Gold Cup - July 2013

I know it's way early, but anyone want to start guessing at the roster for the Gold Cup next summer? I'm guessing this squad will be mostly MLS players, with a few fringe Euros thrown in. The big names will not be there - no need to risk injury for meaningless games. There are three big qualifiers in June right before this tournament starts, so I think the A-squad will be sent on vacation afterwards.

Klinsi will probably want to give his young players, plus fringe World Cup players, a chance to make an impression. I also suspect he won't want to take more than 1 player per MLS team (since they'll miss games). SKC and Houston are only teams with multiple players in running (for me). Here's a very early guess:

G: Hall, Johnson, Hamid - All in competition for a spot in 2018. Howard and Guzan don't need to be there for this tourney.

CB: Whitbread, Ream, Gonzalez, Besler. If any of these guys play in the qualifiers, then they won't be there. Will Packwood and John Anthony Brooks are also options (if they decide to play for us). No need for Boca, Goodson, Onyewu or Cameron - they'll probably be playing the qualifiers anyway.

FB: Lichaj, Castillo, Pearce, Beitashour. Lichaj and Castillo will battle for places on final WC roster. Dolo, Johnson, Chandler can sit this one out. Spector and Parkhurst have already played in mutiple Gold Cups.

CM: Diskeruud, O'Brien, McCarty, Feilhaber. Very tough call here. Beckerman is too old - don't need him in this tournament. Feilhaber needs to get his mojo back - will depend which club he signs for next year. I'm on the fence with Kljestan, but he's already played in Gold Cups before, so I don't think he needs the experience.

Wingers: Gatt, Shea, Adu, Corona. Very tough selection. Bedoya, DeLeon, Gyau, Gil, and Nguyen all miss out by a hair. Went for younger players with future potential. One could break through for WC 2014.

Forwards: Agudelo, Bruin, Sapong, Wooten. Some tough calls here. Young euros also have a shot (Bobby Wood, Tony Taylor, Conor Doyle). Cooper and EJ are options, but neither needs the Gold Cup experience and both will be in-season. Boyd will probably play the qualifiers, hence his omission.

I am not going to speculate just yet on who should be on this roster.
I will say this, the thing I hated about the 2009 Roster is that we had guys like Adu and Davies play in the Group stage and then leave for their Euro Clubs when we really needed them in the knock out stages.

I hope something like that does not happen again.

If Holden can play the second half of the Premier League season, this actually might be a good tournament to help him get back to 100%. Though not sure if he would want to take the injury risk.

Hesitant to post as I am not sure about scheduling conflicts. Mix and GATT play in summer league. What about MLS? Like Clenbutrol says, some players in Europe mite have to leave to join their teams, etc.

Players I'd like to see

------------Guzan-------
Btshour-John--Hedges---Lichaj
----Zusi----Williams--Corona
---Wenger---Boyd---Shea---

Good point about Mix and Gatt, but I have a feeling both could be at new teams by next summer. As for your line-up, Zusi, Williams and Boyd will all likely play a role in qualifers. No need for them to do double-duty at Gold Cup.

Keep an eye on the Carribbean Cup going on right now. This is a qualifying tournament for the Gold Cup.

After two games, Jamaica and T&T are in last place in their groups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Caribbean_Cup

We could be looking at some real minnows like the Dominican Republic and Martinique playing in the Gold Cup this summer.

Yeah I've noticed these results too. What's the deal down there? Do the teams not take the qualifying for the "less" important Gold Cup seriously? Does Jamaica have a really weak roster?

Even so, I can't imagine losing to French Guyana and failing to score against Martinique.

Educated guess? The same that's going on everywhere. T&T and Jmen only have domestic squads. They aren't very deep, but in the past it was good enough. The other countries probably have their full squads and are improving in their organization, training and tactics. They aren't the complete jokes they used to be and full squads are now needed to beat them.

Boyd will not start in quali's. I put him in for pt.

Zusi is not in Internat shape. I put him in for conditioning and more experience, etc.

Williams is a longer subject, but he would probably be called to his club before the tournament ends anyway so we would likely see him plus his replacement after he takes off.

I agree with you in an overall sense. When Jamaica and T&T lack their Euro-based talent, they're quite average.

When you look at their talent on these Camp Cupcake-like rosters (North American and Scandinavian based), the talent disparity between the nations is pretty evident however.

T&T's MLS based talent has dried up. They have one MLS-based player on this roster, and one player from Orlando City. Other than that it's T&T based guys as well as a couple from Vietnam.
[Keon Daniel is missing for T&T. Don't know why]. When you look at what would be considered T&T's "A" team right now, it's not much more impressive. They're in bad shape. They've called up players from Thailand and Khazakstan recently.

Jamaica has a plethora of guys from MLS on their roster. Omar Cummings, Ryan Johnson, Darren Mattocks, Lovel Palmer, Shaver Thomas, Dicoy Williams. Add to that 5 Scandinavian-based players. You look at their squad, and they should be good enough to do well in this competition. They've just not performed. But there's some talent there.............................

Well T&T went through now. Jamaica may actually have it a bit tougher, as they may end up needing a 2 goal win against Cuba to go through.

Looks like Haiti and Trinidad made it.

@ussoccer: Haiti and Trinidad & Tobago have reached the semifinals of the Caribbean Cup, and are now qualified for the 2013 Gold Cup @Concacaf

I don't envy Klinsmann on this tournament, as I don't like the Hex year Gold Cup at all. In a vacuum, I would take every single top MLSer and fill in the rest of the squad with the 24-46 players on the depth chart who play abroad.

But Klinsmann will want, and probably needs, to make a statement with this tournament. So I would expect a squad close to Mexico's in 2009.

Disagree, I don't think there's any need to make a statement. I'd be fine with them getting to the final and losing to Mexico - won't mean a thing come 2014.

His GC2013 squad will (likely be) dependent somewhat on the overall results and table within the Hex after those first 6 of 10 match dates.

I'm not sure I'd agree that JK "will want, and probably needs, to make a statement with this tournament." The coach's main task in 2013 will be getting the team successfully through the Hex and then focusing on the WC itself. I'm not certain what kind of "statement" the USMNT can make in this hosted GC tournament (with no Confed Cup spot on the line, and with Mexico having just come out of a trip to Brazil for the 2013 Confed Cup).

Exactly.

If the US is on 18 points after 6 games of the Hex, I'd be fine with Canada defeating Haiti in the Gold Cup 2013 final.

It will be interesting to see how all the Hex nations approach and utilize the 2013 GC (assuming all 6 of them are qualified/entered into that July tournament).

I'm not saying Klinsmann needs a "statement" due to something like his job being in danger. His salary will keep him safe unless the US is 0-0-4 in the Hex.

Qualifying for the World Cup is a given - it has to be done. But even though this is the 2nd-tier Gold Cup, the symbolic value for the Klinsmann "revolution" of officially becoming top dog in CONCACAF again has to be tempting.

In 2013, "officially becoming top dog in CONCACAF" will be done (more) via the Hex, and not via the GC results (on their own).

The 2013 Gold Cup very likely could be a "B-squad level" (if not "C-squad level" for a few teams) competition.

The "symbolism" of success that can be achieved in 2013 will mean next to nothing come 2014.

JK's "revolution" is (or could/should be*) about how far he can take the team globally at the 2014 WC. (What he does in his own region during 2013 isn't a part or reflection of any possible "revolution.")

*I'm guessing guys like Gulati or Klinsmann would actually tell you that JK is more charged with laying the ground work for the US to "do better" in the 2018 and 2022 tournaments (and beyond) and not necessarily immediately within this first cycle with JK managing/coaching the senior team.

I'll definitely agree with adding "before WC 2014" to my statement.

Ream isn't very good, give Hines a shot instead.

I seriously think that Jamaica is tanking Gold Cup qualifying on purpose to focus all their energy on the Hex. Along with recruiting English players, it seems like a distinct possibility.

Here is my-way-too-early-to-be-acurate-in-any-way prediciton:

25-man B-TEAM:

GK: Guzan, Kennedy, Johnson
CB: Berry, Brooks, Whitbread, Ream (Besler/Gonzalez will be A-Team by then)
FB: Beitashour, Lichaj, Garza, Spector
MF: Kitchen, Corona, Holden, Diskerud, O'Brien, Gyau, McCarty, Bedoya, Shea
F: Bruin, Gatt, Agudelo, Wood, Boyd

Altho people seem to be disparaging the Gold Cup, it falls nicely in between the first and second halves of the Hex and the hex is the last real competition before the WC itself.

We should have some idea of what our strengths and weaknesses are by the time the Gold Cup kicks off, which gives us a great opportunity to check out who the players are who could help us in the second half of the hex.

If they really wanted to tank this, why did they bring a substantial portion of their A-team? And what good does tanking do anyway? If they want to focus on the Hex, then focus on the hex and bring scrubs to the Gold Cup.

Jamaica fell 1-0 to Cuba.

Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti and Martinique are the Caribbean Gold Cup representatives