U.S. Squad named for Netherlands game
The 20-player roster for the March 3 game:
goalkeepers - Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Tim Howard (Everton)
defenders - Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
midfielders - DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Landon Donovan (Everton), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers), José Torres (Pachuca)
forwards - Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)
Considering this is a FIFA-designated international game date and the final contest before U.S. Coach Bob Bradley names his 23-player World Cup squad this is a pretty good indication of who is likely to go to South Africa.
And don't forget, the likes of Ricardo Clark, Charlie Davis, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber and Oguchi Onyewu are all out injured.
Have such players as Robbie Rogers, Sacha Kljestan and Brian Ching seen their chance of making the squad evaporate?
Notable: Johnson only played 75 minutes in two appearances as sub for the USMNT last year and Bedoya, who earned his first U.S. MNT cap against Honduras in January, must have impressed Bradley at the HDC camp. Simek hasn't made a national team appearance since 2007.
Quotable:
"This is the final match before we bring the team together for the World Cup, so to have a match against one of the top teams in the world like the Netherlands is a big benefit and a good challenge for our group," Bradley said. "They are expecting a large crowd to turn out for the game, and we are looking forward to an exciting atmosphere in Amsterdam."
The U.S. is 0-3 against the Netherlands.
1 Comments
Leave a comment
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Based on the composition of the squad and the number of injured players, I'm not so sure this can be seen as a good indication of the squad for next year. It's kind of like a European, or at least non-MLS, version of the El Salvador roster. Of course it has more players that are likely to start or play significant minutes for us, but it also has a lot of players who may still be in competition with some of the MLS players we saw yesterday. For example, I imagine Simek doesn't get a call-up if Cherundolo and Onyewu are not injured. Similarly, Edu might not have been called up if Clark was healthy, even though has started playing again recently, and I doubt we see Johnson if we had Davies (although he may have a chance given that Davies return is sll a long shot). I wouldn't think Johnson could feel secure that he is ahead of Ching or that Simek could feel secure that he is ahead of what is a fairly thin list of outside fullbacks.