In my preview of the U.S. Men’s National Team roster yesterday, I wrote this about the defenders:
It’d be great to see a Frankie Hejduk call-up, too; he’s a good player who could maybe bring some calming influence over a back four that’s really seen a lot of shake up recently, and since our right back situation isn’t even sort of settled I’d be interested to see how he did.
Bob Bradley (apparently a loyal “Avoiding the Drop” reader; who knew?!) agrees with me, because today Hejduk was called up for the final round of World Cup qualifiers.
The article says that this brings the roster to 22 players; I actually counted the numbers yesterday, but apparently I counted someone twice because I’ve only got 21 listed. Why Bradley would initially submit a roster of 21 players when he’s allowed to submit 22 is beyond me.
With seven goals in eighty four appearances for the U.S., it’s speculated by this writer that Frankie Hejduk is being brought in to help Conor Casey with his finishing. That report is unconfirmed as of this writing, however.
Hi Bob.
Glad you like us. Frankie will help out, to be sure. Let’s have a quick chat about Conor Casey and Brian Ching, though, shall we? Good, sit down.
Bob, I’m not going to lie to you. They stink. They stink on ice. They smell like last week’s underpants. Ching, in particular, seems to have achieved some sort of status that he clearly doesn’t deserve. He’s a striker that doesn’t strike. He never scores, Bob. Never. He has no graft, no cunning, no ingenuity. He’s awful, and for some reason you insist on running him out there while a younger, more athletic striker (you can pick between Davies and Altidore, whichever you leave on the bench for Ching at a given time) stays glued to the bench, watching your backside. Enough with the Brian Ching experiment. Stop it with that. Give him 20 minutes off the bench, treat him like your Peter Crouch or Michael Owen.
Casey just doesn’t measure up in international competition, Bob. He’s tentative, slow and not very creative. At least Kenny Cooper works hard, despite his lack of ability. Casey disappears for long stretches, only to show up to blow a pass because he has no ability to apply what’s known as “touch” to the ball.
In conclusion, Bob, thanks for reading, good job on the Hejduk call-up (now play him!) and enough with Ching and Casey. I don’t care if Jozy and Charlie eat seven pounds of buffalo wings and drink a case of beer each before the match, they are your starters. Hear me? We clear? Good.
Now figure out how to get the match on telly and we’re square. Thanks Bob.
Good luck.
Yours in Christ,
2Y