the rest of the summer (other than finishing qualifying) is to find the depth we need so that we can make tactical subs when we need them. Nothing else matters – and it’s why the Gold Cup is so important.
Hey kinda off topic… has there been word on when tix vs el salvador in SLC go on sale? I live in the area and NEED to be there.
John- I agree. I like how UEFA does it. EURO 2008 with the winner deciding who goes to the Confederations Cup 2009, followed by the World Cup in 2010. The year after the world cup being a quiet summer. I wish we did our Gold Cup two years prior to the World Cup just like UEFA.
i live in mexico city, so i’m just looking for a ticket in the US section w/o any kind of tourist package or hotel, anyone know where i can get one of those? if not i’ll have to sit in the mexico section and fear for my life
Gold Cup should be every four years and be hosted by a different CONCACAF country everytime. The current format is ridiculous.
I really hope that they come into Azteca with the same mindset and team as the 2nd part of this tourney… only in fifa can a team go 2-3 and get second place, Love it!
where’d you get your azteca tickets? i can’t find them for sale yet
@Jimmy Bobo, how did you get tickets for the Azteca game, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get some.
There is no reason to hold the Gold Cup this year. It’s nothing more than a nuisance. That being said, I’ll be at the quarters in Philly and at the final if the B squad mkaes it.
I assume the Iran match is officially off the table now. Not that it was ever on the table.
I’m not nervous about this tournament at all. I think the US will win it convincingly, B team or not. I would only be worried if Mexico was sending their best but they’re not. Our reserves are at the point where they can take on CONCACAF’s best at home and win.
Get serious about the gold cup this year..(?) All of you Azteca fence sitters need to get with it and show in DF on Aug 12
would anyone like to see dempsey up top with altidore and davies as a sub with his speed could wreck havoc in the second half with a tired D
even though i think davies could start all the time
In the Gold Cup Adu needs to take the oppurtunity and do the things necessary to secure a spot (work rate, defensive positioning). I foresee him deployed on the right wing and that could work really well with Cherundolo, an experienced right back behind him. That said I am still nervous for how this tournament will play out.
Our B team will not win the Gold Cup. It may slow our momentum going into Azteca. Still, I already have my tickets to the game at Azteca because I want to see history made when “El Tri” goes down in flames.
I’m worried about the B team being able to win the Gold Cup. There were many good names on the roster, but some head scratchers too.