The 20 and Under Club

[cpwilson80]

After reviewing the lengthy, excellent Long View thread, I started thinking about the next big test in our improvement: 2010. And I think the best measure of that improvement will be in the "20 and Under Club."

It's not surprising that we built the last two rosters around very experienced players (Reyna, McBride, Pope for both; add the keepers for 2002 and Donovan/Beasley in 2006.) However, it's the group of players with 20 or fewer caps that seemed to provide us with the extra edge in 2002, and that - for one reason or another - didn't provide us with as much in 2006.

In 2002, the group was:
Beasely
Donovan
Mastroeni
Mathis
O'Brien
Wolff

In 2006, the group was:
Albright
Ching
Conrad
Dempsey
Hahnemann
Howard
Johnson
Onyewu

In hindsight, the difference is striking. 6 field players in both groups, but the 2002 group accounted for most of our offensive production, whereas the 2006 group had only Conrad and Dempsey as the bright spots.

I don't want to get in to how this happened. We've hashed it out - 2002 good, 2006 bad. What I think this demonstrates is the importance of not just the starting 11, but all 23 players in a World Cup campaign.

With that in mind, I want to look forward to 2010. Here are our experienced guys who are almost guaranteed a spot on the roster (all figures from Sam's Army site):

Donovan - 98 caps
Beasley - 72 caps
Bocanegra - 54 caps
Cherundolo - 43 caps
Onyewu - 29 caps
Howard - 27 caps

What's exciting (and a bit scary) is that our 20 and Under Club could feature guys that will be critical to our success in a World Cup. Here are some guys who would qualify today:

Bradley - 15 caps
Feilhaber - 15 caps
Bornstein - 12 caps
Spector - 11 caps
Pearce - 10 caps
Kljestan - 5 caps
Gaven - 5 caps
Edu - 4 caps
Adu - 4 caps
Altidore - 3 caps

Not all of those guys will be in this group come June 2010, but there is some great potential here for proven, young talent.

[cpwilson80]

To finish the thought, from this time in 2004 we played 42 games before the World Cup. That tally includes:

- 18 World Cup Qualifiers (home and away, semis, and Hex)
- 6 Gold Cup games
- 18 friendlies, 6 of which features MLS-heavy lineups

While it appears that many of the guys I just listed will hit the 20-cap mark, we're still open to all attacking options. A guy on the Olympics team like Davies or Findley could make a break-through later on in the cycle.

[Maximum Optimal]

There are some with zero caps worth keeping in mind too:
Rogers, McCarty, Smith

And a few other lightly capped ones you that didn't make your list:
Parkhurst, Mapp, Guzan

[cpwilson80]

There are some with zero caps worth keeping in mind too:
Rogers, McCarty, Smith

And a few other lightly capped ones you that didn't make your list:
Parkhurst, Mapp, Guzan

After my first glimpse of him in the Olympic qualifiers, I'd add Orozco to the list, too.

[cpwilson80]

Michael Bradley, come on down off the list.

Bradley reached his 20th cap in the first leg against Barbados. Pearce is closing fast with 16 caps, and will most likely be off this list by the end of the year.

[ugaaccountant]

To finish the thought, from this time in 2004 we played 42 games before the World Cup.

So we should be able to get Bradley above 50 caps by world cup time. Good to know.

[Rainer24]

Yeah, Johann Smith (never) played for the mighty Bolton Wanderers. He must be deserving of a cap. Let the guy at least get some PT and produce somewhere and produce before mentioning him as a possibility.

[prowazekii]

Yeah, Johann Smith (never) played for the mighty Bolton Wanderers. He must be deserving of a cap. Let the guy at least get some PT and produce somewhere and produce before mentioning him as a possibility.

Yeah. He barely saw the field for Carlisle United and Stockport County. He is light years from being qualified to play for the NT. Though I guess it would be a slight improvement over BB's 4-6-0 lineup.

[cpwilson80]

Dusting off all the old threads...a year later, here's an update on our young core (cap totals from the Confed Cup announcement (http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_14745606.html).)

Bradley (29 caps) and Pearce (23 caps) are no longer on the list and Clark (19) will probably be off after the tournament, but we still have:

Feilhaber - 17
Kljestan - 17
Bornstein - 15
Adu - 13
Spector - 13
Altidore - 11

Though not on the roster, Edu is at 11 caps. Also, add on Davies (6) and Torres (5) as potential difference-makers.