U.S. Squad for Copa America
Venezuela, here they....er come? Yes, the Copa America kicks off next week and Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer have made the mad decision to dip into the MLS vault for most of the squad. Not only does this deprive the MLS of key players during the season, it also almost certainly means that Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay will have having a goal fiesta at our expense all while MLS's finest are being pelted with batteries and bottles of flaming piss for the sins of the Bush administration.
Here's the squad:
Goalkeepers (2) - Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach)
Defenders (8) - Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Bobby Boswell (D.C. United), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards, Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
Midfielders (8) - Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburger SV), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Lee Nguyen (PSV Eindhoven), Ben Olsen (D.C.United)
Forwards (4) - Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Hercules Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)
posted by gatorbob @ 10:29 AM
4 Comments:
This squad doesn't make much sense to me. It's definitively a watered down group of guys and when you think about the omission of Howard in goal, Spector and Simek in defense, Bradley, Beasley, and Dempsey in the mid, and Ching and Altidore, you really wonder why guys like that don't want a shop-window like the Copa America to show themselves off.
Ah well, I'd start Guzan because Keller's sadly past it. I thought Bornstein's play in the Gold Cup keeps him in the 11 along with Conrad, DeMerit, and Wynne.
The mid's worrying. It's too lightweight but I'd start Feilhaber, Clark, Mapp, and Olsen.
Up front, give Gomez(I didn't know he was an American) a go and give Double-T one last chance.
4-4-2 of course.
But this bunch is not getting anywhere against the Argies to name 1.
Agreed Gooner, I think realistically we get one or two points from Paraguay and Colombia after a thumping. Getting out of the group with four points or so would be quite an achievement.
My starting eleven:
Guzan (agree with you; Kasey looked really slow on the Hume goal)
Bornstein
Conrad
Demerit
Wynne
Feilhaber
Clark
Olsen
Mapp
Double T
Gomez
Pretty close to your starting eleven.
More bad news, lads. Here's the Argie squad that we'll be facing next Thursday:
Goalkeepers: 1-Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe/Spain), 12-Juan Pablo Carrizo (River Plate/Argentina), 22-Agustin Orion (San Lorenzo/ARG).
Defenders: 8-Javier Zanetti (Inter/Italy), 2-Roberto Ayala (Valencia/Spain), 4-Hugo Ibarra (Boca Juniors/ARG), 3-Daniel Diaz (Boca Juniors/ARG), 15-Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza/Spain), 6-Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United/England) 17-Nicolas Burdisso (Inter/Italy).
Midfielders: 13-Luis Gonzalez (Porto/Portugal), 14-Javier Mascherano (Liverpool/England), 5-Fernando Gago (Real Madrid/Spain), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter/Italy), 20-Juan Sebastian (Estudiantes de La Plata/ARG), 10-Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors/ARG), 16-Pablo Aimar (Zaragoza/Spain).
Strikers: 9-Hernan Crespo (Inter/Italy), 18-Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Spain), 21-Diego Milito (Zaragoza/Spain), 7-Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors/ARG), 11-Carlos Tevez (West Ham/England).
Oh dear, that is frightening. One or two old legs in that bunch, but it'll be boys against men for sure.
The Argies mean business in this competition. I still have a tape somewhere of their encounter with Brazil in the last CA that was a huge disappointment for them.
They'll be tough for anyone to face, much less than the watered-down Americans.
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