Stars and Stripes offer an early prediction on the Roster: http://www.starsandstripesfc.com/gold-cup/2017/5/1/15438730/2017-gold-cup-usmnt-roster-prediction Goalkeepers: Nick Rimando, Bill Hamid, Tim Melia Defenders: Matt Hedges, Walker Zimmerman, Eric Lichaj, Greg Garza, Omar Gonzalez, Tim Ream, Timmy Chandler, Jorge Villafaña, Cameron Carter-Vickers Midfielders: Michael Bradley, Kellyn Acosta, Emerson Hyndman, Darlington Nagbe, Dax McCarty, Christian Pulisic, Paul Arriola, Sacha Kljestan I think Kellyn Acosta and Emerson Hyndman will finally get the more extensive first team looks most people have wanted for a while now, and I also think (desperately hope) Paul Arriola takes Alejandro Bedoya’s spot on the national team for good this summer. Forwards: Bobby Wood, Jozy Altidore, Jordan Morris, Gyasi Zardes, Dom Dwyer Bonus Options: Ike Opara, Tyler Adams, Tommy McNamara
The chances of Carter-Vickers being on this roster to me seem slim. He's injured, and if he recovers in time he'll be part of the U20 World Cup instead. Also, the bonus option of Tyler Adams makes no sense. I'd also argue there's no way both Hedges and Zimmerman will be on the Gold Cup roster. FCD will fight that pretty strenuously.
For forwards, how about bring the U-17 kid Josh Sargent? He is like a mini-Lewdowski of Bayern Munich.
We shall have Zimmerman for the qualifiers and Hedges for Gold Cup. That's a fair trade-off and would fit the U.S.' interests well enough. Zimmerman is a little more proven internationally and I'd like to take to take 2 veteran cb's + 2 inexperienced ones to the Gold Cup. The inexperienced ones can be Hedges and Miazga. There we can find more about them. Maybe Zimmerman could enter the T&T qualifier as a sub, otherwise get entrenched in friendlies. Wonder if we could make a deal with Pareja that Zimmerman is just in the pre GC qualifiers and then kicked back to them, not missing any real time with FCD, where he gains experience as a leader/organizer without Hedges next to him.
As someone who watches Union matches week-in-and-week-out, I cannot disagree with needing to move on from Bedoya.
Bedoya could be a good back up who can cover multiple positions. There still maybe be better options even at that but he's especially good at locking down the right side defensively so he'd be a good sub if up a goal.
I hear what you're saying, I don't think he needs to be moved completely out of the picture for good; but moving on from him in the sense of no longer heavily relying on him as was the case with the former regime.
If Pulisic, Bradley, Wood, Altidore and Gonzalez all play in the 2 WCQs before the GC then I don't see them on this roster. Maybe they are invited later after the group stage. I think last time you could make 4 changes after the group. Pulisic out, Carleton in (or another young attacker/playmaker) Bradley out, Fielhaber in Wood out, Agudelo in Altidore out, Bruin in Gonzalez out, Spector in I also think Zusi should be on this roster... he has 2 assists while playing RB all season, and the SKC D is one of the best this year, with only 3 goals against in 9 games. He has more time under his belt as a RB and he could be getting better.
At this point, I don't think it matters what he does for SKC at rb. It's a Wondo type situation. He flat out sucked in 3 games for the nt at rb. And he's 30, soon to be 31. So he won't improve much, maybe decline soon, and won't be an option going forward. So there really is no point in including them on the roster. Even less than the other guys you mentioned shouldn't be on it, since at at least they'd help you win.
I know I am in the minority, but I don't think Zusi played that bad... in WCQ or in the friendlies. Considering he did this with limited club experience is a testament to the quality player that he is. The more he plays as a RB the less defensive mishaps will happen. WCQ 1 - 1 result in Panama. The goal Panama scored was not his fault and he was not involved. Panama had 1 decent chance were he made a mistake. The mistake he made can be corrected with more time playing as a RB.
I don't watch Union hardly at all but blaming Bedoya is a typical mistake, imo. KCity does pretty good with all purpose mids llike Espinoza. It seems to me Philly miss the Swiss fellow who played the 10. Overall, the mistake in Philly is thinking they can get away with MLS 2.0 when everybody else has upgraded to 3.0
You don't watch the Union hardly at all but you're going to tell someone who watches them week in week out how wrong they are on their opinion?
Zusi - sure, he can improve and play against friendlies and Panama and Trinidad. The main thing Zusi brings to the position of rb is intelligence. If we get sophisticated and start changing around formations at the senior level, Zusi would be good to have so we can shift to 3cb's and move Zusi to wb in midfield, a la Fabian and Arriola. I don't see that happening in this cycle.
FWIW, a closely observing but neutral eye in Ale Moreno adamantly opined after that game that Graham Zusi was not the answer at right back. So this is not a matter of usnt fans being biased against him for a number of reasons. He just did indeed suck. He can't stay with attackers on pure speed or quick/crafty move on the wing. A lot of chances/crosses were coming in from his side, and it's immaterial if they were ultimately finished. They certainly could have been. And for a guy who was a converted winger, he was suffering from plenty of donk touches, bad passes, and not helping width. That goes into his lack of speed and inability to play a one-touch cross accurately. He needs the ball settled, and he doesn't have the quickness/moves to get into those positions himself. He's like a poor man's Brad Evans. Evans is a mediocre athlete for a rb but not as bad as Zusi, he's positionally more aware, and he has a better touch/sensible passing game. The speed of the international game above the minnow level and our inability to have sustained possessions high up the field means a rb like Graham Zusi is obsolete for us. But thankfully, he doesn't need to be the answer for us at rb. We were down our first 7 options there, which prompted us to use him in the last game. That will never happen again. We have many better established rb's. And Gold Cup should be used to establish some more that have superior viability going forward than him, i.e.: Eric Lichaj, Keegan Rosenberry, Justin Morrow (right-footed), Donny Toia (right-footed), Desevio Payne, Ryan Hollingshead, etc. Cristian Roldan and Kellyn Rowe can play there, in addition to their main positions. It was a necessary evil in do-or-die qualifiers after unprecedented attrition, but that will never happen again, and going fw we should have even more options at the position. Gold Cup is one of the ways to achieve that. Employing Zusi there would be the definition of a pointless player selection in international football. It's a waste of potentially 6 caps. That's a huge mistake individually. Can't make too many of those before you really get hurt, as we saw with the previous manager. I'd posit the 2013 Gold Cup selections were arguably the biggest thing that did him in 2015-16, because we really gained nothing from it outside the cheap trophy in the grand scheme.
Carleton will be in India with u17's. Go with Arriola and Zardes. Maybe Finlay. Feilhaber has found a cozy little home in SKC. Do we really need the usual "he was off" "the set up was wrong", yada yada.? I'd send Bradley to Mex and Dax to GC. Maybe we should do everybody a favor and not mess up Spector's shining moment in Orlando with a call up. I'd split up Dempsey and Morris with Morris going to GC with Agudelo. on present form I"d go A/ Mexico City (Bruce said JK's call ups were fine, he would just play them differently). -----------------Dempsey-----Altidore --------------------------Nagbe (I think inevitable fan favorite here) ------------Jones----------------------Pulisic ---------------------------Bradley ----v/fana------Besler---------gonzo-----Yedlin .---------------------------gk: Guzan B/ Copa de Oro 2017 --------------morris------agudelo-----zardes ----zusi------dax--------Roldan(Delgado)---arriola --------------ream--------miazga------hedges -------------------------gk:howard I think we want to see who can win games with goals and assists and good organization in the back. Individually I'd say the Copa squad is as good as anything we will see in the tourney and I"ve stacked some good passing in there. We should bring anybody from MLS who is playing well in the scoring department - i.e. Dom Dwyer, Nguyen.e.g., as sub or even possible starters in some games.
Most of those guys (Arriola, Zardes, Dax, Morris) were already on the original roster that was posted... Here is the original with my additions/subtractions... Goalkeepers: Nick Rimando, Bill Hamid, Tim Melia Defenders: Matt Hedges, Walker Zimmerman, Eric Lichaj, Greg Garza,Tim Ream, Timmy Chandler, Jorge Villafaña, Cameron Carter-Vickers OG out Spector in Midfielders: Kellyn Acosta, Emerson Hyndman, Darlington Nagbe, Dax McCarty, Paul Arriola, Sacha Kljestan MB out Feilhaber in CP out Carleton in Forwards: Jordan Morris, Gyasi Zardes, Dom Dwyer Wood out Agudelu in JA out Bruin in
If Arena wants to send the backups only, then I would give Feilhaber the captain's armband. The spine of a B-team would be easy to gather together, but putting together a group of fullbacks and wingers is more difficult. For example, if I'm in charge, then FC Dallas is losing Zimmerman, Hedges and Acosta - Pareja is a talented manager, he could manage.
February friendly versus Jamaica's B-team. Watch the play at 0:51. No one in this play covers themselves in glory - Birnbaum, McCarty, Zimmerman, Robles, even that Jamaican forward who did nothing with a gift to his feet a meter from an open goal. But it's Zusi losing the ball and getting beat like a drum that really stands out. No, he got no help from the rest of his team - but it shows quite clearly that Zusi doesn't have anything close to the necessary speed. Not when he gets out-paced that bad by Jamaica's B-Team winger. When Zusi loses the ball at midfield, the winger is a meter behind him. But after a sprint of maybe 30 yards, the winger is ahead of Zusi and in control of the ball - he then leaves Zusi in his dust on his way to the box. Zusi doesn't have the speed to compete. But also, Zusi wants to get forward. He's an offensive fullback who's too slow to track back in defense. This is a terrible combination. I know, he's got the heart of a lion, he puts in so much, he's a big effort player, great character guy - but as a right back, he's a defensive liability at the international level against any team with a competent attack.
Well, even Jamaica's b-team has excellent speed, but yeah, the point still applies. Didn't need to lose it nearly as much as he did in the first place. I think against Serbia he was even worse in the department with donk touches and thinking to slowly/unclear. Then yes, he can't match up with speed/1 v. 1. He was getting abused by Panama, whether it ultimately led to a goal or not. That's an independent event. You're preaching to the choir. His utility is effectively zero for the Gold Cup, and barely higher than that in any other competition. Maybe he's slightly above the likes of Wondo in that regard. That's about it. Better international player than Wondo, but not by a ton, and just not needed anymore.