http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/vie...sp_280933.html CHICAGO (May 2, 2006) —After a nearly four-year process in which the United States has used 85 players in 59 overall matches, U.S. Men’s National Team manager Bruce Arena has selected the 23 players who will represent the United States at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Arena revealed the list, along with 13 alternates, earlier this evening live on ESPN’s SportsCenter. The U.S. will head to Germany to compete in its fifth consecutive World Cup finals. The official roster must be submitted to FIFA no later than May 15. U.S. Men's National Team 2006 World Cup Roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. DOB Caps/Goals Hometown Club 17 Beasley, DaMarcus M 5'8" 145 05/24/82 55/12 Ft. Wayne, Ind. PSV Eindhoven (Holland) 3 Bocanegra, Carlos D 6'0" 170 05/25/79 39/6 Alto Loma, Calif. Fulham FC (England) 6 Cherundolo, Steve D 5'6" 145 02/19/79 33/1 San Diego, Calif. Hannover 96 (Germany) 11 Ching, Brian F 6'1" 195 05/24/78 17/3 Haleiwa, Hawaii Houston Dynamo (MLS) 13 Conrad, Jimmy D 6'2" 185 02/12/77 13/0 Temple City, Calif. Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 15 Convey, Bobby M 5'8" 150 05/27/83 36/1 Philadelphia, Pa. Reading FC (England) 8 Dempsey, Clint M 6’1” 170 03/09/83 19/4 Nacogdoches, Texas New England Revolution (MLS) 21 Donovan, Landon M 5'8" 148 03/04/82 78/25 Redlands, Calif. Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) 12 Gibbs, Cory D 6’0” 178 01/14/80 18/0 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. ADO Den Haag (Holland) 19 Hahnemann, Marcus GK 6’3” 220 06/15/72 6/0 Seattle, Wash. Reading FC (England) 2 Hejduk, Frankie D 5'8" 155 08/05/74 72/5 Cardiff, Calif. Columbus Crew (MLS) 1 Howard, Tim GK 6’3” 210 03/06/79 15/0 North Brunswick, N.J. Manchester United (England) 9 Johnson, Eddie F 6’0” 180 03/31/84 15/9 Palm Coast, Fla. Kansas City Wizards(MLS) 18 Keller, Kasey GK 6'2" 190 11/29/69 91/0 Lacey, Wash. Bor. M'gladbach (Germany) 7 Lewis, Eddie D 5'10" 155 05/17/74 68/8 Cerritos, Calif. Leeds United (England) 4 Mastroeni, Pablo M 5'10" 170 08/26/76 46/0 Phoenix, Ariz. Colorado Rapids (MLS) 20 McBride, Brian F 6'1" 170 06/19/72 90/29 Arlington Heights, Ill. Fulham FC (England) 5 O'Brien, John M 5’9” 150 08/29/77 29/3 Playa del Rey, Calif. Chivas USA (MLS) 14 Olsen, Ben M 5’8” 140 05/03/77 33/6 Middletown, Pa. D.C. United (MLS) 22 Onyewu, Oguchi D 6’4” 210 05/13/82 12/1 Olney, Md. Standard de Liege (Belgium) 23 Pope, Eddie D 6’1” 180 12/24/73 78/8 High Point, N.C. Real Salt Lake (MLS) 10 Reyna, Claudio M 5’9" 160 07/20/73 108/8 Springfield, N.J. Manchester City (England) 16 Wolff, Josh F 5'8" 160 02/25/77 45/9 Stone Mountain, Ga. Kansas City Wizards (MLS) UNITED STATES 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION (All-time World Cup Roster Selections) Goalkeepers (3): Marcus Hahnemann (2006), Tim Howard (2006), Kasey Keller (1990, 1998, 2002, 2006) Defenders (8): Carlos Bocanegra (2006), Steve Cherundolo (2002, 2006), Jimmy Conrad (2006), Cory Gibbs (2006), Frankie Hejduk (1998, 2002, 2006), Eddie Lewis (2002, 2006), Oguchi Onyewu (2006), Eddie Pope (1998, 2002, 2006) Midfielders (8): DaMarcus Beasley (2002, 2006), Bobby Convey (2006), Clint Dempsey (2006), Landon Donovan (2002, 2006), Pablo Mastroeni (2002, 2006), John O’Brien (2002, 2006), Ben Olsen (2006), Claudio Reyna (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006) Forwards (4): Brian Ching (2006), Eddie Johnson (2006), Brian McBride (1998, 2002, 2006), Josh Wolff (2002, 2006)
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement That was actually pretty decent coverage for a roster...and they actually showed some decent highlights. That Keller triple save in Panama is always impressive! A non-soccer fan friend of mine even called me on the phone about that one during the game.
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement I'm willing to give props to Sportscenter. Excellent coverage.
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement Who had the KC Wizards with the most WC players 3 to 1. Only 1 player from the Double winning LA Galaxy -- only in America
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement The sad part is that if ESPN truly caterted to soccer fans they could generate large revenues. You have to take a leap of faith intially before you see the rewards. Look no further than ESPN itself. I rememer watching Aussie rules football and Bob Ley anchoring their only nightly sports center at 6pm when they fist came on air in the early 80's. Soccer if marketed well would take off. Plenty of immigrants who would love to see games that could be broadcast either in English or Spanish or other. I do appreciate the coverage ESPN gives but it could be better. NASCAR was not a big draw until it was properly marketed. Other than in the south there was not a large following until ESPN started to show races and then TBS and NBC jumped in. Kills me how there are still negative stereotypes about soccer thrown around by certain media outlets. You don't like it than why talk about it? Is it a threat to your way of life? Don't give me the crap about it being a hard game to follow.It has fewer rules than most soprts and has more uninterrupted flow. You can actually watch an entire game in about 1 hr and 55 min on a regular basis. Nofuggin extra innnings, ot, or major delays other than an occasional injury(sure the game is for ************** just ask the guy how his broken leg is healing after a Japp Stam tackle) OK I am done
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement Looks like Ching got rewarded for tearing up MLS the first few weeks. I say, good for him. Remember he actually has scored in a competitve match (read qualifier that mattered). I actually would've picked Casey over Twellman and Ching...
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement Right. Neither did much in the international matches, so go to current MLS form. Ching, 6 goals, 1 assist. TT, 1 goal, 0 assists.
Re: Official US Roster Ching has 6 goals in 5 games. Berhalter gave up about that many by himself vs Germany. Current form is everything.
Re: Official US Roster really!?! I only remember ONE!! and it was a hand ball.... oh wait! you're talking MLS aren't you?? riiiiight!
So, compared to the faked leak -- which is a good proxy for the conventional wisdom: Ching in Conrad in Albright out Twellman out OK, at least a bit of excitement. Albright in, Conrad out isn't too much of a surprise to me. Not that I expected Jimmy, but Chrissy always seemed a bit of a stretch. Ching for Twellman fooled me. I figured that Arena would admit defeat in the search for a backup target man and at least take a guy whose USMNT performances suggest that he can do something constructive, if not function as a true target man. But nope. I was wrong.
Re: Arena on PTI today; ESPNews live interviews after roster announcement You can get over 20-1 on the CZR on tradesports. USA may be as low at 70-1 there which I think you could do better than w/ a Euro bookie. Tradesports is a good place to go for these kinds of bets because you bet directly w/ other gamblers cutting out the bookie. These bets are where a casino/bookie gives the worst odds.
Good Squad. People will nitpick the Twellman/Ching decision and the Conrad/Albright decision but i think Bruce got it right for the most part. Noonan is the victim of being a unneeded offensive option with Beasley, Convey, Donovan and Dempsey already set in place and the versitility of O'Brien. Olsen over Zavaginin is a judgment call for the Bruce, personally i see no real difference between the two. Conrad's value as team glue i guess was important enough to earn him a roster spot. What i like about this squad is the versitility. Our defenders centrally have multiple options. Hedujk can be brought on to play outsideback or a defensive winger in a 3-5-2. Boca and Gibbs can play leftback for extra defensive presence if Lewis is not needed. Lewis can play the left midfield if Beasley needs to be put up top in 3 forward line up. Convey can play central attacking midfield if Donovan needs to play as a forward. JOB and Reyna and Masteroni can all play centrally. Donovan can also drift right to replace Dempsey. The forwards are weak, but we knew that going in, it really depends on McBride and Johnston being in top form and Wolff being able to finish his silver platter chances. I think we can do a lot of different tactics and formations with this team.
I still think he should have only taken 3 forwards... but i don't think Bruce ever really thought of Twellman as INTERNATIONAL quality and nothing he did in the camps really made him think otherwise... i don't necessarily believe he thinks of Ching that way either... but he has trusted Ching before in "meaningful" qualifiers so he must've showed him something... plus, there is the understanding with Landon that was built on 2(ish) years playing together in San Jose... Conrad over Albright is not much of a surprise... Conrad is the better defender/player... i think the bigger surprise is Conrad over Berhalter... i like the fact that Conrad made it... he's the Ben Olsen of our defenders... just worked his ass off into the team... I would've liked to see Noonan in some manner (over Ching?)... i think he would've helped the team... I can't remember if it's been mentioned before but... will the alternates be involved in the camp??? (if only for full-squad games, etc.)
Two surprises from conventional BS wisdom: (1) Ching over Twellman and (2) Conrad over Albright and Berholder. I'm disappointed Twellman didn't make it. I thought he's played much better than Ching for the USMNT (and thus deserved it) and also more likely to score at the WC. I'm a little biased as I've been rooting for Twellman to make it because of all of the hate he takes on BS. But, I like Ching too. Just hope he plays tougher than when I've seen him for the USMNT and that his recent form in MLS is not just a hot streak. I'm elated Conrad was chosen. I rate him a much better CB than Berholder and a much better player than Albright. I had predicted Arena would choose Albright because we're thinner at outside back than center back, but glad I was wrong. Just pray that Cherundolo and Hejduk stay healthy because I don't know what we do if both go down. Perhaps Pope playes RB or we go to a 3-man back line (Pope Gooch Gibbs)?
I'll take that bet. $1,000 for USA v Czech Republic, $1,000 for USA v Italy, and $1,000 for USA v Italy. Are you going to cover?
Maybe not so much. Sealy's an alternate as of right now for T&T (I think, unless they've officialyl dropped Cornell Glen). We also have Shavar Thomas as a very capable backup to Conrad. If Sealy Goes...THEN we'd be kinda screwed.
Not sure why everyone is looking at this as Ching over Twellman. Have I missed some incredibly productive run of international appearances by Wolff? I could have sworn I'd seen every game. Anyone want to set the over/under on how many changes get made due to injuries/etc? I think I'm setting the number at 2.5 and I'll take the under (I'm guessing two).
Exactly twellman should have been picked over wolff. They announced an alternate roster with twellman on it. If somone gets injured is there after a certain date that you can't bring in someone from the alternate roster?
I like the choice of Ching over Twellman. Arena has some guts on that one. In a strange way, I actually think Ching's inclusion may have pipped Albright off the roster and let Conrad to slip in. Albright's role might have been to come in late and get on the end of crosses on set pieces. Ching fills the same need. I presume that if O'Brien can't go, we are looking at either Noonan or KZ/Armas off the alternate list depending on whether Arena wants another dmid player or another wing player. I would guess that Noonan would be the guy.