Photo by ISIphotos.com
Bob Bradley has announced the 24-man squad he will bring into camp for the U.S. national team's upcoming World Cup qualifiers vs. El Salvador on Sept. 5th (9pm, ESPN Classic, Telefutura) and Trinidad & Tobago on Sept. 9th (7pm, ESPN Classic, Galavision).
Here is the full group:
GOALKEEPERS– Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.
DEFENDERS– Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson.
MIDFIELDERS– Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Kyle Beckerman, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Robbie Rogers.
FORWARDS-Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Conor Casey, Robbie Findley.
Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Rogers, Clarence Goodson and Robbie Findley are the new face who didn't make the trip to Mexico earlier this month.
So what starting lineup might we see against El Salvador? This could be the group we see:
—————Davies———-Altidore—————-
Donovan————————————–Dempsey
——————Bradley——Clark——————–
Bornstein—-Bocanegra—-DeMerit—–Cherundolo
————————Howard—————————
Yes, we could see Brian Ching in this match, but Altidore's on a good run and Ching could get the start vs. Trinidad & Tobago. I'm not entirely convinced that Ricardo Clark will get the nod, so a Feilhaber or Torres start shouldn't be ruled out.
Something else to consider is whether Bob Bradley gives Dempsey a start up top and gives Stuart Holden a shot at the right wing. He certainly impressed vs. Mexico and merits a look. You might recall that El Salvador ran the Americans ragged in San Salvador on the flanks so Holden's energy could help counter that. A Dempsey-Davies tandem vs. El Salvador would leave Altidore and Ching rested as a solid tandem to face T&T.
The USA will play host to El Salvador on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah before traveling to Trinidad to face Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday, Sept. 9th.
What do you think of the group? Which player isn't on the list that you think should be? What starting lineup would you like to see against El Salvador (remember that Onyewu is suspended for that match)?
Share your thoughts below.
Robbie,Beckerman,Casey,MArshall??? I really don’t get Mr.BB!!! You have guys like Adu & Beasley who are better players even if they haven’t been playing in the last 10 years, their 20% effort is much more than what I can say about those 4 bums on the list put together!! Kamani Hill,Nyuen,Orozco,Jamal Johnson,J White,Padilla,Beasley,Simek,Whitebread if healthy,etc.. the guys I just named are much more talented and have been playing regulary in Europe and in MExico with the exception of Adu & DB.
Please God make Casey,Marshall,Rogers,Cooper, get canadian citizenship so they are elgible to play for the Canadians!!!lol
I’d like to see Zizzo get called in.
Who selects these players? Since when did the Gold Cup roster take place over a WCQ roster? We might as well bring Beasley back into the mix
My prefered would be
Davies—Altidore
Donovan—————Dempsey
Bradley–Clark
Bornstein-Bocanegra-Demerit-Spector
Howard (duh)
Dulo looked really slow and overmatched vs Mexico, albeit to no real consequence. Spector earned the spot in the Confed cup. Just to put this out there, would anybody play 5 backs kind of like
Jozy-Davies
Donovan——Dempsey
Bradley
Boca
Bornstein-Gooch-Demerit-Spector
Howard
because Boca looked really out of place vs Mexico (I know he plays a lot of left back but that doesn’t prevent the fact that he is why the firsst Mexican goal was scored). Obviously, he is the capitan and vet so you can’t really sit him but still. Anybody think this would work?
Hey Ives, given that Mikey Bradley doesn’t seem to be at his sharpest at the moment, do you think maybe he sits one of these games to give Feilhaber a run as the starting box to box guy?
If we’re gonna go full force then this is my idea.
————-Altidore—-Ching————-
Donovan—————————–Dempsey
————-Feilhaber—-Bradley———-
Bornstein—————————Spector
————-Bocanegra—-DeMerit———-
after the subs….
—————Donovan—-Davies———–
Torres————–Feilhaber——–Holden
———————Bradley—————
Bornstein—————————-Holden
————-Bocanegra—-DeMerit———-
———————Howard—————-
We SHOULD take this match and we SHOULD be able to put out a couple of pleasure players without us( or them for that matter) panicking after a good 65 minutes. It’ll be nice for the crowd and us to see some players out there that can ping the ball around when we’ve gotten ahead. I would predict Torres getting his first international goal. Other than our losing streak in the Azteca, nothing against Mexico should be too definitive. We should take into mind what was too alarmingly bad to be resigned as the fault of smog and crowd intimidation but we’ll be fine without three points in the Azteca.
Beckerman and Findley are probably demagoguery in action to sell seats, but they’re not stiffs.
That said, the altitude point is not a bad one.
These two players might make good energy subs to preserve (or extend) a lead.
Findley is fast enough to be a deep threat at this level and he knows the pitch and is very fit. He’s been a terrific late game sub for RSL as a poor man’s Charlie Davies.