So, back in 2007 for those that forget, the US threw it's A lineup at the Gold Cup, in an attempt to win and qualify for Confed Cup 2009. The thinking was that the experience in Confed Cup of playing in S. Africa would be great in-country prep. for 2010, and that outweighed the benefits of playing well in S. America in a tournament that ultimately didn't mean much to the US' prospects to qualify for or play well in South Africa, 2010. Sunil, Bob & others were attacked for embarassing us all with a B lineup and for going after a relatively ho-hum tournament in the Confed Cup just for the sake of doing essentially a dry run to recon practice areas, while passing up good games (we played Argentina, Colombia & Paraguay, losing all 3 and finishing last in the tournament on -6 GD) in the Copa America against really good teams in hostile atmospheres. I was in the 'ok-with-it-if-it-works-out' camp, but I was embarassed by our efforts in 2007's Copa, and as it turned out we were really throwing away two copa america's since Honduras & Mexico took the invitee spots, with the rumor being that the US was left out on the basis of stinking up the joint in 2007. I think the validation of this call will still depend on what we do in S. Africa (going out early a la 2006 wouldn't validate the decision, etc), but considering all of the variables, that decision looks pretty good in 'ol 20-20 hindsight. Surely players would have benefitted from doing well in Copa America, but 2 years on, it's impossible to 'what-if' how helpful that experience would have been. We can't see into the future, but playing a man down for 90 of your first 180 vs. Brazil & Italy has to surely be some coaching 'feedback' going forward re: rash tackles; pulling a miracle out vs. Egypt and getting to play Spain in the semis plus either S. Africa in the 3rd place game or Brazil in the final (speaking of would-be miracles) surely has to give the US some confidence for 2010. It'll be interesting to see how Bob's/Sunil's gambit plays out. FYI, Gold Cup Squads (all), these are the players that could have -if you wanted to argue it- benefitted from playing in Copa 2007: Howard, Guzan, Keller; Hejduk, Boca, Mastro, Feilhaber, MBrad, DMB, Dempsey, E. Johnson, LD, DeMetit, Bornstein, Ralston, Simek, Parkhurst, Spector, Clark, Twellman, Mapp, Gooch. Copa America squad was: KELLER, WYNNE, DEMERIT, FEILHABER, CONRAD, BORNSTEIN, OLSEN, CLARK, MAPP, JOHNSON, TWELLMAN, GOMEZ, CALIFF, PEARCE, BOSWELL, GAVEN, MOOR, DAVIES, KLJESTAN, BECKERMAN, GUZAN , NGUYEN