]___________________Davies___________Altidore_______________________ _____Zahavi_________Lletget_______Bradley____________Donovan______ ____________Garza___________Opara__________Ream_________Alston____________ ____________________________Howard________________________________ Subs Gale Gonzales Fraklin Spector Mwanga Pontius Holden Edu Demspsey Hamid Guzan
What about this Jack McInerney kid? I've heard a lot of good things about him. Youth team followers/Union fans - thoughts?
Pretty good short list from an ESPN Insider article a friend e-mailed to me: GK - Bill Hamid, 19, D.C. United The athletic Virginia native is often compared to a young Tim Howard and for good reason. In May, he became the youngest keeper in MLS history to register a win -- beating Howard's record by four days. D - Ike Opara, 21, San Jose Earthquakes The Wake Forest product and former U.S. U-20 World Cup participant has already made a huge impact in his rookie season, scoring three goals in eight games. The 6-foot-2 center back's silky style is reminiscent of Eddie Pope's. D - Tim Ream, 22, New York Red Bulls An early frontrunner for the MLS Rookie of the Year award, Ream has suffered through a few concentration lapses that led to goals against his team. Still, his tidy feet and pinpoint long passing from the back makes him a can't-miss pick. D - Kevin Alston, 22, New England Revolution The second-year right back has Marvell Wynne-type wheels combined with superior skill and soccer instincts. A hamstring strain cost the former U-17 standout a chance at a first cap back in January. D - Omar Gonzalez, 21, LA Galaxy The giant (6-foot-5) center back was MLS ROY in 2009. He needs to improve his passing and ball skills to compete at the international level but has gained invaluable experience playing alongside former USMNT defender Gregg Berhalter under coach Bruce Arena. D - George John, 23, FC Dallas This rugged center back has played every minute for FCD during his second MLS campaign, and coach Schellas Hyndman raves about his progress every chance he gets. D - Zack Lloyd, 22, FC Dallas The speedy Oklahoma-born right back has started eight games for a team averaging less than one goal-against per game -- pretty impressive for a rook. M - Sam Cronin, 23, San Jose Earthquakes Preki might end up regretting his decision to ship Cronin from Toronto to the West Coast. The defensive-minded midfielder was a regular for the Reds as a rookie, earning a rep as one of the best two-way players in MLS. M - Michael Stephens, 21, LA Galaxy The highly skilled Bradenton product spent four years at UCLA before turning pro. When he wasn't playing college ball, he was toiling for the Galaxy's U-20s under Arena's watchful eye. That has helped make his transition to the first team a seamless one. M - Blair Gavin, 21, Chivas USA After starring for Akron's powerhouse program, he scored a sensational goal in May to open his MLS account. He's already making Goats fans forget about Sacha Kljestan, who bolted for Europe last month. M - Luis Gil, 16, Real Salt Lake 2014 might come too soon for the super-skilled Gil. He hasn't played a minute for the defending champs yet, but that's not stopping some from calling him U.S. Soccer's Next Big Thing. M - Brek Shea, 20, FC Dallas The 6-foot-3 winger can also play up top, and he has a flamboyant swagger seldom seen in attack-minded Americans. We're not just talking about his hair, either. F - Chris Pontius, 23, D.C. United Neither the biggest nor the fastest, Pontius is a hard-working striker with skills, brains and a penchant for scoring highlight-reel goals. Think Joe-Max Moore, folks. F - Jack McInerney, 17, Philadelphia Union The youngster is getting top-shelf coaching in Philly from former U.S. assistants Peter Nowak and John Hackworth. He's been compared to a young Landon Donovan. Enough said.
I'm hoping for at least two "green card wild cards". In particular, an utterly dominating striker previously unknown, a teen hailing from a nearly uninhabited island, whose mom or dad was in the Peace Corps.
I like Mwanga to be a starter in 2014. By then he's going to be really, really good. I think the future for our forwards looks good. Now for left back and right back, that's a whole different story.
I like this, EM. I'd likely put Dempsey, Holden as starters, and Bedoya as a sub. But I'm all for mixing in youth with a core of experience, which is what you've done. A new defensive line is a must, I agree. Edu and Gooch are really tough to exclude, too. I think I'd include them. One question, and apologies if it's been brought up elsewhere, but if we have so many quality midfielders and so few quality forwards, why do we not simply play one forward (Jozy or Charlie or ?, etc.) like Spain and Holland did (atleast that was what I saw on the starting graphic on TV) with Villa and Van Proese? Or even convert an offensive-minded fielder with a scorer's mentality into forward. I wonder this because sometimes it feels like we're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Is Forward such a rigidly defined/specialized position that this can't be done?
I watched the Union match a few days ago. Jack came in in the 2nd-half and he had a rough time. Maybe it was just one of those games, but he didn't look too good. I've also heard good things, though, and the two announcers had glowing words for him.
He gets into great positions to do score. (Best I have seen since McBride at Fulham) He just needs some time to adapt to a more physical game where is even more small than he was at the u-17 level. 4-5 games and he may start a Mwanga like progression as a young striker.
I'm a Union fan. He has potential, and is impressive at 17, but I don't see him in the National team picture for the 2014 cycle. Danny Mwanga on the other hand, if he becomes a citizen within the next two years (which he can), I can see him on the roster. He's by far not the fastest striker, but he has knack for goal, and can finish.
well, from my point, i think: 1-from this 2010 team, feor me a very good team( although unbalanced) i would keep:bradley, edu, benny, altidore, howard, dempsey, donovan, guzan, perhaps torres , spector.if gooch will play in milan i would chose him. i do not mean that they should be starters, but be in thenrooster.starters should be bradley, donovan( the leader), altidore. edu has the quality to be a starter, but i hope we can manage to find even better players at his position. 2- defense be must improve radically- we need better laterals than cherundolo, bocanegra-and bornstein to be an option must improve dramatically. 3-if gooch plays in milan he can be an option, otherwise we must find better options. 4- a midfield with bradley, edu, donovan( the brain), benny with dempsey torres in the bench is already a very strong one, but i really think we could improve it, with better options in the place of benny and edu to be developed 5-altidore alreadiy satisfies me as a very good attack player, but in four years i think, with wise coaches, he can improve vastly to become a world level atack player. davies , if he recovers, will be a satisfactory aditon, but i really hope we will be able to find even better options.and ADU must brought back to the team 6- so we will already have in bradley, donovan, altidore outstanding players, with a good goalkeeper, in edu, benny, spector ,very solid starters, with gooch still an option,with class in the bench with dempsey, torres.and adu. 7- the gaps are: left back, the centrals- we can find perhaps an even better right back than spector,v and although benny is a very good player i really think we are able to find a better player to that position. in the attack, although davies is a good player we should be able to find a better player to start 8-so , IMHO, 2014 will be the first time the USA will field a very strong team, in ervery position, with proper size, with vast improvement in technical and tactical aspects, and if we do not reach at least the quarters i will be very surprised 9- we must find a new coach to refresh our ideas
http://usa2014.blogspot.com/ Looks like a pretty comprehensive list of the possible players in 2014 from what we know now.
Ya thats a nice list, except for the fact that they supposedly rank the players and their chances of making the World Cup in 2014.
Love this quote from Herc: So glad that he got a chance to go to a World Cup and play. He knows it was his one shot and he made it. Way to go Herculez. From a good article about the rise of the Latino player in the US: http://www.kcwizards.com/news/2010/08/us-intl-gomez-sees-big-future-american-soccer