Either Bradley forgets about the YAs playing Mexico or the clubs make it very hard on the players to leave. Fulham is the best example of course with Boca and Dempsey being joined by Johnson. Hodgson has 2-3 weeks to get his recruits meshing, so none of these guys will play in Texas. Reading is not exactly burning it up, so Convey stays in England. Herenveen is challenging for a future Champs' League spot, so is it really necessary for Mike to return? Benfica is slugging it out for the top place in Portugal, don't think they want Adu unavailable from the bench. Cherundolo seems like the only one somewhat expendable for mid-table Hannover. If Bradley wanted Pearce, Feilhaber, Lewis, Onyewu, Spector, or Demerit - he could have them. What does BS think?
It's all about leverage. Fulham is trying to stay up. So everyone there stays. H'veen has zero leverage over M Bradley. SL has zero leverage over Gooch Adu is bench player and that isn't going to change, so he can come. Dolo is a lock starter with his club, so he can come. That's your 3-4 starters.
True. But out of courtesy I don't expect to see the Fulham bunch, Derby County guys, Timmy and Adu. I think we'll see Convey, Dolo, Gooch and Spector.
Pretty good list, but Adu won't miss any games, Portugal is a relatively short commute and he probably could use a substantial run given how he is only playing a few minutes at a time for Benefica. He might come.
Last year it was Bocanegra, Howard, Convey and Dempsey. This year, I expect it to be Onyewu, Cherundolo, Bradley and Adu. Gooch and Bocanegra via rotation. Guzan should get a game so Howard won't be required. Cherundolo missed last years game so he'll be in. Bradley and Adu to show how they've improved in Europe. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Convey, since Beasely won't be back for awhile.
I would really like for adu to start considering all that gio talk, but as long as we don't lose i'm happy.
Spector, Dolo, maaaaybe Gooch (they are fighting for top spot in the Belgian league after all), and Pearce are available. Everyone else has a reason to stay in Europe (fighting relegation, fighting for Europe, fighting for top spot in a league, haven't established themselves, etc) and Bradley won't call them in out of courtesy and the fact that he doesn't need them for a friendly.
I would be surprised to see Jay DeMerit come. Watford is already paper thin at CB right now with Danny Shittu on African Cup of Nations duty with Nigeria, and the only other viable CB on the roster is Matt Jackson, since Calum Davenport's horrendous injury. Malky Mackay recently had to come out of partial retirement to play in Watford's FA cup match against Wolverhampton. I realize it's an international date, but the Hornets may want to keep DeMerit around in order to save his legs.
BB says he's only bringing 3-4 Euros, which makes sense as guys will be missing additional time for qualies.