[From our pals at Project-2010.net]In this monthly segment, we attempt to answer the question, "Who should we take to South Africa?" Rather than taking the standard approach (doing our best to guess who Bob will take to South Africa), we focus on who we think Bradley should take.
It's been two months since our last edition of Bradley's Babes, and despite only having one international match (against Holland), there is quite a bit to talk about on the National Team front. Some players have seized opportunities (Jay DeMerit, Maurice Edu), while others have not (Jonathan Bornstein, Robbie Findley). Injuries have cast doubt on some players' World Cup Prospects (Stuart Holden, Brian Ching), while others are fast approaching the end of the road to recovery (Oguchi Onyewu, Charlie Davies). Some players who appeared to be out of the World Cup picture only a few months have shown signs of being back (Brian Ching, DaMarcus Beasley), while another continues to toy with us (Jermaine Jones). Some of these events and revelations have only muddied the World Cup picture two months ahead of kick-off, but at least they give us plenty to talk about. Here is your April 2010 version of Bradley's Babes:
GOALKEEPERS
Tim Howard - Nothing has changed here.
Marcus Hahnemann- With Hahnemann starting for Wolves and continuing to help his club get improbable results, is it really so crazy to call him our #2? Maybe. But we'll give him the nod (for now).
Brad Guzan- There's no shame in backing up the greatest American goalkeeper of all time. Even with the lack of playing time, he might just be our preferred back-up for Tim Howard.
FRINGE - We're done listing fringe players here because--let's face it--the only way anyone outside of the top three comes along for the ride is if there's an injury (and considering the Americans' track record over the past several months, that seems like a real possibility). If Tim Howard gets hurt, bringing Kasey Keller along as the #1 might not be a bad idea. If someone else gets hurt, I guess it's Troy Perkins. We've paid our tribute to the injury god. Is it really to much to ask that our boys stay healthy for the next few months?
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DEFENDERS
Oguchi Onyewu - I'd love nothing more than to see him get some playing time before the end of the season. With the injury problems at Milan, it seems like he should.
Carlos Bocanegra - Center back or left back?--that is the question.
Jonathan Spector- Our most versatile defender. He'll definitely be along for the ride.
Jay DeMerit - He was probably our Man of the Match against Holland. If he wasn't a lock before, he certainly is now.
Steve Cherundolo - Barring injury, he's definitely going to South Africa.
Clarence Goodson- I'm not totally sold on Goodson, but unless Conrad and Marshall have pretty stellar starts to their seasons, it's hard to imagine him not making the roster.
Heath Pearce- He is here for the time being, but needs to show well in the first couple months of the season. We don't have a lot of options at this position (see: Bornstein vs. Holland), but we have to take someone. Right?
FRINGE - Jimmy Conrad, Chad Marshall. The versatility of this lineup allows us to get away with only bringing seven true defenders. We have two players who can play right back (Cherundolo and Spector), three who can play left back (Pearce, Spector, and Bocanegra), and five who can play center back (Onyewu, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Spector, and (spoiler alert) Edu). That should be plenty of cover. If Conrad or Marshall has a good start to the MLS season, we'd be happy to bring one of them along. If not, we're comfortable taking fewer than the standard eight.
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MIDFIELDERS
Landon Donovan- Too bad he couldn't continue his dream loan spell at Everton. That said, LA should be fun to watch this year.
Clint Dempsey - Just when he's back to his old ways, playing really well, he falls to injury again. I don't think this one is too serious, but the injury situation is becoming ridiculous.
Michael Bradley - Don't understand why people question him starting for the US. He seems to win 3/4 of our balls in the midfield.
Maurice Edu - Looked very good against Holland. Playing very well for Rangers. Should be Michael Bradley's starting partner in midfield.
Jose Francisco Torres - Got his chance against Holland. Didn't look great. But we're still confident he should go.
Benny Feilhaber- We like him to come along, but with the emergence of Edu, no longer see him as a starter.
Stuart Holden - His injury setback has made him a huge question mark. If he can get healthy and get a couple games in before the end of the season, we think he should be in South Africa.
Alejandro Bedoya - He's looked pretty good in limited time for the US. We could always use more quality wingers.
DaMarcus Beasley - He's healthy, but he's struggling to find playing time. If he doesn't, we'll be forced to leave him behind. (We've seen the damage out-of-form/out-of-practice Beasley can do.)
Ricardo Clark - We're certainly not sold on him, but considering our lack of quality and injury problems both up top and in the back, bringing along another one of our talented central midfielders doesn't seem like too bad of an idea. That said, this is a conditional offer. Clark must secure some meaningful playing time before the end of the season.
FRINGE - As with the goalkeepers, it doesn't appear there are any players on the immediate fringe here. We currently have ten midfielders on our roster, so if one of them gets hurt or sees a dip in form (Beasley is the most likely candidate for both), their place will most likely be filled by a defender or striker. Players like Freddy Adu and Robbie Rogers have an outside shot of making our roster, but let's face it--making it will either take some horrendous injury mishaps or a couple months of "playing a kick-about with Jesus." Sadly, the former seems far more likely than the latter.
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FORWARDS
Jozy Altidore - He showed just how valuable he is against Holland, even without scoring a goal.
Charlie Davies - His miraculous recovery is almost complete. We really need him back.
Brian Ching - A hamstring injury has put his Cup in serious doubt, but we've decided to hope for the best and keep him in the squad. Let's face it--there is no one else in the pool who can do what he does. If he's healthy, we'd really like to see him come along.
FRINGE - Eddie Johnson, Conor Casey, Herculez Gomez. Two months after I said "we're done with Casey," I bring him back onto the fringe. If Ching misses the World Cup to injury, who do we bring? Casey is the only decent target forward left in the pool. I'm not convinced we have to bring a target man, but it's a something to consider. Johnson seems to be doing well in Greece. I'm on the fence about whether he deserves our trust again. I'm leaning towards "no". And then there's Herculez Gomez--the flavor of the month. Obviously if he keeps up his ridiculous form, we must take him along (especially when you consider our dearth of good forward options). But as exciting as his form is, I'm a little skeptical for a couple of reasons: 1. the lack of defense in the Mexican league (note: poor defense and red-hot form are not mutually exclusive phenomena); and 2. the fact that Gomez is still being used as a substitute despite his goal tear. I won't lie--I'm definitely being influenced by his years of poor form in MLS. But why shouldn't I be? I'm not a believer (yet), but I'd love nothing more than to see him emerge as another quality forward option for us--we could definitely use it.
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Now that we've set our roster, let's take a look at our preferred line-up:
------------------------Jozy Altidore----------Charlie Davies------------------
Landon Donovan----------------------------------------------Clint Dempsey
------------------------------------Michael Bradley-------------------------------
--------------------------------------Maurice Edu---------------------------------
Carlos Bocanegra------------------------------------------Jonathan Spector
------------------------Jay DeMerit--------Oguchi Onyewu------------------
----------------------------------------Tim Howard---------------------------------
Players currently challenging for starting spots: Steve Cherundolo, Stuart Holden. If you look back to February's Bradley's Babes, you'll see that the list of "players currently challenging for starting spots" was at least a half-dozen names long. The fact that this month's list only contains two names shows that clarity is near. Steve Cherundolo didn't lose his starting spot in our squad due to his own shortcomings, but instead to Jay DeMerit's fantastic performance against the Netherlands. It's still pretty close, though--we'd be quite comfortable starting Bocanegra next to Onyewu and moving Spector over to left back. Despite suffering a broken leg, we still consider Stuart Holden a legitimate starting option. His role come World Cup, however, largely hinges on Charlie Davies' recover. If Davies is back to Confed Cup form, he's an obvious starter. If he's struggling, Dempsey gets moved up top and Holden takes over the right wing.
