Things were looking bleak for the U.S. national team on the injury front as recently as a month ago. Between Charlie Davies' uncertain future and the knee injuries to Clint Dempsey and Oguchi Onyewu, the U.S. squad had three of its marquee players facing uncertain recovery timetables while others, such as Ricardo Clark and Benny Feilhaber, were also injured.
A month later, the good news is starting to roll in. Dempsey has made a full recovery, capped by his stunning goal for Fulham vs. Juventus, and Charlie Davies was cleared to begin full training with FC Sochaux. With Onyewu and Benny Feilhaber cleared to train, Ricardo Clark poised to assume a starting role for Eintracht Frankfurt, and Stuart Holden shedding the crutches and cast he'd used to heal a broken leg, the U.S. national team is looking as healthy as it has been since the summer.
In case you missed it, here is my Fox Soccer story on a memorable Thursday that saw Dempsey's goal and the good news about Charlie Davies give American fans plenty to feel good about, which is needed given al the MLS strike talk.
Are you starting to think the U.S. national team could be at full strength for the World Cup? Still in awe of Dempsey's goal? Does all the good news surrounding the national team make it easier to cope with the MLS labor battle?
Share your thoughts below.
oh, and Howard in net. duh…
———Jozy-Davies——–
Beasely -Donovan–Edu-Dempsey
Spector-Gooch-DeMerit-Bocanegra
sub Jones or Bradley in for Davies, shift Donovan to left outside and Dempsey up top
Oh, brother. And this is AFTER I explained I was being facetious?
I thought it was pretty obvious after I mentioned his form with the Revs.
BWAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! Have you seen clint’s wife? g’dam!
Buck buck buck…
if Donovan Dempsey Edu and Beasely can hold thier current form, if Onyewu is fit, if Jones works out and Davies can play for 30-40 minutes I think the US will make a deep run, possibly earn a draw against england and beat Germany.
Onyewu is the key though…
may i have some of the crack you’re smoking?
if he kept his place and played like a good modest footballer fulham would have gone to penalites. it was a brilliant goal and he took a brilliant chance. you are saying foolish things.
What is wrong with Demerit? I thought he had played well.
I really think Jones will make it back based on his comments this week. We then go from a good player to a player who was rated the 4th best midfielder in the German league. That is big.
You better not have just jinxed this team!!! (and if so let this serve as a reverse jinx)
Isaac, you ought to know better. it wasn’t BB that allowed the CC success it was the Brazilians that made that run possible. If they didn’t beat Italy…blah freakin’ blah, blah, blah..
I thought i’d post it before some other BB hater did it…LOL
I’m pretty fed up with all the BB hate. Kind of looking forward to our first Sven experience so everyone who wants an international coach can shut to heck up. these are the same people who were clamoring for Kenny (can’t-find-pt-in-the-Colaship-even-though-my-dad-is-known-in-England)Cooper, etc.. Leave the heavy lifting to those in the know people. Unless you’ve been in camp and seen everyone (he’s looked at like a bajillion players) that play in those camps as much as BB you can have a seat and shut it.
Enjoy the progress the USMNT has made in the last four years. I’m trying to remember the last time the US was in FIFA final. Oh it’s only happened once and it was under…that’s right…BB.
Well, it could be phonetic if you speak Canadian.
Dough-t. That’s how Terrance and Phillip wouuld say it.
Thanks for the speling lessons guys
I think it’s pretty safe to say the U.S. will trot out a 4-4-2 this summer because that’s what we always do. I think it would be foolish to try something else on the eve of a major tournament.
It was a joke. Granted, lots of Yanks do have trouble in Europe, but all those “doughts” about Dempsey look pretty funny in hindsight.
This truly has been a great couple of days for U.S. soccer fans.
Now we just need good news on the MLS front, and I will contentedly return to my post-Confed Cup buzz (the one that got so rudely interrupted by all this bad news)…
I love that movie. we probably have a completely different taste in comedy.
You mean the same coaching that got us to the Confederations Cup final right?
————————Altidore———————-
Donovan——————Dempsey—————-Davies
————–Feilhaber———–Bradley————-
Bocanegra———-Onyewu—-Spector——–Cherundolo
————————Howard————————
Our best lineup in my opinion(assuming Jones isn’t there, in which case I’d insert Jones for Feilhaber).
ohhh no. i knew this was going to happen. Ives you should cover this
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-santos-redbulls-mlslabor
apparently, robinho is “injured” and will not play tomorrow
Now that sir, is funny.
What is not funny is John Terry’s car in your driveway.
I’ll just assume this is a joke.
Or maybe a repost of something you said when he first signed and you’re now eating crow for.
john terry wanted to say hi to his wife
Hey, why does Dempsey have a black eye?
If anything, I think he needs to tone it down a bit. Clint is over his head and will never make it with Fulham in the Premier League. His tricks may work for him with the Revs, but he’ll never get away with that stuff in Europe. He should come back to MLS before he embarrasses himself.
Given English spelling rules, it might as well be. The reason it’s spelled the way it is is not because of some “silent B” that used to be in the word but is no longer (like the K and G in knight), but because a bunch of stuffy Brits wanted the word to resemble the Latin word “dubitare,” meaning “to doubt.”
That said, “dought” is a pretty heinous spelling error, and coincidentally, but appropriately, would be pronounced “daft” if it followed traditional English pronunciation guidelines (e.d. drought = draft).
What!? How is the NBA a tired league? As Apposed to what the Euro-League, you have to be kidding right!? So, having all the best players in the world makes the league tired, Lol? If that’s the logic then the EPL and La Liga need to be done away with leaving room for MLS to reign supreme…OMG! Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean you should make an *** out of yourself, SERIOUSLY!
Knew it would happen. I think we can beat England with a full team. But for me a full team includes Jones. I just think he is a vital part for the style of play we have and bringing in his experience, skill and ability is a major missing link for the CDM role. Edu can do an fine job, MB is more box to box and Clark isn’t near what we need. But Jones is just something else we don’t have. But with or without him we will give England a run…
It’s looking like we could have everyone back, but I don’t think we’ll be at full strength. Gooch, Davies and Holden won’t have many games to get back to their best. It’s still better than not having them.
“Doubt – its like ‘drought’ minus the r, right?”
certainly getting out of our group would not be a miracle, but buck isn’t reaching to the far extremes of reality with his opinion. Its entirely possible, certainly with RoboBob’s coaching, that we go three and out.
For the record, I think we should get out of our group, and if we don’t, we riot.
Honestly, I’ll be happy when we make it out of the group and into the quarterfinals in South Africa.
Hell, I’ll be happier when we WIN AT THE AZTECA.
That would be nirvana.
People are trying to make it sound like Chris Paul’s nickname (CP3). I agree its stupid and the NBA is a tired league.
Wow! You are a real downer. Have some faith in the boys, a lot of them are playing well and will be playing like they have something to prove. Another Confed Cup miracle can happen.
We may very well be at full strength. Problem is that it won’t be good enough and no matter what team we field, we will most likely go 3 and out. We are not strong enough to go far
Why dought Charlie. He’s clearly of a different mind set then just about any athlete, with the exception of a few NFL’ers. Guys like Emmit Smith playing with a broken shoulder and still getting it done.
I certainly expect him to be fully fit by the end of April and fine tuning his game in May.
Some basic research would probably turn up the information you’re looking for. I personally don’t care about names and such. Another passenger in the car died, so I am sure that the driver is devastated.
That nickname reminds me of that terrible Chris Rock movie “CB4”.
I hope you “knocked on wood” when you wrote this post, Ives 😉
I assume you’re not getting any info on how the negotiations are going in Washington?
Exactly.Your second sentence is spot on, and I think USMNT players figured this out. Altidore mentioned this after the Netherlands
game. In the final 3rd the US has to get more shots on goal, even if some are from distance, if the USMNT will be successful at the WC.
any idea if gooch moves to a different club this summer? it must’ve been frustrating to have been bench fodder earlier in the year
Go watch CourtTV. This is a soccer news site.
*bleak
nitpicking, i love your writing ives.
Just because it hasn’t been covered by the soccer press in no way means that it isn’t being dealt with by the police. It’s a long process to prosecute someone and I’m willing to bet that the driver isn’t going to be escaping justice at all.
why? i dig
Yes, I think the USMNT will be at full strength, assuming no more injuries. I think seeing how Davies returns and plays is a key. The US will need him to make any kind of run in the WC.
Love that Dempsey tried the type of shot he did (and was rewarded with the goal). The US players in general need to be open to more spontanity like that.
The dumb nickname, I mean.
Any updates on Onyewu? Last I heard he had returned to training but I wonder if anyone knows how long til he might be ready for a competitive match.
Onyewu is the injured (or recovering) player I’m most concerned about. I figure Davies is a bit too much of a longshot to make any kind of impact in the World Cup, but I’d love to be wrong.
Please end this “CD9” business.
Ives,
I think it’s great to follow up on CD9, but how about a piece on the culprit of the accident? I don’t think anything came out about regarding the investigation and who the hell was at fault. Charlie certainly violated curfew, but it sounds like the driver violated some laws and no one has really reported much on it.
I’m not sure what the deal is, but the driver must have been pretty well-connected to not be named and their alleged guilt not followed up on. Just a thought.
its all the Get Well Cards I sent…along with my grandmas recipe for any injury…chicken noodle soup