Oh, Bob Bradley. You tease me with Egypt, you flatter me with Spain, and then you go and remind me why I didn’t like you in the first place.
Yes, the U.S. Men’s National Team has released their squad list for next week’s Gold Cup, and it isn’t a pretty picture. Let’s take a look after the jump and see if we can figure out what the hell Bradley may have been thinking.
Before we talk about the squad, let’s all take a moment to look at the list:
Goalkeepers
Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (Vålerenga), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)
Defenders
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjælland), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock II)
Midfielders
Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
Forwards
Freddy Adu (Benfica), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United)
Here’s my issue: Where are the Confederations Cup backups?
Bob Bradley is right to take a “second tier” team to the Gold Cup; the men’s national side has been together for almost three weeks in South Africa, which comes right after two back-to-back World Cup qualifiers. They’re tired, especially the ones who’ve played in Europe. MLS teams are also probably wanting their players back; Landon Donovan hasn’t played with the Galaxy in over a month (although, really, the MLS have only themselves to blame for that).
But where are the guys who didn’t play or barely played in South Africa? There’s a full squad of backups in South Africa that have been barely used; they’re hungry to play and show what they’ve got, and this is a perfect chance for them to do that. I’m not saying bring no experimental players; I’m just saying we don’t need to bring ONLY experimental playes.
I’m talking about guys like Brad Guzan, who’s forever relegated behind Tim Howard; the Gold Cup is a perfect chance to see how he does in a full group tournament (especially after he looked so good against Egypt). I think we all expected a little bit out of Jose Francisco Torres at the Confederations Cup, and it’d have been nice to see him get a chance to lead here. Is Marvell Wynne really that bad? I’m not sure, but the Gold Cup would have been be a perfect place to find out.
The victory over Spain also does something else for this team: it’s created momentum. I’m not saying that ESPN and local newspapers were falling over themselves after Wednesday’s win; clearly, that wasn’t the case. Soccer did get an ever so brief moment of positive coverage, though, and with the Gold Cup taking place in the U.S., the next step is to scaffold that win (and potential win over Brazil) into making the men’s team more marketable stateside. The storyline is waiting to be written: the U.S., after beating Spain and performing well enough in the final against Brazil, come home and win CONCACAF at home in front of their fans before heading down to Mexico in August for World Cup qualifiers. You have the chance to show not only the fans in the U.S. but the rest of the world that you can capture the moment you just had and run with it; this squad, with only four players from the Confederations Cup and only 189 total caps, doesn’t allow for that momentum to continue.
This is also a break from our 2007 appearance in the Gold Cup. Last time through, the U.S. sent their strongest side to play (and win) the tournament. As the preeminent tournament for our confederation, this is an important competition; the U.S. shouldn’t be using it to test out an entire team of rookies on the international stage. We did the same thing back in 2005. To break with tradition so dramatically doesn’t give the U.S. their best chance to win; if Bradley wants to field a reserve side, he should schedule more friendlies.
Perspective might be important for this. I don’t have an answer, but what kind of sides are the other gold cup teams fielding? Are they sending out WC reserves that our reserves would have matched up competitively against or are they going with first team sides like we did the last time through?
Provided Wikipedia’s right, everyone else would appear to be bringing their full side. Mexico’s definitely bringing out the big guns.
Damn, then Bradley is out of his fucking gourd, he must have some sort of personal vendetta against “game-time” experience for reserves.
I agree. I think it’s the worst lineup that he could bring out. You have a bench full of good players who need a chance with this team so we can start building the depth for the World Cup and this just seems so regressive. Bradley still needs to be under scrutiny and his job shouldn’t be considered safe. Plus they need to win the Gold Cup so they can try to earn one of the top 8 WC seeds.
Plus, I bet he STILL doesn’t play Adu.
Frankly, why not bring Altidore? He’s not getting game experience at Villareal, he’s starting to come around, and he’s on summer break now. Get him up to game shape and show him off so Villareal wants to play him more.
Thankfully, Davies is there. I like him. But our three keepers have one cap between the three of them; that’s woefully understaffed, especially when this country at least produces good keepers from time to time (Keller, Friedel, Howard…). Why bring also-rans when you can get your legitimate backup playing experience?
This is actually worse than the Copa Americas lineup from 2007; that was a tournament that didn’t even matter, but this one is kind of a big deal around CONCACAF and he’s throwing it away.
“Is Marvell Wynne really that bad?”
Yes.
Also, in a sense, Mexico has to bring its best side. They are in a TERRIBLE run of form right now and winning the Gold Cup may be the only way Javier Aguirre can buy himself enough time to get the National Team back into good enough shape to qualify for WC 2010.
That’s true, Mexico really needs the boost. This time last week, though, the U.S. did too…and while we’ve had a couple of good wins, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with Bradley implying that we’re all better and don’t need to worry about the Gold Cup. Frankly, the Gold Cup is MORE important than the Confederations Cup, and I’m not confident that this side can be competitive.
Question: Will Bradley be able to add players to this announced team after the group stage is concluded?
Even if he can, leaving out Torres from this team is a terrible move.
If I may venture a guess, won’t Guzan be busy with friendlies for Aston Villa in preparation for the coming season and the Europa League? I think he should be on the Gold Cup team as top GK myself, but that might be why he’s not in the lineup…
I can understand the frustration with Bradley’s wholesale changes, but at the same time, there are some players on the roster who are worthy of a first look, or another look. For example:
-Michael Parkhurst
-Stuart Holden
-Kenny Cooper
-Luis Robles
-Freddy Adu
I also don’t think it’s a bad idea to continue Charlie Davies recent run, to get Brian Ching back on the scene after his injury, and well, I have a soft-spot for Jay Heaps.
On the other hand, Heath Pearce, Robbie Rogers, and Jon Busch don’t need to be anywhere near this team.