Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com
We are now less than a month away from knowing the 23-man roster for the U.S. World Cup team and there are still a bunch of unanswered questions and extremely tough decisions for Bob Bradley to make.
Does he bring Edson Buddle or Herculez Gomez? Does he ignore DaMarcus Beasley's lack of playing time and bring him anyway? Will Charlie Davies be able to make it all the way back? Does he find a place for Brian Ching?
A lot of the questions that still remain will be answered in the coming weeks as the U.S. team's pre-World Cup training camp kicks off, and friendlies against the Czech Republic and Turkey help paint a clearer picture of who should be on the roster.
Here is our final edition of SBI 23 for 2010, with the 23-man roster we see Bradley taking to South Africa (as well as the starting lineup we see facing England on June 12):
SBI 23 for 2010 (May 2010 edition)
GOALKEEPERS– Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, Brad Guzan
DEFENDERS– Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Bornstein, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson
MIDFIELDERS– Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, DaMarcus Beasley, Benny Feilhaber, Jose Francisco Torres, Maurice Edu, Alejandro Bedoya
FORWARDS- Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Edson Buddle
Left off last team– Conor Casey
New additions– Edson Buddle
Thoughts on this month's selections:
Choosing between Buddle, Gomez and Brian Ching wasn't easy at all, but Ching's injury status makes him a risky pick and while expect Bob Bradley to take either Ching or Conor Casey, it seems so tough to leave either Buddle or Gomez behind.
I would have a hard time leaving Gomez behind given his recent form, but Bradley's comments about Buddle and Gomez would seem to suggest that he prefers Buddle, and it's unlikely both forwards would make the team. If Davies can't go, that could pave the way for Gomez to make the squad, though Bradley might be more inclined to include Ching.
Beasley almost didn't make this squad but I really can't imagine Bradley leaving Beasley off even give his lack of playing time. Beasley showed in the friendly vs. the Netherlands that he can still bring some good qualities to the table and he's the most experienced winger in the pool.
Once again, our squad has one less defender and one more midfielder than most teams take. This seems like an even more likely scenario after hearing Bradley talk about the versatility of his defenders and how that will impact the positional breakdown of the roster.
So what will the USA starting lineup look like against England? Here is our projected starting lineup for the June 12th World Cup opener:
USA vs. ENGLAND
—————-Altidore————Dempsey————
Donovan——————————————Holden
——————-Bradley——-Edu——————–
Bocanegra—–Onyewu——-DeMerit———Spector
————————–Howard————————-
——————–
What do you think of the squad? who isn't on the team that you feel should be? What do you think of the projected starting lineup vs. England?
Share your thoughts below.