I've been trying to find a list of Bruce Arena's reserves for his 2002 World Cup roster online for some time now, but to no avail. Does anyone have a list of those reserves, or can anyone list all or most of them off the top of your head? I'm mostly curious as to who some of the fringe players were during the 1999-02 cycle--guys who were in and out of camps, WC qualifiers and friendlies but were passed over for the final roster. Thanks in advance for the help.
I think you mean alternates, not reserves. Here are the ten: Tim Howard (MetroStars) Zach Thornton (Chicago Fire) Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96 – Germany) Richard Mulrooney (San Jose Earthquakes) Greg Vanney (F.C. Bastia – France) Brian Maisonneuve (Columbus Crew) Brian West (Columbus Crew) Richie Williams (D.C. United) Jovan Kirovski (Crystal Palace – England) Ante Razov (Chicago Fire)
Everybody was afraid that Williams would end up on the roster, since he was the whipping boy du jour. I remember actually getting a little exciting seeing Chris Armas go down, because of the possibility of him being the replacement and the resulting mayhem that would've gone down here on Bigsoccer. Howard was better than Meola by that point, but Bruce preferred the experience for the 3rd keeper spot. Pablo Mastroeni was probably the only real surprise when the World Cup roster was announced, taking away a spot from Cherundolo (but he ended up on the roster anyway). Looking back, it's surprising that Carlos Bocanegra wasn't even an alternate. He had just been capped a few months prior, but he did start on the Gold Cup winning team and he was obviously going to play a big role in the national team's future. Personally, I believe that Razov should've been on the team instead of Joe-Max Moore. By that point Moore was well past his prime and was barely playing, let alone scoring, for Everton. But due to his experience and history no one ever expected him to miss out. Razov, on the other hand, never played well for the nats but always did well on the club level. Of course, he would then score 7 times in the 6 MLS games after the roster was announced. Moore ended up doing nothing in his World Cup appearances.
I did mean Alternates. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks, Scaryice for the list and the ensuing commentary in your next post. Definitely exactly what I was looking for! So Richie Williams wasn't too popular, a couple were clamoring for Carlos Bocanegra's inclusion (over who, perhaps Agoos? Berhalter? Or probably Llamosa I would guess.) And some thought that Razov should've been included over Moore based on club form. Hadn't Joe-Max played a pretty big role in qualifiers, though? I remember at the time (I was only a casual soccer fan back in 2002) being a bit surprised at the inclusion of Pablo Mastroeni. I hadn't heard much about him at the time and was expecting maybe more of a familiar face. Also, how much of a "lock" was DaMarcus Beasley considered on the squad at age 20? Did anyone think he was too young or inexperienced to be on the squad? (Obviously his inclusion was worthwhile because his speed gave Portugal fits in the 3-2 group stage victory). Were there any other players who weren't among the 13 Alternates who people thought were deserving of more consideration, and if so, in place of whom? Also, just observing the list of Alternates, I think I was most surprised by Brian West's inclusion. I didn't think he was that highly regarded by Bruce Arena.
boca was hurt, like was said so people weren't clamoring too much for him. beasley ... i'm not sure if he was a lock (like Reyna was a lock) but his inclusion wasn't a surprise. it would've been more suprising if he was left off. I forgot maisonueve was an alternate. huh.
That's not correct. He played for the Fire in March and April, and the Gold Cup ended in early February. He should've the alternates list, but he never gonna make the final roster.
WTF! In WCQ-games he had several goals. In 24 caps he has 6 goals for the USMNT, which is pretty good compared to most. IMO, he never played himself off the Nats.
I have a couple more questions: 1) How much of a factor had Tony Sanneh played in qualifying in the lead up to the 2002 World Cup? I know he was playing with FC Nurenburg at the time, so was he considered a lock to start at RB prior to the World Cup? Also, when did he first start really featuring with the National Team? Why wasn't he in the mix back in 1998 (considering he was 27 at the time--prime years)? 2) I've now heard on multiple occasions that Eddie Lewis didn't factor much for the US during qualifying. If not Lewis, then who DID play most of the minutes for the US on the left wing during qualifying? DaMarcus Beasley was surely too young. I would think that Lewis would've been an integral part of qualifying. Who was taking his minutes on the left wing?
Here are the WCQ matches with line-ups for the 2002 cycle... 1)Sanneh played in 14 out of 16 qualifying matches for the US in that cycle. He was in college, and then the minor leagues here in the US before MLS started (college till 1994, then Milwaukee Rampage in 1994, Minnesota Thunder in 1995, and MLS with DC United in 1996-1998....he signed with Hertha Berlin after the MLS season in 1998), so I'd say that's why he wasn't really looked at much before Arena took over in late 1998. 2)I'd have to dig out my game tapes to actually check this, but based on these line-ups several players were used.....Jones quite a bit
The most striking thing there is the reminder of how little McBride played throughout qualifying-- he had injury issues, but still: four starts, one sub appearance, two goals. Lots of the knee-jerkers had even written him off at this point!
I believe Segroves birthed his anti-Mcbride stance somewhere around there, which is funny now...actualy it was funny then too. IIRC McBride was never in doubt for the nats in '02.
Great post, dsp, thanks for posting those line-ups! I guess those answered all questions I had about Sanneh and Lewis, since Sanneh featured in 14/16 qualifiers and Lewis featured in only 5/16. Does anyone know why Eddie Lewis was left out so much? Seems like Arena really favored either Stewart or Jones on the left wing, or guys like Moore and Kirovski. The other thing that struck me as really interesting was how little many of our key WC2002 performers contributed in qualifying. Examples: --Eddie Lewis, who assisted in the WC and performed well, played in only 5/16 qualifiers. --Clint Mathis, who scored a key goal for us in the WC, featured in only 4/16 qualifiers, despite scoring 2 goals. Why was he left out so much? --John O'Brien, who was perhaps our best midfielder at the WC, featured in only 6/15 qualifiers, with Chris Armas being a staple in central midfield along Reyna for most of qualifying. I'm assuming O'Brien's absence was due mostly to injuries? --Frankie Hejduk, who played in almost every WC match (and played well), appeared in a whopping 2/16 qualifiers! Why was he absent so much? David Regis, Tony Sanneh and even Steve Cherundolo were favored more by Arena during that cycle. --Landon Donovan appeared in only 4/16 qualifiers, and DaMarcus Beasley in only 1/16. The reasons here are pretty obvious though, considering how young they were. --Pablo Mastroeni did not see a single minute of action during WC qualifying. Not surprising, considering that I believe he was a replacement for Chris Armas on the WC roster, and he was at best a 4th choice CM candidate, behind Reyna, Armas & O'Brien. Was Mastroeni even on the radar during qualifying? --Brian McBride played in only 5/16 qualifiers. Pretty surprising, considering he was a staple in the 2006 qualifying cycle, and started every match at the 02 world cup as well. Arena really seemed to use a liberal cycle of McBride, Moore, Kirovski, Razov & Jones up top back then. Pretty interesting numbers here: Moore (12/16), Razov (9/16), Kirovski (8/16), McBride (5/16). Was McBride really our 4th choice striker back then?
A lot of those guys got time in friendlies and other tournaments like the Gold Cup. About Mastroeni though......he wasn't the replacement for Armas, Cherundolo was (and then he got injured too...but we didn't replace him...too late?) Mastroeni was the only real surprise for me in the roster announcement. He only played in 10 matches previous to the WC, 8 matches (?) before the roster announcement. His first cap was in the Ecuador friendly on June 7, 2001 and his 2nd cap was in the Korea friendly (in Korea) on December 9, 2001. He then played in every match (except the first vs Korea) in the 2002 Gold Cup (4 matches)...then vs Honduras on March 2, 2002...then vs Mexico on April 3, 2002. Somewhere between here and his next games I believe was when the rosters were announced (his next games being the Uruguay friendly on May 12, 2002 and vs Jamaica on may 16....both games part of our WC send-off). Also, looking at Eddie Lewis' games played....he played in a majority of the games that cycle (from when Arena took over in late 1998 through the WC)....exactly half of the games he didn't play in were those 11 WCQ matches. (He played in 38 out of 60 total games between late 1998 and the WC....not including the WC.) His first ever cap was October 16, 1996 vs Peru (this was a game full of replacement players....most players boycotted due to contract issues). His 2nd cap was Arena's first game in charge (vs Australia) on November 6, 1998.