BA has stated it's a young man's game. This is particularly true for tournaments where a premium is placed on durability for 90 min, rate of recovery between games and durability across the tournament. BA is using the Gold Cup to provide fans with an opportunity to see a variety of players in a tournament context. Who brings the proper mix of skill, durability and rate of recovery to the squad? For example, can Santino last the full 90? Dempsey, Hejduk and Donovan all seem to have the Energizer Bunny gene. Of the guys in the mix, who is likely to be a liability in this respect? I suspect Reyna might not make the team because he may not be able to recover between games fast enough. Is McBride likely to fall into this category? Or, JOB, assuming he can play at all?
in general i think its a question of- do you want claudio reyna for two of the three group games in the world cup, or brad davis for all three? probably not the best example (player-wise), but me? ill be a lot more confident with claudio reyna leading our guys onto the field than brad davis. the lineups are going to shift, but you dont sacrifice talent- or more specifically VERY experienced international talent for roughly equal young, inexperienced talent. you need a foundation of experienced players, and then the young guns to move around them. (or preferably young, experienced talent which we do have) but this is an interesting question now because the gold cup roster is, i think, frustrating to a lot of people- myself included. its a good chance to find that next donovan or beasley- yet our roster has quite a few guys who, to be polite are um...known quantities. i understand wanting a deep and experienced pool, and definitely understand wanting guys there to win rather than this being a glorified tryout- but its hard for me to be real happy about armas, olsen, and senneh (all of whom i really like) on the roster while we are still waiting for a good look at gaven, spector, whitbred, etc. until i manage a team into the quarters of the world cup im going to try to refrain from criticizing bruce too much- but it would be nice to give those guys a look, because any of those guys are the sort of player who fill out a roster on the second game in three days- not a starter or regular player. thats where i see talented youth being on even ground with experience, those guys who are there in a tactical formation, to play when a mcbride needs a rest.
Sanneh looked stiff and slow. I would give him a poor overall rating. However, I blame the Cuba goal on Beasley for gambling outside the box and not staying in a good defensive position for the cross. Casey also looks too slow. Armas is just not vesatile enough. Olsen is a better option since he has better technical skills. I was very happy to see O'Brien again. I just hope he stays healthy and gets enough playing time to prove himself one way or the other. Dempsey is starting to look like a keeper at this level, and I don't mean a goalkeeper.