Starting XI for Gold Cup

[braun]

Dolo-Onyewu-Boca-Spector
Dempsey-Donovan-Mastro-Beasley
Johnson-Twellman
Howard (GK)

I expect Johnson and Mastro to be in Europe by then, so the only non-YAs are Donovan and Twellman.

A likely trend for the USMNT methinks.

[dcsundevil2002]

Here is my starting line-up for the Gold Cup.

Cooper - Twellman

Convey - Dempsey - Bradley - Donovan

Bocanegra - Boswell - Onyewu - DeMerit

Keller

Not sure if Carlos plays left back, but I really can't even imagine who we will have for left back, so I put him there.

If I thought it were possible, I would rather see the US play a 3-5-2 and have Ricardo Clark play in the defensive midfield with Bradley, but I doubt that we would run out with that thin of a defensive formation.

[dcsundevil2002]

Dolo-Onyewu-Boca-Spector
Dempsey-Donovan-Mastro-Beasley
Johnson-Twellman
Howard (GK)

I expect Johnson and Mastro to be in Europe by then, so the only non-YAs are Donovan and Twellman.

A likely trend for the USMNT methinks.

Mastro is gonna have to sit the first two matches, due to his World Cup Red card...or is it just one more?

[IndividualEleven]

----------------------Cooper----------------------
---------------------Donovan---------------------
--------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------Deuce---------
---Beez-------------Feilhaber---------------------
----------------Clark------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
--Bornstein----------------------------------Dolo--
----------------Boca----------Gooch---------------
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------Howard------------------------


If Beez is back then he starts close to flanks with the midfield shifted.

Having a holding midfielder(feilhaber) and a destroyer(mastroeni) together is not good chemically.

Donovan in a withdrawn role acting as playmaker/scorer forward.

Boca at his best position.

Twellman? Camp fodder. Coop has the better skillset and physical tools.

Johnson? I'd rather have Coop and LD up top with this formation. EJ has a lot to prove this year.

Bornstein. Either him or Dunnivant. I want a true left back at left back and both are capable.

Donovan and Beasley in a diamond? When will postyers learn?

[Beazley17]

keller/howard gooch beasley donovan dempsey dolo boca convey johnson clark and bornstein
no posistions

[Dave216J]

Keller/Howard

Cherundolo - Gooch - Boca - Dunivant

Dempsey - Mastroeni/Clark - Feilhaber/Bradley - Beasley

Donovan

Form Striker (EJ/Ching/Cooper)

Bench:
Dmid, Center Mid, GK, 2 Forwards, Wolff (for Donovan), Gibbs, Specter

[Adam Zebrowski]

appears the line-ups infer GOLD CUP gets the best available usmnt, while copa america gets the leftovers??

really doubt anyone doubles both tourneys

[amesfirequakes]

appears the line-ups infer GOLD CUP gets the best available usmnt, while copa america gets the leftovers??

really doubt anyone doubles both tourneys

You think the US can name two different rosters for each tournament? I can't say that I agree with you. The US faced a similar situation in 2003 with the Confederations Cup in France from June 18-29 and then the Gold Cup here in the States from July 12-27. We had a 23-man roster (http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_16-CCCR03.html) for the CC and an 18-man roster (http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_16-CGCR03.html) for the GC. 12 players who played in France played in the GC too (Beasley, Bocanegra, Califf, Convey, Donovan, Gibbs, Hejduk, Lewis, Mastroeni, Mathis, Stewart, Vanney).

Anyway, my starting 11 (4-4-2) at the Gold Cup would be:
Howard
Cherundolo/DeMerit -- Gibbs/Gooch/Boswell/Conrad -- Dunivant/Boca
Feilhaber/Bradley
Deuce -- Donovan -- Convey
Cooper -- Johnson

[Adam Zebrowski]

from the euros perspective, don't you want to give tose players some vacation time...long euro season, and two tourneys is a long time...

mls, dio you really want to keep the mls nats aways in the middle of the season...

plus, we've should have 35 guys between mls and europe to field two teams...

bradley gets LIVE action for a number of guys, and we could add in some u-23's olympic guys into the mix too....

the question becomes which tourney for the A team, or do you field two squads of equal value...

and if GOLD CUP winner gets you to CONFED CUP 2009, do you use the best at gold cup....

personally, i'd go the gold cup squad being stronger, then use second level guys plus u-23 in copa america....

we'd learn a lot about the 2nd level guys and the u-23 in copa and it might be long term beneficial...

copa 1993...bora went with a B squad.. 1995, sampson went with the A squad

[beansontoast]

[quote}

----------------------Cooper----------------------
---------------------Donovan---------------------
--------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------Deuce---------
---Beez-------------Feilhaber---------------------
----------------Clark------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
--Bornstein----------------------------------Dolo--
----------------Boca----------Gooch---------------
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------Howard------------------------

I like this formation...I would be very happy to see Bradley give this a try.

[dcsundevil2002]

from the euros perspective, don't you want to give tose players some vacation time...long euro season, and two tourneys is a long time...

mls, dio you really want to keep the mls nats aways in the middle of the season...

plus, we've should have 35 guys between mls and europe to field two teams...

bradley gets LIVE action for a number of guys, and we could add in some u-23's olympic guys into the mix too....

the question becomes which tourney for the A team, or do you field two squads of equal value...

and if GOLD CUP winner gets you to CONFED CUP 2009, do you use the best at gold cup....

personally, i'd go the gold cup squad being stronger, then use second level guys plus u-23 in copa america....

we'd learn a lot about the 2nd level guys and the u-23 in copa and it might be long term beneficial...

copa 1993...bora went with a B squad.. 1995, sampson went with the A squad

I covered this very topic here (http://dcsundevil.blogspot.com/2007/01/gold-cup-or-copa-america.html).

[Adam Zebrowski]

i think we're in 100% agreement on this matter, based on your blog...

[SoCalian]

----------------------------Ching-------------
-----------Donovan---------------------------
----------------------------------------------
-Convey------------------------------Duece--
-------------Beasley--------------------------
--------------------------Mastro--------------
----------------------------------------------
--Boca----------------------------------Dolo--
--------------DeMerit--------Gooch------------
-----------------------------------------------
----------------------Howard------------------

I would let some of the other guys like Feilhaber get time in CA

[FCmagic01]

Howard
Demirit-Gooch-Gibbs
Clark
Dempsey-Donovan-Beasley
E.Johnson-Cooper

subs
Hahnemann
Bocanegra
Dolo
Convey
Wynne
Davies
Cunningham
B.Davis
Klien

Gold Cup should def. get the better squad of the two but sending a quality squad to Copa America is also key we can earn lots of respect if we get some quality results out of that tourney.

Reis
Albright-Conrad-Robinson-Pearce
Mastroeni
Noonan-Ngyuen
Mapp
Jaqua-Wolff

Subs:
Westburg
K.Hill
J.Johnson
Quaranta
Califf
Rolfe
Caroll
Burciaga Jr.
Mathis
Olsen
B.West

[SoCalian]

wait, why did you list Mathis, even as a sub?

[Scott e Dio93]

Why take an A team & so many old players?

Shoot....my team base many U-23 players with european base players ( no Donovan. We need to find replace and not depend on him too much ).

[Scott e Dio93]

Why take Donovan, Dolo, Keller, Boca, Beez, Gooch, Mastro etc..? They're Copa America material. Hopefully, Bob Bradley would take more risk.

Hell!!! We should win this with our Youth Team!!!

My Starting Team:

Spectre Callif Hiddrick Pearce

Rogers Bradley Benny Adu

Davies Jozy

Bench: Hill, Dj Countess ( why give up on this kid ? ), Smith, White, Nguyen, Simek,Lewis, borcher, Rossi ( if we could get him. he could be our #10 ), Zimmerman, Strugis, Jemal Johnson, Dax ( not a starter with Dallas, let's risk it), Ferrari,

[Marchetti]

Am I correct in assuming that everyone wants the US to field an experimental squad for the Gold Cup in order to bring a full-strength squad to the Copa America?

If that's the case, I'd prefer to have two completely different squads for the two tourneys. Give a bunch of U-20's, foreign based youth internationals, and rookie/sophomore MLS'ers the chance to play at the international stage, and see how they fare against regional teams.

Then bring the big guns to Copa America. Let's hope those guns actually show up, of course.

[dcsundevil2002]

Why take Donovan, Dolo, Keller, Boca, Beez, Gooch, Mastro etc..? They're Copa America material. Hopefully, Bob Bradley would take more risk.

Hell!!! We should win this with our Youth Team!!!

My Starting Team:

Spectre Callif Hiddrick Pearce

Rogers Bradley Benny Adu

Davies Jozy

Bench: Hill, Dj Countess ( why give up on this kid ? ), Smith, White, Nguyen, Simek,Lewis, borcher, Rossi ( if we could get him. he could be our #10 ), Zimmerman, Strugis, Jemal Johnson, Dax ( not a starter with Dallas, let's risk it), Ferrari,

So you are saying that we should just toss in the towel for our own regional Championship?

Yes I know, the Gold Cup is a joke of a tournament, but it is the championship of our region and winning it does allow us to play another international tournament in the Confederations Cup.

Sending a group of greener guys to the Copa America would be a much smarter idea from a developmental standpoint, as it would give guys like Spector, Bradley, Benny, Adu, Altidore, Wynne and Howard a crash course in what an international tournament is all about. I think that their development is more important that winning that tournament. Win the Gold Cup, use the Copa America as a large stone to break in the newer guys, go to the Confederations Cup and get a very good sense of how things are in South Africa.

[RedRevs]

you could send good squads to both, but performing well in the CA is important to show we're not a joke in a major tournament.

our U-23s can make the semis of the Gold Cup no problem.

Gold Cup:

-------------Guzan-------------------
-Wynne--Parkhurst-Marshall--Burciaga--
----------Feilheiber-Bradley-----------
--------------------------------------
--Noonan-------------------Davis-----
-----------Altidore--Jaqua------------
Bench:
Westburg
K.Hill
J.Johnson
Quaranta
Califf
Davies
Caroll
Rogers
Spector
Robinson x2

This will be a true testing ground for fringe 2010 players

then send the vets for the Copa America and see who has some left

----------------Reis------------------
--Dolo-----Gooch----Boca----Pearce--
----------Mastro---------------------
-----------------Dempsey------------
--Donovan-------------------Convey--
--------------------------------------
---------Twellman--Cooper------------
Bench:
Beasley
Bornstein
Gibbs
Hahnemann
Bocanegra
Dolo
Convey
Rolfe
Ching
Adu


Yeah i know my subs probably aren't that accurate but I hope you catch my drift