You are starting to see the passing of the guard. Stewart is a solid link to the past and that is a big help. But this team needs to grow on the young players and they have a few crucial years to really mature to their full potential. The time is NOW.
My guess is that McBride will play in the Gold Cup along with some other USMNT regulars left off the Confed Cup roster. I doubt many MLS players play in both tournaments since that would cause them to miss most of their June and July matches.
metros , crew, fire - 3 players each dc u - 2 players rapids, revs, san jose, galaxy and city - 1 player each dallas no players selected
Trade him to the Metrostars. Seems to have cleared up Pope's never ending string of missing MLS games.
If it worked for Pope, it certainly didn't work for Tab Ramos who was injured more often than not, and Mathis has missed major time between the knee, the hernia, the ankle and the World Cup. Not to mention our former coach leaving him off the roster once by accident...uggh. Anyone wonder why Cunningham is there? I understand that Mcbride doesn't want to be there and I understand our approach to get younger players in the mix for 06 qualifying, but Cunningham is 26, not 20. He's played in 8 US matches, without any real impact. In 2006, he'll be 29 and on the way down. Why not Edson Buddle, EJ, Thorrington or another young striker with a future? I see Cunningham as the present, and not the most sparkling of the present either. You either play to win or play to get experience for the future. Since Bruce has said he is using the tournament for experience, that means he isn't going all out to win (not all of the A list yanks). But if he's going for the experience for the future, why not use players that will be there in the future? I really doubt Cunningham is the future of the USMNT forward position.
Gents, seems to me in order to have truly effective discussion on this topic, therefore fully utilizing the very valuable bandwidth Big Soccer takes up, a link to said roster, or at least the promulgation of that roster here would be nice.
Roster for France Check out the 23 man roster ussoccer.com @ http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=36491 Armas, Chris M 5'7" 150 08/27/72 47/2 Brentwood, N.Y. Chicago Fire (MLS) Beasley, DaMarcus F 5'7" 126 05/24/82 20/3 Ft. Wayne, Ind. Chicago Fire (MLS) Berhalter, Gregg D 6'1" 175 08/01/73 29/0 Tenafly, N.J. Energie Cottbus (Germany) Bocanegra, Carlos D 6'0" 170 05/25/79 12/2 Alto Loma, Calif. Chicago Fire (MLS) Califf, Dan D 6'1" 175 03/17/80 6/0 Orange, Calif. Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) Cannon, Joe GK 6'2" 190 01/01/75 0/0 Los Altos Hills, Calif. R.C. Lens (France) Cherundolo, Steve D 5'6" 145 02/19/79 12/0 San Diego, Calif. Hannover 96 (Germany) Convey, Bobby M 5'8" 150 05/27/83 9/0 Philadelphia, Pa. D.C. United (MLS) Cunningham, Jeff F 5'8" 155 08/21/76 8/0 Crystal River, Fla. Columbus Crew (MLS) Donovan, Landon F 5'8" 148 03/04/82 35/9 Redlands, Calif. San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) Hahnemann, Marcus GK 6'3" 220 06/15/72 3/0 Seattle, Wash. Reading FC (England) Hejduk, Frankie D/M 5'8" 155 08/05/74 46/5 Cardiff, Calif. Columbus Crew (MLS) Howard, Tim GK 6'3" 210 03/06/79 6/0 North Brunswick, N.J. MetroStars (MLS) Kirovski, Jovan F 6'1" 175 03/18/76 56/8 Escondido, Calif. Birmingham City (England) Klein, Chris M 6'1" 180 01/04/76 12/2 St. Louis, Mo. Kansas City Wizards (MLS) Lewis, Eddie M 5'10" 155 05/17/74 44/4 Cerritos, Calif. Preston North End (England) Martino, Kyle M 5'10" 144 02/19/81 1/0 Atlanta, Ga. Columbus Crew (MLS) Mastroeni, Pablo D/M 5'10" 170 08/26/76 19/0 Phoenix, Ariz. Colorado Rapids (MLS) Mathis, Clint M/F 5'10" 170 11/25/76 30/11 Conyers, Ga. MetroStars (MLS) Pope, Eddie D 6'1" 180 12/24/73 57/5 High Point, N.C. MetroStars (MLS) Stewart, Earnie M/F 5'9" 145 03/28/69 87/15 Point Arena, Calif. D.C. United (MLS) Twellman, Taylor F 5'11" 170 02/29/80 3/0 St. Louis, Mo. New England Revolution (MLS) Vanney, Greg D 5'11" 169 06/11/74 19/0 Tempe, Ariz. F.C. Bastia (France) Alternates (4): Nick Garcia (Kansas City Wizards), Cory Gibbs (FC St. Pauli), Richard Mulrooney (San Jose Earthquakes), Steve Ralston (New England Revolution
I think this may be Cunningham's make or break chance with the team, but I thought that with Kirovski about 8 times also and he still gets called up. Some others on the board have said this and it makes sense to me...you look and you see no Cobi Jones on the roster. Perhaps Bruce is gonna try to utilize Cunny as that last 10 minute, use your speed and run to the corner flag and kill time type guy. Now whether Cunny's ego would take to that, if that is what Bruce wanted is a whole different story. Personally as a Crew Fan I am just hoping this extended time with the Bruce does Cunny alot of good and improves his all around game a bit. But we'll see. Ass for Buddle he wouldn't be called up cause he is still injured. About 4-5 weeks ago apparently he tore his wip flexor (wtf is a hip flexor?). At the time they said 2-3 weeks. As of Thursday he still couldn't kick a ball in practice and they are saying at least another 2-3 weeks. On the Crew boards some are expecting the worst, a lost season for Buddle.