The player pool is pretty confusing right now. New guys looking good, old guys looking less good. I'd be interested to see the various opinions on who's in and who's out right now. Bob, will have to have made his decisions before the Spain match (right?), so this is the body of evidence he has to work with.
Not sure about timing of roster announcement, and if we'll squeeze another friendly in addition to the Spain one...but here's my guess at 23 (noting that Guzan and Holden are out). GK: Howard, Hahnemann, 3rd goalkeeper (any number of choices) DEF: Cherundolo, Chandler, Lichaj, Onyewu, Goodson, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Ream, Bornstein MID: Feilhaber, Edu, Jones, Bradley, Donovan, Dempsey, Spector FW: Altidore, Agudelo, Buddle I'm POSITIVE I'm forgetting someone more deserving (probably in midfield). I think with the right back depth, we might drop one of Lichaj or Spector and add Diskerud. But I'm not sure which one, so I left them both in and Mix out until he gets more USMNT time. Bunbury is of course in the conversation at forward. Davies I don't think will be there, but never count him out.
I think Bunbury should also get a chance at forward, as well as Davies....would like to see another friendly. I seem to recall that in 2009 they let the US keep a bigger roster and then certain players left the team to start the season in Europe, was that a 1 year exception rule or could it happen again?
You are forgetting someone, as you only named 22 players. I would guess we go 8-8-4 or 9-7-4 in terms of distribution of defenders-mids-forwards. I think it's likely that one of the 9 defenders you named will be injured by the Gold Cup, making Bob's decision straightforward. If he has to cut someone, Bornstein or Lichaj seems most likely. I don't think there is an obvious 8th midfielder. Rico Clark is probably the most likely. Bob could also take whoever is in the best form between Robbie Rogers and Freddy Adu. At forward, I like Agudelo and Altidore as virtual locks. I think it's Buddle vs Bunbury for another slot. For the fourth, I don't know what Bob will do, but I would take either Chris Wondolowski or Charlie Davies, based on their MLS form.
Yes I am. In that case add Mix. We could also again drop one of the four RB options I named (Dolo, Lichaj, Chandler and I put Spector in midfield) and add Bunbury as well. If we dropped one, I see it being either Lichaj or Spector as I stated earlier.
Won't happen this year. The Gold Cup is being held during June. In 2009, it started right after the Confederations Cup, in early July. A lot of European camps open up during the first 2 weeks of July.
That decision represents pretty much everything that's awesome/awful about CONCACAF. They basically changed the rules on the fly, but it didn't wind up mattering (I think Benny was the only addition who played) nor was it going to (everyone knew it was going to be an experimental roster anyway).
GK: Howard, Hahnemann, Yelldell (why not) D: Onyewu, Bocanegra, Ream, Demerit, Goodson, Chandler, Cherundolo, Bornstein M: Bradley, Jones, Edu, Feilhaber, Donovan, Dempsey, Spector, Diskerud F: Bunbury, Altidore, Buddle, Agudelo That's 5 center backs (maybe too many but), 2 RBs (3 with Spector), 2 LBs, 3 center midfielders (although Feilhaber can probably play Center), 5 outside midfielders + Chandler. Four forwards
Seeing into the future, I would make only minor changes to this roster. My assumption is that if it is close between a Euro-based player and a MLS-one, BB will choose the European-based player so as to limit disruptions to MLS teams. My only changes are: 1. I can't imagine that Bob Bradley can really rate Jay Demerit still and Whitbred offers an option that won't disrupt a club team; and 2. I think Edson Buddle is done with the USMNT and am hopeful Charlie Davies is healthy, though it would make more sense for for Davies to stay with DC and continue to excel at the club level and for Buddle to use his free time to fill space. Other candidates I might like to see come are Break Shea and a young attacking midfielder, maybe somebody from the U-20s if they do well and someone excels. In the category of blind wishes, Perry Kitchen is mine. Maybe a young goalie like Bill Hamid for the experience if he isn't playing regularly in MLS.
I thought about throwing in Sean Johnson as the third goalie, but I'm not sure Bradley would do that. I also don't know anything about Whitbread, so..... can't really say anything haha. I really doubt Charlie Davies makes the Gold Cup team. I only picked Buddle because, well, who else? And Bradley picked him at least for the squad for these friendlies. I also think we could see Kljestan instead of Diskerud in my lineup if we judge off Bradley subbing in Kljestan yesterday. Still a long ways to go obviously.
I consider him part of the Wondolowski, Buddle, Findley cluster******* of mediocre forwards we have. And sadly, Jozy Altidore is trending towards that group.
Gomez made the WC roster because he was red hot, I haven't heard much at all about him this year so I'm assuming he's gone back to the usual Herc. Great run in 2010 though.
I agree. My lineup is what I would do if I were Bradley, not necessarily what I think Bradley would do (though I remain optimistic).
No, he is basically a crappy player who gets hot (and when he gets hot, it is white hot) about every 3-4 years.
I believe that was a special exemption from CONCACAF due to US having just played in Confederations Cup. ^In response to: I seem to recall that in 2009 they let the US keep a bigger roster and then certain players left the team to start the season in Europe, was that a 1 year exception rule or could it happen again?
I disagree, but he shouldn't be in the discussion right now anyways. Although I do find it funny that Pachuca made the same mistake with him that MLS did when they tried to turn him into a winger. He's just not good enough for that spot.
Exactly. I believe CONCACAF said it they were going to do that for every Gold Cup that falls in the same year as the Confederations Cup. What they should do is not even play that silly cupcake tournament at all. It serves no purpose.
I think thats a little harsh. He epidomizes our forward pool....good at one or two things (e.g. shooting) but nowhere near the full package necessary to make a consistent difference at the International level. Charlie Davies was looking like our first striker since McBride to meet the requirements. Now, we got no one close. The good news is that strikers can peak young so maybe someone not on the radar or even Agudelo will blossom in the next few months.
So yes..........he's still in the mix. If Bob's gonna call up a bench player from a team in the relegation zone of BundII (Buddle), then just about everybody is in the mix. As long as they're "hot" and performing well, which most assuredly isn't Gomez at the moment. Wondolowski scored a pretty nice goal against FCD last week. I do feel that Bob is actually 99% done evaluating players for the Gold Cup. He's had a whole lot of friendlies since the last World Cup, and has called in a great deal of players. We only have one friendly left before the Gold Cup, which is against Spain. That will be used strictly to give what he considers his "A" team work together before the GC begins. Bob could probably name his roster today................ I imagine Real Corona's roster is pretty close: GK: Howard, Hahnemann, Yelldell (why not) D: Onyewu, Bocanegra, Ream, Demerit, Goodson, Chandler, Cherundolo, Bornstein M: Bradley, Jones, Edu, Feilhaber, Donovan, Dempsey, Spector, Diskerud F: Bunbury, Altidore, Buddle, Agudelo Personally I see no reason to have so many centerbacks. RC has 4 "natural CBs"............plus Boca and Spector can play there. (And Edu in an emergency for that matter) I'd take one of Demerit and Goodson off........and bring in some width for the midfield.
Freddy Adu is no where near deserving of a Gold Cup spot yet... Why hasn't anyone mentioned Bedoya ????? He is more deserving of a spot than Adu ........
Wake me up when Calen Carr leads any league in scoring that doesn't involve sponsorship by the local bar and teammates whose body fat percentage is higher than their age.