Here we are, the Final Stretch, the Final Roster. I gotta say it's been a great pleasure conducting this exercise as well as receiving your comments. On with the show! The 1954 United States World Cup Roster The Lineup: Starting Goalkeeper: Donald "Pug" Malinowski, age unknown- Harmarville Hurricans, Western Pennsylvania Keystone League -Let the record show that "Pug" put up a rock solid performance for 75 minutes against Mexico in his only match against them. Then the entire team ran out of gas and were promptly slaughtered. Then he went out and played two solid games against Haiti, including a Clean Sheet. So this isn't a case of horrid embarrassment after horrid embarrassment. Starting Right Back: Herman Wecke, age 27- St. Louis Kutis -Wecke didn't see action until the US was pretty much eliminated, then he got two caps against Haiti. A small start for a from-then-on consistant starter in the lineup. The pairing with Keough also works as a positive. Starting Left Back: Harry Keough, age 26- St. Louis Kutis -What can really be said about Harry Keough? I mean, I could spout cliches about him being a personification of try-hard determination, or that apparently he only made one obvious costly mistake in his entire club career or that he went on to be a fantastic soccer coach at the collegiate level... but frankly, he's a rock-solid defender by International Standards. Starting Right Half: William Sheppell, age 28- Newark German-Americans, GASL -Sheppell is listed as a Forward but seems to have spent the entirety of his International Career at Half-Back. In fact, he had been a total fixture at Right-Half for the US in Qualifying for the '50 WC but didn't make the final roster, replaced by Ed McIllveny. Kind of a cruel twist of fate there. Starting Center Half: Rolf Decker, age unknown- Brooklyn Hakoah, ASL -Eligibility is a slight question (a few non-citizens were taken off the roster for the Mexico games and Decker didn't show up until the Haiti games), as well as his effectiveness as a stopper. But it's at least presumable that Decker has the talent to be here and start. Especially since Charlie Colombo won't be here this go-around. Starting Left Half: Walter Bahr, age 27- Philadelphia Nationals, ASL -According to Bahr himself, his specialty was Ball Control. Given his position, he was required to be more of a defensive midfielder than an offensive one. Though he didn't really have a problem with being in on the attack as far as I can recall. Starting Right Wing: Cornelius Casey, age 25- New York Americans, ASL -Again, not too much to go on about. At least not anything pertaining to his soccer skills. That said, he's a naturalized-citizen, born in Ireland and moved to the US when he was 21 years old. That might offer some light to his skills versus those of the 'natives'. Sounds flaky, right? Well, take a look at all the naturalized citizens playing for the National Team throughout the Dark Ages. Starting Right Inside: John "Clarke" Souza, age 33- Team Unknown (Played for New York German-Hungarians, ASL in '51, Ponta Delgada before that) -It's not ideal. You can look up the lineups and see Clarke only played in one of the Qualifiers. And you can see the relatively advanced age and surmise this might be a mistake. Then again, Souza somehow made a World Cup XI in '50, without scoring a single goal to boot. Quite frankly 'Clarke' was the best darn dribbler the US produced at that time, and had both swiftness and stamina. And for a team trying to marshall anything resembling an attack, the best thing possible to a maestro is vital. Starting Center Forward: Bill Looby, age 22- St. Louis Kutis -Again, not ideal. Looby is mainly a winger or an Inside-Forward, but the lack of success at Center-Forward and the need for as many effective weapons as possible forces this hand. The fact that he was the most prolific scorer in Qualifying certainly helps a lot. Starting Left Inside: Ben McLaughlin, age 26- Philadelphia Nationals, ASL -McLaughlin should've been a member of the 1950 Squad. Unlike Sheppell, he wasn't actually left out, and much like Jackie Hynes, he wasn't rubbed out because of something bad being said. McLaughlin couldn't get time off of work and he was planning his wedding. It was just the way things were back then, y'know? He would've been the undisputed left-winger on that squad, and here he's Left-Inside, a position formerly occupied by "Clarke" Souza. Here's what Len Oliver wrote of McLaughlin; “The smaller McLaughlin inspired us with his finesse, dribbling opponents one-on-one throughout the game, lithe, snaking through defenses, setting up other attackers with deadly through pass., a little guy taking on the biggest defenders. bouncing up from bruising tackle, and also possessing a devastating shot.” Starting Left Wing: Ruben Mendoza, age 23- St. Louis Kutis -Mendoza is a late arrival to the National Scene, only appearing in the last Qualifier. Then again he likely would've seized the spot anyways. The Bench: Goalkeepers: Frank Borghi, age 29- St. Louis Simpkins-Ford Gino Gard, age 32- Chicago Slovak, National Soccer League of Chicao -A pair of veterans from the last campaign provide valuable experience from the bench. Borghi probably deserved better than to be benched after the first loss to Mexico, but it is what it is. The former starter and hero of 1950 will be ready if called upon. Gard, believe it or not, was originally supposed to be the starter for the US in Brazil, but something or other happened. Either way, Gard and his club team still dominate their respective league, making his re-selection an easy matter. Defenders: John O'Connell, age unknown- New York Americans, ASL Al Marina, age unknown- Team Unknown (Played for Brooklyn Hispano, ASL in '56) -O'Connell was Keough's original partner at Fullback, and has a peculiar career that mixed between defense and forward. Marina technically doesn't get a cap until a '55 friendly, but a lack of eligible defenders on record (the best one is actually in the US Army during '54) forces the issue. Midfielders: Edward Emberger, age unknown- Uhrik Truckers, ASL Terry Springthorpe, age 30- New York Americans, ASL Larry Surock, age 23- Pompeii SC -There is a remarkable consistancy in the midfield during the '54 Qualifying run, which is good for the starters. However it is supremely bad for picking reserves on this list. Of the three, Emberger is the only one who took part in the Qualifiers. Springthorpe is a defender by nature, and maybe the only one among them who could concievably play Center-Half. Surock's only experience was as a starter for the '52 Olympic Squad. Forwards: Robert Craddock, age 30- Harmarville Hurricans, Western Pennsylvania Keystone League Efrain Chacurian, age 30- New York Swiss, GASL George Athineos, age 30- Brooklyn Hakoah, ASL Otto Decker, age 23- New York Hakoah, ASL -Craddock was one of the bench-warmers for the '50 Squad, and based on that gets the nod over the OTHER THREE Center-Forwards who earned caps in Qualifying. That's the only reason because, frankly, none of them scored any points. Chacurian was the initial Left-Winger during Qualifying, only to be replaced by Mendoza in the last game. Athineos is the predecessor for every Goal-Scoring Star in the ASL who only gets a cup of coffee at the International Level. Decker is much like his brother that he might be an Eligibility issue, and that his lone International Experience was lighting up an English Team looking for blood for two goals, which would've been more impressive if it wasn't a 6-3 beatdown for the Yanks. The Formation: -Standard WM. -To be fair, the WM is utilized at the expense of the Pyramid formation for one key reason- the players in the '50 World Cup chose to switch to it just before the tournament. Incidentally, this led to their most consistant play against comparatively Top-Level competition- shocking England, holding their own against Spain for 78 minutes, managing to equalize against Chile before being put down- whereas all subsequent Qualifying efforts seem to have been conducted with the Pyramid, predictable results following. Believe me, as much as the organization and shocking lack of prep time contributed, the Pyramid didn't help. -Don't believe me about the prep? Here's an excerpt during the '54 Qualifiers; The Mexicans had been training for weeks, and made light of the Americans' slapdash preparations. One newspaper joked that "The American players will meet each other on Wednesday, train on Thursday and play Mexico on Sunday". Actually, it was worse than that. The players were introduced to each other at the Airport on Friday, as they boarded their plane for the flight south. Two days later, the US took to the field on January 10 before a stadium of 60,000 hostile partisans. Mexico's coach anticipated the US crowding the defense, and ordered immediate attacks to surprise them before they could organize. This strategy worked, and Mexico cruised to a 4-0 victory. An editorial described the unexpected challenges of playing an American side with a peculiar analysis: "The main danger of Uncle Sam's team is represented by an absolute ignorance of soccer, which together with the aggressiveness and excellent physical condition of the players, makes our opponents a very difficult team." -The key question seems to be, is John Souza worth more on the pitch than Robert Craddock, who is the one genuine Center-Forward on the roster? Because if Clarke can't cut it, Craddock is inserted and Bill Looby gets moved to Right-Inside. However, I tend to believe Souza's dribbling is superior to anything Craddock can put out, which is why the US attack is arranged the way it is. The Odds of Success: -Taking Mexico's place, the US joins Group 1 with Brazil, Yugoslavia, and France. Oddly, Group Play only consisted of two games for each team instead of three. So Mexico faced Brazil and got stomped on 5-0. Then they faced France and narrowly lost 3-2. I'd make a joke about French Defenses, except that scoring two goals might be a bit much for the US. And remember what I said about the Brazilians in '62- even without Pele or Garrincha, they're just too dang good.