By Jared Launius
Bob Bradley announced his Gold Cup roster today and, like most Bob Bradley rosters, it was 90 percent predictable and 10 percent "What the hell?!" For transparency's sake, I'll provide a link to the roster I predicted a week ago so you can see exactly how many bad guesses I made.
And here's Bob's roster, followed by my own pithy commentary:
Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Jonathan Bornstein (West Ham), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Clarence Goodson (Brønby), Tim Ream (New York Red Bull), Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Jonathan Bornstein (Tigres)
Medfielders: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Freddy Adu (Rizespor), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
Forwards: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bull), Jozy Altidore (Villareal), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)
Freddy Adu and Robbie Rogers?! FREDDY ADU AND ROBBIE ROGERS?! Yes, Freddy Adu and Robbie Rogers. FREDDY. ADU. AND. ROBBIE. ROGERS.
(I thought it was best I just get that out of the way before I try to offer any real analysis beyond capital letters and incredulous rhetorical questions.)
Bradley's choice in goalkeeping corps offered little surprise. Many believed Guzan would be unavailable because of that whole getting married thing, and they believed correctly. It's a little surprising, I think, that Rimando was named the number three keeper instead of a European-based player, mainly because this means Bob is pulling the MLS's best keeper away from his club for three weeks to cheer really hard beside him on the bench (CORRECTION: Looks like Rimando will actually be spending most of the Gold Cup with RSL, not traveling with the US). But let's not waste our time worrying about the third goalkeeper slot.
I don't think it should come as any sort of shock Bradley is bringing in Bornstein for what will be his fourth-consecutive meaningful US cup (GC '07, CC '09, WC '10 and now GC '11). That doesn't mean you can't be semi-offended by it's sheer disregard of logic. I see no reason to pile on Bornstein, other than to say, c'mon, Bob, time to find a new love.
The only other surprise in defense, I think, is Eric Lichaj's inclusion and, ergo, Timmy Chandler's exclusion. Apparently there are club concerns, which makes sense as Bradley has done nothing but praise Chandler since his March call-up. I don't think there's much to separate Lichaj and Chandler, so I'm not sure this will really have any sort of impact anyway.
Goodson's inclusion doesn't come as a huge surprise – not to me at least – as Jay DeMerit hasn't been healthy most of the season. And, well, J-Specs is J-Specs. He's not going anywhere, and we all know it.
The midfield is where Bob went all, well, Bob, on us. Most of the usual suspects are there, but I think Bob might have been eating crayons when he filled in the last few spots.
For fun, let's play a little game – below, I list two players – two wing midfielders, to be specific – and his statistics from the first part of his club season:
Player A: 10 games played, 2 goals, 1 assist
Player B: 10 games played, 4 goals, 2 assists
That tells you a bit before I mention that Player B plays in a tougher league and that Player A doesn't bring much to the table beyond a lot of speed and a terrible first touch. Or before I mention that Player A has been given twice as many national team caps than Player B and has failed to impress, well, ever. Sure he has more experience, but it's really just more experience at being really ineffective.
Player A, of course, is Robbie Rogers, who is on the roster, and Player B is Alejandro Bedoya, who isn't. Yeah, I'm puzzled as you.
The other – well, surprise isn't a strong enough word – shocking inclusion is that of Freddy Adu. Freddy, as you may know, has been delivering at the club level, but, well, it's been in the Turkish second division. And it's been for half a season.
Now look, I'm not here to beat up on Freddy. Assuming he really is the age he says he is (and it's been seven years now without proof to the contrary), I think there might still be a national team future for him. But that's, like, the future. You know, like, down the road? At another time and place? After some time has passed? Past the present? After Freddy's done more than tear up the Turkish second division for three months after floundering in Europe for three years?
Meanwhile, Jose Francisco Torres, who has done nothing – to my knowledge, at least – to fall out of favor with Bob, twiddles his thumbs in Mexico and continues to start for Pachuca while Dax McCarty Mixx Diskerud wonder if all those nice things said about them were meaningless.
I was so blown away by the inclusion of Rogers and Adu that seeing Wondolowski's name on the forward list was more greeted with a "well of course he is" than anything else. I don't personally think Wondolowski is an international-caliber forward and I'm not exactly sure what he adds to the roster. He's not a real forward, per se, more just a right midfielder that makes good back post runs. And, well, if you're familiar with the US national team, you might already know of a few guys that are penned in at the starting wing spots. You know, only the US's best two field players. At least Teal Bunbury and Herculez Gomez can hold the ball up. I like Wondo. I think he's great for the MLS. Just not the USMNT and especially not a USMNT roster that doesn't include one real center forward.
* * *
Having said all that, of course, it's fair to point out that not one of Bob's controversial roster inclusions/exclusions will likely make a great difference. Sure I'd like to see what I consider his best 23 players in there, but no more than 15 guys, max 16, will play meaningful minutes in a game that matters. He has his best players in camp, I just think he filled it out awkwardly (read "dimly") and made his bench far less effective than it could have been.
It's silly that Bornstein is on the roster, sure, but he's (hopefully) only going to see the field if Bocanegra gets hurt or red carded. Adu and Rogers' being there is unintelligible, but they'll only (hopefully again) play if the US is blowing someone out or if its already wrapped up its group before the Guadaloupe match.
Just suffice it to say the US needs to avoid a repeat of the red card bonanza it garnered in the 2009 Confederations Cup.
Having said all that, of course, it's fair to point out that not one of Bob's controversial roster inclusions/exclusions will likely make a great difference. Sure I'd like to see what I consider his best 23 players in there, but no more than 15 guys, max 16, will play meaningful minutes in a game that matters. He has his best players in camp, I just think he filled it out awkwardly (read "dimly") and made his bench far less effective than it could have been.
It's silly that Bornstein is on the roster, sure, but he's (hopefully) only going to see the field if Bocanegra gets hurt or red carded. Adu and Rogers' being there is unintelligible, but they'll only (hopefully again) play if the US is blowing someone out or if its already wrapped up its group before the Guadaloupe match.
Just suffice it to say the US needs to avoid a repeat of the red card bonanza it garnered in the 2009 Confederations Cup.
As for the people that will actually see the field (fingers crossed), my big takeaway from Bradley's roster is that we might still see a 4-5-1 formation. Bob only brought three "forwards", and I put forwards in quotes because Wondolowski isn't even really a forward.
Are we going to see the three-destroyer midfield of Mike, Jones and Edu trotted back out there? Could I even stomach that again? Or will Feilhaber get a chance to start as the point man in the five-man midfield? Maybe Kljestan? Maybe (gulp) Adu?
(It is worth noting that I might rather see Freddy Adu start than ever half to watch a midfield that features all three defensive midfielders. Woof. That first half against Argentina was vomit-inducing ugly.)
This is an interesting roster, one that could go several ways. I was actually a pretty big fan of the 4-4-2 against Paraguay because Agudelo naturally plays a withdrawn role, which really compliments Altidore's natural tendency to not really do anything. At least we would know one forward will be checking back for the ball.
As far as the lineup goes, here is my thought: the XI Bob trotted out against Argentina was, I think, what he thought his best XI was. That was a result-driven roster, and we all know it. I think we'll see something very similar June 7 against Canada:
Are we going to see the three-destroyer midfield of Mike, Jones and Edu trotted back out there? Could I even stomach that again? Or will Feilhaber get a chance to start as the point man in the five-man midfield? Maybe Kljestan? Maybe (gulp) Adu?
(It is worth noting that I might rather see Freddy Adu start than ever half to watch a midfield that features all three defensive midfielders. Woof. That first half against Argentina was vomit-inducing ugly.)
This is an interesting roster, one that could go several ways. I was actually a pretty big fan of the 4-4-2 against Paraguay because Agudelo naturally plays a withdrawn role, which really compliments Altidore's natural tendency to not really do anything. At least we would know one forward will be checking back for the ball.
As far as the lineup goes, here is my thought: the XI Bob trotted out against Argentina was, I think, what he thought his best XI was. That was a result-driven roster, and we all know it. I think we'll see something very similar June 7 against Canada:
Howard
Cherundolo – Onyewu – Goodson – Bocanegra
Donovan – Bradley – Jones – Edu – Dempsey
Altidore
Cherundolo – Onyewu – Goodson – Bocanegra
Donovan – Bradley – Jones – Edu – Dempsey
Altidore
I'll mention three rather large problems – first, no one on the back line beside Cherundolo can distribute the ball, second, Bradley, Jones and Edu can't function on the field at the same time and, third, Altidore can't play on an island. Other than that, this lineup would be perfect.
I'll have more on the Gold Cup as it approaches and moves along, and I'd expect my mood to be a bit more cheery once I move past some of the bizarre roster decisions. So there's that to look forward to, I guess.
And, yes, FREDDY ADU AND ROBBIE ROGERS.
I'll have more on the Gold Cup as it approaches and moves along, and I'd expect my mood to be a bit more cheery once I move past some of the bizarre roster decisions. So there's that to look forward to, I guess.
And, yes, FREDDY ADU AND ROBBIE ROGERS.
