That's true too. I just am trying to figure out another 2/3 strikers the US has that aren't being called into the GC? Cooper is the only one that really sticks out in my mind.
No DC call-ups either. Boswell, Perkins, Olsen not called in. Gros, Namoff, and Carroll all have US caps and weren't called up either. We don't have any CONCACAF players who'd get called up either. We've got South Americans not good enough for their national teams. None of them (fred, emilio, moreno, erpen) are going to be called up for Copa America. Although Bolivia sucks so bad that Moreno could get called I guess. You also wouldn't say DC's going to lose any players to the U-20 WC and friendlies, like NY will lose Altidore. Columbus will lose Ward and Szetela for that tourney. Arguez might be going from DC, but he's not required. Sorry, NE fans, but you're going to be slightly hosed by the fact that you rely on US players. It's a great thing to have US players. BUT, you could lose the supporter's shield because of this you know. Doesn't the supporter's shield winner get a spot in the CCC. You could lose home field advantage in the Conference final. Didn't matter last year DC really benefitted last year by only having 1 player (Olsen) go to the WC. Personally I think they won the supporter's shield because of it, and all the perks that go along with it.
No offense to Steve Ralston, but I don't think he's really going to go to a Worldcup in 3 years. I'd also question why Frankie Hejduk is on the list. I suppose it could be the stress of two, back-to-back tournaments but I think we should be able to qualify without Steve or Frankie. I hope this selection means that not only is Matt Reis going to CA he will be starting... What? No John O'Brien?
I was happy to see that, but expected that. Hopefully we dont get any Copa America callups, and they take it easier on the revs next round. Would sort of cheapen the race to have our appartent closest rival in the east be sapped of their best players for 2 months.
Keep in mind that the MNT will be spending some time in the Boston area. Players that don't dress or make it into the match on the 16th will probably be available for the Revs. Plus, we have the weekend of 6/9 off. Time for Noonan to shake off the funk.
Congrats on the three who were called up. I wish I had time to discuss this. Here's what I think about all this.
Re: Revs in the Gold Cup As tough of a load as this is going to be to shoulder, it wont be for that long, and there are GC games at Gilette which means we might see them playing for us on those days. I think losing Reis to CA is going to a much bigger problem, and I personally hope it dosent happen.
The biggest issue I see is losing Ralston on the wing. The rest have replacements that at least are proven or even seasoned - Hernandez/Riley/Franchino (though Joe on the wing scares me, I think we would see him center and James out wide.) for Parkhurst and Avery. Then we have Pat for Taylor. While Thompson has gotten some minutes (think that Nicol had some inside information early??) I'm not sure I like him as a 90 minute guy yet. So, I actually could see Sims up top, drop Noonan to AM and put Dorman out wide or vice-versa (though we have all discussed this in other threads too.) Having our two wing midfielders being Khano and Wells is a little scary right now. Hernandez can't get well quickly enough.
Yikes, Sims as starting strikers? Well ... that would definitely be ... different. Sims and Cristman, speed and bullying ability. That would be funny.
I don't think this will hurt as much as it initially seems. Per the article on ussoccer.com: So we will have these three for the June 2nd game home v RSL. The next Rev game is Home v CLB on June 16th which is where the US will play that weekend. So if any of the three don't make the 18-man game day roster, we might get to use said player(s). At least Arena would have made them available, but this might not be a Bradley policy. Finally, the June 23 home game v Toronto is being played the day before the Gold Cup final. If the US makes it, Bradley may be happy to release any players not on the 18-man game day roster back to their clubs. So maybe we get one of those back for that game. Let's see how this works out before declaring the sky has fallen. I'm more worried about who we lose to the Copa America in July.
I think it is more likely that Bryan Byrne will be used as a straight up sub for Thompson proably around the 70 minute mark. As Byrne has made bench recently and Sims has not.
Actually, I had heard it the other way around. The Copa America squad will be a younger or less experienced squad. The Gold Cup is the more important tournament in the eyes of Bob, so this squad is probably what he sees as the best, including more European based players.
i heard that it wasn't that it was a more important tournament rather CA did not fit well with some of the Euro players schedules
Dorman and Khano Smith are due for some good form. I really think this gives Dorman more of a chance to be a more integral part of the offense.
Y'all remember in 2005 how we got cleaned out for the Gold Cup, worse even than this time? Y'all remember how that turned out, including the tripleheader where it was arranged for our players on US duty to sit out the game and play ours instead? We're cool.
guzan is terrible. really isnt even mls quality. old guys??? agree ralston has no business with the USMNT. reis, while better than that deer in headlights probably doesnt either due to age. if they aint going to the world cup, they shouldn't be on the roster.
If they can help us QUALIFY or help us get ready to qualify then they should... Are we that spoiled that we just assume now we don't have to worry about qualification anymore??? Or is CONCACAF just that bad??
The Gold Cup is about winning the tournament NOW. The Copa can be about building depth, experience, and blooding young players in a hostile environment in front of large angry crowds but USSF wants to win the Gold Cup so they want the best roster possible.
the goldcup is worthless by itself. we need to build a team to win something meaningful. we need to build a squad now. players not on the radar for the world cup need not apply. kasey keller need not apply. this attitidude of win gold cup now will leave us with another john obrien in 2010. you can fire bradley right now, he picked the wrong team.
The U-20 WC and Copa overlap. US Men kickoff Copa June 28th vs Argintina U-20s kickoff on July 6th vs Brazil (Wow, talk about playing with the big boys...) I assume that Altidore is a lock for the U-20 squad and that would be his summer vacation. The Revs will almost certainly lose Igwe for the U-20 WC