If the USMNT could field their best 23 possible, what would it look like? I don't mean potential(all of you outh there who know that Adu and Martino are the future of American soccer) I mean the real deal. I also believe that players like Sanneh(who is recovering from injury) have more than enough right to be on this team due to the fact that he is still one of the best defenders the US has. We will go with the traditional World Cup format of 3 GKs. GK *Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, Tim Howard D Tony Sanneh, *Eddie Pope, *Carlos Bocanegra, Bobby Convey, Frankie Hejduk, Gregg Berhalter, *Steve Cherundolo M *Claudio Reyna, *John O'Brien, *DaMarcus Beasley, *Chris Armas, *Earnie Stewart, Pablo Mastroeni, Cobi Jones, Chris Klein, Eddie Lewis F *Brian McBride, *Landon Donovan, Clint Mathis, Taylor Twellman These are my choices, who would you add or subtract. This is completely subjective. The thing is that this is who I feel has produced the most for Club and country and who the US can relay on for a full 23. It kinda stinks that Friedel, Keller, McBride, and O'Brien look to be for sures that won't be in the Confed. Cup. * Starting 11 Friedel Cherundolo Pope Bocanegra Armas Beasley Stewart Reyna O'Brien Donovan McBride
Masteroni has better ball skills than Armas, so I would go with him. I think its a win win situation with those two, they are both great players that deserve to be on the field.
Subtracting is easy. Adding is much harder. I'd like to cut Klein or Jones, but there just doesn't seem to be a good right mid to replace them. I think Olsen will continue to flop with the nats. In back, Cherundolo should go. Maybe Barrett or Suarez or Garcia could handle that spot in the very near future, though at the moment Steve is better than them. I also expect to see Convey get into the midfield. Up front, I think Twellman should stay home, but there's not many strikers to replace him with. Maybe Buddle, who seems to work harder for the ball. And of course, the omissions of Agoos and Regis are unforgivable!
Don't like Churundolo in a back 3. Wingback maybe, but he's too puny for that assignment. If we went 3-5-2 I'd prefer a healthy Sanneh alongside Pope and Boca. Also, is O'Brien definitely missing the Confed Cup?
GK-Friedel, Keller, Howard D-Bocanegra, Barrett, Pope, Califf, Berhalter, Cherundolo, Sanneh, Hejduk M-O'Brien, Lewis, Mastroeni, Armas, Beasley, Reyna, Klein F-Donovan, McBride, Mathis, Twellman, Buddle Would've liked to include Olsen, but he's not 100% yet plus Klein has been impressive at RM for the USMNT. Martino & Convey are not quite ready yet either IMHO. My toughest choice was for 5th forward. Wolff & Razov are SOLID but injured too often, which is kind of funny considering my choice (Buddle) is also injured at the moment!! Overall, I like my 23 & would match them up against anybody, including Brazil. Of course, it's a LONG time until 2006 & a lot can (and probably will) change in the next 3 years.
1st 23 GK: Steffen, Hamid, Horvath RB: Lima Yedlin, CB: Brooks, Miazga, Besler, Long LB: Johnson, saief CM: Adams, Mckennie Lletget, Nguyen, WideMid: Pulisic, Manneh, Holmes, mueller F: Wood, Altidore, Morris, Ramirez 2nd 23: GK: Melia, Johnson frei RB: Cannon, Polster CB: Robinson, Opara,Zimmermann, CCV LB: Villafaña, edgar castillo CM: Nagbe, Morales, Feilhaber, Canouse, WideMid: Gall, lewis McNamara,arriola F: Sargent Weah Agudelo ebobisse 3rd 23: GK: Guzan, howard gonzalez RB: Rosenberry, Nerwinski CB: Birnbaum, Alvarado, Parker EPB LB: antonee Robinson Beasley CM: hyndman, james sands, hayes pomykal WideMid: Picault gooch tillman, amon F: wright zardes novakovich sapong Honarble Mention/Injured/Dual nat: siebatcheu, pierie, chandler, danny williams, bradley, trapp, zardes, tyler boyd, toljan, bello, danilo acosta, macnamara, hedges, hines-ike, kelly rowe, james sands, durkin, shaq moore, joe corona, hairston, mihailovic, kellyn acosta, julian green, wooten, jann george, sabbi, efrain alvarez, lichaj, tim ream, dest, desevio payne, kyle scott, omar gonzalez i'm sure i've forgotten some and some of these players will drop off/rise up etc.....and i'd probably switch some of the players where they would go if i had more time to think it over....as well as a lot of these players havent really had a chance with the team so it is hard to say where they stand.....
basically trapp zardes, bradley omart gonzalez guzan are nowhere near best 23, imo...and some of the players on the fringes are more deserving.....
at the same time - it is impossible to really dig into the depth chart with any clarity when so many of these players have never really gotten a run-out with the team. a big reason why I do not like the small circle...inner circle approach to roster building and the idea that a few years early in the cycle can just be wasted away without consequences.
b/c i wanted to make a list of 1st 2nd and 3rd best 23 for usmnt....to show that there is a lot of depth.....and this thread was already there so i just used it.