Who is gonna be the backline and reserves for Qualifying? I mean we're probably gonna stack the back with ringers when we actually make it to the Olympic tournament, but who will be on the field when qualifying happens?
If I had to pick six names right now... Kelly Gray, Chicago Fire Jose Burciaga, Kansas City Wizards Ricky Lewis, Los Angeles Galaxy Oguchi Onyewu, Metz (France) Chris Wingert, St. John's University Alex Yi, Royal Antwerp (Belgium) Others in the mix: Phil Salyer (Dallas), David Stokes (DC), Nelson Akwari (Columbus), Chad Marshall (Stanford), Frank Simek (Arsenal), CJ Klaas (Washington), Ryan Cochrane (Santa Clara) and, of course, Zak Whitbred (Liverpool). If Salyer can get more minutes with the Burn, he could unseat Wingert but Mooch really seems to love the kid.
Mooch said.... Sandon, Who from this group is getting consistent minutes with their respective clubs? That was a criteria that Mooch set for selecting his Olympic team along with being in a pro enviornment and I assume that means qualifing as well. With so few professionals clubs trusting young defenders it appears Mooch may have to use all of his over age selections on defenders if he meant what he said.
Re: Mooch said.... Man, that would completely suck! We should have taken Mathis last Olympics and left Hedjuk home. We need an experienced striker to play next to Landon. Please don't tell me we're counting on Casey again.......
I would say that right now Buddle is the leading candidate to be paired with Donovan up top. I also don't think that Casey would be a bad option. He was still in college during the last olympics and took a lot of crap because his college coach was the olympic coach. He is more experienced now and has shown reasonably well in Germany. To get back to the defender thing, I personally would like for this to be a true U23 tournament. It won't be, but at least for qualifying I see the depth chart looking like this for now. LB Ricky Lewis Phil Salyer CB Alex Yi David Stokes Ryan Cochrane CB Kelly Gray Nelson Akwari Chad Marshall RB Oguchi Onyewu Chris Wingert I think if Whitbred ever decides to play for the US, he would jump into the LB or CB spot. I also feel that if Cochrane or Marshall ever turn pro they could jump over Akwari on the depth chart. I didn't list Burciaga, although I think he has the talent to be there, because I don't know if he will make it back from his second straight devastating knee injury. This team could be lethal on set pieces with a starting back line that can call 6'1 Ricky Lewis short.
I wonder if Jonathan Spector will get a look? I'd like to see him maybe in camp but, yes, he's likely too young and inexperienced for the Olympics. Unless Clive Charles is coaching and then amatuers can start. (As you can tell, I don't want Casey there either!)
This is going to be a problem at every Olympics: the defenders, particularly the central defenders, will be behind the others in skill level because they peak later in their careers. Up front we are rock solid at every position: --Donovan Buddle DMB Martino Convey ------Clark and Countess should be fine in goal. In the back, basically no one has any pro experience. Even Kelly Gray isn't getting minutes anymore (particularly minutes at center back). Still, I'd rather see Gooch Gray Yi Lewis then overage players, because we are at the stage where we can compete with the big name countries that won't be bringing overage players either. BTW, I thought Salyer looked very good for the Burn last week.
I know I'm gonna get shelled for this suggestion, but he looked partcularly solid in defense against the Crew this past Saturday, marking McBride: Bruce's kid, Kenny. I mean, our defense just has to hold. They won't necessarily have to do everything on the field. Mooch probably understands this and will have specific roles for each defender that takes part during the Oly qualifying process. As dred mentions, we're fine everywhere else on the pitch. Sure Countess lets in a few goals, but we have depth everywhere else (plus we have a plethora of left-footed players that could start for the Olympic team). Salyer-seems OK, didn't look half-bad against Metro Onyewu, Lewis-haven't seen them play since the U20s in 2001 Akwari haven't seen him play since he was with Metro There are a lot of potential players in the back for us, but I haven't seen enough of the players for me to make a hypothetical line-up for qualifying. But, I assume that we'll be a decent enough of an attacking squad to get through the qualifying. I just hope Sanneh, Berhalter, Vanney or Cherundolo are selected as the overage players. Why them? These players have each seen and played in hostile environments (Costa Rica being one of them) or have travelled with the team to Korea. There is plenty of big game road experience that each of these players have and I think they bring a lot of intangibles to the table. Sorry for the long post.